Dell: We have the 'most compelling' channel opportunity

Dell exec claims vendor now offers a channel opportunity 'better than any competitor'

Dell offers a better opportunity to the channel than any of its rivals, according to Marvin Blough, Dell's vice president for software channels and alliances.

During a breakout session on the opening day of Dell's Security Peak Performance conference in Berlin (pictured), Blough said: "In terms of our channel partners, the amount of opportunity we are creating through that shift of business to the channel is huge.

"When I look at partners, I think the opportunity with Dell, from a partner perspective right now, is probably more compelling than any other company in the industry. We address a huge market and we are trying to deliver solutions – solutions require integration, solutions require management.

"It is a channel business, and we are moving more of that business to the channel, so the opportunity at Dell, I would argue, is better than any other competitor I would look at right now," he said.

Speaking with CRN following the breakout session, Blough explained that this superior channel opportunity applies to the whole of Dell's expanding portfolio.

"If you look at Dell, we have products from the tablet to the notebook, all the way to the datacentre and in between we have security products, integration products and data protection products. So we have this big wide offering for customers, from a product philosophy.

"With the channel philosophy, the way we designed the programme, you [the partner] can go deep, wide, or a combination of the two. In the channel programme we have Registered partners, Preferred partners or Premier partners, and you can achieve Premier partner status by becoming very concentrated in one area, by taking the advanced security training, for example. Or you can go horizontal across multiple product lines and still achieve [the highest status]," he said.

"I look at it and say, we have a big range of products, a big company moving tonnes of revenue to the channel, and we are trying to build as much flexibility as we can, and I think that's the best opportunity going."

Dell of course has not always been so channel friendly, with it launching its PartnerDirect channel programme just eight years ago. But during the opening day of the Security Peak Performance conference, many of the execs played up the expansion of Dell's channel business over its various divisions.

Dave Hansen, global vice president for software sales and marketing, said: "Sixty per cent of Dell's software business now comes through channel partners, 35 per cent of all Dell's revenues comes through our channel partners, and that's over $20bn (£13bn)."