Strategy

Dell appoints SMB channel director

Vendor says it will recruit more people.

Dell has created and appointed a dedicated small business channel director and a channel manager for its New Zealand business after what it claimed was a strong 12 months for its channel business.

Jay Turner (pictured), an eight-year veteran of Dell with previous experience in distribution, was appointed to the role of Australia and New Zealand director of channels.

Turner, who worked at Tech Pacific before it merged with Ingram Micro in 2004, said his background will help him help resellers take advantage of the "logistical marketing infrastructure that Dell has to help new business."

"We've had a very strong 12 months or so in the PartnerDirect program [launched in 2008] and this new role that I'm moving into is probably a proof point that it's working well for us.

"I don't think we'd be investing in this role if we hadn't been seeing a really strong performance with our partnerships."

Turner said Dell's Vostro SMB laptop product line - which was revamped last year - had proven popular with partners. He said Dell's server range had enjoyed similar successes.

"There's a broad range available to our channel partners and I think that's why we've had a solid 12 months," said Turner.

Driving NZ growth

Meanwhile, Dell has appointed a channel manager for its New Zealand business. Turner said New Zealand has "done very well and is an area that Dell wanted to invest in further.

James Arnold, who assumed the role, spent the past seven years working with Lenovo and IBM in Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Arnold will oversee the expansion of Dell partnerships in New Zealand.

More hires coming

Turner said Dell was also hiring sales and technical staff.

He also said he was "happy" to increase the number of reseller partners across the region, as long as there was benefit for all parties involved.

Rob Makin, channel strategy and acquisition manager, will continue to look after government and large enterprise partners."

Furthermore, Cath Hodgson-Croker joins Dell to take leadership of the marketing and brand teams responsible for tailored technology solutions and customer intimacy for small and medium business.

5 comments in this discussion

"mrbiggles, how is that different to HP, Lenovo, IBM, Acer? they all go direct when the "margin is just so low you won't make any money on the deal", even though most resellers are using the box to ..."

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Comments: 5

Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.

em3 Jan 20, 2010 5:12 PM	Welcome to the role Jay, you certainly have your work cut out to regain the trust and support from partners and customers. Four price increases in as many months, followed by a very steep decline in customer service, poor onsite service, average internal logistics who still send incorrect parts, then the ongoing challenge of Malaysian based sales consultants undercutting partner pricing. Did I mention being passed from person to person across call centres when trying to resolve shipping and spare parts issues? My staff really enjoy re-explaining the same issue over and over again, then escalating to our managers so we can waste more time. As a Dell partner, we've never seen a strategic direction or intent - apart from "tell us your customers and current deals, so we can decide which ones we will take from you". Moving into retail sales I'm sure has been great for Dell (because everyone wants to buy a PC from a corridor stand next to their favourite coffee shop at Westfield, however it's the partners who are now left carrying the burden and cost of explaining to SMB customers why an $800 laptop is not the ultimate solution with everything required to run a business. Buying 1 machine can be done this way, but buying a fleet based on lowest cost nearly always ends in disaster, added cost and wasted time. What happened to the great days where Dell was customer focused and did everything they could to help partners secure business ? What happened to the great support we used to receive, where the technician brought the correct parts (and more) to swap out until the issue was resolved? There's a lot of work to be done at Dell.
pmc777 Jan 22, 2010 12:07 PM	As a Dell partner also I would just like to add some balance to em3's comments. We have been a member of Dell's partner program for about 18 months. Admittedly there are times when we find contradiction between Dell direct and partner models but all round they have been great to work with and have been more approachable and accessible than other large mutinationals that we have partnered with in the past. Our experience has been that the level of support and customer care is better than most especially with prosupport warranty. With Dell we are yet to feel the same level of pain trying to achieve an outcome for a customer as what we have experienced with HP. I think the partner model has taken Dell longer to implement than anticipated but they do still seem to be moving forward. I sense that Dell is keen to expand its offerings to partners and customers whereas HP seem to be in the process of consolidating its support and customer care. I think this appointment demonstrates Dell's commitment to its partners and customers in the SMB market rather than just focusing on the big end of town.
Satch Jan 25, 2010 4:51 PM	I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that Dell had named their Channel Program "Dell Partner Direct". Bit of an oxymoron really...
mrbiggles Jan 29, 2010 3:40 PM	Dell's direct partnership makes perfect sense to me. Dell will be in partnership with you until they are able to go direct to your customers and cut you out. Hense PartnerDirect - its a perfect name:)
plhau98 Feb 4, 2010 1:06 PM	mrbiggles, how is that different to HP, Lenovo, IBM, Acer? they all go direct when the "margin is just so low you won't make any money on the deal", even though most resellers are using the box to facilitate services revenue, and don't care about the boxes themselves.