This series provides insight into what drives Dell channel executives. Missed the other posts in the series? Get to know them now: John Byrne (Dell President of Global Channels); Michael Collins (Dell Senior Vice President, Channel, EMEA); Ng Tian Beng (Dell Senior Vice President, APJ Channels); Joyce Mullen (Dell Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global OEM and IoT Solutions); Jim DeFoe (Dell Senior Vice President, Global Distribution); Gregg Ambulos (Dell Senior Vice President, North American Channels).
Meet Jay Snyder – Senior Vice President, Global Alliances, Service Providers and Industries
What is your current role/area of responsibility?
I have the pleasure to lead more than 400 women and men in the Global Alliances, Service Provider and Industries organization here at Dell.
Our Global Alliance partners include Systems Integrators (SI), Strategic Outsourcers (SO) and Cloud Service Providers (CSP). These partners help us reach customers that we might not otherwise engage thanks to their deep expertise in a particular topic or industry and deliver enhanced value to our customers as they progress on their transformational journeys.
For industries, our focus is to provide subject matter expertise; both functional and technical, that marry our platforms with unique use cases within specific industries. We made our name in Healthcare, State and Local and Energy and are currently expanding into Manufacturing, Financial Services and beyond. We bring all this together in a structured set of offers, often by industry, that are taken to market by our SI, SO and CSPs.
What most excites you about the Dell Partner Program?
What’s most exciting to me is that we created the Dell Partner Program from scratch.
Our leadership team has decades upon decades of experience in the channel, and we leveraged that to create a brand new program that I think is phenomenal. We met with dozens of partners, from both the EMC and Dell side, as well as from the reseller, SI, SO, CSP, OEM and distributor spaces to understand what would work best.
As it turned out, different partner types had different requirements, so we created different tracks for those types to deliver a great experience. But, we are all under one umbrella that has a similar look and feel, and most importantly set of opportunities for partners to accelerate with us in the market.
For me, each year I’m most proud of the organization when I get to step on stage at Global Partner Summit at Dell World. This year is no exception. I’m extremely excited to talk to our partners in just a few short weeks and talk to them about how the new program is working for them. At the same time, I will be seeking feedback on ways to continually improve the program because this really is just the beginning, which is very … exciting!
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for Dell partners in 2017?
Our Alliance partners are truly an extension of the Dell family. They each bring a unique area of expertise to the table that enables us to reach customers and solve problems together. In other words, our partners enable us to provide business context and thus deliver business outcomes.
Just think about the major focus of Dell in FY‘18. It’s centered around the four major transformation plays that we’re seeing in the industry: workforce, security, IT and digital. We simply cannot deliver true transformation without the capabilities of our partner ecosystem. They make our platforms come alive through this business context, and for me, this aligns with the massive opportunity like never before. Combine this with the broadened portfolio, with offers from the edge to the core, and you might say the opportunity is almost limitless.
Do you have a favorite country, place or city to visit; and why?
I travel often, several hundred thousand miles a year for work, so there are really two parts to this answer.
To avoid planes and trains, and simply get away to one of the most beautiful and fun filled place on the planet, it’s Lake Tahoe. Only a 2-1/2 hour drive from where I live, to me Tahoe is heaven on earth. The air, the scenery, the ability to hike, kayak, bike, fish, horseback and so on … Not to mention, the cell coverage is terrible.
The second part of the answer is anywhere in EMEA.
Our family loves to travel; we really enjoy architecture, history, food and wine. The uniqueness from country to country in EMEA is truly special, and we still have so much to ground to cover. But if you pushed me, what I’d really have to say is Antibes, France on the southeastern coast. One day, I’d love to rent a flat, walk to the market each day for fresh breads, meats and cheese, and run along the ocean. And, no cell phone coverage.
What do you do for fun outside of Dell?
Like everyone at Dell, my work is demanding and requires lots of hours. My time outside the office is focused on family. I experience great pleasure in attending sporting events for my three kids, who participate in track, tennis, lacrosse, baseball and soccer. When we have free time, we love to be outdoors. Hiking, biking and taking our Labradoodle puppy, Murphy, to exciting new places and watch him run. As a family, we also like to give back to community, and look for opportunities as a family such as participating in urban farming and helping out at food kitchens.
My wife and I love to enjoy great food and wine. Living in the Bay Area, we are blessed with no shortage of phenomenal restaurants and wineries, which we try to take advantage of regularly. We also have a large garden; and it doesn’t hurt that my wife is loves to cook, and is always wowing us. (I’m in charge of the wine pairing.)
And finally, I’m a concert junkie. I love to go to live shows, especially in unique venues, which we have plenty of in the Bay. Coming up in the next three months I’ll be seeing Bishop Briggs, Kaleo, U2, Mumford Sons, OneRepublic, Midnight Oil, Judah and the Lion, BottleRock music festival and I’m working on Bastille.
Follow Jay Snyder on Twitter: @JayBOD3.
