HPE Doubles Down on Partner-Focused COVID-19 Support Initiatives

Today HPE doubles down on relief initiatives to help partners weather business disruption resulting from the lengthy pandemic. This latest targeted response from HPE comes just weeks after the vendor announced an initial round of services from HPE Financial Services.

The latest program changes and offers should help partners gain financial footing and reduce financial pressures. HPE made changes to its Partner Ready program, addresses partner liquidity, offers several hybrid IT partner propositions for customers and will offer partner enablement virtually.

HPE’s Paul Hunter

“We’re taking action to relieve financial pressure for all our partners, while helping them focus on expertise and differentiation,” Paul Hunter, worldwide head of partner sales at HPE, said in a blog.

Here’s a closer look at the four new initiatives.

HPE suspends Partner Ready revenue thresholds. These thresholds are required for partners to maintain their status in the HPE Hybrid IT Partner Ready program for 2021 eligibility and for the Aruba Partner Ready for Networking Program. For this year, the program focus will be on enabling partners to meet training and certification goals.

“Partners are worried about the revenue thresholds they have to hit in order to get the higher level of rebate payments,” said Hunter. “Rebate payments are an important part of the partner ecosystem and partner profitability. So, we’re suspending the requirement to hit the revenue threshold for 2020. [Partners] will take their current status into 2021.”

HPE rolled out three initiatives around partner liquidity.

• Early Pay Discount. From May 1 to July 31, 2020, distributors and service providers in North America that do not participate in factoring programs can take advantage of extended Early Pay Discount terms.
• Enhanced Factoring Program Extension. From May 1 – July 31, 2020, HPE will extend payment terms from 60 to 90 days in North America and Europe for participants in existing enhanced factoring programs.
• Suspension of SDI targets. HPE has temporarily suspended or reduced Strategic Development Initiative (SDI) targets in most geographies.

To help partners stay relevant with their customers, the following offers are in place.

• Remote management. HPE will offer its remote server management software, Integrated Lights-Out (iLo) Advanced, to partners and customers for free for the remainder of 2020.
• HPE is working to support service provider partners’ efforts by offering increased business continuity services to customers via a central new site. The Spotlight Page hosted on Cloud28+ helps customers find HPE partners and cloud services.
• Fast-tracked GreenLake Partners can leverage HPE GreenLake Quick Quote and targeted mid-market offers. The company has developed additional pre-configured reference architectures at pre-agreed pricing.

In May, HPE will roll out the HPE Sales Pro Learning Center. This is a virtual experience that offers new sales enablement with trainings and micro-learnings. Partners can access the same learning and collaboration opportunities as HPE teams through the HPE Tech Pro Community.

Virtual demos and Proofs of Concept are possible through the self-service Demonstration Portal. The portal also includes short, prerecorded lab demos for partners and customers.

The HPE Discover 2020 and HPE Partner Growth Summit physical events have been cancelled. The HPE Discover 2020 Digital Experience is scheduled for June 22.