Vendor focus

HP simplifies channel program

 HP Middle East refined its PartnerONE channel programme as of May 1, 2009, providing partners with a streamlined product offering and easier business processes, as well as more competitive pricing and compensation. The changes will enable HP to offer its channel partners reduced costs and greater efficiencies to maximise competitiveness. In addition, partners will benefit from an improved cash-to-cash cycle and more predictable compensation to reduce the uncertainty presented by the current economic environment.

As part of the changes, HP will enhance its product portfolio strategy to increase sales opportunities for partners. Integrating Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) hardware and supplies partners under a single accreditation and partner programme will provide IPG-focused resellers greater flexibility to choose their own market offering, opening up new sales opportunities. Additionally, these partners will benefit from a single point of contact, enabling more efficient, lower-cost account management by both HP and its partners.
The Personal Systems Group (PSG) will introduce a new product portfolio for the small-business, small-office (SBSO) segment, combining the best of its current Commercial and Consumer product families. This portfolio will benefit from aggressive up-front pricing and be available for orders in bulk quantities, helping to reduce administrative and supply chain costs for HP and its partners. 
HP will also streamline its PSG and IPG product portfolios, with plans to reduce the number of IPG configurations by up to 30 % over the next six months, and the number of PSG SBSO configurations by up to 35 %. These reductions will help significantly lower the amount of time that reseller partners spend choosing configurations and that distributors spend managing inventory.  
HP is streamlining its Pay for Results (PfR) compensation model for both reseller and distributor partners, providing more meaningful compensation that will help partners through the current economic difficulties by improving their cash-to-cash cycle and providing greater predictability in their earnings.
As part of the PartnerONE refinements, HP will be implementing the following changes:
  • Aggressive up-front pricing for the PSG SBSO line-up and fixed-rate linear compensation schemes for resellers on other PSG products, helping improve earnings predictability and lower administrative costs related to promotions and claims handling
  • Simplified compensation on the IPG hardware and supplies portfolio, reducing administrative time and costs associated with setting and tracking target
  •    Rebalancing of distributor composite margins towards front-end compensation, helping improve partner cash-to-cash cycles by reducing their dependency on back-end rebates
Partners will also benefit from additional opportunities to earn more money from their HP business. These opportunities include:
  • Higher IPG PfR compensation plus a twice-yearly business plan for IPG business, that will enable resellers to benefit from additional bonus upon sales-target achievement
  • Higher fixed compensation rates for PSG services and an expanded range of accessories to help resellers grow their “attach” business, as well as more compelling compensation on high-end PCs and notebooks
  • Higher compensation for PSG Specialist partners on products such as workstations and thin clients
Greater Opportunity to Increase Customer Demand
As part of the changes to PartnerONE, HP is offering its channel partners new opportunities to increase customer demand and generate leads. These include:
  • A larger addressable market with the alignment of the IPG hardware and supplies businesses, and the new PSG SBSO product portfolio
  • Improved availability and lower pricing for the new PSG SBSO portfolio, to better meet customer needs. The portfolio will be supported by additional co-marketing funds for integrated end-to-end demand-generation campaigns 
  • A new IPG Specialisation with specific sales programmes for different channel segments and a new services and solutions portfolio, including pay-per-usage contracts and document management software, to help expand partner offerings
  • The recently announced Territory Sales Organisation, responsible for driving partner leads in the midmarket for HP’s Enterprise Server and Storage business
“Channel compensation has become increasingly complex and focused on back-end rebates over the last fifteen to twenty years,” said Alastair Edwards, Senior Analyst at Canalys. “We believe that channel partners will welcome the simplified model that HP is putting in place, enabling them to reduce administrative overhead and providing greater predictability in an uncertain economic environment.”
“In today’s environment, our partners have neither time, energy nor money to spare—we need to help them make the very most of every business opportunity,” said Anil Kumar, General Manager, PSG, HP Middle East. “We are moving to a more streamlined and simplified business model that we believe will be more predictable for our partners, allow them to grow their business with HP andturn their cash faster.”
 

 

New refinements to improves partner cash-to-cash cycle

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