Lenovo looks to expand MSP program in APAC as it consolidates partner program for greater flexibility

The new partner tiers – Authorized, Gold, Platinum and Platinum 360—will be based on the revenue and competency goals partners are achieving across Lenovo’s entire portfolio.

Lenovo recently announced changes to its Lenovo 360 partner program as the vendor looks to provide more opportunities for its partners to scale, build capability, and compete in an outcome-driven market. The changes will see partners have simplified Lenovo 360 tiers structure to make progression and incentives more transparent and predictable for partners.

Specifically, Lenovo is reducing the number of tiers to just four from its previous nine tiers. The Authorized partner tier, which is the entry-level tier for new Lenovo partners, will remain unchanged while the other tiers will be consolidated into just three main tiers – Gold, Platinum and Platinum 360.

Apart from the changes to the partner program, Lenovo also unveiled Lenovo 360 for Services pathway to help partners build recurring revenue and deliver outcome-based solutions. The vendor also announced an expansion of the Lenovo 360 for Managed Service Providers (MSP) pathway into new markets, reflecting accelerating adoption of managed services models.

Speaking to CRN Asia, Rajesh Thadani, Lenovo’s Asia Pacific One Channel Leader, explained more about the changes to the program and how partners in the region can look forward to more growth.

“We basically wanted to remove all the complexity that partners would have, especially as we accelerate our One Lenovo transformation. Earlier we used to have separate tiers. Now we have all consolidated it and made it a very simple program, which has got only three tiers. The goal is to just have one motion where the partner, whether it's IDG or ISG, would basically fall into three tiers. They don't need to have separate rebates, credit condition criteria, or such. We just consolidate them and make it simpler,” Thadani explained.

Simplifying rebates

The changes to the partner program will also see partners have simplified rebate payments.

“We looked at the elements, which are like starting from base rebates, where we start paying them from dollar one. So, there's a lot of predictability in the way that we can make rebates. And then as they hit our threshold and start achieving their target, the rebate starts to scale. So, this clearly drives more predictability and also pays for performance. It also becomes less complex because there's only three tiers to manage,” he added.

At the same time, Thadani also pointed out that partners will now only get one form of communication from Lenovo to make it easier for them to interpret as well as reduce the time to market.

“Because we have sharper and a few elements to focus on, we're able to pay our partners also faster. So clearly, from a summary, it is clearly driving a lot more motion about ease of doing business and better profitability for a business partner. It becomes truly One Lenovo in nature,” he explained.

For Thadani, this would be something partners would welcome because it's simpler, drives more predictability and allows Lenovo to pay partners rebates faster.

“The big shift for partners is they will start making money early in the cycle. Partners would welcome it because in the past, everything was linked towards the achievement of the target. Now we are saying that even from dollar one, they start getting money, because we don't want to hold back. This makes it far more predictable for them in making rebates,” he added.

On ensuring partners have the right set of certifications and skills in the new tiers, Thadani shared that the changes will also see a curated list of certifications between IDG and ISG.

“We have basically given partners a set of certifications which are essential for them to achieve the skills. If the partner is from the Lenovo 360 tier, they need to achieve four levels of certification. Previously, they used to have separate for IDG and ISG, now its consolidated and made sharper. So, the skill level definitely continues to be the focus area but we have curated the list and made it easier for partners to achieve it,” Thadani explained.

However, Thadani emphasized that Lenovo is not consolidating certifications at the cost of compromising competency. Lenovo had looked at specific models that partners would need to complete, and made it sharper for partners to achieve. Put simply, the certifications have been curated to be easier for partners, but the products will still be sold according to each component and segment they are in.

Expanding the MSP offering

On the MSP offering, Thadani shared that it is a very targeted pathway for partners who are in that service-led model. This is also driving a lot more recurring revenues and deeper customer engagement.

“For example, in Australia, we launched the MSP program about a year back and we have seen our ability to engage with almost close to 900 plus partners in the MSP space. And the MSP partners are managed service providers who are hardware independent. Their expertise is to offer services to the customer. They need a stronger partner to engage with, to provide them with the hardware, the infrastructure. At the same time, they may have their own services. First, they want to look at how to be able to offer some services which can complete this stack. The capability that we have built is something they can leverage,” he said.

Given the success in Australia, Thadani shared that the goal now is to naturally expand the offering.

“We want to see how we can expand to other parts of the region in Asia Pacific, where we could look at markets like India or Japan, as a key focus for us to be able to go drive this further penetration as well. So clearly, the whole idea is to see how we leverage these services, partner profiles that we have for MSPs to be able to engage with us through this pathway. And we incentivize them in terms of offerings, rebates, so that they can drive this whole motion as well,” he added.

Thadani also mentioned that Lenovo is already in discussion with regional counterparts to see how they can drive this up.

“When I look at Australia itself, getting close to 900 plus partners in that region, then clearly when I look at our business with them, some of these partners already engaged with us in the past, but they were in a way not as active in terms of engagement. The moment we drove this MSP program; our business has multiplied by 3x. And there's a lot of value in terms of this program model as well,” he concluded.