Eaton Promises 'Elevated Partner Experience' in Refreshed Channel Program

EATON PARTNER CONFERENCE — Intelligent power management firm Eaton is kicking off its two-day partner event, Eaton Partner Conference 2024, in Orlando, with more than 150 partners in attendance. There, it announced a channel partner program refresh.

That new experience is to include an "elevated partner experience," Donna St Denis, channel marketing director for the company, told Channel Futures. Eaton says it will make engagement "simpler" and more prone to channel partner development.

Marking 15 years since launching its PowerAdvantage Partner Program, Eaton conveyed that the program has been a "driving force behind our commitment to empowering our VAR and MSP partners."

St Denis additionally touched on the program and its new tiers geared toward channel partner education and expansion, which boasts three fresh levels of partnership.

"Registered, certified and premier partners will gain the support they need to progress through the various levels based on sales thresholds, training sessions and business plan submissions," she said.

Eaton's Donna St. Denis

Partners shouldn't worry about losing access to previous aspects of the program, she said.

"All levels will continue to include access to our training programs, dedicated technical support, exclusive sales and marketing resources, co-marketing opportunities and deal registration discounts," said St. Denis.

She did, however, note that higher tiered-channel partners who meet the criteria for certified and premier partnership will receive "more lucrative deal registration discounts, access to rewards programs and marketing development funds (MDF), as well as other benefits."

Eaton Partner Conference: A Focus on Partner Enablement

With so many developments on the channel partner front emerging from the Eaton Partner Conference, we spoke with the man who leads the sales charge at Eaton, Steve Loeb.

Loeb, vice president of distributed infrastructure sales, told Channel Futures about the various partner types with which the company works and what Eaton does to support market demand. It's doing so via what he called "incremental investments" in distributed IT and data center infrastructure.

"We have done so to enable our partners to drive new revenue opportunities from our solutions," Loeb said.

As education plays a role in ensuring partner success, Loeb noted that partners and MSPs attending the Eaton Partner Conference will get practical insights into how they can leverage Eaton’s power management solutions to drive recurring revenue and better serve their end customers.

"This includes a range of distributed IT solutions that include uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), rack power distribution units (PDUs), IT racks, connectivity and peripherals, and a multitude of other technologies supporting our partners and their customers," the sales leader shared.

Leveraging Data Centers to Accelerate DX

With the artificial intelligence revolution well underway, the number of companies undergoing some form of digital transformation (DX) is undoubtedly massive.

Eaton's leadership accentuated its Brightlayer Data Centers suite, which the company launched last September, adding that it assists partners in accelerating their DX efforts.

Eaton's Steve Loeb

"It does so by bringing together asset management, IT and operational device monitoring, power quality metrics and advanced electrical supervision in a single, native application," Loeb told Channel Futures.

Highlighting another partner point of interest, Loeb said that partners and MSPs using the Distributed IT Performance Management software gain access to advanced cybersecurity protection to "execute and remove firmware upgrades and configuration changes to safeguard critical end customer data from potential cyber threats."