Dell EMC promises to overhaul rebates system

Michael Collins shares how he expects Dell's EMEA partner base to shape up going into 2018

Dell EMC claims that it will introduce a "better balance" between front-end and back-end rebates for channel partners next year.

Michael Collins, Dell EMC's EMEA channel chief, said he will be looking to revise the firm's rebates as part of a wider revision of the firm's partner programme ahead of 2018.

"We are looking to enhance the programme with a better balance between front-end and back-end rebates to make sure we are competitive as we come into next year," he said.

Collins told CRN's sister publication Channelnomics Europe last December that partners from both Dell and EMC partner programmes will be status-matched onto the new Dell EMC partner programme which was officially launched last February. Dell Premier Plus partners and EMC Platinum partners, as of the end of 2016, were made Titanium partners under the joint programme.

Partners joining the new programme have until the end of December 2017 to meet Dell EMC's new revenue and certification requirements in order to retain their status with the company. But as the December deadline draws closer, Dell EMC could rejig thresholds for next year.

Collins said however that Dell EMC's partner base will unlikely see a major overhaul going into 2018 after the new thresholds have been announced.

"In EMEA we ended up with 1,200 partners and a healthy split between Titanium, Platinum and Gold. We have not yet announced the thresholds for next year's programme. When we announced the status match we announced a threshold range that is still there and we are in the process of formalising the thresholds for those tiers," said Collins.

"It is likely that into next year we will have a channel pyramid that looks quite similar to the one we have run this year, both in terms of partners in the programme and the split between Titanium, Platinum and Gold."

John Byrne, Dell EMC's global channel lead, recently told us that he had purposefully encouraged - and often played a role - in spiking M&A among the firm's channel partners so they could maintain their level in the new programme.

Collins said that Dell EMC has actively helped partners identify M&A opportunities in order to increase their footprint with the firm.

"So far M&A is happening across EMEA. We have seen some good examples in the Netherlands with three companies coming together. All of them had history with Dell or EMC and the merger made it a really powerful partner for Dell EMC. John has been pretty active in North America for partners we know are in the business of acquiring. When partners are looking [for M&A] we have played a role in identifying or recognising opportunities," he said.

The EMEA channel boss said that Dell EMC has endeavoured to make it easier for pan-European or pan-EMEA partners to attain a blanket status with the firm across all territories in which they operate. The scheme is intended to help partners in cases where the status match system failed to place them at the correct tier.

"During the first quarter of the EMEA programme, for our Titanium partners who… are operating across multiple countries, if they were in more than three countries and qualified through certification levels, we would give them Titanium status across all their countries," Collins claimed. "Most of them have the brand in those marketplaces, but the status match did not get them to the right level."

VMware to go global with Dell EMC

Last month, Dell EMC announced that it had reached an agreement with VMware to allow Titanium and Titanium Black partners to purchase the virtualisation vendor's enterprise licensing agreements on top of Dell EMC hardware orders.

In Europe, the deal is currently being piloted in the UK and France, but Collins said the VMware tie-up will be rolled out across 26 countries worldwide next year.

Some channel execs have told Channelnomics Europe that the arrangement could put VMware distributors in direct competition with Dell EMC on large customer deals.

Collins, however, defended the move.

"The benefit to the partner is giving them one place to procure all those products, now including VMware," he said.

"We have been pretty open with our existing distributors regarding VMware. It is the fastest-growing route to market for us and we have consolidated everything we do in our organisational structure."