NetApp partners must obtain new certifications by May 2022, claims UK channel boss

Denise Bryant discusses partner programme changes at NetApp Partner Academy event

NetApp's UK and Ireland channel boss, Denise Bryant, has announced several developments to the vendor's Unified Partner Programme at a Partner Academy event in London on Thursday, while also outlining where partners should be focusing their efforts moving forward.

The in-person event was attended by many of NetApp's partners and its president Cesar Cernuda, who gave an overview of his vision for the company - claiming the data management vendor is "partner centric" and describing his vision for NetApp to be a "cloud-led, data-centric, software company".

He detailed the "journey" the company and its partners are on to move customers from on-premise to the cloud, or a mix of the two, and added that the company's go-to-market strategy is changing to align with this vision.

NetApp's UK director, Chris Greenwood, also discussed NetApp's transformation from a "storage only" company back in 2014 to becoming a cloud and software business, and said its UK arm has "invested massively" in recruiting new channel account and partner account managers to boost partner success.

Back in March, the company announced it was introducing a major sales restructure aimed at helping better target key areas of growth and to reach new customers and partners.

That was followed by the announcement of some significant additions and changes to its partner programme, including rebates for partners that attract new business, an increasing focus on specialised partners and a greater emphasis on cloud.

And speaking at Thursday's event, Bryant provided more detail on these changes and outlined the key areas of focus for partners...

Partner programme changes

The NetApp partner programme is going through a number of changes as the vendor tries to gear its partners towards both more specialist areas and adopting more of a cloud focus.

Bryant said the partner programme will feature just three tiers - authorised, advanced and premier - with an increased focus on what she described as "influence partners".

Partners will also be measured more on contribution as opposed to just "straight revenue" - which could include capex sales, cloud consumption sales or subscription sales - and will need to make sure they are specialised in at least one of two areas as a "bare minimum".

By May next year, the basic requirement for being a NetApp partner is to be certified in either its cloud specialisation or infrastructure specialisation, with Bryant encouraging partners to "get both".

"We launched this pilot programme all the way back in May and we're giving you until May of next year to actually re-profile your skills, your go-to-markets, and really get the certifications that you're going to need," Bryant said.

She also encouraged partners to make use of NetApp's one per cent rebate offer on "all partner initiated deal registrations", something she said partners have not been taking advantage of.

Accelerating the journey to the cloud and hybrid

Bryant highlighted the acceleration to the cloud for NetApp, its partners and their customers as a key area moving forwards.

"It's about letting the customers know that the proposition that you're taking to them is cloud capable, and that's what we mean by accelerating our journey to the cloud," she said.

"Not only are we going to serve on prem or only sell cloud, we're going to give the customer flexibility now and in the future, to put their data exactly where it needs to be."

She said COVID had increased the importance of customers needing to adopt a cloud solution and that it is "not going to go away".

Acquiring new customers

Speaking to CRN in May, NetApp's VP of EMEA channel sales, Kristian Kerr said the company was introducing new incentives for partners to go out and win new business.

And Bryant again highlighted this as something partners should concentrate on and pointed to two incentives available to them for winning sought after business.

That includes an eight per cent additional margin for winning a new logo in the commercial space and an extra five per cent rebate for winning an account from a list of 100 sought-after businesses put together by NetApp.

"It is a testament to how important it is that we go out and we grow our customer base," she said.

More specialisation

Going forward, NetApp's partner programme will be tailored towards specialised partners in areas including AI and machine learning, SAP, data protection, cloud, infrastructure, hosting, FlexPod, Spot by NetApp and data security.

These specialisations sit around NetApp's core integration, lifecycle and keystone services offering, with the company claiming it will help customers to solve challenges which require "more experience and expertise".

"We are going to be looking to work with you so that you can start to embed the new NetApp specialisations into your solution practices and wrap around the NetApp specialisations with your own IP and your own services and managed services, because that's how you will drive your profitability and differentiate yourself," Bryant explained.

"You can still be successful selling core infrastructure, exactly the way you always have, and you could still be a premier partner right at the top. You don't have to do the other bits, it's just if you do the other bits, you can now be formally recognised for it."