HP Brings Poly, Distributors Into Amplify Program, Vowing New Era Of Partner Growth

HP channel execs talk to CRN about how the PC and print giant is making the biggest expansion yet to its Amplify partner program: integrating the recent acquisitions of Poly, HyperX and Teradici, introducing a compensation rate multiplier for partners who sell a larger share of HP’s portfolio, and bringing distributors into the fold to better serve a broader channel.

Kobi Elbaz

HP Inc. is vowing to give channel partners a variety of new ways to grow sales and increase profitability with the biggest expansion yet of its three-year-old Amplify program.

Starting Nov. 1, HP’s Amplify partner program will, among other things, integrate all the PC and print giant’s products and services, including its acquisitions of videoconferencing giant Poly, gaming peripherals designer HyperX and remote computing software provider Teradici from the past two years.

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“We have a bigger portfolio. We believe we can provide a better solution for the customer. And by working with HP, [partners] can accelerate their growth and profit,” Kobi Elbaz, who has led Amplify as HP’s global channel chief since November 2021, told CRN in an interview.

Selling More From HP’s Portfolio? More Compensation For You

With that integration comes a new compensation multiplier, called More for More, that will increase the compensation of commercial partners who sell multiple product and service types from HP’s wider portfolio, which includes strategic growth areas like hybrid systems and Workforce Solutions.

“Now if you add peripherals and Poly headsets and Workforce Solutions to your personal system sales, you’ll be able to get additional compensation and benefits for selling across the portfolio like that,” said Mary Beth Walker, head of HP’s global channel strategy.

The benefit will add a few percentage points to the compensation rate for every product or service sold by a partner, though the exact rate multipliers will vary by country, according to Elbaz.

The integration of HP’s recent acquisitions combined with the More for More benefit will translate into increased sales and profitability not only for HP’s long-running partners but also partners of Poly, HyperX and Teradici who are being folded into Amplify next month.

“We bring these to a lot of Amplify partners that never been given access to that, so it will help us to really to grow the business with both Poly, HyperX and Teradici,” Elbaz said.

The More for More benefit can also give partners a better chance of doing more business with their customers in the future, according to the channel executive.

“I do believe it will change some of our engagement with customers to a better experience and lifetime value than just transactional, because once you start to sell more services around that or a solution around that accessory, I think it also increases your stickiness to the customer,” he said.

An executive at one HP channel partner called the More for More benefit innovative and said it demonstrates the vendor’s commitment to partners.

“More for More provides us with the chance to maximize sales reimbursement and profitability, reinforcing our business relationship,” said Peter Hernandez, managing partner of management and alliances for Insight Enterprises’ Canadian business, in a statement.

Distributors Join Amplify, Expanding HP’s Channel Reach

Amplify’s November expansion will also include the addition of distributors to the program. This will allow distributors to take advantage of its various benefits, improve the impact of their advanced capabilities such as digital solutions or refurbishment services, and better serve HP’s partners.

“Our channel partners in the second tier, not all of them have the same capabilities in terms of services or cloud offerings, etc., like the big ones. So by us working together with our distribution, we enable them to provide it to customers,” Elbaz said.

With HP’s data-sharing Amplify Insight initiative, distributors will also have a better way of identifying sales opportunities with the company’s second-tier partners, whether it’s looking at HP’s install base or product warranties that are set to expire.

“I think it will make our distributors more efficient, but also as a partner, you will get more relevant offerings from our distribution based on that,” Elbaz said.

An executive at the European branch of TD Synnex called the HP Amplify Distribution program “the first and best tailored program in the industry optimized for distributors.”

“Through enabling our broad channel capabilities with our digital platform and SMB focus, we can achieve incremental growth and profitability together,” said Brandon Lieberthal, vice president of PC systems and print solutions at TD Synnex Europe, in a statement.

HP Simplifies And Speeds Up MDF Reimbursement

Another new benefit coming to Amplify in November is called Fast Lane, which the company said will speed up and simplify the market development fund claim process for eligible partners.

HP claimed that Fast Lane can speed up MDF reimbursement by as much as 50 percent, which Elbaz said is part of broader efforts to simplify the way partners do business with the vendor.

Other initiatives in this area include improvements to HP’s configure-price-quote tool and lead times for products through a diversification of the company’s supply chain, as outlined in CRN’s April 2023 cover story about CEO Enrique Lores’ transformation of HP into a hybrid work powerhouse.

“It makes it easier for [partners] to engage and operate with HP,” Elbaz said.

Growth Plays Will Compensate Partners For Specialization

On top of the benefits and changes coming to Amplify next month, HP revealed another initiative coming next year that will reward commercial partners who specialize in certain growth areas.

Debuting in May 2024, the initiative is called Growth Plays, and it’s a new specialization program built around HP’s strategic growth areas that will provide unique tools, other kinds of resources and compensation to partners who invest in certain categories.

“Basically, Growth Plays are going to be focused on incremental opportunities and increased profitability for the partners through specializations,” Walker said.

When the program rolls out next year, the initial focus will be on managed print services, lifecycle services, small and medium business video collaboration solutions, and HP software.

“Based on each one of the Growth Plays, there will be a set of requirements to be able to participate in that Growth Play, and you can expect that those will potentially include training, certifications and capabilities that need to be displayed by the partner to be able to participate,” Walker added.