Dell must open up to VARs

An important ingredient of success in business is being as upfront and honest as you can, without compromising your competitive advantage.
The trouble with trying to hide things is it usually comes back to bite you in an uncomfortable part of your anatomy.
Take Dell. To the delight of many of us in the industry, the company finally revealed it would be launching an official partner strategy, after being one of the worst-kept secrets in the channel for many years.
However, since this announcement was made, not a single official snippet about this strategy has been released.
We have been drip-fed bits from hearsay and partner experiences, but have gained only a rough idea of what Dell’s strategy is.
In fact, most of us are as much in the dark as we were at the beginning of the year, despite regular attempts at prising information from its marketing department, which would put Fort Knox to shame.
Now, analyst firm Context has added further fuel to the fire by releasing research that reveals Dell’s
PC shipments through distribution in Europe’s six leading economies have doubled in the third quarter of 2007 and were up almost five times on their 2006 levels.
So why all the secrecy? After losing vital market share to biggest rival HP, surely the fact that the channel is helping revitalise Dell’s PC sales is something to shout about?
Unless Dell’s channel dalliance is just a temporary business ‘affair’, that is.
As with many affairs, one side will always expect more commitment than the other until a confrontation is inevitable.
If Dell is serious about working with the channel, it must think carefully about the message it sends out to potential partners. No one wants to be a bit on the side, especially when rival vendors are offering commitment by the bucketload.
Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN