Pure Storage says partners in Australia and New Zealand are ahead of their global rivals in their pursuit of accreditations under its refreshed partner program.
The storage company announced its new program in May 2018. The most visible feature of the new program was a reduction of tiers from three to two.
Michael Sotnick, Pure’s vice president of partners, services and business development, told CRN the change was made because the three-tiered structure saw partners often ask how they could progress through the tiers.
“Conversations around how partners could move up between tiers dominated the conversation rather than conversations about how to compete effectively and drive a more profitable relationships,” Sotnick said. The two-tier program – Pure now has Preferred and Elite partners – was designed to address that.
Qualification for Elite status not arduous: the entry point is US$500,000 of sales on a trailing 12-month basis, which with Pure average deal value at US$200,000 means a handful of deals get a partner most of the way over the line. Elites are also required to have a dedicated Pure practice plus certain levels of pre-and-post-sales resources, and to have sourced over half of the Pure deals they work on.
The payoff of Elite status includes access to more engagement with Pure, plus authorisation to deeper discounts than those offered to other partners.
Those conditions came into effect on 1 August, with partners given until 1 May, 2019, to be compliant.
Sotnick told CRN that 32 percent of ANZ partners have already ticked all the right boxes, ahead of the “high twenties” of global partners.
Australian Pure partner Katana1’s Victorian sales director James Vercillo told CRN the company was probably compliant with the new Elite requirements on 1 August. While Vercillo said attaining Elite status is “more around recognition” than other benefits, he said Katana1 now sees more focus from Pure’s channel team and values the education offered to help advance the partner’s technical and business skills.
Australian Pure partner Katana1’s Victorian sales director James Vercillo told CRN the company was probably compliant with the new Elite requirements on 1 August. While Vercillo said attaining Elite status is “more around recognition” than other benefits, he said Katana1 now sees more focus from Pure’s channel team and values the education offered to help advance the partner’s technical and business skills.
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