Partner plus
Four months after Dell revealed its channel strategy, named PartnerDirect to signify it was keeping distributors out of the equation, it has announced a new, higher level of partnership for resellers who want to get even closer to Dell.
Certified partners receive all kinds of goodies like co-marketing funds, training and favourable pricing. “Based on [our partners’] feedback, we have developed a simple, flexible and scalable certification framework that offers e-learning and online support, recognises and builds on our partners’ existing industry certifications and extends their business capability,” said VP and GM of Dell channels EMEA, Josh Claman.
Here’s a slide that tries to show the difference between being a certified partner and merely a registered partner.
And here’s one that tells you how to become a certified partner.
This is what Dell considers to be the key elements to becoming a Dell Certified Channel Partner (DCCP):
- CompTIA certification – certification by CompTIA in printers, workstations, servers, enterprise technology, storage and solutions will be recognised by Dell PartnerDirect
- Dell Sales Foundation course – previously available only to Dell employees, this course will be offered to partners
There is a more comprehensive breakdown of what the two channel programmes have to offer at Dell’s UK partner site. Interestingly, there seems to be some variation between the UK and US offerings.
Press release: DELL EXPANDS PARTNERDIRECT WITH LAUNCH OF CERTIFIED PARTNER PROGRAM IN EUROPE