Company Updates

Expanding Our Partner Engagement Through Social Media

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clip_image003Last spring we announced here a dedicated social media page (registration required) on the PartnerDirect partner portal to give our channel partners access to useful social media tools and tips, including links to all of PartnerDirect’s social media platforms, a Q&A forum, and links for Certified Channel Partners to register for both a live virtual training session and an on-demand refresher course.

Determined to continue to outpace the market and fueled by commitment to collaboration, we rely on our Partners to help us shape an industry-leading channel program. And when Partners speak, Dell listens. Prompted by numerous requests to add a dedicated online technical community to our social offerings, we are excited to announce the launch of a PartnerDirect addition to the Dell TechCenter that is open to all registered Dell partners.

Already well established, the TechCenter is an active community that hosts over 350,000 IT professionals each month and will serve as the perfect backdrop to the new PartnerDirect community. The new PartnerDirect community site

Here’s what the new TechCenter PartnerDirect community site looks like:

Dell TechCenter PartnerDirect Community Site

Collaboration.
The PartnerDirect community site also includes a community forum. Here, Partners can interact with one another as they pose questions, share best practices and offer advice. With no predetermined topics, it’s an appropriate place to kick-off conversations topics that are most important to individual Partners. Reading and participating in forum threads is also great way to network with other professionals that share similar knowledge, challenges or interests.

Education.
Augmenting the already abundant professional growth opportunities that the PartnerDirect program currently offers – from training courses and competencies to sales tools and marketing guidance—the new PartnerDirect community will offer new ways for Partners to learn about Dell enterprise solutions and deepen their technical knowledge. Members will be able to easily access an abundance of technical information that goes beyond what’s typically covered in a user manual or sales aid by reading PartnerDirect blog posts, browsing (or contributing to) the site’s extensive wiki or watching informational and how-to videos. For more interactive education, members can participate in weekly TechChats and enjoy direct access to Dell engineers and product designers.

Inspiration.
More than merely an online storehouse of information and conversations, the new PartnerDirect page is an opportunity for our Partners to meaningfully connect with Dell and other Partners. With greater interaction and more open communication we are excited to see what new mutually-beneficial initiatives might be born of this new online technical community.

Create a profile and join the conversation today. You can check out the TechCenter PartnerDirect community (or click on the image above), and click on the Join button to create an account.

And, I’ll also leave you with a bit of teaser. Watch this space for more program enhancement announcements including the refreshed social media training to be rolled out shortly.

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.