HP restructures Amplify program

HP is restructuring its Amplify Partner Program, scaling down three tiers to just two from 1 May.

The personal computers and printer vendor first launched the program in 2020 with the tiers Synergy, Power and Power Services.

However, Power Services, the highest tier, will now be known as Power Elite and Global Elite, which will be open to a “handful” of partners who have the highest revenue and scale.

The remaining program will be divided between the tiers Synergy and Power as part of HP’s goal to “simplify” its partner interactions.

Speaking to ARN, HP head of greater Asia channels Gary Hang said the reorganisation followed feedback that the Amplify structure was “confusing”.

“People were asking: ‘is Power Services higher than Power?’. They’re very hard to differentiate compared to metal tiers. Because of that confusion, we introduced Power Elite as the best of the best.

“At the global level, there will be very few partners selected for Power Elite. I’ve spoken to a few partners about the Power Elite tier, and they say it is a good recognition, both internally and for their customers.”

Speaking to partners during HP’s Amplify Partner Conference, HP global channel chief Kobi Elbaz revealed that more than 85 per cent of HP revenue is coming through the channel, which is valued at around US$43 billion worth of business.

“Together, we delivered a very solid result in a very challenging market,” he told delegates. “In our PC business, we grew year-on-year in a declining market. In print, we are in the number one position in every market. Our services business grew with channel by 40 per cent.”

Last year, HP launched Amplify for All, which brought its entire product portfolio under one program, and Amplify for Distribution.

In addition, it began its More for More program in the last quarter, with Elbaz claiming that partners who took advantage of it have already doubled business referrals and services.

As an extension of More for More, HP partners will now be able to gain benefits through Growth Play, which focuses on four distinct areas: Digital Services, Video Collaboration, Active Care Services, AI Data Science.

“Growth Play is designed to provide you with the tools, capabilities, training and benefits, as well as joint business planning around [growth] areas,” Elbaz said. “We want to invest together in order to capture the opportunities.”

To improve and speed up the deal process, HP also intends to extend its accelerator Fast Lane to more partners and invest in its AI-powered pricing tool.

“We need to make it easier to do business together,” Elbaz said. “Through our AI platform, we have now more than 70 per cent of deals go through this platform [and get] a price in less than two hours.

“We are not going to stop there. We want to have much more business go through this platform and we want to move to minutes, not hours.

Elbaz also noted that HP’s small business-targeted service, Smart Buy and Smart Buy Plus, was now active in 124 countries globally.

Eleanor Dickinson travelled as a guest of HP to Las Vegas for HP’s Amplify Partner Conference.