Red Hat updates partner program

Red Hat has updated its partner program, providing a structure that prioritises co-investment to drive profitability across core business areas for partners.

Red Hat’s incentives strategy is shifting away from simple reimbursement towards predictable rewards that better compensate partners who invest in Red Hat technologies and solutions.

New incentives will reward partners for activities throughout the entire customer lifecycle, including critical pre-sales activities like workshops and assessments. This new offering, separate from traditional Market Development Funds (MDF), is designed to reduce the necessity for partners to make upfront investments in order to participate in incentive benefits.

A major enhancement driving incentives is the expansion of rebates and deal registration to cover additional indirect routes to market, including OEM and cloud opportunities.

This significantly broadens partner eligibility for incentives and will aim to help increase profitability for a wider range of partners, and additionally, partners will benefit from improved deal protection.

Bookings activities are also expanding to explicitly include application services and AI, in addition to product segments like RHEL, OpenShift, and Ansible Automation Platform. This move rewards partners for selling success in key strategic growth areas in addition to existing product categories. 

Red Hat also announced a new Cloud program module for Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Providers (CCSPs). This module will become available later this year and marks a programmatic shift to align with the consumption economy by focusing on Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) for points, instead of traditional bookings. 

The Red Hat Specialised Partner, launched in July, program now features an open application, replacing the previous nomination process, allowing partners to self-nominate. As an added reward for their investment, Specialised Partners will earn an increased number of points, which can unlock deeper benefits, for each specialisation that they complete. 

The Sell With module is moving to open enrolment for any qualified partner, intending to open new pathways for revenue growth for partners jointly selling solutions with Red Hat. 

The latest digital enhancements to the Red Hat Partner Portal includes launching automated crediting for marketing and demand generation activities that are managed through the Red Hat Partner Demand Center and approved for MDF funding, removing the manual submission burden for partners.

The company has also implemented a more consistent digital enrolment workflow across all Red Hat Partner Program modules, aiming to provide a smoother, more user-friendly onboarding process. Functionality is expanding to include increased permissions for partner users, giving partners greater control and visibility over opportunities, progress, and point accumulation.