HP (NYSE:HPQ) has detailed what its new printing and personal systems (PPS) channel programme will look like when launches this November.
Last week at its Global Partner Conference (GPC) in Las Vegas the vendor expanded on its plan to separate into two companies later this year when its PPS group will be re-branded HP inc. and its enterprise business will become Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
Lynn Anderson, HP’s SVP of demand generation and channel marketing announced there would be two separate channel programmes, with HP Inc.’s programme called HP Partner First, and HP Enterprise’s programme will be HP Enterprise Partner Ready.
The Partner First programme will cover all partner bases with Value, Volume and Alliance Partner tracks, which HP says will meet the needs of transactional, solutions-oriented partners and system integrators.
The vendor says it wants the programme to reflect both its volume and value revenue streams, balancing its highly profitable transactional PC, print and supplies business with helping partners build practices around Managed Print Services (MPS) and areas like Mobility and IT as a Service offerings.
Speaking to Channel Pro, Thomas Jensen, VP of worldwide channel sales for the PPS group said: “In PPS we are more transactional, we’re more volume-driven than our colleagues in the enterprise business, so from November 1 we will be evolving the programme to cater still for the volume business, which is still a very large and important part of our revenue, but we will also build a value track where, for instance, the mobility solution will lie. We will be focusing on certain partners that have capabilities in the market.”
To ensure help partners develop these solution practices HP will offer a mobility training curriculum with both foundational mobility sales training, as well as vertically-focused training certifications specifically for healthcare, retail and education.
“[Solutions] has been a buzzword in the industry for several years, but at the end of the day, what many manufacturers have been good at is bringing products out that bundle them and call them solutions,” says Jensen.
“Rather than just bundling products, we’ve started to look at the workflow of the healthcare professionals, the education staff, the students, the retail staff…We’ve been looking at doing learning assessments in education. We’ve not just been looking at the hardware; we’re looking at security and relationships, and app development that integrates everything. So teachers would e babe to push all the material out to the devices, and give grades, all in one ecosystem.”
Jensen went on to reveal further changes to the way the partner tiers are structured: “Up until now in Europe, partners who become Platinum had a portfolio volume threshold. That meant they needed to meet the PC hardware, the print hardware and the supplies [threshold]. We have decided now that we’re going to make individual product tracks so you can be a Platinum partner if you’re a print-only partner,” he explained, adding the he threshold differs from country to country.
“We’re just giving partners with specialisation in certain hardware the opportunity to reach the highest tier in our partner programme.”
