Dell's channel is moving into a position of being a trusted advisor to ensure that customers can be fully supported as they navigate the challenges of an economy emerging from a global pandemic.
The vendor shared research this morning that highlighted the areas of investment that IT decision-makers are looking to back over the next five years, with security, cloud and 5G the top three.
From a channel perspective, Rob Tomlin, vice-president of the UK channel at Dell Technologies, said that to support customers the channel had to help design and secure the future for their clients.
“The opportunity that our channel partners are seeing, and I think lays ahead for our channel partners, is to very much be a trusted advisor to the customers on that journey,” he stated. “We’re seeing growth everywhere. But the fastest growth is in those trusted advisor specialist partners.
“As well as accelerating the future and accelerating the recovery, I think partners are perfectly positioned as trusted advisors in [security, cloud and 5G],” he added. “We’re encouraging our partners to come on that journey – get enabled, get trained, get skilled up to do those [technology areas].”
Tomlin said the rewards for those that took the right approach to the market were significant, adding that customers were reaching out for support and vendors needed partners to deliver services.
“The opportunity for our partners is probably bigger today than it’s ever been, and I’ve been in the in the channel for two decades now,” he said. “The big opportunity is in identifying the customers that need to transform or need to accelerate.”
Tomlin highlighted the strong growth in cyber resilience in the past six months as an example of how it was supporting and responding to channel and customer demand.
“Most customers don’t just want to buy a product, they want to buy an outcome, and that’s something our channel partners are providing in the market every day”
Rob Tomlin, Dell Technologies
“It is something we’ve been talking about for the last few years. The last six, nine months, the amount of opportunities that have been created by channel partners, and then the amount of projects that are being completed...we are seeing a rapid growth in that in that side of our market,” he added. “Our channel partners are at the heart of it, which is super encouraging.”
He added that it was also supporting partners with its Apex as-a-service approach, which added more options to those at the coalface looking to deliver options for users.
“We’re looking at Apex and we’re looking at managed services. Most customers don’t just want to buy a product, they want to buy an outcome, and that’s something our channel partners are providing in the market every day,” he said.
Tomlin also addressed the components shortage that had affected the industry, saying it had been able to provide support to partners around those challenges.
“Our ability to securely deliver during this period, and continue to as well, has been a big benefit to us. So when our when our competition has struggled to manufacture Dell’s supply chain – not just a supply chain, but its secure global supply chain – has been a massive benefit to us,” he said.
“There’s probably never been a better time to be in the IT market, running a channel business. The fact that our customers need to help on the journey of protecting or transforming their business, protecting their business and accelerating their businesses…channel partners’ ability to be a trusted advisor is just such a fantastic opportunity,” he concluded.
