‘We’re seeing some real focus from the Dell teams and much more in-person interactions. … Based on engagement and the Partner First For Storage, we expect to see significant growth within every 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 storage go-to-market is driving more revenue growth for them as Dell teams are showing up for partners in the field, in some cases working at their offices, and hosting training events.

“We’re seeing considerable growth in Partner First opportunities, and we’re also pulling the tech refreshes for upgrades,” CR Howdyshell, CEO of Independence, Ohio-based Dell Titanium partner Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company, told CRN. “We’re seeing some real focus from the Dell teams and much more in-person interactions. … Based on engagement and the Partner First For Storage, we expect to see significant growth within every business unit, with Dell, across the board.”

At VirtuIT, a Nanuet, N.Y.-based Dell Platinum partner, CTO Josh Lee said Dell’s account managers are calling his teams and they are working in tandem to win deals.

“In medium business we’ve seen an uptick since the beginning of the year and expect enterprise to be moving the same into 2025,” he said. “We are projecting Dell Q4 to be much better for engagement with new customers but have seen the partner of record come into play in real life as accounts have shifted.”

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Howdyshell said in one recent case a prospect was on the fence about a seven-figure storage deal and wanted to buy Dell offerings through a large distributor. A Dell district manager called the prospect and said that Dell was backing Advizex—and not any other organization—as the partner of record for that customer’s Dell purchases. In the end the customer signed, Howdyshell said.

“It demonstrates that their commitment is not just words,” he told CRN. “We won the deal. It’s a pretty good-size deal, and there’s more coming behind that. [The Dell district manager] told the customer, ‘You can buy from whoever you want, but on this deal, we are with Advizex.’ It makes a difference in terms of partner engagement. That’s top of mind for Dell, and I think it’s working. They’re picking up more mindshare from partners.”

Howdyshell said it reminds him of what Dell’s president of global sales and customer operations, Bill Scannell, told partners at Dell Technologies World. On stage Scannell said that while Dell is the leader in data storage, x86 servers and commercial PCs, there is massive share yet to win. He said Dell’s commitment to partners is the only way to get it.

“You’re committed to us,” Scannell said during the panel. “We’re equally committed to you. That’s why we talk about Partner First For Storage and server. Why we have partner of record for client. We want to do battle in the market and win 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 is “absolutely” seeing Scannell’s promise playing out in the field.

“The Dell leaders we work with all have a channel-first mentality,” he told CRN. “They are pushing all the Dell sellers to work from channel partner offices. They want partners included on sales calls. That is a big commitment. Avalon talks to Dell sellers and leaders daily. The engagement exceeds my expectations.”

Since the Partner First For Storage program was unveiled, Dell executives said there has been a 5X increase in the number of storage partner of record accounts.

If a Dell seller uncovers a client deal in an account that has a partner of record, the seller will work that deal through the partner, according to Round Rock, Texas-based Dell. Dell said partner of record embraces the power of collaboration to drive better business outcomes and deliver strong collective results. Dell originally only had storage partner of record but this year extended it to server and client when the partner brings new business to Dell.

Roughly half of all of Dell’s $88 billion in annual revenue last year arrived through partners, the company has said.

Howdyshell said as spending on AI by organizations increases, that relationship helps both Dell and the partner. He said Advizex has closed multiple deals with large cloud service providers that are buying Dell’s AI-enabled servers and storage. In those cases, he said Dell brought Advizex to the deal.

“They brought Advizex in because they know we’re investing in AI and we can execute,” he said. Dell recently released updates to its PowerScale and PowerMax storage lineups with a focus on AI-driven efficiencies to optimize performance and enhance speeds to move information to data-hungry GPUs more quickly.

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

“Dell is making bigger investments in the channel, and it is paying off,” Avalon’s Johnson said. “Partners collaborate most with the vendor who supports them.”