Big Changes Mean New Opportunities for NetApp Channel Partners

… 20%. And these are stackable.

We also added an entry tier because we found that a lot of the competitive takeouts started at a lower level, so we wanted to recognize that. We increased the amount a partner earns within that primary category. And, we’ve made it easier for them to get that money.

There’s also a great opportunity for refresh now. We have a lot of customers, as they look at that journey to the cloud, they’re looking at taking our cloud-enabled solutions and expanding that. So we introduced a new tech refresh program for all of our partners.

Two years ago, we launched our cloud program, which was around a focused subset of partners. This year, as its expanded and we see more cloud-centric partners coming in, we’ve expanded incentives. So, any partner at any level within NetApp can earn 5% of every single one of our cloud solutions that they sell.

So, if a partner wants to make money, it’s refresh, compete, bring in a new customer, sell cloud.

CF: What about COVID-19 and impact on requirements for NetApp channel partners?

CL: Some of the big things in our program, like compliance and certifications. We don’t want to be an inhibitor to our partner community continuing to grow. So, we extended our certifications for six months and decided not to demote any partners for at least the next nine months. We also deferred a compliance review — but we’re still promoting. We want to make sure partners can focus on their business.

CF: Other priorities for partners?

JE: One is our consumption-based offerings around Keystone. This program for partners comes in two flavors. They can resell a NetApp-managed opex model. Or, for partners with more advanced services and support capabilities, they can resell an opex model to their customers, but they’ll manage all the service and support. They capture all the services margin and revenue.