Dell EMC: If our competition sneezes, I want to know about it
Dell EMC opens up on what the new, combined partner programme might include
Dell EMC's global channel boss has hinted at what the new, combined partner programme might look like, adding that the new company is keeping a close eye on its competition.
Speaking to CRN at a Dell EMC event in London today, its channel chief John Byrne said aside from rejigging channel staff across the globe, he has also set up specialist support units in the channel - one of which is partly focused on keeping a close eye on rivals' movements.
"I brought in some brilliant support functions: a strategy team who thinks 'where are we really going here?' I brought in a central programme team, in terms of once you've built the programme, ensuring we are creating tier envy and that the partners are actually performing the way we are setting the criteria. Partners are delighted with the criteria and [our] having our ear to the ground, and frankly, I want to make sure if the market moves or one of our competitors sneezes, I want to know about it. The strategy team has a competitive lab which is watching [the market]."
The new combined Dell EMC partner programme will not come into force until 1 February next year. Specific details about it will be revealed at Dell EMC World in Austin later this month.
But Byrne told CRN that there are certain positive and negative elements of each. He said EMC partners love the so-called hard deck of direct accounts - outside which everything goes through the channel - and believe the vendor has made "huge progress" in the channel recently. Training and enablement is also popular with EMC partners, he said, adding that they like the company's "simple, predictable, profitable" mantra.
However, he said partners are not crazy about the "lofty" revenue thresholds the vendor has in place, and the fact is has become "less competitive" on MDF.
Byrne said partners love Dell's products and the channel momentum it has enjoyed, but think its training is too product specific and its programme is not as predictable as it could be.
When the merger finally got the green light, some partners feared that there might be some channel conflict before the new, combined programme was put in place. Dell's vice president for global channels Cheryl Cook said that since "day one", each firm has been able to see the other's Salesforce.com, meaning there is no way they could approve two partners' deal registration.
Byrne added that other measures have been put in place to ensure Dell and EMC partners get closer together before the partner programmes merge.
"We launched line of business incumbency for storage and no one expected it - most people in Dell didn't expect it!" he said. "What it says is if over the last three years you have been selling storage to a customer and you've been driving revenue and working deal registration consistently, that customer is partner led. It is carved off. The partner community was simple, predictable and profitable. That's an investment we understand and want to honour. We announced it in week one. We know it shocked our competitors who were out there begging for partners to come to them.
"The EMC partner community, certainly the top tier, is smaller in size to Dell's. However, their thresholds and criteria are significantly larger than Dell's. So we grandfathered those EMC partners - the top partners - into exactly the same level on the Dell programme. The reason is, to get onto EMC's top tier you've got to spend $100m, plus other criteria. To get onto Dell's, you need $5m. It just makes a lot of sense. Dell partners have done a great job too and top partners have been investing aggressively over the last few years. We've then grandfathered Dell partners into the Silver tier at EMC. They can immediately learn the products and earn from those products."