Dell EMC to continue slashing distribution ranks

Vendor has dropped 70 distribution partners in less than a year, and plans to let another 50 go

Dell EMC plans to axe another 50 distributors, according to channel chief Joyce Mullen, who claims that the vendor plans to reduce its distribution partners to just 150 globally.

At the vendor's first-ever partner summit in October 2016, former channel chief John Byrne admitted the firm was over-distributed following Dell's merger with EMC.

Byrne told Channelnomics Europe last June that Dell EMC had cut 100 distributors from its line-up - from 375 in 2016 to 270 last year.

But according to Mullen, Dell EMC has continued to terminate business with distributors since, and has axed another 70 distributors in the last 10 months.

The channel chief said the vendor plans to shed another 50 distributors to end up with a total of 150.

"It will probably stay at around that number for a while," she said.

"If we consolidate our distributors, our distributors will make more money with us, we can focus our efforts on them better, and we can grow more effectively with them.

"Distributors also have to make this transformation we are talking about, and many of them are through investing in labs and in solution competencies, those kinds of things."

Dell EMC's channel execs previously told Channelnomics Europe that the vendor aims to maintain a mix of value-added distributors along with the industry's three global names: Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Arrow ECS.