As a follow-up to Pete Koliopolous (Vice President, Global Software Channels & Alliances) video on the new channel landscape, I caught up with Chris Miller, Executive Director EMEA Channels, to get his perspective on how this relates to EMEA.
Q1: Pete covered the acquisition of Quest and its separation from Dell. From your perspective, can you expand a little more on why this is a good thing for our employees and partners?
As Pete confirmed, Francisco Partners & Elliott Management will be the board of directors. Francisco Partners and Elliott Management’s passion for technology and proven track records in nurturing and building software businesses will enable our loyal base of employees to continue delivering innovation. As a dedicated software business our sole focus will be on providing best-in-class software solutions to our customers that reduces the time and money spent on IT administration so they can invest more on business innovation. Our partners are a crucial part of this and will become part of a new partner program.
Q2: You mentioned a new partner program – will that be different to what partners are currently experiencing today
Initially, all partners will experience the same tiers and benefits as they do today through Dell’s PartnerDirect program. As part of the transition we’re not going to change tiers, category names, status etc. This will remain the same as it exists today. Looking to the future, I am working with Pete and the rest of the leadership team to create a new focused channel program that will provide more benefits to our partners than exist today or before. These will include improved enablement programs, enhanced deal registration processes as well as access to more profit pools for our partners. This will be a partner program that is designed to support partners who want to increase their profit and capabilities with a leading software company.
Q3: Is this new program an EMEA specific program, or is this a US centric program?
I am working collaboratively with Pete and my global counterparts to ultimately deliver a best-in-class experience for our partners. The platform, the tier levels, and the principal benefits will be consistent globally and will meet the needs of EMEA partners. Across EMEA, I am supporting all of the region and in-country channel leadership to ensure that they can leverage the program and drive the focus and priorities that are most relevant to that country. This is not a one size fits all approach so the program will be consistent globally but with regional flexibility.
Q4: Pete mentioned that we will be hosting regional partner conferences. Can you share more details on these?
We plan to host two EMEA Partner Conferences in Q4 of this year to launch our new brand, partner program and roadmap. This will be an exciting time to learn more about the new brand and the important role our channel partners will play. Dates and locations haven’t been confirmed yet but more information will be available within the coming weeks.
Q5: In closing, what are the key points you’d like to leave our EMEA Partners with?
For a vendor to be most successful with their channel, partners need relevance and identity. We need to be relevant to their business by maximising the profit pools. We need to help a partner gain an even stronger identity by being associated with our solutions and help them provide even more capability. To differentiate ourselves we will be relentless in our focus to achieve a best-in-class channel experience. This is an evolution and will take time to ultimately deliver but I am excited about the future. I’m excited to be leading the EMEA Channel and be part of building that future, together with our partners, that will deliver more than we have before.
Missed Pete’s video? Take 5 minutes to watch it now.
