Dell Technologies committed to being the preferred technology vendor to partners  

Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels India, Dell Technologies

Given the central role that AI plays in current business conversations, channel partners at Dell Technologies are actively engaged in collaborating with customers on AI projects. They are simultaneously facilitating the transformation of AI capabilities to enhance business outcomes.  

With Dell Technologies placing significant emphasis on harnessing the power of AI in the upcoming year, Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels India, Dell Technologies explains how the primary goal for the company will be to develop AI solutions together with partners while also supporting them in acquiring the essential AI skills. He also summarizes on how Dell continues to enable its partners through its programs and its strategy for channel transformation - 

How has been your experience in the year 2023?   

Channel partners have always been the driving force behind Dell Technologies’ business growth which has played a pivotal role in expanding our footprint. We are thankful to the entire channel ecosystem for choosing Dell Technologies as their preferred partners to fulfil the ever-evolving customer demands. The partners’ continuous trust in Dell has enabled us to constantly innovate and deliver state-of-the-art product portfolio for the dynamic requirements of the data era. We are committed to grow this further by enhancing partner experience levels and building services led go-to-market strategies, aided by new incentives and distribution support.  

 Dell Technologies’ partner program has been rated as one of the best in the industry. With the partner feedback process, we have in place, we continue to listen, evolve and raise the bar on our partner program, ensuring we’re optimizing and simplifying our processes for better engagement.  

At the recently concluded VARINDIA Star Nite Awards 2023, Dell Technologies India has been voted as the leader in x86 Servers and has also been awarded the ‘Channel Favourite Company’ along with the ‘Best Storage Solutions Company’. This is a testament to the loyalty and trust from the Indian partner ecosystem. With this support, we continue aiming to be our partners’ #1 choice for today, and for years to come. We are excited for all the opportunities that will allow Dell Technologies and its partners to create together, for the future. 

What are the key initiatives undertaken by your organisation to strengthen the channel ecosystem? 

The Channel partners have accelerated Dell Technologies’ business growth, and we are committed to further strengthening this ecosystem, with ample growth opportunities. To complement industry needs, we have 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 they understand all the capabilities that we have.  

We had launched our 2023 Partner Program in February with a renewed focus - Together, We Stop at Nothing. This celebrates the sixth anniversary of the program and its continued success with the partner community. We are building upon a position of partner strength. Partners are also leveraging next-gen solutions through our collaborations with OEMs like Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat and others. Dell Technologies 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.  

How does your channel program help you save money on marketing, sales, and customer support? Please share your latest channel strategy.  

Our partner program is one of the best in the industry and with our partner feedback process, we have constantly tried to make our partner program simpler. Implementing these changes, our partner program enables them to plan their resources better, decide on the opportunity strategy more accurately and have more controlled and, beneficial outcomes. 

We are focused on keeping our program structure and engagement with partners consistent while we continue to invest in key focus areas. We design our rules of engagement (ROE) around deal registration and to govern our internal sales team behaviour in a way that promotes customer choice while protecting the integrity of our partner program principles. We make sure that partners are engaged and are aware of our developing strengths.  

Our recent announcement on “Partner First Strategy for Storage” is a step towards this commitment. 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. The Partner First Strategy for Storage, including data protection, is a change in our go-to-market strategy designed to fuel continued storage growth in India and around the world. By further embracing the power of collaboration with our partners, we win more deals and drive better outcomes for customers.” 

What is Dell Technologies' strategy for partner transformation, considering the evolving tech industry? 
Dell Technologies is committed to its goal of being the preferred technology vendor for its partners and customers. 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.  

Our Partner Program is designed to help partners make the most of the opportunities ahead. At Dell Technologies, one of our biggest focuses 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, our channel partners are closely working with customers on AI projects and enabling their AI transformation for better business outcomes. Over the past three years we’ve seen acceleration of B2B e-commerce engagement. We have made the purchasing experience even easier with pre-configured Server and Storage bundles, increased pricing transparency and expedited ordering. We continue to strengthen collaboration and streamline the partner experience, all the while upholding our commitment to leverage Dell Technologies to drive human progress. 

As partner engagement programs are a big part of Dell’s growth strategy, what measure are you taking to deliver superior cloud and as-a-service experience? 
Organizations all around the world are going digital 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 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.  

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 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.