Partner leaders have shared their concerns about HPE and Cisco’s new-look Ts and Cs, with one emphasising that post-PO price hikes would often be “legally impossible” to pass on.
As exclusively reported by IT Channel Oxygen, HPE on 5 February told partners it has updated its Ts & Cs to allow for price adjustments “up to the day of shipment” on server and GreenLake orders.
Just days later, Cisco also told partners it is now reserving the right to adjust pricing on Compute orders between the order and shipment date.
Both cited supply constraints and escalating costs in the wake of the AI boom, with more vendors expected to follow suit.
“This feels very different”
Just how unprecedented is this, and how will this impact partner and customer behaviour?
IT Channel Oxygen caught up with leaders from seven top UK channel partners to get the view from the ground.
Jody Pawson, Sales Director at Convergent Technology, said the changes feel “very different to normal pricing swings” and voiced fears that partners will be left carrying the can.
“During Covid there were supply issues and price movements, but not this level of exposure written directly into contractual terms,” he said.
European Electronique CEO Yolanta Gill agreed, adding that post-PO price increases are “often legally impossible”.
“Shifting this volatility downstream effectively asks partners to underwrite the gap between a fixed customer budget and a floating vendor price,” she said.
Tom Stephens, CEO of Techary, raised the prospect of this now being the “new normal”, saying there is a “concern that vendors will generally now keep these terms in”, meanwhile.
Ian Foddering, VP of Europe at SHI, said his company is “already seeing greater openness to alternative vendors”, as well as increased scrutiny of cloud and renewed interest in second-user kit.
What did they say in full?
Read their responses on the following pages…
