As channel community plays a very important role for Dell Technologies’ overall success in terms of elevating customer experiences. Channel community has been the big driving force behind Dell’s success and its business growth.
Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels – India, Dell Technologies speaks with Zia Askari from ChannelDrive.in about the company’s continued focus on partner community and how it is driving growth for channel community.
How important is the Partner Program for your organization to drive business? What improvements do you plan to do in 2023?
Channel partners are integral to Dell Technologies’ overall success to deliver excellent customer experiences. They have always been the driving force behind Dell Technologies’ business growth and we are committed to strengthen this ecosystem, with renewed focus and ample growth opportunities.
A good partner program is as important for a partner as for a company. It helps them define profitability, training, enablement options for their team, access to special benefits, demo units and a lot more. By leveraging the partner program effectively, partners can grow their revenues, margins and capabilities of their talent pool and, in turn improve relationship with their customers. For Dell Technologies, one of the key benefits of a partner program is to be able to extend its network and improve its reach within the target segments. This results in increased revenue, enhanced product portfolio and creates a customer feedback loop with an additional connection to customers. Partner program also creates significant growth in sales and distribution of a product or a service.
Dell Technologies’ partner program has been rated as one of the best in the industry. With the partner feedback process we have in place, we have found that even our partners view our program as simple, predicable and profitable. Our partner program enables them to plan their resources better, decide on the opportunity strategy more accurately and have more controlled and, beneficial outcomes.
We are focused on keeping our program structure and engagement with partners consistent while we continue to invest in key focus areas. We design our rules of engagement (ROE) around deal registration and to govern our internal sales team behaviour in a way that promotes customer choice while protecting the integrity of our partner program principles. We are committed to enhancing our channel ecosystem and supporting our partners to enable maximum growth. Our goals are to be our partners’ #1 choice for today, and for years to come. To do that, we will continue listening, evolving and raising the bar on our partner programs.
According to you, what are the top three technologies that will be important for channel partners in the coming year?
Newer ways of working, learning, and living with technology as the enabler is expected to increase in the year 2023 which is likely to hold significance in the channel partner relationships. Dell Technologies will focus on strategic technologies such as Multi-cloud, Edge, 5G, AI/ML, Data Management and Cybersecurity to enable end-to-end, modern IT systems for future. Moreover, hybrid cloud for the hybrid workforce, Edge opportunities will come into focus; Edge innovations will create urgency for Telcos to accelerate 5G and Intelligent PCs will adapt to hybrid, hyper-connected users. The focus on sectors like healthcare, online collaboration, education, tele-communication, and digital cities is also likely to increase. The various consumption models – Flex-On-Demand, and Project APEX – will help Dell and its partners to meet customers’ expectations and address their demands in the new “as a service” world.
What are the key priorities for Dell Technologies when it comes to empowering the channel partners to enabling their growth?
The Channel ecosystem has played a pivotal role in expanding the footprint of Dell Technologies. We are committed to grow this further by enhancing partner experience levels and building services led go-to-market strategies, aided by new incentives and distribution support. We have streamlined and enhanced the partner experience across multiple program tracks allowing solution providers, CSPs and OEM partners to enjoy one regional incentive structure, one tier structure, and one set of tier requirements. The consistency across these tracks and their associated selling motions – such as reselling, hosting, and embedding – enables partners to focus on positioning the best solution for their customers while earning consistent, lucrative incentives, regardless of route to market.
Dell Technologies is investing heavily in customer and market research for not just additional technology and features that customers want, but also identifying new and emerging ways that are used to consume technology. As-a-service is an emerging trend across the board, in fact the analysts expects technology consumption as-a-service model to grow significantly faster, and we’ve launched APEX services to address the same.
APEX is a new offering on the block. We already have APEX Custom Flex-on-demand that offers custom solutions for the partners to position with their customers. Our partners have both, a significant role to play in rollout of APEX, and an opportunity to build significantly higher profitability in doing business. We are seeing a lot of our partners already showing interest in APEX solutions and are eager to include it in their portfolio of offerings to their customers.
What would Dell Technologies consider as a key differentiator and a winning stroke for the channel partners?
The rapid introduction of new, sophisticated infrastructure and application solutions is upon us as emerging technologies hit their stride. Information Technology is becoming more specialized, not standardized, requiring both Partners and OEMs alike to build expertise. Organizations and Partners should focus on re-skilling and upskilling of their workforce to stay relevant in the market and navigating through these tough times. In order to ensure business continuity, we should bank on new breakthroughs and technology trends, which will set the tone for what is to come over the next 10 years:
- Remote Work Solutions and Cloud solutions: CIOs will make connect workplace and data visibility a top IT imperative
- Intelligent devices change the way you work and collaborate: Advancements in AI and machine learning will turn our PCs into even smarter and more collaborative companions
- Innovating with integrity, sourcing sustainably: Investments in reuse and recycling for closed-loop innovation will accelerate, hardware will become smaller and more efficient and built with recycled and reclaimed goods, which will minimize e-waste and maximize the already existing materials
What are the major technology trends you are forecasting for 2023?
Technology is an ever-evolving space and is transforming industries across the globe. It is expected that technology is likely to advance in the subsequent years. Moreover, the technological innovation that drives human progress is accelerating. With hyperconnectivity spanning multiple cloud environments and the edge, data is everywhere now. Simply put, it is growing not only in quantity, but in value every day. In the year 2023, it is expected that technology will make lives easier, simpler, and businesses more successful. With the accelerated pace of digital transformation, progress can only be made when we push relentlessly to innovate, improve and advance. Dell Technologies recently published predictions and resolutions from top leaders for what 2023 will hold, including conversations about changing ecosystems, Zero Trust architecture and the future of work.
By harnessing the transformative power of technology, businesses can build more secure digital foundation needed to be ready for what’s next. As we look ahead to 2023, Dell Technologies below are a few resolutions that organizations should commit to so as to make the most of emerging technologies in 2023.
- Managing the long-term costs of cloud and deciding nature of multicloud edge architecture
- Empower customers and partners to align their cybersecurity strategy across the data center, clouds and at the edge
- Determine quantum safe cryptography risks for the organization and establish early skill sets to take advantage of quantum computing
