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Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has revealed its new Partner Ready Vantage program, encompassing both HPE’s hybrid cloud and Aruba portfolios.
Featuring three tracks - Build, Sell, and Service - the program recognises different partner capabilities and business models, aiming to be “in tune with how partners want to do business” whether that’s through traditional sales models or ‘as-a-service’.
Each track features focused Centres of Expertise (COE), offering tailored enablement, training, go-to-market initiatives, and sales tools.
Alongside the program, HPE also announced updates to the Pro Series, new enhancements to Partner Connect, and a refresh to the Partner Portal.
“HPE is creating a new future and we want partners to come on that journey with us,” HPE worldwide head of partner sales, George Hope, said during a press and analyst briefing.
“The market is changing fast and customers are demanding a new consumption approach to their digital transformation journey and that's why we're changing our own business so quickly, enabling even our core business to be consumed in ‘as a service’ way that better supports customers goals and desired outcomes.
“The thing that is not changing, however, is our commitment to our partners of all kinds. Partners are at the heart of our vision and our strategy is built with the same ‘partner first’ mentality. We're focused on finding new ways to put partners first - offering choice, flexibility and an opportunity for them to adapt and grow their businesses wherever they are in their journey.”
The Build track is designed for partners to integrate with HPE technology, leverage tested and proven pre-packaged solutions from HPE and HPE technology partners. Partners can also develop their own applications using HPE’s open platforms to deliver the solutions that meet their customers’ needs.
The Sell track is designed to help partners grow their ‘as a service’ business by offering value-added solutions from across the HPE portfolio
The Service track is designed specifically for partners focused on delivering services across the customer lifecycle, including: consulting, assessment, design, integration, deployment, migration, support and management.
To date, the following Aruba Service COEs are available: Customer Success, Managed Services and Professional Services. 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.
Hope added discussions with partners were more focused around their business model rather than the partner ‘type.’
“Now we're looking at them less about what they are (SI, reseller, distributor, OEM) and more about what they do, how they approach the business and we're building a program that meets them there,” he said. “The program is aligned with three different pillars, evolving at your own pace, ‘partner as one’ team and drive a better experience,” he said.
“We're doubling down on the partners that are ready to evolve and we've created some programs to accommodate that where there's a mutual commitment to take the next steps. We aren’t abandoning the partners that aren't ready to take that journey yet because we know it's customer dependent for them.
“But we are helping those partners along by adding some subscription capabilities to some of the core products to get them to adopt more easily and we continue to have strong rewards for partners whether they're selling product or they're selling the ‘as-a-service’ solution.”
Aruba worldwide vice president of channels Donna Grothjan said the COEs were created to help partners excel in the ‘as-a-service’ world.
“We’ve taken a personal approach as we’ve developed all of the components of this new program,” Grothjan said. “We were deliberate in including mentorship alongside a wealth of vital training and workshops for our partners.
“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.”
Latest enhancements to HPE Pro Series were also introduced with HPE Tech Pro updated to expand its enablement offerings in support of new technical job roles in alignment with HPE Partner Ready Vantage.
New offerings are aimed at partners who are pursuing as-a-service business models who require cloud and managed services skills along with customer success capabilities to achieve their goals.
HPE Sales Pro has been refreshed based on partner feedback to allow partners to quickly access the most relevant and up-to-date enablement to lead custom conversations confidently and grow sales.
New features include a personalised portal with unique certification status and training modules, Portfolio Learning Curriculums with curated and interactive paths, and Top Recommended Training (TRT) to make it easier for partners to find and prioritise relevant and impactful 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 that allows partners to better prepare for industry focused conversations.
Easier access has also been granted to HPE marketing tools and content with a redesigned HPE Social Media Center.
Since launching in December 2021, enhancements have been continually made to Partner Connect to boost user experience and collaboration opportunities.
Partner Connect is a digital platform that empowers customer-to-partner, and partner-to-partner connections to accelerate the ability to find the right solutions and skills to meet business needs, which is built on the Cloud28+ digital business platform.
Basic self-profiling on the platform has been enhanced, allowing partners to showcase their HPE products and services with greater control of how they highlight and promote their solutions.
The HPE Partner Ready Portal has been refreshed with a simplified navigation and site integration.
“We're here to help our partners as they make the critical shift to ‘as a service’. Our commitment is anchored in the very DNA of our company that permeates our entire strategy,” Hope said.
Julia Talevski travelled to HPE Discover in Las Vegas as a guest of HPE.
