Dell's UK channel boss on how partners are adapting to APEX and cloud

Rob Tomlin says Dell's partners are ready to 'accelerate' the as-a-service and cloud space

Dell's UK channel boss Rob Tomlin says he is seeing the vendor's resellers adapt to the move towards as-a-service and cloud, following the full launch of APEX earlier this year.

APEX, which was first announced at last year's Technologies World conference, puts the company's solutions and services under one banner in a consumption-based model.

Speaking shortly after Dell Technologies World this year, Tomlin told CRN about the opportunity for partners to wrap their own services around what Dell offers, and speaking at a press roundtable event on Tuesday, he claimed the shift in strategy was being received well in the channel.

"I think one of the beauties of Dell and its channel partners is we've got such a diverse channel business these days," he said.

"We've got a lot of partners who are in the middle space, who are hybrid VARs that move product and they provide solutions. I think those partners are so resilient and so adaptable that they are definitely coming on the journey with us.

"I think the partners are ready to accelerate thand we're getting to the point where every time we're quoting a traditional infrastructure, on-prem solution, we're now starting to try and quote it as a consumption model as well.

"And that just takes time. We have to take our people on that journey as they get used to selling in a consumption model versus a capex model."

The move towards as-a-service sees Dell follow in the footsteps of close rival HPE, which recently announced several additions to GreenLake, while Lenovo has also recently launched its own consumption-based offering.

Tomlin admitted that Dell's offering was coming "slightly later than some of the competition" but believes it is "definitely coming in a very well-constructed manner".

"We are we are winning so many new logos and medium business every week," he added.

"The partners have seen momentum already. We're writing APEX consumption deals right now this quarter, next quarter, and the partners are seeing really good returns on investment."