'It takes all the islands of expertise we have' - HPE channel boss on launch of global tech community

Worldwide channel boss Paul Hunter tells CRN that the vendor's training assets and resources will all be accessible in one place for partners

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has launched its global Tech Pro Community in the channel with the aim of uniting technologists with support and expertise in one place.

Speaking to CRN, HPE's worldwide channel boss Paul Hunter said that the vendor needed to consolidate all of the materials it has in one place for partners.

"We had a desire to create a community between our own technologists and the technologists in our partners and customers," he said. "It takes all the islands of expertise and assets that we have.

"With any big company - particularly ones that buy IP over time - the location for that expertise can be multiple places. What we wanted is a single platform that gives the technologists of our partners the chance to collaborate with our technologists and those of our customers, in one place.

"You don't have to be an expert on where the information is now, you just need to apply your energy to growing your expertise."

HPE initially trialled the community in APAC in 2017, before deciding to roll it out globally this year after receiving support from CEO Antonio Neri.

Tech Pro will also provide a platform upon which partners can interact with technologists from other partners and HPE itself.

"We are looking much more holistically at the way we interact with our partners and we have aspirations to grow and enhance the experience," Hunter explained.

"It is not just about increasing the number of accredited people we have in partners. We do want scale but we want expertise, so we want to deliver on customer experience. This community is absolutely vital to ensure that we are designing the right solution so that the promised experience is delivered."

Hunter added that the tech community is one of a number of steps taken to bring HPE closer to its partners. He said that partners previously used to receive different training resources and tools to HPE's own people, but this has now changed.

"It used to be that when we thought about our sales organisations and the partners' sales organisation we thought of them as two separate communities," he said.

"We had two sets of assets for them, but about six to nine months ago but said we had to think of the partners' as an extension of our own [organisation].

"We had to prove that with actions and now the curriculum we have for training our sales people is the same as for partners' people, and the same thing now applies to the technical community."

Tech Pro Community is available to all HPE channel partners and will become available worldwide this month.