Q&A: Channel Veteran Donna Troy Explains Move To Dell

A lot of channel observers raised their eyebrows at the news last month that longtime channel executive Donna Troy had joined Dell as general manager and vice president of corporate accounts. Troy's channel credits include stints at Network Associates, where she was responsible for global channel strategy, development and execution. Before that, she was vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at Tivoli Systems and spent 20 years at IBM, where her positions included vice president of Global Solution Developer Alliances. Most recently she served as executive vice president of global SME indirect channels at SAP for nearly three years. She also was CEO and president of Partnerware, a channel management software provider. So why Dell?

Troy explained her move to Everything Channel Assistant News Editor Scott Campbell and expanded on her role at Dell and challenges the Round Rock, Texas-based company faces in winning the hearts and minds of VARs.

First, can you give us the lowdown on why you joined Dell and what you're hoping to bring to the company?

If you look at my background, I've been around the channel business for the last 20 years, in a combination of midmarket and small business [roles]. The reason I've come to Dell is I truly believe that Dell has all the assets to be the infrastructure provider for our customer set and we have an opportunity to move into multi-routes to market. The commitment and assets are here to drive that. I bring my expertise and channel go-to-market strategy to run one of those routes, the mid-market. If you take a look at what Greg Davis is doing for the partner program, you can say I'm where the rubber meets the road.

What are you putting in place to help imporove business with solution providers? I think the key issue is we have set of processes for channel partners. They have line of sight. Clearly, we are putting processes, compensation models, deal registration programs in place. If there any issues, I'm an escalation point, but I'm trying to focus on us working together where it makes sense to work with channel partners on accounts. There are huge opportunities. Not only for VARs, but also ISVs, service providers. There are lot of things we can work to provide.

Because you have an extensive background in the channel, how much work does Dell still need to do in putting together the program? Is the foundation in place, or is it still a work in progress?

This is a journey. Every time you start to engage in different models it takes time. This is a multi-year effort. We are laying out the foundation, with sales engagement learning going on for how to engage with partners. There's a lot of things in a foundation, a lot of operational deployment, sales engagement, building trust over a period of time. My job is to accelerate that progress, how we would engage with partners.

In the month you've been with Dell, have you tweaked the program or recommended any changes?

In the midmarket, I'm looking at opportunities to engage with key partners across the whole segment. That's something the whole team is interested in doing. There are key opportunities around software, leveraging relationships there, with other ERP and software providers.

Are you looking at building solutions for specific vertical markets that solution providers could take to customers?

If you look at our organization, we have some vertical structure, in terms of care and the public [sector] group. In the commercial segment, we are starting to look at different opportunities, different vertical trends, how customers are buying. We are just starting that process.

There's still a lot of mistrust in the market of Dell from solution providers. What is your elevator pitch to solution providers in terms of why they should work with Dell.

From a partner point of view, we're just starting to engage. I've been here a little over a month and I've been out with solution providers. That's a key part of what I need to do, meet customers and partners in the territories. I think clearly, we can bring infrastructure services together. We have great client and server solutions that can be coupled with value-added industry knowledge that our VARs provide. In the past, that was potential that we did not want to engage that way. We are opening that up. There is huge value from the Dell brand, with sales engagement opportunities with partners to provide that expertise. I see that as a high-value model. Managed services is another huge opportunity. It frees up a lot of time and resources [for VARs] that want to focus on higher-value services.

What's your focus going to be in the next few months?

The most important thing is we want to engage with the territories. I look at channel as huge opportunity. I would want them to engage with that at the sales level, with area VPs and field sales people.

How are the field-level conversations going? Do Dell's feet on the street understand the channel and how are you getting them to work together?

I'm just starting the process. I kicked off with a joint seminar with a partner on a customer visit. I'm going to drive that ype of engagement. But initially, I'm just understanding my own team and what partners are working with. They are separate calls with partners and customers, but if I have an opportunity, it is a joint selling effort. My people are excited about the opportunity. They see the opportunity working with the channel. The question always is about how to engage in some cases, with compensation plans and deal registration. Those are works in progress that give consistent credibility on how we're going to engage. That's a process said we're still working on, but there's no question everybody is excited about that.

Is there anything you'd like to leave VARs with regarding Dell's channel program?

The key point is the reason I came here is to leverage my experience, I'm very focused on operationalizing that, to bring my experience to bear there. It is a journey. We are going to continue to improve that. We want our partners to know we're committed to the process.

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