Dell GCC Partner Summit BETTER TOGETHER

A purely hardware company earlier, Dell has started selling solutions after the launch of its Global Commercial Channels (GCC).The first-ever Asia-Pacific Partner Summit proved as the right platform and also an opportunity for Dell partners to gather in one place and share and communicate the message of Dell’s transformation into a Solutions company. The feedback from partners was also overwhelmingly positive. 

“We view our partnership with partners very much like that of our customers. The objective is to demonstrate our commitment to our partners. We have a wide portfolio to offer and one of the best things we can do is to keep our partners updated on technology front and about our products and solutions. The APJ event allows our partners to have face-to-face communication with individual experts from a business or technology knowledge standpoint. We want our partners to be best in class. The more they know, the more they will sell. So, we have trainings for them which are competency-based. And, this is what GCC is all about, making our partners even more capable,” explains Richard Lee, Global Vice-President, GM of Asia-Pacific, Global Commercial Channels (GCC). 

Richard Lee, Global Vice-President, GM of Asia-Pacific, Global Commercial Channels (GCC)

Gregory Davis Vice-President & General Manager Dell Global Commercial Channels

Vishal Sopory CEO, Transtek Infoways Pvt Ltd

Keeping a technical level is quite important to deliver or to find a success space in the Virtualization and Cloud projects. To support or to enhance their capability, Dell delivers a large number of trainings and consulting that equips the partner with the right knowledge of products and technology. The APJ Summit also helps partners to expand their network, as many of them have solutions that are applicable on multiple platforms and environment. 

Dell PartnerDirect Programme – forming its backbone

Dell PartnerDirect Programme provides its Partners with strong market differentiation and growth opportunities through various programmes. It is more than just a Channel programme. First launched in 2007, it is a mutually beneficial commitment between Dell and its Channel Partners. As partners complete more competencies, they rise through the tiers to PartnerDirect receiving greater rewards along the way. Dell has also announced improvements to its PartnerDirect programme, including software-specific enhancements through four new software competencies, as well as new service provider and referral programmes.

Adds Richard, “What is important for a Channel business is that we need to be consistent and predictable in what we do. We stay focussed on the PartnerDirect Platform and establish those initiatives we have been trying to drive with for growth of Dell as well as partners.” 

Today, Dell has around 23,800 partners recognized either as Premium or Preferred Partners. 

To make communication easier with partners, Dell has launched an Engineers’ Club in India and Korea. “We communicate a lot of the technology trends, direct through the Engineers’ Club of which partners are part of. We share best practices and do numerous trainings. The next step is to involve some of our customers into this Club,” points out Richard.

This club will also help train channel partners and their engineers and improve their skill sets in Dell’s advanced server, storage, security, networking, and cloud solutions. At present, the focus is on continuing to provide content to this Club, though there are plans to induct customers as told by Richard. 

The “going” for Dell little tough little easy…

Moving forward in APJ, Dell wants to identify some of the leading technology trends in the market today and push them through its latest offerings and technology. Its recent partnership with SAP has have hopes held high for the partners in terms of customer satisfaction. “SAP is one individual company we thought our association will work with and has expressed willingness for doing business with Channel. So, it is very much aligned. Along with this partnership, we brought in the partnership of some leading System Integrators. We will be looking for more partnerships in other countries,” says Gregory Davis, Vice-President & General Manager – Dell Global Commercial Channels.

With privatization of Dell, the company has entered into an exciting new chapter. Under the new private ownership structure, Dell is said to be better positioned to shape the forces of cloud, big data, mobile and security that are changing the way people live, businesses operate and the world works. Adding to this is Dell’s many acquisitions that followed suit in the last couple of quarters and help reshape its strategy of moving fast into the enterprise space of Cloud and virtualization. 

However, the challenge for Dell has been the integration of all these acquired companies from a System standpoint. “You acquire 17–18 companies and with all of them having different systems, different order management systems, processes, the challenge of bringing all these together are quite difficult. Our team has been working tirelessly and we have been communicating religiously with all our partners on where we are going. Our IT organization and business have partnered very closely and they work together on building strategies for each of these acquisitions,” says Gregory. 

The APJ Summit comes at a time when Dell as a leading technology power is going through a major transformation and re-consolidating itself among the “Super Powers” of the IT industry. Dell has successfully communicated this to its partners at the Summit, not to mention about its unwavering commitment to its partners that bring the company close to then. The company’s long-term aim is to qualify its partners to become not just  solution providers, but also to be considered IT consultants for their end-customers. And, this is what the Summit will serve in the long run, according to Dell. 
 

DELL GLOBAL COMMERCIAL CHANNEL  (GCC) BUSINESS

VAR (Direct to Partners)
DISTR IBUTORS
OEM SOLUTIONS
SYSTEM INTEGRATORS