Dell continues to empower partners with a renewed focus towards growth

Channel partners have always been the driving force behind Dell Technologies’ business growth. Further building on their capabilities and strengths, Dell Technologies remains committed to strengthen this ecosystem with ample growth opportunities.

Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels India - Dell Technologies, while speaking to VARINDIA on the partner strategy, shares how Dell Technologies tries to explore the potential in the channel through a renewed partner program. He also elucidates the current opportunities in the IT industry that can be leveraged together with partners and result in more business growth -

The Channel ecosystem has played a pivotal role in expanding Dell Technologies’ footprint. The company is committed to grow this further by enhancing the partner experience levels and building services led go-to-market strategies, aided by new incentives and distribution support. 

“Our recent announcement on 'Partner First Strategy for Storage' is a step towards this commitment,” says Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels India - Dell Technologies. “This marks a fundamental change in our go to market, resulting in over 99% of Dell customers and potential customers being considered partner first for storage.”   

Channel partners have always been the driving force behind Dell Technologies’ business growth, and it is committed to further strengthening this ecosystem with myriad growth opportunities. In line with industry needs, Dell Technologies has also streamlined and enhanced the partner experience across multiple program tracks allowing solution providers, CSPs and OEM partners to enjoy one regional incentive structure, one tier structure, and one set of tier requirements. 

“We make sure that partners are engaged and understand all the capabilities that we have. We listen to our partner’s feedback, and we will continue to review our operational model to ensure we’re optimizing and simplifying our engagement with partners,” opines Anil.

PARTNER ENGAGEMENT IN 2023

Dell Technologies launched its 2023 Partner Program in February with a renewed focus - Together, We Stop at Nothing. By continuing it into 2023, the brand celebrates the sixth anniversary of the program and its continued success with the partner community. 

“We are building upon a position of partner strength,” says Anil. “Our Partner Program is designed to help partners make the most of the opportunities ahead.”

One of Dell Technologies’ biggest focus areas for the coming year is leveraging AI, working with partners to build AI solutions and helping them attain the required AI skills. With AI being at the top of all business conversations, Dell’s channel partners are closely working with customers on AI projects and enabling their AI transformation for better business outcomes. 

Through Dell Technologies’ collaborations with OEMs like Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat and others, partners are leveraging next-gen solutions. The company is investing heavily in customer and market research for not just additional technology and features that customers want, but also identifying new and emerging ways that are used to consume technology. 

Over the past three years, Dell Technologies has seen an acceleration of its B2B e-commerce engagement. In 2023, it is making the purchasing experience even easier with pre-configured Server and Storage bundles, increased pricing transparency and expedited ordering. It continues to strengthen its collaboration with partners and streamline the partner experience, all the while upholding its commitment to leverage Dell Technologies to drive human progress.

BETTING HIGH ON AS-A-SERVICE
Organizations all around the world are going digital in order to modernize operations and foster innovation. IT leaders want technology solutions that make work easier, offer the most flexibility, and empower them to run their business on their terms. Never before has the need for agility been more profound than in the past years as rapidly changing dynamics forced organizations to quickly adapt. Enterprises have increasingly turned to as-a-Service models to gain the agility and cost predictability required to stay competitive amid unpredictable circumstances. 

As-a-service being an emerging trend across the board, Dell Technologies has introduced APEX as a new offering. “We are seeing a lot of our partners already showing interest in APEX solutions and are including it in their portfolio of offerings to their customers,” states Anil.

Project APEX, is a breakthrough portfolio of as-a-Service offerings that simplifies digital transformation by increasing IT agility and control. APEX is a radically simplified technology experience, delivering as-a-Service infrastructure wherever it is needed. Organizations can focus more on running their business, accelerate innovation by quickly adapting to evolving business requirements, and run IT operations more effectively on their terms – all the while minimizing risk and maximizing resources. By moving to as-a-Service (SaaS) consumption models, organizations can quickly acquire and adapt infrastructure to match changing needs. The ability to scale technology on-demand yields not only more efficient and effective IT operations but also lower costs. 

Dell Technologies Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions have enabled enterprises to innovate rapidly by scaling easily, reducing costs and increasing performance of business-critical infrastructure. But despite the benefits, provisioning Infrastructure-as-a-Service would require a customized plan to meet the businesses needs for accelerating productivity. 

“Our capabilities and competitive advantages allow us to grow, win and create value for our stakeholders, even in uncertain times. We are focused on what we can control – execution, relative performance, prudent cost management and delivering for customers. This allows us to invest in new growth opportunities like as-a-Service, telecom and edge,” explains Anil. 

INDIA – A KEY HUB FOR DELL TECHNOLOGIES 

The Indian IT industry has emerged as a global powerhouse, contributing significantly to the country’s economy and technological advancement. With a remarkable growth trajectory over the years, the sector has become one of the key drivers of India’s overall development. The Indian IT industry has witnessed exponential growth, propelling India to the forefront of the global IT landscape – with a large pool of skilled professionals and competitive advantages such as cost-effectiveness and language proficiency.

The accelerated adoption of digital technologies by businesses across industries presents immense potential for IT companies to provide innovative solutions and support digital transformation initiatives. Artificial Intelligence (AI), augmented reality, virtual reality and cloud computing, to name a few of the sophisticated technologies in development today, are capturing the imagination of many. The advanced capabilities of today’s emerging technologies are driving many academics, entrepreneurs, and enterprises to envision a future in which their impact on society will be nothing short of transformative.

“At Dell Technologies, we are innovation pioneers and are focused on creating technologies that drives human progress. Together, and as individuals, our passion and unique perspectives propel every idea, concept and solution we create. By embracing our differences and investing time in our diversity, our leaders foster a culture of innovation and inclusion that enables us to create technologies that ensures widespread accessibility and impactful improvements to daily life,” contends Anil.

Besides, entrepreneurship is part of Dell Technologies’ DNA, while aiming to help people and organizations achieve more with the help of technology. 

“We are helping small businesses expand their networks, find valuable resources and ultimately showcase how technology can enable innovation and growth. We are committed to supporting their digital transformation journey by offering customized solutions, as they form a priority segment for the company,” Anil cites.

Dell’s Small Business Advisor Program offers free assistance to businesses on planning and optimizing their technology investments. It is also working closely with these businesses to evaluate how Dell can help reduce costs, solve business issues and drive growth.

Besides, Dell envisions India as a critical hub for innovation for Dell’s global ecosystem. It strives to encourage a culture that drives innovative and differentiated solution offerings, process improvements and improved collaboration. 

“Dell Technologies India is the largest workforce and second largest research set up outside of the US,” says Anil. “As the only global IT company to qualify under Production Linked Incentives (PLI 1.0) scheme, Dell has significantly increased its production output at the Chennai manufacturing plant, expanding and modernizing its manufacturing capacity. Dell Technologies is committed to support India’s transformation into a digitally empowered knowledge economy by leveraging digital infrastructure as a core utility.”

Dell Technologies has worked with National Informatics Centre, ISRO for space applications, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, BSNL, Centre for Railway Information Systems and many government and industry bodies to provide transparent and effective governance & citizen services. 

Dell infrastructure solutions power some of the biggest government and public initiatives in India, such as Aadhaar, Passport Seva, the GST platform, the State Bank of India and the IRCTC, handling operations at population-scale. 
“Some of the largest telecom and logistics companies rely on our solutions for mission-critical applications. We are proud to be the tech stack of the nation, empowering a foundational transformation towards a cashless and paperless digital economy, while keeping data private, safe, and secure,” explains Anil.

AND SO…
Dell Technologies is committed to its goal of being the preferred technology vendor for its partners and customers. Partners delivered approximately 50% of Dell’s overall net revenue, accelerated double-digit storage growth and helped the company secure number one position in the majority of the industry’s critical IT infrastructure categories. 

“We are certain our partner ecosystem will help customers prepare for the journey to come, from the edge to the core to the cloud. With this momentum, we recognize consistency is key. We are setting higher standards to support partners, grow and modernize Dell’s core business, and create market opportunities,” sums up Anil.