Dell EMC Tees Up 'Significant Investment' In EMC Partner Rebates, MDF

Channel Chief John Byrne says he is taking steps to fix one of the most glaring inequities between the legacy Dell and EMC channel programs.

Byrne and the rest of the Dell EMC exec team have argued that the two companies and their respective channel programs are more alike than they are different, but while Dell offered rebates between 5 percent and 10 percent, EMC's topped out at about 4 percent, and were being cut in recent quarters.

In an interview with CRN, Byrne said that's about to change.

Related: Dell EMC Set To Downrank Partners Behind On Revenue Goals, Training, Certifications

"We will be making a significant investment in our EMC partner program," Byrne said. "It will return to competitiveness. It will be competitive on rebate and it will be competitive on MDF [market development funds]. That is massive progress."

Byrne's assertion comes as he and his team push to finalize the company's new, unified partner program in time for the beginning of its fiscal year Feb. 1. Already, Byrne has made moves to address another key difference between the programs: revenue requirements.

To qualify for the top tier of the Dell program, partners had to earn at least $5 billion in annual revenue. Entrance to the top tier of the EMC program required $100 billion in revenue. Byrne said Dell EMC would "status match" partners into the new program, meaning partners in the top tier of either the Dell or EMC programs will move automatically to the top "Titanium" tier of the new program. The same holds for the middle and bottom tiers.

Dan Serpico, president of FusionStorm, a large solution provider that works with both Dell and EMC, said move to boost rebates for EMC business "is very welcome news."

"It's encouraging, very encouraging," Serpico said, adding that while increases to rebates and MDF may not have an immediate impact on Dell EMC's partner base, the move is powerful in other ways. "It's not a flip-of-the-switch kind of thing, but it certainly helps build loyalty and confidence in the partnership," he said.

Serpico said rebate and MDF improvements could prove to be well-timed to take advantage of growth in certain EMC product lines, like VMAX enterprise storage systems, all-flash storage arrays and VxRail hyper-convergence systems.

Stephen Monteros, senior vice president at Sigmanet, an Ontario, Calif.-based solution provider that works with Dell EMC, said a bump to EMC rebates would certainly help, and said it would be particularly important if those rebate levels were fixed.

Sigmanet's EMC business was about $10 million last year, essentially flat with the year before, Monteros said. Rebates that are increased and fixed "allow you to make the investments. With that product set, you need a strong technical bench, and a rebate that's fixed allows you to invest in that resources, people primarily."

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