Michael Dell: New Dell-EMC channel strategy will be best of both

Founder yet again reaffirms commitment to channel in Canalys keynote

Although half of Dell's business is indirect, CEO Michael Dell has not ruled out increasing that ratio.

Speaking during a keynote Q&A with Canalys CEO Steve Brazier at the Canalys Channels Forum in Barcelona, Dell told the assembled channel audience that the level of indirect business Dell does is "up to you".

"We never put a ceiling or upper limit on the channel," he said. "But if you look at Dell since 2007, there has been a real change in our business in EMEA, with half going through the channel, and we are growing at a double-digit growth rate."

"We are gaining share and have seen growth for 15 quarters in a row. We are continuing innovation and we are in 180 countries and are capable of continuing to support channel partners that work across multiple countries."

When asked about the new Dell-EMC channel strategy, Dell said: "I think it will be a little bit of the best of both. If we think about the EMC programme, we are going to protect the incumbency of a lot of partners, but also improve incentives and keep partners more engaged with us. A lot of partners are excited about the ability to sell servers and storage."

He said his priorities over the coming year would be the net promoter score (NPS) of partners and customers, along with the NPS of people inside the combined company. He said he also wanted to gain market share "no matter what"', and focus on financials such as cashflow, EBITDA and "all that good stuff".

"If you look at the last-quarter financials for Dell and EMC and VMware, the cashflow of the combined company is $3.6bn," he said.

Dell also said that the cloud as a concept is not just about where we do computing, but how we do computing.

"Going back to the 1990s the discussion was all around the internet and driving an internet strategy. The internet is in everything; it is everywhere and nobody is in charge of the internet," he said.

"When we look back at the cloud in 20 years from now, it will just be like that. Cloud is not a place - it is a way of doing computing."

Dell predicted exciting times ahead.

"Digital transformation is under way and IT is changing into business technology. A lot of people are scared of the disruption over the next five years, but the market is going to grow to $8tn. We can't do anything without technology, it touches every sector."