Laurent Binetti given Dell EMEA channel crown

Vendor unveils regional partner head and tool designed to reduce lead times

Dell has appointed a new EMEA partner head and launched a tool to help VARs close complex solutions deals as it celebrates its fifth birthday in the channel.

Laurent Binetti, a Dell veteran of some 17 years, has been promoted to general manager of EMEA channel sales. He previously held a post heading up the vendor's commercial business in the southern Europe region. In his new gig he replaces Emmanuel Mouquet, who assumes a role as general manager of Dell France.

"To support our growth strategy, we will continue to make consistent investment in both our PartnerDirect programme and our innovative technology and solutions," said Binetti.

Also announced today was the launch of the Dell Online Solutions Configurator, a web-based tool that aims to help resellers reduce lead times and close deals more swiftly by increasing the speed and ease with which they can price complex projects. The tool is being piloted in the UK, before being taken into the rest of EMEA over the coming months.

Ahmed Mouldaia, Dell's EMEA enterprise sales executive director, said: "This online configurator will help our partners win in the datacentre, empowering them to become autonomous by easily configuring end-to-end Dell enterprise solutions, guided by validation rules, and accessed directly through the PartnerDirect portal.

"The new tool is another example of Dell responding to requests to further enable our partners. The Dell Online Solutions Configurator means our partners can collaborate online with colleagues and Dell channel sales representatives facilitating a greater level of accuracy and reducing quoting lead-time."