Splunk Partner+ Program

Frequently Asked Questions

Effective August 2015

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Splunk> Partner+> RESELLER Program
Frequently Asked Questions

Partner+ Program

Product Access

Reward for Value

Price Book

Discounts

Certification

Resources

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Partner+ Program

Q How has the Partner+ framework changed?

All Splunk partners are Partner+ ecosystem members. Splunk has formalized our channel strategy
around three pillars that are based upon our partners’ primary business model: sell, service and
strategic. Partners in the “sell” pillar include resellers, VARs and distribution partners. Partners in
the “service” pillar include managed service providers, global outsourcers and system integrators,
and professional services partners. Partners in the “strategic” pillar include our technology alliance
partners, embedded OEM partners and our strategic alliance partners. All pillars have customer
success as the core focus.

Q Why should I join the Splunk Partner+ Program?

Splunk is the industry-leader in providing operational intelligence to over 9000 customers around
the world. Our partner ecosystem offers the leading platform for Operational Intelligence to enable
insight that helps our joint customers be more productive, profitable, competitive and secure. In
addition, the Splunk Partner+ Program provides a predictable, profitable and positive partner
experience.

Q How do I start?

The best way to begin our partnership is to visit: www.splunk.com/partners, and click Become A
Partner. A Splunk representative will contact you about next steps.

Q What are the requirements in the Partner+ RESELLER Program?

The program is structured in three market-based (according to country) versions: Grow (US, UK,
Germany and PBST), Accelerate (Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Austria, France, Italy,
Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) and Develop (All other countries).

Regardless of the market group, the partner program has three different partner tiers: Associate,
Premier and Elite.

The core requirements for the programs are achievements in Bookings (trailing 365 days) and
Certifications (sales and pre-sales technical). The requirement amounts are different, based upon
which market-based program and which level you are trying to achieve.

Consult the Partner Portal for Splunk Partner+ Program Terms for specific details.

Q What are the program benefits?

The main program benefit at this time is discount. The higher the partner tier, the higher the
potential discount earned. In addition, Partner+ has FREE and discounted training available,
marketing campaigns and resources, sales tools, and technical support resources to help partners

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 address their customers needs. For more information, refer to the Splunk Partner+ Program Terms
posted to the Partner Portal.

Q How often do you measure Program compliance?

Program compliance is a bi-annual event at Splunk. On February 15 and August 15, you will be
assigned the partner level based upon your achievement of the Bookings and Certification
requirements in the program. There will be certain programs that are based upon partners’
compliance as of the official program compliance date. Promotions will be automatic within our
system within each program compliance cycle as soon as earned, demotions will happen only on
February 15 and August 15 compliance days.

Partners will receive an email notification of their partner level twice a year on the official
compliance dates – February 15 and August 15, please make sure with your Partner Account
Manager or your local distributor has your up to date contact information submitted to SFDC.

Q What is partner status? How does partner status affect partner tier?

The Partner+ program will introduce a new concept called partner status. Partner status goes along
with the partner tier. There are three program tiers (Associate, Premier and Elite). There are four
program status levels (Complete, Provisional, New and Inactive). Program status refers to the
achievement that the partner has earned within their specific tier. Complete refers to achievement
to all program requirements, provisional means that the partner is missing one or more program
requirements of the tier that they are assigned and will be granted one compliance cycle (6 months)
to achieve the requirements, new is granted to partners for the first 365 days of program
membership and inactive is reserved for partners who have no activity (bookings or new
certifications) in any trailing 365 days.

For example: An Elite partner might lose two of their certified sales or technical employees. If that
happens, the partner will move from Elite (tier) Complete (status) to Elite (tier) Provisional (status).
They will have one full compliance cycle to have someone else complete certifications without
losing their partner tier.

Q What happens to my current partner tier?

rd
The Partner+ program requirements will GO LIVE on August 3 . All partners will be migrated from
their current program and partner tier into the new Partner+ program and given a PROVISIONAL
status. This gives partners six months to complete the new partner tier requirements. All
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requirements will be reviewed and measured on February 15 for compliance to the program.

Q What happens to my current reseller agreement?

Splunk will be offering an updated reseller agreement that reflects the updates and enhancements
to the program. In addition to that, the updated reseller agreement will reflect our new product
access policy. If a partner signs the new August 2015 version of the reseller agreement, they will
have access to all products on the channel price book (including Splunk Cloud, Splunk Light, etc.).

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 Partners who do not sign the updated August Reseller Agreement will not have access to the full
portfolio of Splunk technologies.

Q How often do you measure Program compliance?

Program compliance is a bi-annual event at Splunk. Officially, partners are reviewed on their
th th
achievements in the partner program on February 15 and August 15 every year.

Q Do you have specializations in the Partner+ Reseller Program?

Specializations are the way the partner program aligns to the Splunk “market group” strategy. We
have specific market groups: Security, IT Operations, Application Delivery, and Cloud. These
market groups are core components of the Splunk platform methodology and critical to our “Land,
Expand, Upgrade and Retain” sales approach. We recognize how critical it is to have partners
recognized for their unique capabilities in these areas, so we will develop specializations to
highlight to potential customers which partners have demonstrated expertise.

Product Access

Q Which Splunk products will I be able to sell?

It is critical that partners have signed the most recent reseller agreement, dated August 2015 in
order to have access to the full range of Splunk products and services. This version of the reseller
agreement includes cloud terms of service and other contractual requirements for the full Splunk
product portfolio. As a member in good standing in the Splunk Partner+ Program, resellers will
have product access to all products made available to the channel via the channel price book,
except those products in limited release or beta. In the near future, we will be launching
“specializations” within our program to allow partners to further differentiate themselves with
particular product buying center expertise.

Reward for Value

Q What is Splunk’s Reward for Value methodology?

At Splunk, we are committed to building a value-based channel to bring scale and reach to our go
to market strategy as well as to increase service capabilities to our customer base. In order to
achieve that growth and scale, we want to make the Splunk business predictable and profitable for
our partners.

Partner Value Registration

We are introducing a reward for value methodology which is a margin building approach called
Partner Value Registration that puts our partners in control of the discount they earn based upon
the value they deliver in an opportunity.

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 Value is measured in specific ways within partner led value registrations: Partner Sourced, Partner
Sold and Partner Processed. Each of these values are automatically assigned when the value is
committed to in the opportunity and captured in the partner value registration submission. For more
information, refer to the Splunk Partner+ Program Terms posted to the Partner Portal.

Splunk Deal Registration

Splunk also will employ a Splunk led deal registration program that defines categories of partner
delivered value in a Splunk led opportunity. Those values include: Partner Influenced, Partner Sold
and Partner Processed. These values will be determined by the Splunk rep and in agreement with
the partner assigned to the Splunk led opportunity. For more information, refer to the Splunk
Partner+ Program Terms posted to the Partner Portal.

Q Can you define what Partner Sourced, Partner Sold, Partner Processed and Partner
Influenced means?

It is very important for Splunk to be able to measure partner contribution. We will split partner
contribution into 4 key areas: sourced, sold, processed and influenced. Measuring these areas will
define partner contribution and let us course-correct our programs to achieve our goals.

Partner Sourced

Uncovering new opportunities is key to Splunk and our partners’ ongoing success and growth.
When a partner sources an opportunity by prospecting, bringing Splunk technology into their
current install base of customers, or converting marketing originated leads into an opportunity, they
should submit the BANT-qualified opportunity (Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline) into the
Partner Value Registration system within the Splunk Partner Portal. Once approved, the partner
will receive credit (and discount) for the partner sourced category.

Partner Sold

We mentioned how important it was to build a value based channel. The most critical component
to scale is having technical expertise within our partners’ organization. We also recognize that
Splunk, as a complex technology, takes time to ramp your pre-sales technical folks to
expertise and independence. In order to help your ramp time, we are investing in your technical
expertise while you are learning on the job. In order to qualify for the partner sold credit (and
discount) in an opportunity, you must assign a certified pre-sales engineer (SE I or SE II or
Architect) to the Partner Value Registration or to the Splunk Deal Registration. It is our expectation
that your certified individual will need Splunk SE help in one, two even three deals before they can
lead on their own. We will invest in additional discount for you while their skills are being built.

Partner Processed

Whether Partner led or Splunk led, when a partner is asked to process an order, they will receive
credit (and discount) for partner processed. Whether due to customer preference or procurement
contract, or any other reason, we will measure what percentage of Splunk business is partner
processed.

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 Partner Influenced

In Splunk led deals, we might assign a partner to the Splunk led deal due to customer relationship,
customer preference, technical capabilities, customer need knowledge or procurement contracts,
etc., and will assign a partner influenced discount at the Splunk rep discretion.

Q Where do I find information on Partner Value Registration and Splunk Deal Registration?

We understand that this is a new concept for our partners. We will have training modules in
our Partner Enablement Portal on this topic and a how to submit Partner Value Registration
eLearning course as well. In addition, we will have a Partner Value Registration program sheet
posted to the partner portal for your reference.

Q What is the Splunk policy for submitting Partner Value Registrations or assigning a Splunk
Deal Registration when a RFQ or public tender situation?

If there is a known RFQ and one partner has been working with the customer and delivering sales
and pre-sales technical expertise for the customer, they should be awarded the deal registration.
All other partners should quote at their standard channel discount.

If there is a known RFQ and no partner has “influenced or delivered value to the customer” prior to
the RFQ, no deal registration should be assigned and all partners should compete at their standard
channel discount.

Price Book

Q Where do resellers get access to the Splunk Price Book?

In the majority of countries around the world, resellers should contact their Splunk
distribution liaison for all pricing and quoting.

In the countries that have an authorized Splunk distributor, they will handle all configuration,
quoting and order processing for Splunk.

Discounts

Q What is the Splunk suggested channel discount methodology?

Our discount structure is based upon three things: the category of product or service being
sold, the value delivered in the opportunity and the partner tier. We have a channel discount matrix
available within the Splunk Partner+ Program Terms that outline the specifics of our suggested
reseller discount levels. For more information, refer to the Splunk Partner+ Program Terms posted
to the Partner Portal.

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Certification

Q What are the requirements for certification in the Partner+ Reseller Program?

Splunk has an award-winning partner enablement program. There are two main learning paths:
sales and technical. Within those learning paths, there are particular certifications offered to
partners, including:

Certified Sales Rep I

Certified SE I and II

Certified Architect

Certified Support Engineer

Certified Consultant I and II

For the Partner+ Reseller Program, partners at the Premier and Elite level are required to have a
specific number of certified sales reps and certified pre-sales technical reps on staff. Consult the
Partner Program Requirements chart posted to the Partner Portal.

In addition, there is other FREE and discounted (50% off for authorized partners) training available
to increase your teams’ expertise and customer satisfaction.

From time to time, we will be introducing new classes and certifications. Subscribe to the Partner
Newsletter for up to date information.

Q Where do I access my certification paths?

Partners should log into the Splunk Partner Portal and click on the Partner Enablement Portal to
begin understanding the certification and training offerings. All individual certifications are tracked
in the “My Certifications” tab on the top of navigation bar.

Q Does it count if one person takes both the sales and the technical certifications?

Yes. In our program, an individual can hold multiple certifications. Each certification must be the
current version and each certification path can only be counted once (e.g., if a partner rep has
successfully completed SE I v5 and SE I v6, only the current version is counted towards
certification).

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Resources

Q Where do I find more information on the Partner+ program?

We will have information on the new Partner+ program available in many places. The first place
partners should go to is the Splunk Partner Portal. There is a section in the partner portal that
speaks about the program details. In addition, we will have a Partner+ launch microsite available to
our partners for some time after launch. Access the site here.

Our monthly partner newsletter will talk about the program as will our corporate web site.

In addition, partners can always ask their Splunk Partner Account Manager, their Distribution
Liaison, or can contact the WW Partner Program Team at: Partner+@Splunk.com.

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