Tech giant Intel recently announced changes to its partner program to simplify its operational elements and streamline how channel partners manage joint opportunities with Intel products.
We spoke with the General Manager of the Intel Partner Alliance, Andrew Marsee, about how the company plans to work with various types and sizes of partners moving forward.
Refresh takes tiers down to two and reduces the number of designations
Arguably, the most significant change Intel has made is in the structure of the program itself. The company has reduced the tiering from three to two, eliminating the more traditional metals-based naming convention in favor of “partner” and “prestige” tiers, separating select top partners from the broader base.
Along with that shift, Intel has also streamlined the partner designations within both tiers, reducing them from eight to five to reduce overlap and simplify understanding of what types of partners Intel works with.
Marsee says the company sees this as a strategic shift in approach, not an overhaul of the ecosystem.
“This isn’t a major transformation to the program in the way you see others in the space doing so,” Marsee said. “This is really an enhancement to the program we first rolled out in 2021.”
All partners retain access to training materials, incentivized activities aligned to products, and Intel support. Prestige-tier partners gain access to additional co-branding opportunities and enhanced support and enablement, following a structure similar to most tiered partner programs in the market.
Points incentive structure sees financial boost and alignment to next-gen solutions
Marsee also emphasizes that Intel’s changes to the points-based incentive system are designed to better reward and support partner success.
In a system Marsee likens to airline loyalty miles, partners earn points off qualified sales they can then “cash in” for a variety of offerings, including distribution vouchers and travel-related rewards.
In the recent changes, Intel increased the points per unit delivered; in the fourth quarter of 2025, that figure has jumped 25 percent across the board, with higher caps on earnings for all partners.
Additionally, the alliance will now also manage quarterly “boosts” in points tied to specific product lines identified by Intel as a strategic adoption opportunity. Incentive earnings on those products will be higher than the standard and pay out additional rewards based on volume thresholds.
“I contend our points incentives just got a lot more lucrative for our partners,” Marsee said. “This is a shift for us towards focusing more on our leading-edge product lines, and I think this is a win-win across for the board for all of us.”
MDF, co-branding, and other enablement opportunities available to partners
The alliance refreshes also include updates to how Intel supports partners through marketing and enablement efforts.
Marsee said Intel took partner feedback concerning the complexity of the MDF process to heart and has updated its approach to marketing funds and joint opportunities with its partners.
“We are making it dramatically easier to work with Intel on MDF,” Marsee said. “We are shifting to an outcomes-based MDF approach that really focuses on how programs work and the outcomes they lead to. Compliance and proper use of funds are absolutely still important, but we heard our partners when they said it was just too complicated to work with us, and we addressed that.”
Beyond MDF, Intel has also refreshed its enablement resources, providing a vast knowledge base to all partners that includes more technical information and training materials.
“There’s a wealth of technical content, like dev kits and product specifics, now available to all partners under NDA,” said Marsee.
Why Intel remains bullish on its future– and how channel partners will help
It’s no secret that Intel has faced a difficult year, but that hasn’t slowed down optimism within the tech giant for its future. From Marsee’s point of view, the partner ecosystem Intel has built with OEMs, ISVs, and integrators, among others, is crucial to how solutions hit the market.
“It was important to us that no partner was left behind in this transition, and ‘no partner left behind’ became this sort of mantra for us internally,” Marsee said. “This was a moment-in-time refresh, but we know the job still isn’t done.”
“This is an ongoing journey of innovation that is guided by partner feedback. That feedback has really guided all of this work,” he continued.
Marsee says Intel is piloting deal registration programs with some of its ISV and SI partners and pursuing other initiatives to roll out throughout next year as it continues to evolve its partner program and strategy.