Red Hat unveils new changes to global partner program
The company revealed three new updates to its partner program.
Red Hat has made several changes to its global partner program in a move to bring simplicity, profitability and predictability for its partners.
The company has unveiled three major changes to the program, the first is centred around creating predictable incentives.
New incentives will reward partners for “valuable” activities throughout the entire customer lifecycle, including critical pre-sales activities like workshops and assessments.
Red Hat noted that 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
Kevin Kennedy, vice president, global & Americas partner ecosystem success at Red Hat said, “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.”
Booking activities are also expanding to explicitly include application services and AI, in addition to product segments like RHEL, OpenShift, and Ansible Automation Platform
New modules
Red Hat has dropped a new cloud program module for its Certified Cloud and Service Providers (CCSPs).
Kennedy said, “This module will become available later this year and marks a critical programmatic shift to align with the consumption economy by focusing on Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) for points, instead of traditional bookings.”
The company’s specialised partner program now has an open application, 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,” Kennedy explained.
“To foster greater collaboration, the sell with module is moving to open enrolment for any qualified partner. This simplified, accelerated, and consistent enrolment experience opens new pathways for revenue growth for partners jointly selling solutions with Red Hat.”
Digital enhancements
Red Hat has also released a swathe of digital enhancements for partners, including, automated crediting for marketing and demand generation activities and, a “consistent” digital enrolment workflow.
Commenting on the new updates, John Nelson, head of ecosystem, Red Hat Australia and New Zealand told CRN for local partners, the shift towards more predictable incentives and broader deal registration is “particularly important”.
“It recognises the upfront work they do across the full customer lifecycle, from early workshops and assessments through to long term platform adoption, while also opening up new opportunities across cloud, OEM and emerging areas like AI and application services,” he explained.
Nelson said, the program changes also align well with how Australian partners are operating today, especially those focused on ARR, managed services and cloud consumption models.
“Combined with simpler digital processes and clearer pathways for recognition, these enhancements give partners greater confidence and autonomy to invest, differentiate and grow alongside Red Hat in the local market,” he ended.