December 2008 - Dell Channel Blog

The Dell Channel Blog is currently taking a break over the holiday season. We wish you the very best in the coming year!!

While we’re on hiatus, please look over this important partner information posted over the last several months.

• Dell Offers New Financing Options on Dell EqualLogic Storage Equipment
• Partner Financing Is Available at Dell
• Dell Partner Feature: CITOC
• Long Time Dell VAR speaks out about support
• MSP Success Tactics for Today’s Economy
• Dell’s Commitment to the Channel _Partner Perspective
• Certified Partners = Big Results
• Dell Launches Federal Certification Path
• Confessions of a 10-year Dell Direct Veteran: Why I Moved to the Channel
• Green IT in the Channel
• MSP Mentor Live: Podcast with Dell’s Greg Davis
• Dell Launches U.S. Certified Return Policy
• Dell’s channel evolution: An outsider’s view

Partners that will NOT provide support to their end customers MUST transfer ownership of systems to ensure the end customer will receive the system’s entitled service and support from Dell - see details below:

PROCESS OVERVIEW:
1) Dell provides a proactive report to the Partner to review and approve tag transfers to their end customers
2) The report can be sent to the Partner on a weekly basis
3) The report includes all pertinent info on each tag that has shipped to the partner in the timeframe specified
4) The Partner reviews the data on the spreadsheet, makes any modifications, and saves the report
5) The report is then emailed to: BulkOTReq@dell.com
6) Dell will process the tag transfers
7) The Partner will be notified when the transfers are complete

TO SET UP A WEEKLY REPORT:
1) Sales will send the link or customer number for each Partner to Tag Transfer Report Request@Dell.com
2) Sales will provide the Partner Instructions (outlined below)
3) An auto-generated D3 report is set up and sent every Monday directly to the Partner titled "partnername Weekly Tag Transfer Report"

TAG TRANSFER PARTNER INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Within the report, click on the link to download the Excel report.
2) Review the weekly Dell Tag Transfer Report sent on Monday morning; update the data in the ‘ship to’ fields as necessary to reflect the new end customer’s information.
3) Please note that the ‘ship to’ data should reflect the end-customer’s information as the owner of the system.
4) The tag / ownership will be transferred to the ‘ship to’ data on the report.
5) Please remove any tags that you do NOT want transferred from the report. The report should only contain tags to transfer.
6) Email the updated spreadsheet to Dell at: BulkOTReq@dell.com. You must forward your excel doc to the mailbox directly in order to receive your completion confirmation.
7) Allow up to 5 business days for processing by Dell.
8) Once the request is completed, a confirmation will be sent to the requesting address.
For any questions, please contact US_PartnerDirect@Dell.com or visit the PartnerDirect portal under Support and Services.

Sincerely,
Dell PartnerDirect

Dell was fortunate enough to be one of the business pioneers for social media and networking, and although we (and our customers) have been reaping the benefits of open two-way communication for more than 2 years now, we've recently hit another milestone in web 2.0. The VARguy reported on an article written by MG Siegler about how Dell has utilized the micro messaging client Twitter [follow Dell Channel on Twitter] to connect with customers, and what that communication has done for Dell. So if you feel that social media and networking is only for personal fun, take a second look; your business and your customers may just thank you for it.

On December 11^th, Dell joined forces with MSPMentor and sponsored the final CEO exchange webinar of 2008. Joining Joe Panettieri were Doug Ford, President of The I.T. Pros, Al Gossett, President and CEO, Integral Solutions Group and Peter Klanian, Dell Senior Manager, Channel Sales.

The conversation was very lively with great questions being asked by all participants. During the webinar, Joe took several surveys which included:

How familiar are you with Dell Managed Services?

                44% were very to somewhat familiar with Dell

52% were note familiar with Dell, which opened up the conversation to more detail and depth

In 2009, MSPs (participants) expect revenue to –

                69.5% substantially increase compared to 2008

                26% slightly increase

Both Doug & Al, provided great insights into how they’ve been successful and their plans for today’s economic times.  By utilizing Dell’s business builder program, training and lead generation tools among their own strategies, both companies see new opportunities in today’s weak marketplace. With most companies reducing headcount, Al & Doug see new relationships and business coming to fruition.

To hear the entire webinar, please visit mspmentor.net/events and to learn more about Dell’s Managed Services, please visit www.silverbacktech.com

If you haven’t checked out the InsideIT blog lately, Bruce Eric is in the process of completing a 5 part series all about “Flexible (flex) Computing.” In this 5 part series Bruce posts individual pod casts, lead by Juan Vega, which walk through the basics of flex computing. If it’s something you’re interested in, or maybe something your customers may ask about, start at the beginning, and then take a few minutes each day this week and see what Juan has to say.