Last year, the technology sector experienced a boom of new possibilities and remarkable advances, from new opportunities in artificial intelligence to changes in the virtualization market, and Red Hat partnered with its allies to meet these demands and pave the way for innovation. To help them stay agile in this dynamic sector, in 2024 the corporation introduced the first phase of updates to its partner program, offering a new modular program structure, standardized incentives, and enhanced digital tools.
This year, it will be no different. Anchored in a product and technology co-creation module, new distributor engagement policies, and courses focused on the importance of incentives and refunds to drive sales, the second phase of updates to the global partner program focuses on bringing further enhancements to the partner side and assisting them in their business journeys alongside Red Hat.
Partner Program Co-Creation Module
In 2024, Red Hat implemented a modular approach to its partner program, starting with three modules focused on Reselling, Distribution, and Joint Selling, designed to help customers have more precision in the end activities of their businesses. Now, a new module, Co-creation, will be available in the coming weeks to further reward Red Hat’s technology partners.
The Co-Creation module will be aimed at partners who certify or validate their products and develop new solutions with company technologies. The course is particularly relevant to companies that identify themselves as independent software and hardware vendors (IHVs and ISVs), system integrators (SIs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Interested parties in training will earn points for activities such as joint solution creation, validation and certification of Red Hat platforms, and development of content and market launch strategies to bring these solutions to customers. Accumulated points will unlock various benefits, including training, sales, marketing, and technical support within the platform.
Streamlining engagement with distributors
The company is implementing a distribution model to encourage greater engagement between distributors and their focused partners, helping to increase skill development and improve product launch strategy execution in the market. This will enable business-to-business relationships, empowering partners to choose a distributor of their preference, with whom they can develop long-term planning.
By incorporating go-to-market activities within the partner program modules to recognize value-added initiatives, such as joint marketing asset creation, customer demos, proof of concept development, and more. This enables partners to earn points and rewards and enables the progression of opportunities in generating customer awareness. By integrating these activities, Red Hat aims to acknowledge partner performance through more holistic forms of engagement to achieve higher levels of effectiveness.
These go-to-market activities are included in all partner program modules. Thus, regardless of how partners choose to work with Red Hat, they can be recognized and rewarded as they engage with this content.
Expanding incentives and reimbursements
From the latest updates to the global partner engagement program experience, Red Hat has been standardizing reimbursements and incentives for reseller and distribution partners to achieve greater visibility and more predictable growth. This is a global implementation to provide company-affiliated businesses with clear and early insights to maximize profitability, plan sales cycles more effectively, and strengthen competitive positioning. The updated reimbursement and incentive structure complements the previously announced deal registration incentives by the organization, offering a greater range of opportunities for partners to successfully register and develop new business.
Next Steps
The transformation of the global partners program represents the company’s commitment to promoting an open approach with the alliance ecosystem, whether to deliver impactful and personalized solutions to customers or to drive lasting changes in organizational structures. At the center of Red Hat’s strategy lies greater autonomy among the different parties, so that everyone can benefit and have clearer growth opportunities.
Throughout 2025, members of this ecosystem will receive additional updates to develop new business flows and foster a more holistic and collaborative market vision. Meanwhile, as new features are not yet available, partners can find more information about the different program modules, go-to-market launch opportunities, the distributor-aligned model, and incentives in the Red Hat Content Center.
