The annual CRN Channel Chiefs is one of the highest honors in the channel industry. The award is described by CRN as a “who's who of channel management” who are “navigating a maze of business model and technology shifts and trying to make sure their company's partners succeed.” Today we are proud to announce that four Dell executives were recognized as 2015 Channel Chiefs, including (left to right):
- Cheryl Cook, Vice President, Global Channels, Dell – Cheryl is responsible for ensuring a consistent and coordinated approach to Dell’s Channel Partners, Strategic ISV and OEM customers and partners. Since Cheryl assumed leadership of Dell’s channel in November 2013, she has been focused on adding value to the PartnerDirect program and providing the technology, tools and strength of the Dell brand to make it easier for partners to bring innovative IT solutions to customers.
- Frank Vitagliano, Vice President, Global Partner Strategy and Programs, Dell – Frank is responsible for Dell’s overall partnering strategy including Partner Programs and Distribution. In addition, he is the vice chairmen of the Board of Directors for COMPTIA. Previously, Frank was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by VAR Business Magazine and was the first vendor executive inducted into the Ingram Micro Venture Tech Networks Hall of Fame.
- Jim DeFoe, Vice President, Global Commercial Channels Sales and Programs, Dell – Jim is responsible for creating and delivering sales with all channel partners in North America. His sales leadership and key contributions have been instrumental in the growth of Dell channel sales since the inception of the PartnerDirect program. Overall, Jim has spent the past 18 years in indirect sales with Dell.
- Marvin Blough, Vice President, Software Channels and Alliances, Dell – During his tenure at Dell Software, Marvin has managed the integration of seven channel programs from the time of acquisition and led the transformation of Dell Software from a primarily direct model to a model that is now more than 60% sold via the channel. He also leads the Managed Service Provider program for Dell Software.
Congratulations to Cheryl, Frank and Jim who also were named as well on CRN’s 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs List, honoring today's most influential movers and shakers in the channel.
Contributing to the Dell channel program’s success were a slew of enhancements that started in January 2014, when Dell rolled out new initiatives within the PartnerDirect program to strengthen its commitment to the channel, including a 20% internal compensation accelerator on key solutions for new customers sold through channel partners. This resulted in over 12,000 new customers and more than 20,000 new orders.
However, none of the above would be possible had it not been for the hard work all the teams put into new best business practices that were installed in order to achieve tighter integration with our partner network.
Our distributors have been key to our growing success in the channel and they will continue to be a core to a successful omni-channel strategy. Dell Solutions are now available via three of the top 5 distributors worldwide, and Dell is experiencing double digit growth in distribution in 2014. As the saying goes, and providing partners with choice on how to do business with us has also been important. Distributors do a great job providing our partners with availability, credit, training and support, thus expanding Dell’s overall reach and coverage to our partner base.
Dell also expanded the competencies program to help drive partner success and customer satisfaction – and results show that Dell partners with competencies grow four times faster than partners without competencies. Focusing our efforts on partner enablement has significantly enhanced our partner capabilities, improved their customer satisfaction, and increased partner loyalty. Helping our partners grow and thrive speaks volumes – our top 100 North American partners by training investment were able to grow their revenue by almost 40% year over year.
We continue to make key investments in training for partners that included expanding the existing nine competencies available to also include advanced competencies in Storage and Identity and Access Management, Core Client Solutions and Workstation and expanding the desktop virtualization competency. We saw partner competency completions increase by over 25% year over year with particularly strong growth across Software (Data Protection, Client Management, Network Security).
It’s been a great year for the Dell channel program, and in turn for so many of our partners. We applaud CRN for recognizing a few of our thousands of partners around the globe as 2015 CRN Channel Chiefs, including outstanding executives from some of our distributors (Ingram Micro, SYNNEX Corporation, and Tech Data) and many other Dell channel partners!
We look forward to continuing Dell PartnerDirect’s growth and increasing our commitment to partners by developing a wide-ranging set of new campaigns to drive predictability, profit and opportunity for the indirect channel worldwide in 2015 and beyond. In closing, if you’re a Dell channel partner and would like to learn more about how Dell can help you and your customers, please email Certified_PRD.
