Dell has given its global partner portal a complete facelift following extensive partner consultation.

The improvements - which will go live this week - include simplified navigation that helps partners locate sales, marketing and training resources; single sign-on; a Find-a-Partner feature to help end users locate VARs, and also Campaign Builder, which helps resellers build co-branded marketing campaigns to help them grow their business.

Kathy Schneider, channel marketing and programs director at Dell EMEA, told CRN: “Over the past year there has been a lot of work done across our global virtual teams to get feedback from partners in different geographical areas.

“The new portal is a partner-centric design -­ we want it to be easy and efficient for partners to access what they need from Dell to help them grow their business.”

Schneider said Dell plans to continue investing in its PartnerDirect programme, which currently has 207 Certified-level partners across EMEA, with a further 210 in the process of attaining Certified status. The goal for EMEA is 500, she said.

“We only launched version 1.0 of the portal last year, so to go to 2.0 in such a short space of time shows we are dedicated to partners,” she said. “The site is not done, and we know there are things that we want to build on, but that’s what Q4 and the following year is for.”

Robert May, managing director of Certified Dell partner Ramsac, welcomed the new portal.

“Dell is definitely listening to partners. There have been a few stumbles as it tries to change its model to be compatible with the channel, but it is on the right track. The new portal is a very positive development for partners.”