5 New Dell EMC Partner Program Incentives And Enhancements You Need To Know

Dell EMC To Partners: 'You Are Heroes'

Dell EMC launched a slew of new enhancements to its partner program to help the channel including a data protection accelerate program, new rules of engagement strategy and the opening up of 20,000 accounts for partners to tap into.

"You are heroes changing the world and making our customers’ goals a reality," said Dell EMC Channel Chief Joyce Mullen during the company's quarterly Dell EMC Partner Broadcast on Wednesday. "We had a heck of a quarter two. Channel orders were up 22 percent year on year, distribution grew by 24 percent, client was up 19 percent, server up a whopping 32 percent and storage up 15 percent -- all of this on an enormous base of $43 billion. I really can't think of any other time in my career where an entity of this size and this scale is growing this quickly."

CRN breaks down the five biggest new incentives and programs Dell EMC unveiled during the broadcast that partners need to know.

New DP4400 Accelerate Channel Program

In July, Dell EMC unleashed its new integrated data protection appliance aimed at driving channel sales in the midmarket with a 2U form factor optimized for VMware environments. The DP4400 offers converged data protection, backup, deduplication, replication and recovery, as well as disaster recovery and long-term data retention to the cloud powered by Dell's PowerEdge 14th Generation servers.

This week, the company launched its new DP4400 Accelerate Channel Program incenting partners to drive DP4400 sales. Scott Millard, vice president of Global Channels Specialty Sales for Dell EMC, said the new program includes "coverage with dedicated data protection sales and pre-sales partner ambassadors, funded seeds units at target partners, virtual instructed-led course that counts towards your partner program compliance."

"For Dell EMC sellers [it includes] lower price floors to protect partner margins and commission and quota True-Up for Dell EMC sellers to facilitate sales engagement with partners," he said. "This is hands down, one of the best programs I've ever seen launched for the channel."

Storage And Data Protection Accelerators

For Dell EMC’s fiscal third and fourth quarters, partners will get a 3X multiplier for storage and data protection and a 1.5X multiplier for converged and hyper-converged infrastructure products, said Darren Sullivan, senior vice president of Global Partner Strategy and Business Operations at Dell EMC.

"We are all-in with equipping you to sell storage and data protection. We're doubling down, in fact tripling down to make sure it's worth your efforts," said Sullivan. "For quarter three and quarter four, you'll receive a 3X multiplier towards your program tier attainment for storage and data protection. And you'll also receive a 1.5X multiplier for any converged or hyper-converged products. Our goal is to make sure the program is simple, predictable and profitable for you."

Commercial Partner Preferred Program

In a huge move for partners looking to capture new accounts, Dell EMC launched its Commercial Partner Preferred Program that allows partners to tap into 20,000 commercial accounts in which Dell's inside sales and channel teams will work with solution providers to drive new deals. Similar to the company's Enterprise Partner Preferred Program, the commercial program will provide the channel with incremental discounts, new acquisition deal registration and competitive pricing for partners in 20,000 accounts where Dell has identified itself as underpenetrated from a Dell Technologies' point of view.

"We want you to take the lead in these accounts and hunt for new business," said Mullen. "Show these customers the power of Dell Technologies. We're going to back you up while you do it."

'Hot Leads' And Advanced Renewal Notice

Dell EMC is arming partners with "hot leads" on technology refreshes and services renewals opportunities, said Sullivan.

"The most valuable leads we can give you is our install-base intelligence. We can now provide you with up to 270 days advanced notice of expiring renewals, giving you the time and ability to work with these customers to deliver the right solutions for them," said Sullivan. "Ideally, we'd lead with a tech refresh to expand into new business and help elevate the customers IT transformation journey, but if the customer's technology is running well and they simply want to renew, we're arming you with those capabilities too. The services renewal business on its own is a $1 billion opportunity – it's huge. Plus, if you lead and win with a tech refresh, you'll get paid on the back end with our tech refresh rebates."

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Direct Versus Indirect: Revamping Rules Of Engagement

Mullen said Dell EMC is making a significant effort to earn partner trust by investing heavily in rules of engagement with its internal sales force in reducing channel conflict. The vendor is implementing a new governance process following partner feedback.

"Trust is earned over a long period of time and can be eradicated with one bad move. We've taken your feedback to heart in improving on our foundation for trust: the rules of engagement. We've refined these rules to simplify them and focus," said Mullen. "We've educated our sales force on the rules and the consequences, but let's called out the elephant in the room: sometimes in an organization of our size, we have someone who forgets to read to the rules, or even worse, breaks or bends them. Frankly, until recently, our processes weren't strong enough and we weren't giving our executives the visibility they needed to make good chooses. Our processes weren't stringent enough. Today, our regional presidents and I are driving the process. Violations, which are pretty rare by the way, are being reviewed and offenders are being held accountable."