Dell Execs Outline Channel Plan

Plans call for the program to provide deal registration, more lucrative back-end rebates, and online training and education to more solution providers, they said.

In addition, the computer hardware giant is looking at making demonstration products and other offerings, such as financing, more readily available to channel partners.

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"We're really building on some momentum we have in this space," said Chris Bates, director of Dell's Solution Provider Direct organization. "We're building on a foundation that has worked well for us."

Bates and several other Dell executives have been acting as a sort of de facto channel group at the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker for the past several months, working behind the scenes to set details of the company's new partner road map.

"We've invested millions of dollars in accelerating the growth there," Bates said. "As a result of customer feedback, we're stepping on the gas."

While many of the details are still on the chalkboard, some new actions have already been established by Dell's federal government sales organization that have boosted sales through the channel. The company at large will take many of those programs and provide them throughout its various segments, executives said.

"Where we're finding success and partners are embracing it, we want to scale that out," said Troy West, general manager and vice president of Dell's federal government organization. "We're discussing how can we take the learnings of the [federal government] letter of supply program and support the needs of small businesses and local governments."

Key features of the new Dell partner program include the following:

• Deal registration. The company began providing a mechanism for VARs to protect their deals with customers two months ago, at about the same time that Chairman Michael Dell returned to the CEO position.

• Bigger back-end rebates. As federal goverment IT spending has lagged much of the rest of the market, Dell began offering higher financial incentives for sales-out of its products.

• More deal sharing and collaboration with channel partners. Some solution providers said Dell representatives have approached them in recent weeks and asked to expand their sales of its products into more accounts and work together on some calls.

Michael Dell, in an interview with CRN, suggested that other initiatives also could arise, including a Dell logo program.

Dell executives also said they have instituted a compensation structure for Dell-badged sales teams that's neutral whether the deal is closed via direct or indirect channels. The direct and indirect sales teams internally will be kept separate.

"They appear committed to making a change," said Susan Stone, CEO of Blue Tech, a San Diego-based solution provider that sells to federal accounts. Still, she added, "it's like trying to turn a cruise ship" because of Dell's size and direct-sales heritage.

The nature of federal government requirements -- which call for a portion of purchases to be made through, for example, women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses and small businesses -- initially sparked Dell into partnering with third parties.

"Dell is a direct shop, and they are pros at it," Stone said. "But that doesn't get them into [some] accounts."

Gary Brown, executive vice president of Force3, a Crofton, Md.-based solution provider that has partnered with Dell in federal accounts, said Dell first began offering the expanded rebates and deal registration earlier this year.

In some recent quarters, Force3 has been able to meet Dell quotas at some points but has been unable to meet them at others as federal spending has slowed, Brown said.

Dell, though, has shown an effort to change, he added. "Overall, it seemed like they were coming up with what were some channel-friendly programs," he said.