Dell gives partner programme a fresh look

Dell Technologies is re-naming the Dell EMC Partner Programme to the Dell Technologies Partner Programme, it says, to reflect “the full weight of the Dell Technologies brand”.

The vendor says the updated programme is geared towards helping partners procure products and cross-sell across its expansive technology portfolio.

“It will enable and empower you to have the power of the whole brand behind you, so you can take advantage across the portfolio,” Cheryl Cook, Dell’s SVP, global partner marketing told attendees at the company’s Global Partner Summit (GPS) in Las Vegas today, adding that “There isn’t anyone else that has the breadth of solutions that we do.”

The vendor announced earlier this year that any VMware products purchased through Dell would count toward Dell EMC Partner Programme tier requirements. As part of the revamp, it has expanded this to any product sale from across its group of businesses, comprising Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream in addition to VMware.

“The more you end up selling the broader the architecture or solutions sale, the more profitable you become,” Marius Haas, president and chief commercial officer of Dell Technologies, told partners, adding, “if you sell three lines of business or more, you will make 29 times more money than if you just sell one line of business.”

However, Cook stressed that all the companies’ partner programmes will continue to operate independently, and partners’ tier status will remain the same. Following on from Dell’s pledge to its 4000 partners last year to “become easier to do business with”, she said: “Stay tuned; we’re all about trying to simplify.”

New cloud competency

Dell also announced two new solution badges composed of already in-market certifications for its Dell Technologies Cloud Platform and Dell Technologies Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

The new cloud competency supports the launch today of the Dell Technologies Cloud solution, which the vendor says makes hybrid cloud environments simpler to deploy and manage. Built on VMware and Dell EMC infrastructure, Dell says the new platform offers “consistent infrastructure and operations for IT resources, across public and private clouds and the edge, regardless of location.”

The announcement coincides with research released by Virtustream and Forrester which shows that 97 percent of enterprises are employing multicloud strategies for mission-critical applications and nearly two-thirds are using multiple vendors for mission-critical workloads. 

The new competency will be composed of the Dell Technologies Cloud Platform Badge and will include the Services Delivery Competency on VxRail, which it says will serve as a foundational deployment certification for the new cloud competency.

“Many of you hold VX rail service deployment certifications today, all of that has put you well on the path to be able to achieve these competencies,” Cook told partners. “When you earn certifications in VMware’s s programme around VMware cloud Foundation, all of that will be recognized in certifications towards your revenue and tier attainment.”

Dell says full certification requirements will be announced in Q3.