US Channel Sales VP Rob Schaeffer: HPE's Super 6 Is Accelerating Opportunities For Partners

Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Super 6 sales strategies– which includes redefining experiences at the edge along with a steadfast focus on hybrid IT – are driving big sales growth opportunities for partners, said U.S. Channel Sales Vice President Rob Schaeffer in a keynote address to several hundred partners at XChange 2019.

One of HPE's biggest Super 6 game-changers is redefining the customer experience at the intelligent edge buttressed by a $4 billion investment over the next four years. "That investment will come in a lot of different shapes and forms, but certainly will be a benefit to each and every one of you as you provide solutions to our customers outside the data center," said Schaeffer, who spent 15 years building a $100 million solution provider business before joining HPE.

[Related: HPE's Scott Ramsay On The Secret To GreenLake's 300 Percent Channel Sales Growth Rate]

HPE's Super 6 sales targets total a whopping $65 billion-plus market opportunity with six major transitions facing customers where partners can drive higher margins with more services revenue.

Another Super 6 blockbuster: helping customers determine what is the right mix of hybrid IT. "Whether you are doing [on-premise] consumption [with HPE GreenLake] - public cloud, private cloud, we can help with all aspects of it," said Schaeffer. That also includes repatriation from public cloud which is becoming a bigger issue, he said.

The remaining four Super 6 high-value strategies driving high-margin growth opportunities for partners: storage to intelligent flash; unlocking data with artificial intelligence (AI) and Everything as a Service.

The storage to intelligent flash opportunity is a boom market for partners given that less than half the total market has converted to flash storage, said Schaeffer, "We have been talking about flash storage for a long time," he said. "I am really proud to say that we have industry-leading solutions."

At the heart of HPE's Nimble all flash platform and 3Par midrange all flash platform is InfoSight – a breakthrough predictive AI analytics software platform that is aimed at automatically resolving 86 percent of storage problems. "We believe with Nimble, 3Par and InfoSight it is a different discussion when we talk about managing data and information," said Schaeffer.

The unlocking data with AI Super 6 strategy is aimed squarely at delivering to customers the HPE vision of the autonomous data center. "We believe that we are on the precipice of making the autonomous data center a reality- self managing, self-healing, self-optimizing," said Schaeffer. Key to achieving that AI-based vision is HPE InfoSight which has moved from storage to compute, said Schaeffer.

The fifth of the Super 6 strategies - Transform IT with Software Defined – is being driven by HPE's OneView software-defined management platform which has more than one million licenses in use and is powering software-defined digital transformation along with HPE OneSphere, which can manage multiple clouds, said Schaeffer. The "future is here" powered by HPE software that is allowing customers to get the most out of their current IT investment as they move to a disruptive digital transformation IT state, said Schaeffer.

The final Super 6 Strategy is Everything as a Service, which is being driven by huge channel pipeline for HPE's GreenLake pay-per-use channel platform which grew at a 300 percent clip in the channel in the most recent quarter.

"We are winning in the channel with GreenLake, pipeline is growing massively," he told partners. "We would love to have more conversations about how do we deliver IT on a monthly basis through consumption solutions. We have the technology, the people – which includes you – and we can truly talk about how we redefine the economic conversation with partners and customers."

Michael Lomonaco, director of marketing and communications for OST, Grand Rapids, Michigan, an HPE partner for more than two decades, said he sees the Super 6 as a big differentiator for HPE.

"What we really like about the Super 6 is a focus on value proposition and strategy in a really complex market that we are in right now," said Lomonaco. "There are so many needs and solutions out there. It is really nice to see HPE focusing on what they do best based on the products they have now and are bringing to market."

HPE's hybrid IT focus – which has remained constant over the last three years – is a great opportunity for partners like OST, said Lomonaco. "The hybrid IT strategy is key," he said. "That is where organizations are going. People are moving their data from on-prem to the cloud and we are seeing a lot of great opportunities from the cloud back to on-prem. It's an area of tremendous growth and learning. As solution providers we work with organizations to help them determine what is best for their needs."

Lomonaco credited HPE CEO Antonio Neri and former CEO Meg Whitman for staking out the strategic high ground in hybrid IT with continuing commitment to partners. "HPE has had two strong and innovative leaders," he said. "The Super 6 allows channel partners to look at HPE differently and know immediately where they can go to help solve customer problems."

Rick Jordan, director of sales and strategic alliances at Groupe Access-Tenet Computer Group, Toronto, Canada, said HPE has unmatched partner DNA and has helped drive increased channel sales with acquisitions like Aruba and Nimble. "They have outstanding products and support for us," said Jordan. "The company is rock solid."