Solution Providers to New Dell Channel Chief: Prove It
Solution providers at a Tuesday roundtable session at D&H Distributing's annual New England Regional Reseller Show in Quincy, Mass., said new Dell channel chief Greg Davis is going to have to make dramatic changes if he expects Dell to gain a foothold in the channel. Then, and only then, will they even consider partnering with Dell.
"It's not going to work," predicted Paul LaRochelle, president of PC Authority, a 20-year-old Manchester, N.H., solution provider. "VARs are a lot smarter than that. It is just not going to work over the long term. The new channel chief is there today, but he will be gone tomorrow. Services are done at the local level where you have relationships -- Dell can't do that."
LaRochelle warned fellow VARs not to give up the long-established goodwill and relationships they've built up with clients to Dell. "I want my customers to come to me. That's why we do white boxes. And we've been successful doing it for 20 years," he said.
Bunker Herbest, co-owner of Computer Essentials, a Bangor, Me. solution provider, said his message to Davis is: not interested. "Dell is just looking for another way to push their wares," he said. "I don't think they care about VARs. They're also pushing their products into Wal-Mart. I don't see any benefits to us."
Dell is going to have to come up with something compelling and innovative to "entice" solution providers to work with the longtime channel antagonist, said Herbest. "Give us something," exclaimed Herbest. "Dell has always been our competition, rather than giving us a helping hand."
Greg Abrams, vice president and director of technology of PC-Plus Technologies, an Auburn, Mass., a solution provider that sells Dell servers, said he has what he called a "scary romance" with Dell, given that he sees the vendor going full speed ahead with managed services, setting up a head-on conflict with his business. "We try to keep them at arm's length," he said. "We are using them like they are using us." Abrams said he is not comfortable sharing customer information with Dell, even though the vendor requires that information. His message to Davis: bring to the table some no-nonsense programs to support VARs and back it up with a partner portal.
Douglas Lee, CFO and director of business development for BostonTech Partners, a Canton, Mass.-based solution provider, has been partnering with Dell for the last 18 months. He said the new Dell channel chief has to offer new programs for VARs, including SPIFs, similar to those offered by Hewlett-Packard and IBM. "Dell needs to be more hands on with us from a whole relationship standpoint with SPIF programs," he said. "Dell is still a [price] quote business with a 'here is your margin, take it or leave it' philosophy. They should offer back-end SPIFs like HP and IBM," he said.
Alan Jones, president of Computer Telephone, a VoIP solution provider based in Warwick, R.I., pointed out that this isn't the first time Dell has mounted a channel effort. "We were a Dell reseller back in 2000," he recalled. "We were just a big customer to them. They don't have a true channel."
If Dell was serious about partnering with solution providers, it would pay VARs to handle the Dell warranty repair business, he said. "If they did that, you would see resellers flock to them," he said. Currently, solution providers must pay Dell to act as warranty service providers.