To enable our partners to capitalize on the burgeoning enterprise mobility market and help ensure they stay on the leading edge of today's mobile-first world, we promised to merge the legacy Aruba and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Networking channel programs into a single, streamlined offering. This fall, we're keeping that promise with the introduction of Partner Ready for Networking (PRfN).
Developed with substantial input from our channel network, Partner Ready for Networking preserves the best elements of both legacy programs. Laser-focused on networking, the new program supplies our partners with predictable profitability, ease of doing business and mobile-first networking advantages.
Ready. Set. Grow.
Like our legacy offerings, Partner Ready for Networking includes a three-tiered membership structure: Platinum, Gold and Silver. What's more, we've included many attractive features from the existing programs, such as tiered membership discounts, incentives for achieving areas of specialization and easy to use deal registration with low deal size minimums, which will be beneficial to both partner sellers and partner principles.
To gain familiarity with Partner Ready for Networking, let's explore the primary program components and the benefits that await your business.
Predictable Profitability
Our partners are our heroes. It's that simple. As you've helped us become a significant mobile-first market presence, we've worked hard to bring you an outstanding new partner program. It's designed to enable you to build on the investments you've made and maximize your opportunities while giving you a more predictable revenue stream.
Tier integrity maintained. In appreciation of your efforts, you'll retain the same membership tier you've earned in the legacy Aruba PartnerEdge and HPE Partner Ready programs for FY 2017, starting November 1.
Put another way, partners who earn Platinum status in PartnerEdge or Partner Ready in FY 2016 will be forward granted as Platinum members of Partner Ready for Networking in FY 2017. It's the same story for our Gold and Silver partners. At a minimum, you will have at least 9 months to meet the FY 2017 requirements, enabling you to secure your status for FY 2018.
As it's in the best long-term interests of our partners to cross-sell and upsell both WLAN and switching solutions, Gold and Platinum partners will need to earn specializations for both wireless and switching in FY 2017 and beyond.
Simple Structure with standardized discounts. Partner Ready for Networking was developed to have a simple, straightforward discount structure that makes it easy for partners to calculate deal profitability at the front-end and back-end, each and every time. Further, program rewards are standardized for deal registration, membership tier and specializations earned.
Deal protection and deal registration. To further protect your investments, PRfN includes the popular PartnerEdge attributes of low deal-size minimums and easy to use deal registration.
Networking-centric. To ensure you can capitalize on the modern mobile-first era, Partner Ready for Networking focuses solely on networking solutions. Of course, there are business benefits to selling across the HPE ecosystem, and we offer partner rewards programs to match. However, we recognize that some of our valued partners have built their brands on networking, which is why we designed Partner Ready for Networking to align with your focus.
Specialization rewards. Like the existing HPE Partner Ready program, PRfN includes incentives for achieving specializations. These are based on achieving a minimum number of sales and technical certifications. To ensure that we protect your FY 2016 investments, you are immediately eligible for these incentives based on your FY 2016 specialization achievements. The payouts are based on your sell through and are paid at $1.
Ease of Doing Business
In addition to being a simple and transparent program, Partner Ready for Networking makes doing business with us a breeze.
Clear requirements. You asked for an unambiguous program, with requirements spelled out plainly. PRfN is exactly that. You'll always know what to expect up front – there's no guesswork or surprises – and you'll have a single point of contact for any questions or necessary assistance.
New One-stop Shop for Networking. So you can access all of our networking product innovations and tools easily, we've created a special Partner Ready for Networking site on our Partner Ready portal. The "Partner Ready for Networking site" will be a sub-site accessible via the HPE Partner Ready Portal (PRP) and will provide partners with Single-Sign-On (SSO) capability to seamlessly navigate across HPE's unified portal environment. Its widget-based interface will enable you to customize your home page, giving you one-click access to the features you use most. On or after November 1, we encourage you to visit and bookmark the new URL (https://partner.hpe.com/aruba) so that you can quickly access the "Partner Ready for Networking" site.
Mobile-First Networking Advantages
Naturally, you'll continue benefiting from product innovations that keep you at the forefront of mobility and IoT. This includes technologies with multivendor capabilities and ease of support, giving your business unlimited opportunities to offer customers value-added solutions and services.
Of course, we'll be excited to hear your feedback and suggestions for how we can continue evolving the program to help you focus on what you do best – providing your customers with the best networking and mobility solutions on the market.
