Dell tweaks PartnerDirect programme

Vendor unveils range of sweeteners in the form of rebates, zero per cent finance initiatives and end-user product loans to drive sales across the UK and Europe

Dell has taken the wraps off a range of incentives and sweeteners as it continues to tinker with its PartnerDirect channel programme.

The vendor also announced some changes to its distribution strategy, firstly extending its relationship with Exertis to launch back into retail and target consumers, and secondly expanding its relationship with Tech Data to cover the UK market. Previously the firms had worked together in the Nordics and France.

Ralf Jordan, executive director of distribution at Dell EMEA, explained the importance of distribution to the vendor. "Over the past two years, Dell has been continuously investing in the expansion of its distribution business, optimising processes and IT to support distributors to serve their resellers with the entire Dell end-to-end portfolio.

"As distribution becomes increasingly central to Dell’s business model, it is important this is reflected in our offering. The developments we have made to our programme are designed to offer distributors – and through them, resellers – even greater opportunities for profit," he said.

Dell’s software division has launched a new accelerator rebate programme for European partners, offering tiered-level accelerators once qualifying revenue is met on top of the two per cent base rate already on offer. This now covers network security, data protection and end-point systems management.

In addition, the firm’s EMEA PartnerAdvantage programme allows VARs to claim incentive reward points when selling selected server and storage products to new customers, with continued focus on certain cloud and convergence products.

Also, for a limited time, partners will not have to pay any interest on amounts over $10 (£6.41), allowing them to take advantage of a zero per cent interest rate on 12-month finance arrangements.

The vendor is also pledging to offer more systems for short-term loan, giving partners the chance to offer customers a try-before-you-buy scheme to speed up the buying process.

Further announcements include Premier and Preferred partners across EMEA having access to Bid Builder, which it claims will speed up the bid/proposal process and secure new business quicker; and finally Dell is hoping to help its service provider partners by giving them access to the Dell Data Centre Scalable Solutions (DSS) division, and is offering two new Dell SonicWALL services – network security as a service and firewall as a service – via selected distributors.

Cheryl Cook, vice president of global channels and alliances at Dell, said: "Our new fiscal year has started with a bang, and I could not be prouder of our channel team and our partners for their continued commitment. We still have a lot of work to do to make this the best year yet for Dell’s partner programme, and I’m confident we are on the right track."