Topic: Partner Programs - Page 29

Erick and Rich discuss Lenovo’s purchasing program for selling data center gear as a service, the dangers of perfectionism when it comes to running a business, and two great gift options for ex-significant others to remember for next year’s Valentine’s Day.

The new offering will let managed service providers pay for server, storage, and networking gear in monthly installments while selling capacity on those resources to customers on an as-a-service basis.

Like numbers you can sink your teeth into? So do Matt, Rich, and guest host/channel pro Lisa Shorr, of Secure Future Tech Solutions and Shorr Success. That’s not all they chew over in this episode, either. There are also discussions about ConnectWise buying Service Leadership, Microsoft’s new “employee experience” solution, Trend Micro’s newly expanded XDR solution, and ChannelPro’s 2021 State of the Channel report.

At is annual briefing on that topic yesterday, company executives including channel chief Gavriella Schuster (pictured) outlined partner opportunities this year in the Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider and co-sell programs, as well as in hardware sales.

The changes include new sales incentives and VMware licensing options, a refreshed Online Solution Configurator and consolidated incentives center, and efforts aimed at promoting additional subscription-based selling.

Following a drop during its fiscal Q2, the hardware giant saw partner revenue grow 1% worldwide and 4% in North America in Q3. Now it’s counting on the recently introduced PowerStore portfolio to help it turn around its still struggling midrange storage business.

Integration services, endpoint managed services, and project-specific services have been rolling out this year and will continue arriving in 2021, according to Jason Bystrak (pictured), who leads the new venture along with the distributor’s cloud business.

Channel pros can now offer bundled combinations of cloud software and professional services on the AWS Marketplace. Those with custom-developed solutions to sell will gain access to a new partner program for developers next month too.

The hardware maker is signing partners and gaining share even as SMB market conditions remain sluggish, according to Steve Biondi, North American channel chief for Lenovo’s Data Center Group.

Though adoption of cloud solutions has skyrocketed this year due to the coronavirus, channel chief Gavriella Schuster (pictured) encourages partners to pursue additional opportunities in managed services, office reopening solutions, and virtual desktops too.