Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) is looking to work more closely with partners in the year ahead to create additional opportunities for its managed HPE GreenLake service.
The company is extending the HPE GreenLake partner enablement tools it provides to include an “HPE GreenLake Introduction and Business Planning Workshop” through which it will identify opportunities for partners to grow by incorporating the HPE GreenLake service into their portfolios.
HPE is making it simpler for partners to deliver virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) as a service via the HPE GreenLake managed service by partnering with Citrix, Nutanix, NVIDIA, and VMware. HPE is making available instances of VDI software from these vendors for on-premises IT environments around pre-defined increments of 100, 300, 500 and 1,000 seats. Partners is can also tailor those offerings for different types of remote workers, including knowledge users, task users, power users, and engineers.
HPE will then tailor the class of servers deployed based on the nature of the workloads typically accessed by each class of end user, says Jesse Chavez, vice president of worldwide channels for HPE.
“We’re trying to make these solutions available in T-Shirt sizes,” says Chavez.
That approach enables end users to take advantage of monthly billing cycles that can easily scale up and down at a time when many organizations are uncertain how many end users they may need to support one month to the next.
While there has been a lot of interest in moving workloads to the cloud in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulk of the applications most end users need to access are still running in on-premises IT environments. IT organizations are now looking for a more flexible way to make those applications available to end user that will be working from home more often well after a COVID-19 vaccine is tested and distributed.
Some partners have been conflicted about reselling a managed service provided by a vendor when historically they could build their own. However, HPE is essentially eliminating much of the capital costs partners would incur if they rolled out their own service. The HPE GreenLake service is also now more extensible in that partners can increasingly customize the applications and services being provided.
After weathering the initial COVID-19 crisis most organizations are currently re-evaluating their IT strategies going to 2021. The one issue that is top of mind for all of them is, of course, remote computing. The one other thing they also all have in common is a lack of patience for implementing a VDI solution, which HPE and its GreenLake partners are in a better position to implement at a time when many internal IT teams are still working from home for the foreseeable future.
Overall, HPE is looking to make it more attractive to partner with the company by providing additional margins and price protection on deals involving new customers along with additional promotions and incentives that are both geography and industry centric. HPE is expanding co-selling opportunities between solution providers and various types of service providers participating in its Cloud28+ alliance program.
HPE is looking to reduce the friction partners regularly encounter when reselling platforms and services. HPE has created a Primary Storage Opportunity Engine (PSOE) to quickly develop proposals for storage systems; made it easier for partners to create customized built-to-order (BTO) configurations in collaboration with distributors; and expanded its demo program; and added sales training.
Finally, HPE is committing to maintaining the core requirements of the HPE Partner Ready Program it had in place in the first half of 2020 through fiscal 2021.
It’s too early to say how all these efforts will pay off in 2021, but the one thing that is clear is the opportunity to collaborate with HPE will be more rewarding for many more partners in the months ahead.
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