A big hello from the first-ever Dell APJ Partner Summit and the second Dell China Partner Summit!
Held in the same week, the China partner summit was attended by a record-breaking 400 partners from China. After the exciting Chinese military inspired opening ceremony on Monday morning (see my previous blog on Day 1), the summit got off to a flying start. Partners were seen chatting about the various breakout sessions they were attending, as well as the new solutions available to them. Breakouts included discussions on Dell’s extensive portfolio of solutions, ranging from software to cloud client computing. In response to partner feedback, this year’s Partner Summit also saw the inclusion of industry-specific panels, where partners learnt how they could better help customers in the healthcare and education sectors. The full-day sessions involved partner case sharing and roundtable discussions. Booths, showcasing partner solutions, were also set up in the exhibition halls. In this way, partners were able to learn from each other and more importantly, expand their business network.
The hosting of the inaugural Dell APJ Partner Summit is a significant milestone in Dell’s regional channel strategy and reinforced Dell’s commitment to the APJ partner community. Attended by over 50 channel partners from the region, the event was kick-started by Global Vice President of Dell’s Global Commercial Channel (GCC) business, Greg Davis. In his opening keynote, Greg congratulated the APJ GCC team for successfully hosting the first APJ Partner Summit.
He also shared the history of Dell’s GCC business, and how much it has grown since its establishment. “We’ve done a lot in six years. Before the launch of GCC, only 15% of Dell’s commercial business was from non-direct sales. After we formally launched a strategy to win with partners, we have doubled our market potential. Dell GCC now contributes about one-third of Dell’s commercial business revenue,” said Greg.
Partners, from Asia Pacific, listened earnestly as Richard Lee, Vice President, GCC, Dell APJ, shared Dell’s strategy in ensuring partners in the region and Dell work better together in the near future. In his presentation, Richard pledged to continue the regional GCC team's focus on Global System Integrators and strategic partners, as well as expand the GCC distribution footprint across the region. In fact, the GCC team in APJ has plans to grow its current distribution network by 10 times within the next two years through coverage extension, expanded product offerings and more win-win cooperation.
The summit also featured key announcements and launches to support the partner eco-system:
- Dell Big Data Starter Kit, which will help lower barriers to entry for partners, customers and developers. The kit also prioritizes cost optimization as it is scalable in a production system environment.
- Online Solutions Configurator (OSC) was first launched in ANZ and China and is now available in India, Japan and Korea. This tool allows partners to create multi-part, customized enterprise solutions for their customers.
- Adding to the strength of the PartnerDirect program are four new software competencies – Security, Systems Management, Data Protection and Information Management. Available from November 1, 2013, the software competencies allow Dell to better serve the needs of its combined channel partner community, including software and hardware-focused partners, as well as partners selling solutions. Initially the training will be available in English. Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese will be available next February.
Through this summit, and the various other activities planned throughout the year, such as the Engineers’ Club, Dell hopes to continue enabling its partners to achieve success in this new age.
Thank you for those who joined us in Chengdu and we look forward to seeing you at the next APJ Partner Summit!
The Dell China Partner Summit 2013 ended on November 5 and was followed by the launch of the inaugural Dell APJ Partner Summit on November 6. However, highlights from the event are still available on social media:
- Twitter @DellChannel or @KayatDell with #DellAPS
- Visit the Dell Instagram page to view the pictures
- Join the APJ PartnerDirect LinkedIn group to view more posts (for Dell partners only)