Two weeks ago, Dell announced plans to create a channel program. We haven’t seen an announcement like this for quite some time from Dell, and many observers are understandably skeptical. Is this is an attempt to sway more orders from resellers and potentially sell direct to their customers, or is Dell actually trying to expand its addressable market by engaging with resellers? And given the state of Dell’s business, could this all be just a cry for attention?
Our research leads us to believe this time Dell is serious about resellers, and it’s more than just public announcements that causes us to say this. Dell’s past channel efforts in major markets didn’t go well, but this time there is both executive support and a strong motivation to succeed that wasn’t there before.
One thing is for sure, this comes at a time when competition among PC vendors is at its peak. Lenovo has publicly stated that partner recruitment is a top priority, and Acer has recently overtaken Lenovo’s #3 spot world-wide, thanks to its partners. Not to mention HP, the #1 PC vendor worldwide, has one of the largest partner communities in the business.
Can Dell will succeed after years of channel antagonism? It’s a tough call given Dell’s eroding reputation and the gains its competitors continue to make. We’ll be watching with interest.
Powered by ScribeFire.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.