Dell EMC today revealed how it plans to make it simpler to channel partners to qualify for rebates and qualify for market development funds (MDF) as part of an ongoing effort to increase revenue generated via the channel from $43 billion in 2017 to $50 billion in the years ahead. That $43 billion valuation includes the channel revenue generated by VMware.
As part of the formal launch of a Dell EMC channel program for 2018 the company revealed channel revenues for Dell EMC increased nine percent, with client and server sales driven through the channel increasing 15 and 26 percent respectively, says Joyce Mullen, president of global channels, OEM and Internet of Things (IoT) for Dell EMC.
Mullen also revealed that services saw double-digit growth, but she declined to specifically reveal any data pertaining to storage sales. Dell EMC has struggled in 2017 and late last year the company introduced several channel initiatives to boost sales. Dell EMC channel executives did reveal that deal registrations for storage sales are up 29 percent, and today it extended the incentives for storage sales it makes available to individual channel sales representatives. Channel sales representatives in some cases can now as much as $60,000 by swapping out storage systems from Dell EMC competitors. In addition, Dell EMC channel executives also placed a target specifically on one rival by claiming Dell EMC on average now replaces storage systems from NetApp once every five days.
“We want our channel partners to sell storage all day, every day,” says Mullen.
Dell EMC is also planning on working more closely with distributors to bring on new partners to achieve sales goals. In addition, Dell EMC channel partners now start to earn rebates on dollar one for reselling both Dell EMC services and Dell EMC peripherals and displays in addition to the rest of the Dell EMC IT infrastructure portfolio.
New competencies are also planned for 2018, including specializations covering software-defined infrastructure (SDI, hybrid cloud computing, and the Connected Workplace. Dell EMC channel executives also said they would be adding five more competencies in 2018.
Dell EMC also committed to continuing to conduct partner reviews on an annual basis, while touting the number of instances where partners reported having a conflict with the Dell EMC direct sales force has fallen by over 80 percent since the company instituted new accountability standards.
Dell EMC’s latest efforts to remove friction from the channel process comes at a pivotal time. Speculation is rife in the wake of changes to U.S. tax laws that the now private Dell Technologies umbrella company will once again go public or sell itself to VMware, a unit of the company that still trades shares publicly. Any such a move is likely to bring intense scrutiny to the company’s overall operations, including how it balances indirect and direct sales. Other areas of focus are likely to include storage sales since combining Dell with EMC, and the rate at which services are being attached to product sales.
The channel clearly has made major contributions to enabling Dell EMC to come close to or achieve profitability. But it’s also more than apparent that Dell EMC going into 2018 is now gearing up to increasingly pull out all the stops.
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