Dell Ups Channel Ante With New Incentives, Advisor/Systems Integrator Program, AI Agentic Partner Platform

Dell is raising the channel stakes for the AI era with fresh rebates, a new advisor/SI track, and an AI-driven partner platform that automates deal registration and enables dynamic, real-time pricing for partners.

Dell Technologies is upping the channel ante in its bid to dominate the AI era with a slew of new partner incentives and channel investments, including a new modern AI partner platform with fully automated deal registration and dynamic pricing.

The channel sales charge, which was unleashed at the $113.5 billion IT infrastructure behemoth’s Dell Technologies World conference, includes new product and account incentives focused on AI adoption, cloud modernization and cyber resilience; a new advisory and systems integrator partner program; and what may well be the first AI-driven end-to-end partner platform featuring fully automated deal registration and dynamic pricing capabilities.

The massive channel sales offensive comes with the company moving aggressively to leverage its supply chain prowess to accelerate its sales growth in the channel ever further amid the current memory shortage and supply chain crisis. This comes after Dell partners delivered double-digit growth across every line of business in the last fiscal year.

“We’re sitting on a huge opportunity that surpasses $6 trillion, and three-quarters of that is going to be delivered through partners,” said Dell Chief Partner Officer Denise Millard in an interview with CRN. “For us the time is now to support and enable our ecosystem around Dell’s end-to-end solutions and capabilities. That’s really the spirit of the program changes that we’re making.”

Millard said the big Dell Technologies World channel blast is the first time Dell has used its annual forum to shine the spotlight on its full-fledged upcoming channel program since it acquired EMC 10 years ago in a $67 billion deal, which was the biggest technology acquisition ever at the time.

“AI is really reshaping how enterprises operate, how they think about competing, and it is reshaping their business models,” said Millard, a 27-year EMC and Dell sales veteran. “We’ve always talked about our strategy and vision for being the essential infrastructure company, but never has there been a time where infrastructure is more essential to meeting and achieving customers’ business priorities. We’re well positioned with the set of capabilities and solutions that Dell brings to the table, and we’re obviously advantaged from a supply chain [perspective]. The combination of that plus our partners’ scale and reach and capabilities is going to put us on a really strong trajectory to continue with the momentum throughout this year.”

The big channel bet is focused on driving channel sales growth where the company sees the “biggest outcomes and opportunities for partners to play in the market and where we see the biggest growth,” said Millard. “At the same time, there’s a dynamic happening with customers looking for partners who can help them navigate what’s going on in the market.”

The first salvos in the channel offensive are a new base rebate incentive aimed at driving sales growth on targeted products and a new focus account incentive for rewarding partners for line-of- business expansion into both named and underpenetrated accounts.

Dell did not detail the partner compensation details of the new offerings.

The targeted products for the new base rebate incentive include Dell Private Cloud, Dell Automation Platform, Cyber Resilience solutions, PowerStore, Z-Series networking and premium Client+ products.

The new focus accounts incentive consolidates and brings a number of Dell incentives together, including New Business Incentive and line-of-business expansion under one “umbrella,” said Millard.

The new incentive includes added rebates for partners to open new accounts and drive line-of-business expansion, said Millard. To that point, she said the rebate will be critical in accounts where Dell may have the client business but not the data center business or vice versa.

With technology advisors and systems integrators playing a bigger role in driving AI adoption, Dell Technologies has unveiled its first formal program aimed at rewarding technology advisors and systems integrators.

“In the world of AI, advisory and systems integrator partners are playing a massive role in the transformational pursuits of customers,” said Millard. “We have not historically had a program track that was geared toward the role that they played.”

The new program rewards the co-selling with technology advisors and systems integrators in traditionally long sales cycles with co-development with Dell, said Millard.

Finally, Dell said that it is launching in August a new breakthrough agentic AI partner platform with real-time AI-driven “fully automated” deal registration and “dynamic” pricing.

“This is really redefining an agentic partner experience across every stage of the engagement with our partners,” said Millard. “We’re launching for the first time a modern partner platform that really integrates and connects all of the activities across the collaboration life cycle of working with Dell.”

The AI partner platform may well be the first end-to-end agentic AI-driven platform delivered by one of the top channel vendors. Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech Enterprise, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Dell Titanium partner and one of the first partners to sign up for the Dell channel program when it was launched nearly 20 years ago, said Dell’s channel programs are now “much richer” than those of every other large OEM.

“Dell is investing in its partner community not only from a sales perspective but from a joint investment in growth,” he said. “The difference maker for Dell is the partner alignment in the field. If the Dell reps see value in working with a partner, then one plus one equals three.”

Venero credited Dell founder, chairman and CEO Michael Dell, who initially built the company on the Dell direct sales model, for having the “foresight” to embrace the channel to drive sales growth.

“Michael knew that to scale and grow he had to change the DNA of the company to be able to integrate and align with partners to the point where it is now 50 percent of the company.”

Stephen Ayoub, executive vice chairman of Ahead, a Dell Titanium Black partner, the highest level of Dell’s partner tiers, No. 27 on the 2025 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Dell has always done a good job of listening to its Partner Advisory Board to develop a partner program that is “consistent, easy to manage and also profitable” not only on the front end but with back-end rebates.

“Dell has a great balance between the front-line sellers who understand how they make money and make margin on products on the front end but also [with the back-end rebates] the company can continue to invest in the Dell relationship by adding top talent, technical resources and delivery resources to help architect and deploy Dell solutions. That is an important component of the Dell model. As you can see with our growth, we have reinvested so much of those back-end dollars go back to our business to help us grow our business.”

Ayoub said the Dell partnership is “solid” because of Ahead’s commitment to “lean in with Dell,” building “relationships and trust” and investing in technical talent. “What we really try to focus on is understanding what our clients need, what Dell needs from the partner community and leaning in and making it a true partnership,” he said.

Bob Olwig, executive vice president of global partner alliances for World Wide Technology, the $20 billion global solution provider behemoth, credited Millard for playing a “strategic” role in driving the Dell channel investments and programs to new heights. “Denise has been around Dell for a long time, so she brings to bear a lot of great knowledge and relationships within Dell,” he said. “She couples that with a deep personal interest in the success of partners. She rolls up her sleeves in terms of getting involved with partners. I have seen that firsthand.”

Holland Barry, field CTO for DXC, the $12.64 billion systems integration behemoth, No. 14 on the 2025 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Dell’s channel results under Millard speak for themselves. “She has always been a [channel] champion,” he said. “We’re glad to have her at the helm.”

In fact, Barry called Dell DXC’s “top” partner. “They are a true contender in the channel space being seen as channel-friendly and maybe less as a direct entity in the market,” he said. “That is 100 percent of the dynamic we see.”