Red Hat boosts partner engagement with program updates and new Partner Demand Center

Building on our commitment to simplify, empower and grow with our partners, Red Hat is excited to announce the latest enhancements to our global partner engagement experience. These updates underscore our ongoing transformation efforts to provide greater simplicity, choice and flexibility for our valued partner ecosystem.

The epoch-making shift in the technology landscape, fueled by breakthroughs in AI and the dynamic world of virtualization, is reshaping every industry. Red Hat’s partner ecosystem is pivotal in helping customers navigate these seismic shifts and capitalize on emerging opportunities, which is why we are continuously refining Red Hat’s global partner engagement experience with an ecosystem-driven approach to IT modernization. Our transformation is rooted in three business enablers: a globally unified partner program, streamlined partner incentives and an enhanced digital experience.

Deepening expertise with Red Hat Specialized Partners

We're excited to launch the Red Hat Specialized Partner Program, formerly piloted as Partner Practice Accelerator, to drive enhanced industry recognition for validated partners and provide clearer pathways for partners to develop and showcase skills in high-demand areas that are critical to customer success. The Red Hat Specialized Partner Program recognizes partners’ deep technical expertise and proven service capabilities to support the full customer lifecycle, aligning with strategic technologies and streamlining go-to-market efforts for partners. 

With this evolution, Red Hat is extending the available partner specializations beyond Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat OpenShift to encompass additional products like Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and RHEL AI. Furthermore, the existing specialization for Red Hat OpenShift will be divided into specific focus areas, including virtualization, containers and application development. Qualifying partners will be recognized as Red Hat Specialized Partners categorized by their associated technical skills, such as "Red Hat Specialized Partner - Mission Critical Automation" or "Red Hat Specialized Partner - AI Platform."

We encourage partners to reach out to their Red Hat partner account managers to explore these new specialization opportunities and further differentiate themselves as leading service providers for Red Hat solutions. 

Introducing the Red Hat Partner Demand Center

The new Red Hat Partner Demand Center, featuring the Red Hat Campaigns and Demand Generation platform, is designed to help partners more easily deliver impactful marketing campaigns, content and programs. This enables partners to autonomously launch ready-made marketing campaigns and create workshop and webinar registration pages, promoting joint Red Hat solutions to their customers and prospects.

Key benefits of the platform include:

• Autonomous campaign execution: Partners can execute campaigns from start to finish with an intuitive, self-serve platform.
• Easily customizable content: Add your brand and message to turnkey activities to make the story yours.
• Comprehensive activity and lead tracking: Detailed dashboards provide insights into activities, performance, leads, and more.
• Extensive content library: The platform currently features over 16 campaigns available in nine core languages, spanning all major Red Hat products.

This platform is designed to provide partners with assisted control over their marketing efforts, providing them with  joint branding and messaging. Partners can request access to the new platform here.

Transforming to deliver autonomous engagement

The ongoing transformation of Red Hat's global partner engagement experience is a testament to our commitment to driving an ecosystem-first approach to deliver impactful, tailored solutions for customers. With this transformation, we are providing greater autonomy for partners to benefit from more choice, clearer growth opportunities and stronger collaboration with each other and Red Hat.

Red Hat continues to enhance our rebate strategy by extending and adding new rebate opportunities, aiming to increase partner profitability and drive product growth, particularly with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat OpenShift. This is complemented by a simplification of digital tools to improve the partner user experience, including enhanced tooling designed to provide greater autonomy and visibility for partners.

Learn more 

Partners can log into the Red Hat Partner Connect portal, reach out to their Red Hat partner account manager, or contact partner support for further information on these updates and to understand their current standing and eligibility requirements. Additionally, more details on updated rebates and incentives can be found in the Red Hat Content Center. 

If you are a partner and have not done so already, please complete the refreshed Red Hat Partner Engagement Experience Foundations course. This course outlines the critical elements of Red Hat’s partner program. You can also join us for our upcoming webinar on Tuesday, July 29 for a live demo of the partner demand center platform and its capabilities.