Dell EMC cutting disties 'very early next year'
EMEA channel chief Michael Collins issues RFIs to EMEA disties ahead of cull
Dell EMC' is planning on slashing its distie numbers "very early next year", according to its EMEA boss, who has opened up on the firm's channel plans.
Michael Collins, senior vice president of EMEA channels at Dell EMC, told Channelnomics Europe that partners from both vendor programmes will be migrated onto the Dell EMC Partner Programme based on the status they obtain through the firm's annual audit at the end of this year.
The tier system for Dell EMC's inaugural programme - named the Dell EMC Partner Programme - was first announced in October at the firm's partner summit in Austin. The programme's entry-level tier will be Gold, followed by Platinum, Titanium and an "invite only" tier named Titanium Black.
EMC resellers who meet the criteria of a Silver-level partner by the end of 2016 and Dell resellers who reach entry-level Preferred partner status will enter the joint programme at Gold level.
Partners that finish 2016 with EMC's mid-tier Gold status and Dell's Premier status will reach Platinum level. The Titanium tier of the joint programme will comprise of top-tier Dell Premier Plus partners and EMC Platinum partners. Top-level partners who sell both Dell and EMC products will also qualify for the Titanium tier of the programme and be considered as the firm's most elite partners, according to Collins.
Collins said that Dell's EMEA partners will shortly receive notification concerning their status in the new programme with regards to how they are performing against revenue and certification criteria.
The EMEA channel boss said that the decision to match partners based on their status exiting 2016 is based on Dell's original programme mantra; simple, profitable and predictable.
"We have made a lot of commitments in the last couple of months and we obviously have a channel focused strategy so we want to provide a programme that is simple, profitable and predictable. Everything we have done in the last couple of months, we keep the commitment we have made to our partners in mind," he said.
"I do not think we could have come to make a more simple or predictable programme. I am very confident that the channel will find it easy to navigate ahead of next year. I want to reiterate the importance of the way we designed the programme; partners need to know right now as they exit this year that they will qualify in their existing tier. The status match and tiering match makes it simple."
Collins said that revenue and certification thresholds, rebates and other benefits for the Dell EMC Partner Programme have not yet been finalised, but will be announced along with the programme's release on 4 February next year.
He said that once thresholds were announced, partners from both sides of the business will have until the firm's next annual audit - held at the end of next year - to meet programme criteria.
As Dell and EMC are on different fiscal calendar schedules - with Dell's ending in January and EMC's ending in December - EMC partners will gain an extra month to meet criteria requirements.
The firm also announced at its October partner summit an extension of the Titanium tier named Titanium Black. According to Collins, this tier will be reserved for a "select few" partners on an invite-only basis. He said Dell EMC will not make the criteria to qualify or the number of Titanium Black partners available to the public.
"In Titanium Black, we will not go public with the criteria. It is an invite-only programme for a limited number of partners; ones that are our most strategic and most competitive partners, ones that already have a big relationship with Dell and EMC, partners that do game changing stuff and participate in the industrial revolution of today" he said.
"Titanium Black partners will be informed personally. It won't be part of a programme, more on a personal level, in the form of a phone call. Titanium Black will represent the most enviable tier of our programme. It will be reserved for partners who sell across the portfolio - there is no doubt that our priority and focus is on asking our partners to sell across our product portfolio. We want to be the most trusted partner offering the most trusted brands. We want to encourage and reward partners for selling across the portfolio, including services."
Stripping back on distribution
Speaking at Dell EMC's partner summit in October, global channel chief John Byrne admitted that the joint firm was over-distributed, and it will look to reduce its number of distributors by December this year.
Collins said that no changes have been made to Dell EMC's distribution line-up so far, but will plan to make cuts "very early next year". The channel boss said that he has issued a request for information (RFI) with all of the firm's distributors across the EMEA region, asking them to underline their "strategy going forward", the extent of their geographical scope and details regarding their "business plan" and commitment to Dell.
"We do have a plan to consolidate our distribution landscape further. The industry is consolidating and distribution needs to be a place where we can add scale and value and for that we need a focused strategy. We have been through two particular processes: we have two types of distributor, we do business with global distributors and then local distributors. We plan to have a strategy where we continue to do that," he said.
"We want to be with distributors that provide us with the best coverage and the best service. I have been working in emerging markets for 14 years and there are many countries that are made up of lots of local distributors. There are not many pan-regional distributors in the smaller markets like Africa, the Middle east or eastern Europe, so we need to make revisions there."
He added: "We will look at them in terms of business portfolio; think of it as a business plan. The important areas will be: where are they planning to grow, are they selling across the Dell EMC portfolio, and how much MDF will they be expecting from Dell."
Dell's $67bn (€64.55m) buyout of EMC was first announced in October 2015, with the acquisition finally closing in early September this year.