“We felt the need to have a stronger relationship with our partners”

What are the reasons
that led to this new classification of PartnerDirect program?

The whole idea was to
develop a relationship with our partner community. Initially, there
were many registered partners, who were still doing a lot of
transaction business. But if we look at it from a reality
perspective, then we feel the need to have a stronger relationship
with our partners. There are quite a few partners who are working
very closely with us. Just to give a thought level engagement and to
relate to per say, we decided to have 3 categories of partners
starting with registered, preferred, and premier.

When will this program
commence in India? When was it announced to the partner community
globally?

The newly enhanced
PartnerDirect program was made effective on May 9 for href="http://www.dqweek.com/Dell-issues-illegal-import-warning-to-partners">Dell
certified partners globally, and
features a new structure which sets out increased rewards for
certification and training, including new rebates for premier
partners, expanded deal registration terms, financial incentives, and
marketing and technical assistance. PartnerDirect's enhanced
structure for certified partners consists of 2 new levels-premier
partners and preferred partners. Partners who currently hold any of
Dell's
certifications-enterprise architecture, networking and security,
and systems management-will migrate into one of the premier or
preferred levels, depending on their level of commitment and
training.

Dell premier partners:
Premier partners demonstrate the highest level of commitment, earn 2
Dell certifications, and maintain a minimum annual revenue threshold.
New benefits include rebates on qualified products, 180-day deal
registration, access to Dell-generated leads, and case studies
collaboration.

Dell preferred
partners: Previously known as Dell certified partners, preferred
partners are recognized experts in key Dell solutions, have at least
1 Dell certification and reach a minimum annual revenue threshold.
New benefits include enhanced deal registration terms (120 days),
including extended deal registration for storage products and access
to Dell-generated leads.

Dell registered
partners: Benefits for Dell registered partners remain the same.

What are the minimum
revenue requirements for partners to become part of the premier and
preferred category?

This is not just about
revenue numbers, it has got more to do with the expertise you build
in a set of partners who work with us very closely especially in the
storage or enterprise segment. A client kind of a partner would not
need training because it is more of a price game.

To broadly say, there are
2 parameters, first is scale of the relationship that will directly
result into numbers and secondly, knowledge for the enterprise tag
that Dell has to take to the market. It really depends upon the
certification, number of trained people, etc, with Dell. We encourage
all our partners to undergo certification learning but some partners
take time while some are fast in doing it.

Do you have a sector
specific classification? How do things work out from your end?

We do not classify our
internal segments like large enterprises, etc, but we do it from our
partner's perspective. Our focus is to grow all our 3 business
units significantly, and definitely there is a huge opportunity in
SMB space. So it is a very natural inclination for partners to
participate in the SMB business, which definitely leads to faster
closure as the deal size is smaller in nature compared to large
deals. And the partner is given incentivies adequately on that.

We do not go across
telling partners to sell in any particular space. We encourage them
to work on all the business segments. Of course, there are few
partners who bring a lot of expertise particular to a vertical or
segment.

Any other changes that
were introduced in the program?

Dell is slightly modifying
its certifications to continue to reward partners for their
investments in key solution areas. The networking/security, systems
management certification remains the same. Enterprise architecture
will divide into 2 certifications-storage and servers.

How many channel
partners does Dell have in India?

Dell has 2,300 registered
commercial channel partners in India. Currently, we are working
aggressively internally to classify these partners under specific
categories. We have seen a good number of partners moving from
registered partners to preferred and premier partner category. And
the numbers we have are really good as of now.

Has the company brought
about any change in terms of offices, managers, etc, to support these
new developments?

Earlier we had a
conservative number with regard to team members. Now we have a team
of about 125 to 130 people working with the channels division. We had
previously divided the country into 3 segments and now to further
effectively manage and address the needs of individual regions, we
have divided the country further into 7 regions wherein North is
split into 3 regions, West and South into 2. Also, we are looking at
increasing our channel breadth and footprint in the enterprise
segment.