Zollo: Dell Software needs partners to drive growth
Vendor's new EMEA software chief Andy Zollo reveals Dell is in growth mode as its software business is welcomed into PartnerDirect fold
Dell is in the final stages of integrating its remaining software partners into the PartnerDirect scheme as it gears up for growth.
Speaking to CRN, Zollo, who was recently appointed EMEA director of channels and alliances for Dell’s software business, said: “Over the past two years Dell has been acquiring companies left, right and centre and certainly from my experience, coming from SonicWall [acquired by Dell in March 2012] – a 100 per cent channel company – and joining a vendor with a direct reputation was an eye opener. And we had to come up with a way of bashing all the software companies together and creating a partner programme.
“However, Dell already had PartnerDirect in place, and it made sense to bring software under PartnerDirect, and create software competencies to reflect the areas of software that we cover,” he explained.
He added that the other benefit was giving software partners access to in-house support over deal registration, rebates and incentives available through the Dell Global Commercial Channels (GCC) organisation.
“I have been really impressed by what Dell has to offer in its partner programme,” he said, "and the amount of business going through the channel is growing year after year. The fact I’m still here shows what a channel-friendly company Dell really is.”
Zollo (pictured) explained that the partners from Dell’s acquisition of Quest were currently being grandfathered into the PartnerDirect programme, and have until June to earn their stripes to become Preferred, Premier or Registered-level partners. SonicWall partners are already integrated.
He said Dell has had increased success over the competition, and in terms of partner recruitment is seeing a lot of competitive partners knocking on its doors.
“More partners are seeing the advantage of a having a single vendor that can cover hardware and software,” he said. “And it is encouraging to see all the engineers from different parts of the business coming together to create best-of-breed solutions that we can offer our partners.”
And in terms of partner recruitment, it is an ongoing task, Zollo explained.
“We have to keep recruiting new partners across EMEA. We look at different areas across the region and work out where there may be gaps, and even in the UK look at the different counties to ensure we have the right coverage.”