September 2008 - Dell Channel Blog

Watch Ted Colpo, Director of SMB Services Marketing, talk about Dell Managed Services and the resources and benefits it offers to both direct Dell customers and Dell Partners alike. Visit the MSPMentor blog to check out the YouTube video.

Watch the video

For many Dell colleagues like those of you working in the Emerging Countries team, this has been a daily reality for many years: Channel partners are hard to convince.

In the current environment of shrinking margins and increased technology complexity, solutions providers need relationships based on trust and mutual long term commitment.

Our PartnerDirect program has just passed the 6 months mark in EMEA and we wanted to hear from partners how we are doing so far and what their expectations are. We invited fourteen key partners from across Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and UK) and held our 1^st Partner Advisory Council in London this week. Our partners had a very open and frank discussion with us, outlining what they like about the PartnerDirect programme, and what they would like to see from a vendor partner programme. Michael Dell also participated, and spoke to partners about his vision for PartnerDirect.

The good news is that our partners are beginning to trust us. They believe Dell is on its way to invent a new hybrid business model where direct and channel sales complement each other to the benefit of end customers. These are still early days for PartnerDirect and though more enhancements of our program are needed, but our partners have faith in our long term commitment and want to be on that journey with us.

As many of you know, we recently expanded Dell’s Managed Services for Small Businesses from Dallas to New York City. Managed Services for Small Business includes; proactive, entire IT environment, round the clock remote and onsite Dell and non Dell hardware, monitoring, remediation and management. These offerings will be available from Dell and our growing network of channel partners.

We understand there will be opinions and views on our strategy and how this impacts our Dell MSP Partners across the country.

How We Help Partners

Let me reiterate that we are here to assist our partners Dell does not intend to compete with our partners. In fact, our partners with registered deals are completely protected. Our unique approach has unique customer benefits such as:

• Services in system at factory
• Remote Management
• Configurable Services
• Solutions that will continue to evolve

With 150 certified MSP partners leveraging the Dell platform, we are confident that our investment in technologies and IP for managed services will be valued by our partners. We know this as our current partners participating in the pilot are already reporting high satisfaction with their experience and a reduction in their routine break-fix issues.

Here at Dell, we believe in maintaining full transparency with our partners. That’s why we’re not keeping it a secret what’s included with our managed services offering. Namely, we’re providing SMB customers with a range of remote monitoring, problem resolution and full 24x7 IT management services. Our coverage extends across most major hardware brands (Dell and other vendor products), as well as software and employee support. In addition, customizable plans and add-on services can be purchased.

On a per-product basis, Dell’s managed services cost:

• Alerts: $9 per desktop or laptop per month; $59 per server per month
• Resolution: $39 per desktop or laptop per month; $199 per server per month
• Management: $59 per desktop or laptop per month; $299 per server per month

What are Partners Are Saying

In a recent eWeek blog by Jessica Davis, our Partner, Tim Herbert, had the following comment to say about the MSP Pilot, “As a Managed Service Provider, my company had a great relationship with SilverBack that has continued through the Dell acquisition. Dell has consistently communicated in a variety of venues that they’re taking managed services direct —at the SilverBack conference in January, in an email to partners around the enhancements to the Managed Services Certification and their Dallas direct pilot in April, and in the many articles I read about yesterday. They are not alone in this—as many large telcos and IT providers are also targeting this market.”

With every update of our PartnerDirect program, we are committed to addressing it honestly and openly with our partners. We understand that trust isn’t easily earned or deserved, and we will continue to be straightforward in all of our dealings. My team continuously focuses on delivering consistency and working through any conflicts that may arise. In November, Dell will be hosting its first MSP Partner Advisory Council in Austin, TX.

Tell Us What You Think

If you have questions or comments, please use the comment section provided here or you can email me directly at Gregory_Davis@Dell.com

MSPmentor is hosting their annual 100 survey that identifies top managed service providers. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and provides a ton of free publicity for the top tier.

Remember this is a global survey so location doesn’t matter!!

Read more and ask questions, if you have them, at MSPmentor.net.

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Content Source: Dell PowerSolutions Magazine