In back-to-back sessions at the Global Partner Summit during Dell Technologies World, Dell’s top execs spelled out how the AI opportunity for partners is growing, and they’re building the tools, programs, and incentives to help them seize it.
From AI-powered lead generation to partner-first compensation models and frictionless quoting, Dell’s updates show they are actively modernizing to meet the demands of today’s MSPs, solution providers, and IT integrators.
“We’re all in with our partners.”
That line from Denise Millard, chief partner officer at Dell, summed up the tone of the session, where she outlined sweeping investments across Dell’s partner ecosystem.
“We’ve been on a journey. We’ve been listening to our partners”, Millard said. “Over the past 18 months, we have made massive investments across our program, across our go-to market, across our tools and our processes.”
As an example of their new partner-forward approach, Millard highlighted its “partner first for storage” initiative, which she declared to be working. “We saw our channel revenue grow double digits. We saw our PowerStore revenue grow over 20% and our sales collaboration with our partners grew greater than 40%,” she said.
To build on that momentum, Dell rolled out a new storage growth program and enhanced incentives on the client side. “We changed the way we compensate our sellers so we would drive more collaboration,” Millard explained, noting the launch of a specialty client team focused entirely on partner success.
Modernizing with AI, and making it easier to win
AI was the dominant theme throughout the conference, and that includes Dell’s partner strategy. From new AI sales tools to support for AI factory deployments, Dell is actively reshaping how it works with its channel.
Partner demand for more impactful and actionable findings in leads has led to the new enriched program, which uses AI-powered insights to generate leads. “These are using AI-powered predictive insights looking across billions of data points to create demands,” said Millard. “We’re coupling that with contact information, account intelligence and AI-generated scripts so your teams are informed and ready. It’s all about how we get the right opportunity to the right partner at the right time.”
Simplifying the quoting and ordering process has also been a key area of focus for Dell, again taking the opportunity to mix a little AI magic into the fold. “We are, in fact, embedding intelligent pricing, the ability for partners to rapidly select and order in real-time. Completely frictionless,” said Millard. “We’re putting agents right into the quoting tools so that you can configure the best solution for your customers. We know speed matters, and we’re doing more to empower our partners.”
AI will be in everything, and we’re only at the beginning
Millard wasn’t subtle about Dell’s direction, referencing how agentic AI is emerging as a technology with game-changing implications. “Agentic AI is coming fast and furious,” she said. “Across customers and across our partners, we’re going to have new modern ways of working. We’re going to have to reimagine what that looks like.”
Denise Millard & Michael Dell
That AI future is a big architectural issue, according to CEO Michael Dell, who used his time onstage with Millard to reiterate the need to bring AI to the data. “You have to look at where your data is, what the latency requirements are, and what your control requirements are. A lot of customers don’t really know how to get going. And they need a lot of help. This is where I think partners can play a big role,” he said.
For those with smaller customers, take note that the change is happening rapidly and the opportunity isn’t just for the enterprise. “We’re going to apply and size it in many respects for more small and medium-sized customers,” Dell said. “This is the fastest rate of change we’ve ever seen. Until tomorrow, where it’s going to go faster.”
Sell the desk
That was the advice from Kyle Dufresne, global client solutions group and workforce modernization at Dell, during a talk show-style session hosted by Dell’s SVP, WW Systems Engineering, Matt Dunfee. With AI PCs grabbing headlines and integral to Dell’s message of bringing AI to the data, Dell reminded partners there’s money to be made all around the endpoint even if the endpoint itself isn’t super profitable.
“In this business, the way the P&L works for us is that we make very little money on these PCs,” Dufresne explained. “We make a little bit more money on the peripherals.” Dell claims 48% of the global monitor market and is pushing hard on integrated peripherals like keyboards, soundbars, and headsets, a clear opportunity for partners to leverage that business to make each sale more profitable.
And they’re backing partners with powerful tools around the endpoint like its Dell Display and Peripheral Manager (DDPM), which can help partners show real value to customers in areas that may not be obvious. To illustrate, Dufrense told a story about a bank in France that would have otherwise had to manually upgrade the BIOS on a fleet of 250,000 monitors from a USB key, but the DDPM platform was able to upgrade all of them automatically from a single pane of glass in a second. “That bank, will save tens of millions of dollars in labor just in that use case,” said Dufrense.
Partners are central to the vision
The session closed with Dell reinforcing that its partners are critical to making Dell’s vision real, and the belief that working with Dell Technologies is the best choice to capitalize on the opportunities the tidal wave of AI is bringing to the market. From AI workload consulting to infrastructure deployments, Dell wants partners leading the charge.
“We are an organization and a company [that] listens,” Millard said. “We take action. We place big bets. We’re continuing to innovate. We’re continuing to invest in our partner relationships, in our program, and our go to market. We have a major journey we’re on to completely change your experience with working with Dell Technologies.”
It’s a bold message, but one Dell seems ready to back with action and investment. And for channel partners, that spells opportunity.
Millard closed with one final ask to its partners: “Lean in. Go all in with Dell Technologies because we’re all in with you.”
Photo credit: MW for the ChannelPro Network
