Nutanix is expanding its Elevate Partner Program for fiscal year 2027, introducing new incentives for customer retention, portfolio expansion, and service delivery, while also opening the program to systems integrators and consulting partners.
The changes, announced November 5, represent what Nutanix calls its largest investment in Elevate to date. They reflect the infrastructure vendor’s push to help channel partners build recurring services revenue and support increasingly complex customer environments.
In an interview with Channel Insider, Christian Goffi, Head of Channels, Americas, at Nutanix, said the updates are designed to encourage partners to move beyond transactional sales toward deeper customer engagement.
“We desperately need the partners to evolve from just selling point solutions, to really getting into the true point of being an integrator,” Goffi said.
Nutanix adds renewal rebates and partner growth incentives
The FY27 program introduces incentives spanning customer acquisition, account expansion, renewals, and services delivery.
Eligible partners can earn rebates for new customer transactions, expanding existing accounts into additional Nutanix offerings, and qualifying year-over-year growth. New referral incentives also create opportunities for systems integrators and consulting partners.
A significant addition is a renewal-focused incentive structure that encourages partners to remain involved after the initial sale.
“We need them to stick around after we make the sale,” Goffi said. “Not so much that they sell it and go to the next one and sell that one. Sell it and stay.”
Nutanix is also introducing earned Business Development Funds (BDF). Goffi described the initiative as a predictable 1% cash-back model on software sales, supplementing existing conditional rebates to support joint demand-generation activities.
The company is adding services competency recognition through its Powered by Nutanix: Verified Services program, allowing eligible partners to demonstrate implementation and delivery expertise.
All incentives remain subject to program eligibility and qualifying transaction requirements.
Kubernetes, AI, and multivendor services drive new demands
Beyond financial incentives, the program reflects Nutanix’s expanding portfolio and the new technical competencies required to support it.
Once primarily associated with hyperconverged infrastructure, Nutanix now offers capabilities spanning hybrid multicloud management, Kubernetes, and enterprise AI.
Goffi identified containers and Kubernetes as particularly important opportunities where partners need to develop expertise.
“The piece that is most challenging for me right now, and the biggest area of opportunity, is the move into containers and Kubernetes,” he said.
The company’s relationships with Cisco, Everpure, NetApp, and cloud providers also create opportunities for partners to combine technologies into integrated solutions.
According to Goffi, Nutanix increasingly evaluates partners on their ability to develop multivendor offerings, expand services capabilities, and adopt AI internally.
The company also plans to introduce Deal Coach, an AI-powered assistant within Nutanix Partner Central, later in its fiscal year to help partners navigate sales opportunities.
Nutanix shifts investment toward existing partner relationships
The changes arrive as vendors increasingly emphasize developing existing partner relationships rather than simply expanding ecosystem size.
Goffi said Nutanix intends to direct more investment toward partners demonstrating services expertise and proactive solution development.
“We’re more focused on doing it right with the ones that we have,” he said.
For traditional resellers, that creates pressure to demonstrate value beyond procurement and transactional relationships.
Goffi emphasized that Nutanix is preserving the profitability and trust principles underpinning its existing program while encouraging partners to evolve.
The changes signal that Nutanix is increasingly tying partner incentives to services expertise, long-term customer engagement, and the ability to deliver integrated solutions rather than rewarding transactions alone.
“We need you to evolve with us. We need you to get more competent in your services, and as you do, we’re going to reward you for it,” he said.