Hewlett Packard Enterprise Enhances HPE Partner Ready Program to Drive as a Service and SMB Growth

Hewlett Packard Enterprise today announced enhancements to the HPE Partner Ready Program to help partners advance on their as a service journey, capture growing market opportunities, and drive increased sales growth in the small and medium sized business (SMB) segment. The fiscal year 2021¹ HPE Partner Ready Program is designed to provide partners with a profitable compensation model, access to financial resources and robust enablement opportunities. The program offers a unique, personalized approach to learning that helps partners differentiate themselves in increasingly competitive markets, grow their business and drive joint success with HPE.

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“HPE GreenLake Introduction and Business Planning Workshop”

Today nearly 70 percent of HPE’s annual sales are transacted through HPE’s channel ecosystem, which is more than 80,000 partners strong. HPE’s channel has also been a significant driver of as a service growth, and indirect HPE GreenLake orders have increased 85 percent YoY².

The program updates unveiled today include:

Partner Experience

• AI-powered proposals and robotic process automation (RPA): To further streamline the deals cycle, partners can leverage the Primary Storage Opportunity Engine (PSOE) to quickly develop a proposal containing an approved quote, sizing and performance data, associated Infosight intelligence and more. This not only creates an easy-to-understand proposal for partners to discuss with customers, but allows them to reduce the number of meetings involved in the sales cycle by an average of five meetings. Partners also benefit from the speed of RPA to drastically cut the time required for deal registration approvals.
• HPE FlexOffers: HPE has improved the purchase experience to allow partners to create customized built-to-order (BTO) product configurations at bundled-discount pricing, dispatched from distribution inventory. This new capability will be rolled out to distributors worldwide starting in November 2020, and built into HPE iQuote, HPE’s streamlined quoting tool which presents pre-approved discounts and promotional prices in real-time.
• Enhanced sales certifications: Accessible via the new HPE Sales Pro Learning Center, sales certifications in FY21 will provide a modern, intuitive, mobile-friendly and interactive experience to help partners quickly align with HPE strategies and reduce out-of-office time. “Learning checks” strategically placed within modules and an assessment at the end allow partners to efficiently demonstrate content mastery and complete their certification entirely within HPE Sales Pro.
• Extended demo program: HPE’s demo program includes new demo options, easier access to the HPE portfolio and allows partners to purchase their own demo equipment at steep discounts. Partners can also access new interactive demos on the HPE Demo Portal which offer clickable, simulator-based environments that enable users to “interact” with HPE solutions with zero risk of failing. Partners continue to benefit from remote live or recorded demos and proof of concepts, as well as from live or virtual tours of any HPE Customer Innovation Centers.

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As a Service

• Dedicated as a service enablement: In FY21, HPE is extending partner enablement related to HPE GreenLake with a new “HPE GreenLake Introduction and Business Planning Workshop” to help partners assess their as a service strategy and become proficient in selling HPE GreenLake. The workshop is composed of consultative sessions with HPE GreenLake transformation experts who advise partners on opportunities for growth and the integration of HPE GreenLake into their service portfolios³.
• Competitive compensation: The HPE Partner Ready Program maintains one of the most competitive as a service compensation models, rewarding partners with 3x-5x higher compensation for sales on strategic HPE business areas such as HPE GreenLake, the HPE Ezmeral Software Portfolio and the HPE Storage Portfolio.

SMB

• Margin and price protection: HPE supports partners focused on “new logo” deals with options for upfront benefits and price protection.
• Promotions and rewards: HPE will expand SMB and mid-market opportunities for partners by offering promotions and rewarding partners through geography-specific incentives and bonuses via the industry leading loyalty and incentive program HPE ENGAGE&GROW and HPE Financial Services.
• SMB and mid-market co-selling: To engage partners from across the ecosystem and drive further profitability, HPE is expanding co-selling opportunities between solution providers and service providers. These new offers are available via the Cloud28+ platform and community.

“Each year we design our Partner Ready program using partner feedback, thus providing our channel with an unmatched combination of sales and field enablement, and financial incentives and rewards, to help them drive joint success with HPE,” said George Hope, HPE Worldwide Head of Partner Sales. “HPE’s as a service strategy is establishing incredible traction through our channel, and so it remains critical to bolster our partners with the strongest program framework and breadth of opportunities to optimize their experience, help them establish differentiation and grow their expertise.”

Consistency and Stability in FY21

In order to maintain business consistency for partners focusing their efforts on driving growth, HPE has maintained core requirements of the 1H FY20 HPE Partner Ready Program through FY21. Partners will experience no change to revenue thresholds, sales and technical certifications, continuous learning requirements, or competency requirements. Furthermore, the range of digital and virtual enablement opportunities available to partners through the HPE Partner Ready Program enables them to continue sales momentum remotely and with less time out of office.

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