Chief Partner Officer Denise Millard On Why Dell Is Upping Incentives For ‘Needle Movers’

'There are some partners who really organize and get behind a growth program and they want to co-invest with Dell, and those are the partners that we want to reward with the growth program,' said Millard.

Dell Technologies Chief Partner Officer Denise Millard said the company’s new channel program will reward partners that co-invest to drive storage and client sales growth.

“There are some partners who really organize and get behind a growth program and they want to co-invest with Dell, and those are the partners that we want to reward with the growth program,” said Millard of the new storage and client incentives. “They are also the needle movers in terms of making a really big impact in terms of us demonstrating growth through the partner ecosystem.”

Under the new Dell channel program, which went into effect Feb. 1, Dell is unveiling a new storage and client growth program with what it calls a targeted set of its largest partners.

The new program builds on core tenets of the company’s channel strategy, including how to “continue to take share” and increase “share of wallet” with partners, said Millard.

Dell is focused squarely on how it can “access” new markets and new customers with its partner ecosystem, she said.

The new channel program comes with Round Rock, Texas-based Dell making significant investments aimed at “rethinking” ease of doing business for partners. “We’re really focused on how do we scale efficiently and most effectively through partners,” Millard said.

Dell has spent the last two years focused on how to take “friction” out of the channel model with the goal of being “best in class in terms of ease of doing business,” said Millard. She said Dell is dedicated to “simplifying, standardizing and automating” the partner experience.

As to the Dell channel “mission,” Millard said: “We want to empower our partners and help them navigate this ever-changing landscape. We want to enable them to lead customers through these critical transformations and then together we want to capitalize on the growth opportunities.”

Given the memory shortage that has sparked price increases in the market, Millard said Dell’s supply chain and what she called “the largest market engine in the industry” will “continue to serve us well” in the new fiscal year.

As for Dell’s much-heralded Partner First Strategy for Storage, which was introduced in 2023 and pays Dell’s direct sales reps more if a storage deal goes through partners, Millard said the program has been a success for Dell and its partners.

“What we have seen through FY 25 is that in those Partner First [Strategy] for Storage accounts we grew double digits, and we saw greater than 40 percent more engagement between Dell partners and our sellers,” she said. “That framework, that model, is working.”

What is the strategy around the new storage and client incentives in the new partner program?

Let me frame it out as we go into to FY 27. Our strategy there is around growing the core business and access to new market opportunities and obviously strengthening collaboration is going to be pretty significant.

We really are focused on a couple of things: doubling down on the VxRail transition program, as we talked about, our Partner First strategy, and then making sure that our partners are incented to attach client peripherals and services attach whenever they do business with and through Dell.

We’ve made some intentional changes to the program as we go into this year. So the storage and client growth program is going to shift to a targeted set of partners.

What is the definition of those targeted set of partners?

We’ll be sharing that with our partners.

Is it going to be a very narrow set of partners?

We define it by looking at the partners that have strong storage practices and strong workplace practices where we have the benefit of working hand in hand with them on building a targeted growth plan.

There’s a set of KPIs between the two organizations that really govern how the program will get structured. That is allowing us to kind of reimagine the way we are engaging with those partners to really be needle movers for driving storage and client growth.

Is the message that there is a new set of large partners in addition to Titanium that will see big benefits from doubling down on Dell with client and storage?

I wouldn’t make it tier-based. It is going to be those that really are our largest partners.

I wouldn’t necessarily list whether they are Titanium or not. It is going to be a targeted set of partners.

Here’s a growth program that was applicable to Titanium partners [and] is now going to be applicable to our largest targeted partners for storage and client.

No. 2, it was an all or nothing last year. Based on the feedback from our partners, there are now two target levels to achieve. That will give them an opportunity to get to the money earlier.

Those are the biggest changes, and the partners we’ve notified of these changes are really, really bullish.

So, before, this program was limited to Titanium partners?

Before, it was open to Titanium. Now it is to a targeted set of partners based on criteria we are leveraging,

So it is a larger or smaller set of partners?

It would be smaller.

So are you doubling down on the partners that are really committed and all in on Dell?

What we learned going through the process and based on partner feedback is there are some partners who really organize and get behind a growth program and they want to co-invest with Dell, and those are the partners that we want to reward with the growth program. They are also the needle movers in making a really big impact in terms of us demonstrating growth through the partner ecosystem.

I think that is really important. The last part is we took a lot of their feedback in terms of when we first launched the program and what it needed to evolve to. That is what you see reflected as we go into FY 27.

Are you doubling down on the needle movers?

It’s our best partners.

It’s ‘co-investment.’ That’s the word to use.

What is the strategy behind Dell reintroducing Titanium partner eligibility for storage and client New Business Incentives and storage competitive swap rebates?

We had removed NBI [New Business Incentive] and our [storage] competitive swap rebates for Titanium partners. That is now being reintroduced as we go into the new year.

For the new year, we are reintroducing those incentives to Titanium partners.

Is that a huge increase in incentives for Titanium partners?

It is.

Those partners that are consistently bringing new storage and client business to us, that is going to be quite lucrative with the competitive swap program and rebate. Obviously, when you think about bringing those two together that really represents huge profitability potential for partners.

What is the VxRail replacement strategy in the new channel program?

When you think about VxRail, there is an opportunity about what is happening with cloud and private cloud and sovereign in the market.

VxRail had a huge presence through our partner community.

We have a pretty aggressive incentive in place along with rebates, no cost for training and migration services. We have also incorporated trade-in and try-and-buy programs along with financial commercial frameworks to support customers making the switch.

We are really getting behind helping our partners make the transition. At the same time, customers are looking for our partners to help with a point of view on their transition to a multi-cloud environment. I think we are well positioned if you look at both the capability of where Dell plays, the capability of where our partners play and then we put this transition program right at the heart of that and we are seeing great results coming out of this year and we are going to continue that as we go into next year.

Have you increased the VxRail replacement incentives under the new Fiscal Year channel program?

We didn’t increase it. We launched it in Q4, and we are extending it through our FY 27. So it is a huge investment. It is not just about the incentives. It is rebate plus making sure customers are ready for the transition. So no cost for training. It is the migration services. So we are taking the objections off the table. It is making sure customers are comfortable with the decision. So we have try- and-buy programs along with really compelling financial services offerings. So it puts our partners in a really great position to be consultative and to deliver a great outcome. So we have put this behind it to make it compelling for customers.

What is the total channel budget commitment as you look at FY 27?

We can’t give specifics there, but what I can tell you is obviously all these programs are a very big investment for Dell. But one of the biggest areas we have been investing in is really around modernizing that partner experience.

There are a whole variety of things we have been working on. One is around pipeline generation and lead sharing. We started this process last year, and it will continue. It is getting better every day in what we call ‘demand signals.’

So this is all about how do we really elevate the lead management process for driving collaboration with partners and sharing high-quality, high-propensity leads for our partners. So we have embedded AI into supporting that effort. We are seeing really good results, and it continues to get better.

What are you looking at doing with deal registration?

We are continuing to look at ways we can collaborate better to accelerate for and with our partners. So we are looking at what changes we can make to our strategy around deal registration.

Nothing has been finalized.

What we always do is leverage feedback from our partner community, especially our Partner Advisory Board, to help us make foundational decisions and evolve our program. You will see us do that with deal registration. We have not finalized that, but just know that we are in the spirit of streamlined collaboration, looking for ways to drive incremental business and unlock the value to how we are working with partners. You will see us continue to focus there and more to come.

Then the last one, which is probably one of the biggest investments, is around our quoting and buying experience. You’ll see us bring all of this together at Dell Tech Word with a new and integrated partner program that brings our tools and our processes into a more seamless and intelligent connected interaction. So think about it more as an end-to-end capability versus point solutions. You’ll hear more about that at Dell Tech World. We are really excited about the investments we are making there to reshape the way we are working with partners.