Dell to offload axed staff's duties onto distribution

Vendor thought to be transferring more support functions to distributors as part of Michael Dell's 'omnichannel' masterplan

Dell is set to begin leaning on its distributors more heavily from the summer when it hands the duties of its own recently axed staff over to them, according to sources.

In November, Dell confirmed it was set to let several staff go from a "small segment" of its UK workforce as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme and CRN understands the duties those staff had will be the responsibility of disties from the summer.

The move is thought to form part of an "omnichannel" strategy the firm is pursuing, a term which Michael Dell himself used to describe the way in which his firm and its partners "merge all of [their] capabilities to deliver complete solutions".

Sources told CRN that Dell's UK distributors - Exertis Micro-P, Hammer and Sigma - will have greater responsibility for tech support and price quotes as part of the move, but that deal-registration approval and pricing will still be the responsibility of Dell staff.

One VAR was concerned about the change and suggested that resellers will have to pay more margin to disties for the extra services, but another source said the move shows the firm's commitment to the channel.

"To be honest, the strategy Dell has been displaying over the past 18 months is a real push towards the channel as opposed to direct," he said.

Dell declined to comment directly on whether it is passing axed-staff duties to distributors but reiterated its commitment to its channel programme.

"We have confirmed that a small percentage of Dell's global team members accepted the company's offer of a significant severance package associated with a voluntary separation programme. However, we will not comment on specific Dell sites or lines of business," said Bill O'Shea, executive director for the UK commercial channel.

"The channel is a key focus area we are investing in, and we are constantly looking for opportunities to build on the success of our PartnerDirect programme.

"An important part of this is working alongside our partner community to strengthen and develop relationships with all partners, including distributors.

"This said, at this point in time, we do not have anything to share regarding changes to our current relationship with distributors."