SolarWinds looks to build pipeline with partners

SolarWinds has used its Partner Summit as the backdrop to announce enhancements to its channel programme, with improved rewards and increased enablement.

This is already turning out to be the week for partner programme enhancements, with Pure Storage rolling out refresh tiers and improved partner system support yesterday.

At SolarWinds, the vendor received feedback from partners calling for increased support and tools that would improve customer support and generate more opportunities.

“Listening to what they needed from SolarWinds, [it was] to better serve their customers, how to grow with us and support the resources they need. The clear ask was differentiation in the partner programme for their investments,” said Barb Huelskamp, global vice-president of channel and alliances at SolarWinds.

“We’ve had a partner-first journey for quite some time, and we continue to invest in partner programmes, tools and even our internal enablement to ensure that our partners can scale and succeed,” she added.

The updates focus on three main areas: improved benefits, certifications and enhancing the partner experience.

“We really do see our partners as an extension of our own go-to-market team. The programme has four primary pillars: competencies, sales and marketing, business planning and then financial,” said Huelskamp.

Huelskamp said the aim was to use the programme to reward existing partners, but as some regions continued to grow its partner base, the firm hoped the enhanced offering would attract more to sign up: “We have different needs in different markets, where we are in a mode of recruiting partners in certain areas where we need more representation.

“We want to make sure that we are really projecting ourselves in the partner community as a partner-first organisation, and this programme shows them our commitment to invest in them and to help them succeed,” she added.

The network observability player made moves last year to roll out a subscription model and working with partners to promote its platform to a wider range of customers.

Huelskamp said the vendor remained committed to working alongside its partners to unearth more business: “[Int terms of] how we are creating more pipeline together, our partners do a very good job providing us with access to new customers. So, how do we expand those existing customers?”

The virtual partner summit includes appearances by the channel team along with the CEO, CRO and the product leaders to underline the commitment to the channel

“Our CEO is emphasising our partner-first strategy, reflecting on that journey and the success we’ve seen together. Our CRO is also emphasising our go-to-market strategy in 2026 and how partners are integral to that,” said Huelskamp.

Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of SolarWinds, said the enhanced programme was part of the company’s wider efforts to support the channel: “By equipping partners to help customers predict disruptions, reduce risk and recover faster, we enable real operational resilience. These investments are focused on accelerating time to value and helping partners to deliver meaningful outcomes for their customers and solve complex problems via simple, secure and powerful solution.”