Pure Storage Partner Program Enhancements Elevate Partner Experience

Pure Storage continues to do better by its partners with new enhancements to its Pure Partner Program, the company said on Thursday.

The vendor also introduced the new Pure WaveMakers program.

Pure Storage’s Wendy Stusrud

“We always try to improve the partner experience. So, every time we speak with our partners about their pain points, what we can do better, and what makes their job easier every day, those are the improvements we try to deliver to our partners,” said Wendy Stusrud, vice president, Americas channel sales. “We are developing new programs, incentives, and the portal is streamlined and easier for the partner to use. We want to be easy to do business with.”

Pure is a 100% channel-led company.

Partner Portal for a Virtual World

Beginning with the improved and redesigned partner portal, it includes easier access to the latest sales and technical resources, training, personalized marketing campaigns, a digital asset library, social selling content and more.

Something as simple as easier access to resources during the pandemic is critical. It empowers partners when working virtually is the norm.

“We all recognize that we’re at-home sellers today. We might not be in the future, but how we make more things easier to access on the portal is important,” said Stusrud.

To that end, Pure expanded its Pure Sizer Tool, the platform used for FlashArray//X sizing activity that highlights recommended configurations and provides additional models to consider based on Pure1’s backend analytics. Partners now have access to the Pure Sizer Tool for the FlashArray//X70 and //X90 models. It provides them with instant access to performance and capacity-sizing information for the entire FlashArray//X portfolio. Partners can size configurations based on capacity and performance needs using input gathered from the customer’s environment, and understand the capacity and environmental specifications for a FlashArray.

“Using the tool, partners can create their own configurations, their own designs, create their own proposals for their customers and respond quickly to them in this online world,” said Stusrud.

Today, partners don’t have the luxury of face-to-face meetings with customers or taking tours of the data center, making it more difficult to sell.

Training, Incentives and WaveMakers

Pure added new training online accessible through the partner portal. These new training courses focus on selling subscriptions and new use cases for file and object storage, as well as enhancements to training.

“We’re developing new tracks to meet where our partners are going. One of the things they’ve asked for is about services. So we’re asking partners to build their own services offerings around their Pure practice,” said Stusrud. “This will help differentiate who they are and the value they can deliver to the customers.”

Regarding incentives, Pure is a doubling down on incentives for partners who bring in new customers. The goal is to is to drive Pure-as-a-Service, an opex model. In the company’s second quarter, which ended in July, Pure saw …