Channel News
3 Big Ways HP Amplify Is Driving Partner Profits
Dylan Martin
‘When we bring solutions into the market, we think about how we bring them and grow them through the channels, so channel is part of our DNA,’ HP Inc. Channel Chief Kobi Elbaz tells CRN as the IT giant plans to further expand its HP Amplify partner program.
HP Inc. Channel Chief Kobi Elbaz said the IT giant is “doubling down on the channel” by giving partners more ways to grow and drive profits through the company’s two-year-old HP Amplify program.
In a recent interview with CRN, Elbaz said channel partners drove more than $7 billion of growth for HP in the last three years, which he credited to the company’s focus on product innovation, the pandemic-induced rise of hybrid work culture and the way HP keeps partners top of mind with new products.
[Related: ‘Truly A Dream Team’: HP-Poly Integration Full Steam Ahead]
“When we bring solutions into the market, we think about how we bring them and grow them through the channels, so channel is part of our DNA,” said Elbaz, who took the channel helm as general manager of the Palo Alto, California-based company’s global channel organization in late 2021.
Elbaz said partners are “super critical for HP” — with indirect sales accounting for close to 90 percent of the company’s annual revenue — which is why HP Amplify is a top priority for the company.
“Our success is dependent on the channel and our collaboration with the channel,” he said.
With progress “going well” for the integration of HP’s $3.3 billion acquisition of peripheral and videoconfencing giant Poly from last year, the company sees a bigger opportunity for partners to sell from HP’s expanding portfolio that help customers embrace hybrid work, according to Elbaz.
“There are a lot of pockets of opportunities that before we couldn’t address. Conferencing is one great example. We’re all working in hybrid work. Think about the statistic: There are 90 million conferencing rooms in the world; less than 10 percent of them are equipped with video. So think about the opportunity for us and the channel partners. And Poly was 100 percent channel-driven, so we are doubling down on the channel,” he said.
As the company plans to expand HP Amplify’s offerings further, one solution provider executive tells CRN that the partner program is one of the best in the industry.
“I work with a lot of partner programs throughout the industry, and I think HP’s is top notch. I think it’s head and shoulders above just about every other program,” saidMike Turicchi, vice president of strategic relations and marketing at Manassas, Va.-based HP partner NCS Technologies.
What follows are three big ways HP Amplify is already helping channel partners grow and drive profts.
