Dell EMC reveals its new channel partner program
At the Dell EMC World conference in Austin, Texas, the President of Global Channels, John Byrne, revealed the initial details of the consolidated company’s new channel partner program, promising to deliver three often demanded benefits to its partner organization: simplicity, predictability and profitability. The company hopes to achieve these goals by improving processes, simplifying training and setting predictable tier thresholds for partners. Full details will be revealed in December.
To successfully implement the ambitious goals of its highly anticipated partner program, Dell EMC will have to overcome the challenges posed by the two companies’ historically different go-to-market strategies (see Canalys report, ‘Dell and EMC form combined global channels organization’, published 28 July 2016). If it can successfully align its two disparate channel organizations, Dell EMC has the potential to establish itself as a leader in the channel – an achievement for two companies with direct heritages.
Highlights of Dell EMC’s new partner program
One of the key elements of the partner program is the creation of one portal with a single login, which will be the first step in improving the efficiency of the program, especially since the company will need to integrate multiple processes, programs and systems. Dell EMC will also offer one deal registration tool as the programs are being brought together and it has stated a zero-tolerance policy for account managers that violate the deal registration process. Deal registration was at the heart of Dell’s previous program, given the high-transaction nature of its business, but the existing tool may not be optimized to support the complex nature of infrastructure opportunities that EMC partners are chasing. Their feedback will be vital for optimizing deal registration. In addition, the company is hoping to automate all rebates to ease the partners’ burden of calculating rebates, but attaining predictability will still be a challenge, given the many rebate regimes in play.
Dell EMC emphasized its willingness to pay special attention to partners’ desires regarding the features of the unified program. By simplifying the processes in its new partner program, Dell EMC aims to enable its partners to grow faster by eliminating the cumbersome features of past partner programs, such as complex rebate calculations, unrealistic market targets and quarterly program changes.
The challenge of Dell EMC’s partner program’s tier structure
The company’s new partner program, which aims to create ‘tier envy’ among partners, will take on a four-tier structure. Surprisingly, and unconventionally, the program’s entry-level tier will be Gold, followed by Platinum, Titanium and the highly selective Titanium Black for Dell EMC’s elite partners.
Determining the tier thresholds will be a daunting task, given the disparities between Dell’s PartnerDirect revenue requirements and EMC’s Business Partner Program’s. Currently, to reach the top Platinum tier in EMC’s BPP, a partner’s annual revenue must be at least US$50 million, whereas Dell’s PartnerDirect’s highest revenue requirement is US$1 million to US$2 million in sales, depending on the business unit, for a Premier Partner. Dell EMC will offer different specialization tracks within each tier, based on the partner type, which will help (from a tier-progression perspective) accommodate the huge differences in the two programs’ revenue requirements. But revenue will remain the overarching criterion for all partner types, making it likely that only EMC’s top partners will qualify for the Titanium Black tier in Dell EMC’s partner program, while many of Dell’s top partners will be demoted in the new unified program. This may create unwanted tension within the converged ecosystem, beyond the ‘tier envy’ that Dell EMC is aiming to achieve by design.
The new partner program becomes effective on 1 February 2017, putting further pressure on the company and making the challenges ahead even more difficult. Creating a channel-centric model with a clear and consistent channel structure across the regions must be the top priority for a seamless integration. Dell EMC could follow HP’s approach to channel restructuring when it split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc, by funding heads within key channel partners to help with the transition to a unified program. This way, Dell EMC would ensure that the consolidation of its various partner programs will be more easily and consistently processed within the partner organization.