HP PartnerOne Focuses on Partner Growth, 'Predictability'

The VAR Guy

October 12, 2011

2 Min Read
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HP remains steadfast in supporting its partners, even as its future is uncertain. The company is bringing a smattering of enhancements to its PartnerOne program designed to make it easier for partners to work with HP, sell new IT products and “fuel profitability,” while focusing on “predictability” in the channel. The VAR Guy has all the details coming right up …

Aside from all the standard perks of making life easier on the partner community, HP’s real focus for PartnerOne partners is ensuring “a continued strategy of predictability within the program structure.” The VAR Guy thinks this translates to mitigating any concerns from the announcement of the PSG spinoff, along with strengthening HP by making Meg Whitman CEO.

According to Matt Smith, director of the Americas channel marketing at HP, the new changes “enable partners to help customers drive innovation with more agile IT solutions.” Our resident blogger thinks the distilled essence of this statement shows HP wants its partners to be fluent in a few different specializations to help them succeed.

That idea is echoed exactly by the new PartnerOne tweaks HP is making, including:

  • Specialist Designations: HP wants partners to be rewarded for their skills, by adding new partner designations in everything from virtualization to professional networking and managed print services. HP said with the new categories, HP can help partners “align” their “expertise to the evolving business requirements” in the IT world.

  • Marketing Depot: Exactly what it sounds like, HP has launched a program giving partners access to demand generation tools and other ways to expand market presence. This also marks a “consolidation of multiple marketing repositories” into a one-stop-shop solution. Interesting to note: consolidation is an increasingly popular trend among programs.

  • New Tools and Support: HP is offering more demo equipment for proof of concept or trial offers, special offers on printers and associated services, “sales realignment” on enterprise storage, servers and networking equipment, and new partner branding coding to help customers understand which HP partner is the right one for them.

Partners working HP should definitely take advantage of all HP is offering, as other vendors, especially Dell, have gone on an offensive to try and supplant HP technology. HP is clearly looking to hold its ground in the channel, and these very moves may help maintain HP loyalty among its channel partners as its future is figured out.

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