Dell Grabs Channel Veteran

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of appearing on Mark Amtower's radio show, Amtower Off-Center, and a topic came up that I think is worth elaborating on: Max Peterson, former vice president of sales with CDW Government, this week was hired by Dell to head up civilian sales. Anyone who frequents the Beltway knows Peterson -- he has long been a fixture at government events and is a wealth of knowledge on the IT contracting market, thanks to positions not only with CDW-G, but GTSI, IBM, Commerce One and a solution provider that he founded. His departure is a noticeable loss to CDW-G. <P> Peterson's decision to join the direct-sales king could impact the whole market. Amtower and I briefly discussed what the move could mean to the channel during the show; Amtower believes Dell will look to Peterson as it transforms sales philosophies to embrace the channel. That very well could be -- Dell has been hinting at that for some time and certainly already leverages partners for federal contracts (though the company rarely admits it). <P> But I remain skeptical. Until Dell incorporates the necessary programs and benefits that truly define a partner program, solution providers will continue to get burned. And while Max's presence could make a difference, I expect his role will mirror that of Ron Police at Apple. While Apple keeps the vice president of government sales pretty well isolated from conversations about the channel, others in the market say he "gets it," but hits walls when he tries to expand the company's support of the channel. <P> What a shame it would be if Peterson faced similar obstacles in his attempts to change the Dell philosophy.