NetApp’s New Partner Program – doing business your way.

To our partner community,

As we count down the days to NetApp INSIGHT 2022, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to our partner community. Thank you for your trust, for your loyalty, and for your continued support in helping our shared customers realize incredible business value through your innovations built on NetApp. This year, we reached a major milestone when NetApp crossed from $5.74B to $6.32B in revenues. This is due in large part to your efforts, and we are grateful.

NetApp has always been a partner-first organization, with 80% of our revenues driven by you. While this is not changing, the world is – and NetApp must adapt and adjust in a thoughtful, purposeful way. As a result, we are making your partner program better and more meaningful so that you can offer new delivery models featuring enhanced capabilities and highly specialized services. Over the past several months, I have met with many of you and listened to your feedback. It is your insights that are driving the changes we’re making, and me and my team are excited to share some of them with you now.

Your business is evolving to drive innovative digital and cloud solutions, along with flexible consumption models for your customers. Customers rely on you to help them make sense of how and when to use advanced technologies to innovate and transform their enterprises, their industries, and their world.

You want to be best positioned to capture greater market share, and that means you want partner programs that align to how you intend to engage your customers. You are adding new capabilities to support your customers across their entire journey. Perhaps most importantly, you are unique and want to work with us in ways that are flexible and tailored to help you quickly develop new skills and competencies.

In response to these needs, we are introducing NetApp Partner Sphere, a cloud-focused and services-led program that will accelerate our joint business. NetApp Partner Sphere consolidates and simplifies multiple programs into one. We have created a single pathway for every partner type, business model, and route to market as you evolve your business in the cloud so we can meet you and your customers exactly where you are.

We have enhanced our training and support and added new recognition and rewards to validate your capabilities and investments. This program will accelerate your reach into the cloud and open more doors for new business opportunities with an expanded of solutions and flexible consumption models.

Our simple path follows a progressive tiering model and clear criteria to grow your partnership from “Approved” to “Preferred” to “Prestige” to our exclusive ” Each tier will have clear “gives and gets” so that the value is reciprocal, and there is a growth path for benefits ranging from solution-specific marketing campaigns and enablement to MDF funds and value-based incentives.

But here’s what matters most: at the heart of this program is you and what makes you unique. You will have the freedom to choose the level with which you want to engage, and you will be able to fully understand the measurable value that results from that choice.

We are excited to share this next evolution of our partner program with you because we know that our future is tied to yours. When we win, we win together – and nobody benefits more than our customers.

We will be unveiling more details over the coming months, but feel free to reach out to your Partner Account team to learn more.

Our doors, and our pathways, are always open,

Here’s to a new era of partnership and prosperity!

Jenni Flinders