HPE GreenLake is now at the front and centre of the company’s everything-as-a-service roadmap and the massive expansion of available options has extended its appeal to the mid-market and SMBs – Newsflash spoke to two senior HPE executives and TD SYNNEX’s own experts about how far HPE GreenLake has come and where it is headed next.
It took a little while, but HPE Greenlake has now become a firmly established proposition in the market. There has been a significant acceleration of interest in recent months, with more organisations giving serious consideration to making it the central pillar of their hybrid infrastructure.
The reason for that, President Ntuli, director cloud services UKIMEA, HPE told us, is the huge expansion of the options available for HPE GreenLake that have been added over the past year – and the decision the company took to place HPE GreenLake at the very centre of its strategy. ‘We've been in a transition. Back in 2019, we took a bold step and said that everything we do would be delivered as a service by 2022. We’re doing that and now every new solution that comes from HPE will be on HPE GreenLake.’
Working with partners, taking an open approach, and providing a platform for growth are also key to the success of HPE GreenLake, he pointed out. ‘Our transition to as-a-service is built around three core principals. First, that every one of our solutions should be partner-enabled and ready for them to take to market. Second, that our solutions should be open, so partners can build their own value on top of our technology. The third is that they should be scalable, providing an ability to grow, which is one of the fundamental principles of HPE GreenLake.’
Brand value
HPE GreenLake has now become a brand, not just a product. New offerings will be sold under the banner of ‘HPE GreenLake for Storage’, or ‘HPE GreenLake for Compute’ and so on. The aim is to drive standardisation across the entire range, give customers more choice, and deliver an excellent experience for both the partner and the customer. ‘A lot of people really believe in the HPE brand, and we want them to link HPE GreenLake to that, and to HPE’s reputation for innovation and engineering’, said President Ntuli.
This is a significant change. Previously, anything available as HPE GreenLake was a consumption-based offering. The new HPE GreenLake is an end-to-end set of options, from the data centre to the edge, embracing cloud and on-premises. This all-encompassing approach is why HPE GreenLake is now leading the way in the hybrid infrastructure market and partners are seeing higher levels of interest.
‘Previously it was a very customised solution’, Adam Wlasak , Cloud Services Pursuit and Business Lead, UKIMEA, HPE, explained. ‘What we have now is a level of pre-defined solutions that the customer can take as they are, a more managed level of services, and a set of fully customisable solutions. It’s a whole range of options now.’
Embracing SMB and mid-market
This has brought mid-market and SMB customers into the equation – and that’s really making a difference, said Julie Rutherford, HPE GreenLake business development manager, TD SYNNEX. ‘HPE GreenLake is most certainly not just for the enterprise anymore. Because it’s SKU-based, it can be more transactional and less complex. The statement of work can still be a challenge but it’s a lot simpler than it used to be – and partners can add their own offerings and services around HPE GreenLake.’
Another significant factor is the broad acceptance amongst end-user customers that a hybrid infrastructure model is now the way forward. This plays straight into the hands of HPE GreenLake and as the proposition now covers not only servers and storage, but also Aruba networking and software, it extends the potential for partners.
HPE GreenLake has become an enabler both for services and for product sales. There are workloads and options to suit every size of organisation and sector. HPE has taken advantage of its strategic partnerships with the likes of SAP, VMware, Citrix, Microsoft and NVIDIA to provide solutions that make use of their technologies.
Even with pre-defined solutions, HPE GreenLake will give customers the flexibility to make use of different cloud services, or to switch them back into co-location data centres, or onto their own on-premises servers, Adam Wlasak noted. ‘You have better control with HPE GreenLake. There can be unexpected costs when you move to the public cloud, and you need skills to manage those environments – and those skills are in high demand.’
It’s about having the right workload in the right place
To be clear, what he’s not saying here is that HPE GreenLake will always be a better choice than a public cloud. Indeed, helping customers to navigate their way through the vast array of public cloud options is one way in which partners are adding value. ‘It’s about having the right workload in the right place. In the public sector space especially, we have seen a lot of successes where partners have been able to provide that managed service wrap and give the customers a better experience.’
Building customers for life
For partners, the launch of the HPE GreenLake cloud platform and extended range of options was a real turning point, said Andrew Stuart, HPE business unit director, TD SYNNEX. ‘We have seen a seat change from partners. At first, a lot of them were hesitant about jumping in with HPE GreenLake, but perhaps because of some of the successes we have seen recently, more of them are getting involved now.
‘Partners have felt more comfortable building their value proposition around HPE GreenLake because, in terms of implementation and management, it has that cloud-like look and feel and there is a more complete portfolio now with software subscription as well as the “classic” HPE GreenLake options. It’s an end-to-end proposition and partners can go step by step. It fits the channel really well.’
President Ntuli agreed. ‘Partners now see HPE GreenLake as an opportunity to build customers for life. We are seeing a 96% customer retention rate with HPE GreenLake and that gives partners the opportunity to develop more business and grow with those customers.’
A seat at the table
HPE GreenLake is also becoming a real differentiator for partners, said Andrew Stuart. ‘Partners now find themselves getting involved in the early planning stage and talking to not only the IT department but with the FD and the senior people in the organisation, because what GreenLake delivers goes to the heart of everything. It’s getting them a seat at the exec’ table and that’s really important.’
Rather than competing with the public cloud, HPE GreenLake can make full use of it
He believes HPE has made an extremely smart strategic move with HPE GreenLake. Instead of competing directly with the hyperscalers, it is taken a lead in delivering a truly hybrid set of options that meets customer needs and enables partners to add their own value. This is building on the established reputation of HPE.
Rather than competing with the public cloud, HPE GreenLake can make full use of it, and customers can manage and orchestrate all resources through HPE GreenLake. It’s a complete hybrid and collaborative message that works both for the customer and the partner.
Extended reach
As the entry-point is now much lower than it was, it also works for SMBs and mid-market businesses as well as large enterprises. This is where TD SYNNEX can really add value, by making it easier for partners to access the much wider range of HPE GreenLake options that are available. With the QuickQuote tool that’s available for HPE GreenLake, it is possible to prepare a customer quote in minutes. There are HPE GreenLake options that require no more commitment than £800 per month. Orders can be placed on the same day. All this makes it much easier to get the business done.
A lot of partners still won’t have the experience or confidence with HPE GreenLake, but TD SYNNEX has been through the transition with HPE over the last two years
TD SYNNEX is now ready to help more partners make the most of the HPE GreenLake opportunity, as Julie Rutherford explained. ‘A lot of partners still won’t have the experience or confidence with HPE GreenLake, but TD SYNNEX has been through the transition with HPE over the last two years.
‘Having gained that experience, we can guide partners through consumption, subscription, management, routes to market, how to position HPE GreenLake and conduct assessments. We can even help them with demonstrations and co-selling, articulating what HPE GreenLake is and the benefits it brings. We can even support partners in navigating the contractual flow and documentation with our local Legal team. We are hearing from our partners that this type of value isn’t available anywhere else.’
More to come
Being committed to HPE GreenLake from the start has benefited TD SYNNEX and its HPE partners, said Andrew Stuart. ‘We got involved early and we’ve been able to tap into our digital marketing capabilities and identify opportunities for partners in specific vertical markets. We can demonstrate HPE GreenLake, and we have an in-depth understanding of HPE platforms. It’s never been more important to provide a solid proposition model and return on investment for the customer, and we can help partners to do that.’
We are going to add much more to our value proposition with HPE GreenLake over the next 18 to 24 months
There is more to come – and chances for more partners to start taking the HPE GreenLake proposition to market. ‘We are going to add much more to our value proposition with HPE GreenLake over the next 18 to 24 months and it will be a really exciting journey. This is a different HPE. Being a leader in the hybrid marketplace while it is still being shaped and defined is incredible and a great opportunity.’
