Dell EMC Global Channel President Byrne: Partners Delivered 6,000 Net New Customers In Q1

Dell EMC President of Global Channels John Byrne said the company is firing on all channel cylinders with partners delivering more than 6,000 net new customers on a double-digit increase in sales for the company's first fiscal quarter ended May 5.

Those 6,000 net new customers are highly profitable for partners resulting in an additional 8 percent incremental rebate and partner incumbency in those accounts, said Byrne. "We're winning, and we're building momentum," he said.

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The 6,000 net new accounts include several hundred enterprise accounts and more than a thousand Tier 1 commercial accounts, with the remainder Tier 3 and Tier 4 accounts, said Byrne.

Dell EMC outgrew the market in the first quarter with a double-digit increase in sales, said Byrne. "We had a pretty steep plan in Q1," he said. "We beat the revenue plan by literally hundreds of millions of dollars …Everything is lighting up green right now."

Just eight months after Dell acquired EMC for $58 billion, the largest acquisition in IT history, Dell Technologies reported first fiscal quarter consolidated sales for the period ended May 5 of $17.8 billion, up 46 percent from $12.2 billion in the year-ago period. The company reported an operating loss of $1.5 billion for the period with non-GAAP operating income of $1.2 billion.

Dell EMC's channel numbers are all pointing up including deal registration pipeline, global distribution sales, and services sales, said Byrne. "We are bustling and taking share: in servers, where we are No. 1, and in client, we took share again for the 17th quarter in a row," he said.

Further proof of channel momentum: "significantly" higher scores from a Dell EMC partner Net Promoter Score survey completed just three weeks ago, said Byrne.

Partners stated that they are seeing Dell EMC channel momentum with strong engagement in the field backed by aggressive new incentives in just the second full quarter of financial results after Dell Technologies completed the acquisition of one-time storage kingpin EMC.

"At $80 billion Dell is the most entrepreneurial large company on the planet," said Dan Serpico, CEO of FusionStorm, San Francisco, No. 46 on the CRN SP500. "That is a total credit to (Dell Technologies CEO) Michael (Dell), (Dell EMC Chief Commercial Officer) Marius, and John (Byrne). They are out in front of customers and partners soliciting feedback. They really care. They want to win and leave their mark on the world."

That drive to win is translating into strong Dell EMC sales for FusionStorm, one of a select group of Dell EMC Titanium Black tier members, said Serpico. "Our Dell business is up substantially year over year," he said. "It is the fastest growing brand for us. We have lots of net new customers, tremendous field engagement and wonderful year over year rebate growth."

That year over year rebate growth is particularly critical given the profitability it brings to the channel, said Serpico. "That brings financial stability, profitability and investment capacity," he said. "Dell recognized that and they have made it simple, predictable, and very lucrative."

Furthermore, Serpico said FusionStorm sees strong engagement with the Dell EMC reps in every segment of the market and within every product line from commercial to enterprise market and from client systems to hyper-converged servers.

Especially impressive is the traction FusionStorm is seeing within the different Dell EMC direct and channel organizations all pulled together under a single channel program, said Serpico.

"It doesn't matter what color hat the traditional Dell or EMC guys used to wear; we are seeing tremendous opportunities and excitement in the field," he said. "Dell EMC executives are following up quickly with training, customer list trades, and marketing initiatives. They have done a tremendous job pulling these two companies together."

Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech, No. 119 on the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500, said his company's Dell EMC sales are up substantially since the completion of the EMC acquisition. He also credited no holds barred channel commitment from Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Dell EMC Chief Commerical Officer Marius Haas, and Dell Global Channels President John Byrne.

"Our Dell EMC sales are up in every segment," said Venero. "That's a testament to the Dell EMC team. When you look at what these guys have accomplished for the partner community, it has been absolutely transformational. I have never seen anything like this in my 21 years in this business."

Venero said he sees the Dell EMC portfolio as the strongest he has ever seen from a single vendor in his 21 years in the business. "Having all these products and services under one umbrella provides us with a big advantage as a Dell EMC partner," he said. "I give them a lot of credit for taking two different cultures and merging them into one single cohesive overarching channel program."

Byrne said the company is just beginning its channel charge with more aggressive channel investments coming in the future."We said we were to going excite and delight partners and shock and awe (the channel)," said Byrne. "We are continuing to do that. And we are no means done here. Not by a long shot. This is just the beginning."