“We’re seeing real focus from Dell teams and a lot more in-person interaction. …Based on engagement and Partner First For Storage, we expect significant growth within each business unit, with Dell, across the board,” says CR Howdyshell, CEO of Dell Titanium partner Advizex.

Dell Technologies’ channel partners told CRN that the company’s overhaul last year in its move to the storage market generates greater revenue growth for them as Dell teams introduce themselves to partners in the field, in some cases working in their offices and hosting training events.

“We’re seeing tremendous growth in Partner First opportunities, and we’re also doing technology upgrades for upgrades,” CR Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Dell Titanium partner based in Independence, IN, told CRN ‘Ohio, a Fulcrum IT Partners company. “We’re seeing real focus from Dell teams and a lot more in-person interaction. …Based on engagement and Partner First For Storage, we expect significant growth within each business unit, with Dell, at all levels.

At VirtuIT, a Dell Platinum Partner based in Nanuet, N.Y., CTO Josh Lee said Dell account managers call his teams and work in tandem to win contracts.

“In the mid-sized sector, we have seen an uptick since the start of the year and we expect businesses to see the same trend in 2025,” he said. “We expect Dell Q4 to be much better in terms of engagement with new customers, but we’ve seen the referral partner come into play in real life as accounts have changed.”

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Howdyshell said that in one recent case, a prospect was hesitant about a seven-figure storage deal and wanted to purchase Dell’s offerings through a large distributor. A regional Dell manager called the prospect and told him that Dell supported Advizex – and no other organization – as a referral partner for this customer’s Dell purchases. Eventually, the customer signed, Howdyshell said.

“This demonstrates that their commitment is not just words,” he told CRN. “We won the case. This is a fairly large agreement, and there will be more to come. (The Dell district manager) told the customer, “You can buy from whoever you want, but for this deal we are with Advizex. » This makes a difference in terms of partner engagement. This is a priority for Dell, and I think it’s working. They capture more mind-sharing from their partners.

Howdyshell said that reminds him of what Bill Scannell, Dell’s president of global sales and customer operations, told partners at Dell Technologies World. On stage, Scannell said that even though Dell is the leader in data storage, x86 servers and commercial PCs, it still has a huge share to gain. He said Dell’s commitment to its partners was the only way to achieve this.

“You make a commitment to us,” Scannell said during the panel. “We are also committed to you. This is why we talk about Partner First For Storage and the server. Why we have a reference partner for the customer. We want to compete in the market and gain market share and we want to do it with you.

Todd Johnson, president of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Dell Platinum Partner Avalon Technologies, told CRN he “absolutely” sees Scannell’s promise coming to fruition in the field.

“The Dell leaders we work with all have a channel-first mentality,” he told CRN. “They are pushing all Dell salespeople to work from channel partner offices. They want partners to be included in sales calls. This is a significant commitment. Avalon speaks daily with Dell salespeople and executives. The commitment exceeds my expectations.

Since unveiling the Partner First For Storage program, Dell executives said the number of storage partners registered in their accounts has increased 5x.

If a Dell seller discovers a customer transaction in an account that has a partner of record, the seller will complete that transaction through the partner, according to Round Rock, Texas-based Dell. Dell said its premier partner harnesses the power of collaboration to drive better business outcomes and deliver strong collective results. Dell originally only had one reference storage partner, but this year expanded it to server and client as the partner brings new business to Dell.

About half of Dell’s $88 billion in annual revenue last year was generated through partners, the company said.

Howdyshell said that as organizations’ spending on AI increases, this relationship helps both Dell and the partner. He said Advizex has several deals with large cloud service providers that buy Dell’s AI-enabled servers and storage. In those cases, he said Dell brought Advizex into the transaction.

“They came to Advizex because they know we are investing in AI and we can implement it,” he said. Dell recently released updates to its PowerScale and PowerMax storage lines with a focus on AI-driven efficiency to optimize performance and improve speeds to move information faster to power-intensive GPUs. data.

Both products are deployed in high-end AI workloads and are sold through Dell’s channel partners.

“Dell is investing more in this channel, and it’s paying off,” Avalon’s Johnson said. “Partners collaborate most with the vendor that supports them. »