HPE unveils new partner programme and 'refreshed' portal
HPE claims Partner Ready Vantage is geared towards making it easier for partners to embrace as-a-service
HPE has launched a new partner programme which it claims is geared towards helping customers "thrive" in today's as-a-service market.
The new programme, Partner Ready Vantage, is designed to "create enhanced opportunities for partners to build repeatable profitability and deepen longstanding customer relationships", HPE says.
Here's everything you need to know about the new programme...
Three separate tracks
The HPE Partner Ready Vantage programme will be split into three separate tracks - build, sell and service.
Build is designed for partners who want to integrate with HPE technology and provides proven pre-packaged solutions from HPE and HPE's technology partners. Partners will also be able to develop their own applications using HPE's open platforms.
The sell track, meanwhile, is designed to help partners grow their as-a-service business by offering value-added solutions from across the HPE portfolio.
And the service track is for partners specifically focused on delivering services such as consulting, assessment, design, integration, deployment, migration, support and management.
Under these tracks are focused centres of expertise (COEs), which HPE says will provide tailored enablement, training, go-to-market initiatives, and sales tools.
"We created the services COEs to help partners excel in an as-a-service world," Donna Grothjan, vice president of worldwide channels for HPE Aruba, said.
"We've relied on global best practices as we've built out the program elements - all in an effort to help our partners extend and expand their practices, have faster time to activation, reduce churn, and achieve higher than average renewal rates for customers."
The current Aruba Service COEs available are customer success, managed services and professional services, while the COEs for the build and sell tracks, along with the hybrid cloud service COEs, will become available to all partners over the next year.
Adapted for as-a-service
HPE has continued its push towards as-a-service in recent years through its GreenLake platform, and the newly launched partner programme will make it easier for partners to achieve as-a-service growth, the vendor says.
Its COEs have been structured to align with current and aspiring partner skillsets, HPE claims, and will allow them to reach new markets and unlock new revenue streams across on-prem, cloud or hybrid.
HPE also says the programme has been designed with greater flexibility in mind, with a refreshed partner portal encompassing both HPE and Aruba portfolios.
The changed programme aims to allow partners to position their business as a "market leader" by "leveraging HPE edge-to-cloud solutions to develop unique customer experiences to expand their business".
"We value our partner ecosystem and are committed to investing in their success. We believe in the power of collaboration to deliver the best solutions and services that help our partners unlock their full potential," said George Hope, worldwide head of partner sales, HPE.
"As partners evolve their business models to meet the demands of customers today, they need a flexible programme that is designed to help them deliver no matter how their customers are choosing to buy or what their priorities are.
"HPE Partner Ready Vantage enables partners to participate more fully across the entire customer lifecycle and is optimised for our partners' evolving business needs to accelerate their growth and enable their success."
New partner portal
Alongside the launch of the new programme, HPE has refreshed its partner portal with a redesigned homepage featuring a What's New section, as well as a new "consolidate menu" which it says will make navigation easier.
The new portal features "improved tools dashboard tiles" which are "optimised for containing business data like partner compensation or deal registration".
And HPE says it will include a new centralised partner status and benefits section and centralised tools catalogue.
The vendor is also continuing to enhance its Partner Connect platform which focuses on making customer-to-partner and partner-to-partner connections easier.
HPE Pro Series enhancements
Moreover, HPE has announced several enhancements to its Pro Series offering - which provides a personalised enablement experience for partners' sales through tools such as virtual forums, training and a suite of marketing tools.
HPE Tech Pro has been updated to expand its enablement offerings aimed at partners who are pursuing as-a-service business models.
HPE Sales Pro has also been refreshed with new features including a personalised portal with unique certification status and training modules, portfolio learning curriculums with curated and interactive paths, and top recommended training which HPE says will make it easier for partners to find and prioritise relevant training modules.
Also added are new on-the-go learning features where training modules can be consumed as podcasts, videos or web-based seminars, outcome discussion guides with quick access to engaging questions to be used in sales conversations, and an industry business value framework.
Finally, HPE Marketing Pro has been added to with a new HPE Marketing Pro gateway which the vendor claims will provide simplified access to all HPE marketing tools, while a redesigned HPE social media centre will feature a new user interface.
Partners can also find new education content in the HPE Partner Learning Centre, including modules on marketing analytics, social trends, search/SEO updates and social media/social selling.