Dell Channel Chief Rola Dagher Talks Growth Plans, Partner Opportunities
Dell Technologies’ global channel chief talks opportunities for partners and addresses rumors around taking business direct.
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Chsnnel Futures: Channel partners have proved invaluable to their customers for the past two years. What do you see as the biggest opportunities facing them in 2022?
Dell’s Rola Dagher: “Partners will keep on playing a key role in helping their customers drive their digital transformation. Many customers have made huge progress on this path driven by the pandemic and the need to stay competitive and productive. But now it is time to consolidate that based on a solid IT strategy and innovative IT solutions – from clients to IT infrastructures in the back end.
“Channel partners with their (vertical) expertise, experience and customer proximity are perfectly placed to help our joint customers. This opens up huge business growth opportunities.”
CF: Conversely, what are some of the challenges they face?
RD: “Supply chain and other delivery constraints have definitely had an impact. Some of the solutions will take time and require new ways of doing business.
“Business as usual is that there is no ‘usual’ – or a redefining of what is usual. We want to help our partners be prepared for whatever the future holds.
“Cyberattacks are a threat for all of us, so also for our partners. It is absolutely key to take all necessary steps to drive cyber resiliency, from the protection against cyberattacks to solid backup and recovery strategies in case the worst case happens. Dell has solutions, like managed detection and response, that partners can leverage to supplement the cybersecurity services that they already provide to their customers.”
“At the same time, partners have the opportunity and responsibility to help their customers to establish and implement IT security strategies on their end.
“The critical component is not only how we use technology to meet these challenges but we enable our partners to navigate these challenges and help customers.”
CF: Any ambitions you can share in terms of your growth plans or further investments in the channel?
RD: “Today, our global partners already deliver more than 50% of Dell Technologies’ orders revenue. While we cannot make any predictions in terms of growth, it is fair to say that we see a huge potential to further increase our business with partners going forward based on a program that we call the best channel program in the market.”
CF: Similarly, can we expect any new tools for partners, or forthcoming updates to the partner program?
RD: “We have just announced some great enhancements and improvements to our program, which will all help to make it easier for our partners to do business with us. All enhancements are based on our partners’ feedback. We keep listening to our partners and adapt and innovate the program to increase the velocity in their business, simplify their experience, and maintain our shared rapid growth.”
CF: There were reports last year that Dell was taking back some business in North America. Can you provide an update on that?
RD: “The question was asked some time ago by a North American publication: ‘Is Dell Technologies’ Channel at Risk?’ The answer is simply, ‘no,’ and our results speak for themselves.
“This fiscal year, our partners have accounted for more than half of our order revenue, and significantly more than half of our new and reactivated customers. In [our] fiscal [third quarter], order revenue through the channel was up more than 34% year-over-year globally. [It was] up more than 30% year-over-year in EMEA. Partners are a key part of our growth strategy as we best serve the needs of our customers.”
CF: Where is Dell focusing its energy in 2022 regarding the channel?
RD: “Moving forward, our partner vision for the coming years is based on three pillars:
· Deepen trust with partners and distributors by driving strong collaboration.
· Maximize growth by focusing on end-user acquisition, driving cross-sell and accelerating the data center of the future.
· Accelerate transformation by enabling channel consumption models, accelerating our Dell Technologies platform and transforming channel programs.”
CF: Apex was a major launch for Dell last year. Can you provide any updates on that business? Any feedback from partners or areas for improvement?
RD: “Apex builds on our decades-long history of delivering on-demand IT. We’ve seen increased interest in on-demand consumption models. Apex helps partners provide simplified cloud experiences across their customers cloud, edge and data center environments. With the consumption flexibility your customers need to innovate, you can better serve your customers how and where they need it – on-premises, adjacent to public cloud, or in it.
“All Dell Technologies partners can consume Apex offers as an end user for their own internal IT usage, or host dedicated workloads on behalf of their customers with turnkey offers. Apex provides our partners with additional opportunities to provide value by helping customers unlock the full value of their Apex installations and provide a better-together outcome. Services like last-mile customization, residencies, data migration, application services and hybrid cloud extensions from a customer location to a partner data center are a few examples of how partners can position themselves for success with Apex.”
CF: Following on from Apex, what does the shift to everything-as-a-service mean for partners at a high level?
RD: “Apex is a massive opportunity for partners to provide the agility and speed customers want along with the control and consistency they need. Apex allows partners to expand their as-a-service portfolios while streamlining their service offerings in a way that benefits their customers’ business, as well as their own. Reduced complexity gives partners the opportunity to streamline their services offerings to improve their bottom line by focusing on repeatable, high-value services.”
CF: Any final thoughts or message to the channel?
RD: “It isn’t enough to provide an amazing partner program and world-class technology; customers are looking for social responsibility from the providers they work with. Our Progress Made Real social impact plan and 2030 goals help us do that by applying our technology and resources to address social and environmental issues.
“Together with our partners, we can accomplish amazing things that matter to our customers and make a difference for our communities.”
CF: Any final thoughts or message to the channel?
RD: “It isn’t enough to provide an amazing partner program and world-class technology; customers are looking for social responsibility from the providers they work with. Our Progress Made Real social impact plan and 2030 goals help us do that by applying our technology and resources to address social and environmental issues.
“Together with our partners, we can accomplish amazing things that matter to our customers and make a difference for our communities.”
Dell Technologies last week shared its Q3 results, showing orders revenue through the channel was up 34% year-over-year globally. Partners were also responsible for 62% of all new and reactivated buyers globally. Heading up the vendor’s partner organization is Dell Technologies’ global channel chief, Rola Dagher. We caught up with her to discuss all things partner-related.
What does she see as the biggest threats and opportunities facing channel partners? What investment plans does Dell Technologies have for its partners? What does the Apex launch and “everything as a service” mean for the channel? And what about those rumors of Dell taking business direct?
Dell’s Rola Dagher
Check out our Q&A with Rola Dagher in the slideshow above to find out.
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