Dell channel boss praises 'mindblowing' Indian team

But vendor will work hard to resolve any issues associated with moving support to Hyderabad, vows Sarah Shields

The quality of support provided by Dell's Indian hub is so high that some partners don't want to switch back, according to the vendor's new channel boss.

Talking to CRN, Sarah Shields said the vendor's drive to move account management for some smaller UK partners from its Cherrywood hub in Dublin to India is a subject "dear to her heart" because she managed the Hyderabad centre for four years.

While acknowledging the bad feeling this stirred up in some quarters, Shields said the vast majority of partners affected are supportive of the move.

As a rule, Registered partners are now managed from India and Preferred and Premier partners from Ireland, although Shields described it as an "ongoing process" with the idea being to continue growing capacity in Hyderabad.

"When I look at our India team they are phenomenally highly qualified and experienced, and are driving a phenomenal amount of growth," she said.

"I get requests when I move a [partner] customer from a Registered to Preferred to move them back to their original account manager [in India]."

Shields said less than one per cent of customers had complained or shared any concerns about moving to India.

"We have had feedback from some partners that they are not happy with the move to India, and I want to understand what the root cause is and what to do to resolve that," she said. "Is it because of language, skills, availability or knowledge? In all four cases, that can be rectified as is not down to geographic location."

Shields, a seven-year Dell executive who recently had her remit extended to include the channel, added: "The skills and experience in India is mindblowing and it humbles me when I talk to the team there. The one thing I'm paranoid about is ensuring that, regardless of whether my team members are in Ireland or India, they all have access to the same training courses and same level of focus on their career and knowledge development.

"The India team is an important part of our business and remains an important part of our business – and we want that team to grow. But the moment there's an issue, let us know and we will resolve it."