Company Updates

Enhanced PartnerDirect Program Offers Channel Partners More Paths to Profit

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The PartnerDirect program is evolving – and to your advantage! We’re very excited to welcome our Dell software partners into an enhanced and more comprehensive PartnerDirect program as officially announced at our Power to Do More: Accelerating Results event. Greg Davis, vice president and general manager of Global Commercial Channel at Dell was there to share the news with media and analysts.

In case you missed the The VAR Guy’s live blog from San Francisco, or eChannelLine and Channelnomics coverage from the event, I’d like to share more about how both current and new partners can benefit from the program evolution thanks to increased flexibility and program choices. Here are some highlights and key changes to the PartnerDirect program structure, as well as additional resources for details on the phased roll-out.

Training & Competencies

Adding both legacy and new software-focused competencies, the PartnerDirect program will soon offer a total of nine competencies:

  • Cloud Services & Solutions
  • Data Protection (software)
  • Desktop Virtualization Solutions
  • Information Management (software)
  • Networking
  • Security (software)
  • Server
  • Storage
  • Systems Management (software)

Partner Tiers

The PartnerDirect program will continue with a three-tier system: Registered, Preferred and Premier. The higher tiers are designed to offer more rewards and benefits to our most committed Partners who have achieved competency expertise and who have met predetermined revenue thresholds. With the integration of various software partner programs, all of our PartnerDirect Partners will now have more opportunity to progress to higher tiers. Qualifying revenue can be attained through software sales, hardware sales or a combination of the two. Additionally, competency qualifications for Preferred and Premier Partners can be achieved through either breadth or depth, supporting your particular business model needs. Deepen your expertise through a focused, advanced competency path or broaden your expertise through multiple competencies.

You can find more details regarding updated revenue and training qualifications for each level online.

Partner Portal

Committed to simplicity, the PartnerDirect Partner portal will serve as the single, streamlined portal for all of our Partners. Over the next few months, we will be migrating and incorporating information and resources formerly housed on legacy software company portals. In the meantime, former Quest Partner Circle partners, SonicWall channel partners, and AppAssure channel partners should all register for Dell’s PartnerDirect program and start getting familiar with the Dell Partner portal. Ready to join the new enhanced PartnerDirect program? Register here today.

Did you miss the Partner Town Hall Meeting?

Hardware Partners, software Partners and Partners wanting to cross-sell and upsell adjacent solutions, should be sure to view the replay of the April 30th town hall meeting. Dell’s Channel leaders covered the program changes in detail including: software program integration, new competencies, new learning tracks, and new paths to Premier Partner status. You can launch the town hall recorded webcast now.

Dell is committed to speeding channel partner’s time-to-profitability for sales of end-to-end solutions, so we want to make it as easy as possible to take advantage of these PartnerDirect enhancements.

If you have feedback regarding them, comment below, contact the Certified Partner Resource Desk or 866-670-4411, start a discussion in our PartnerDirect LinkedIn group, or reach out directly to your Dell Channel Manager.

And, if you’re still wondering what opportunities there might be with Dell Software, listen to Mike Johnson of Dell partner Cerdant talk about security during the Power to Do More: Accelerating Results event:

Mike Johnson, president of PartnerDirect Partner Cerdent, speaks at Dell Power to Do More event

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.