New global channel chief to lead Dell+EMC

Dell has announced the appointment of John Byrne as the global channel chief to lead the combined business of Dell and EMC.

The announcement was made in an open letter to channel partners from Maarius Haas, chief commercial officer and president for Dell's Enterprise Solutions.

"As we work through the remaining steps of the Dell + EMC combination, we are enthusiastic about the business opportunities the proposed transaction," Haas says.

"Dell Technologies will become an enterprise technology powerhouse with a combined global channel business that will exceed 45% of total revenue," he says.

Byrne has been at Dell for a year and was most recently global vice president of Sales Strategy, Planning - Channels, where he focused on optimising Dell's route-to-market strategy, which also included overall ownership of the channel business.

In that role he had responsibility for all facets of Dell's Go-To-Market efforts, including channel strategy and enablement, managed the relationships with global systems integrators and distributors, and drove the team responsible for implementing Dell's Integrated Sales Planning process.

Prior to joining Dell, Byrne has held executive positions at AMD, where he managed the company's channel and sales team. Earlier in his career Byrne founded and sold two channel companies based in Europe.

Hass says he and brings a deep understanding of the needs of both the vendor and partners.

"John's experience adds to the already strong channel DNA in both Dell and EMC, and I firmly believe we are well-positioned to create the industry's-best channel sales and programs teams," says Haas,

"The channel leadership team will include experienced executives from both Dell and EMC, in North America and globally," he adds.

"We are committed to making sure the new team includes the best from both companies with key leaders having important roles in the new company.

Byrne says he is excited for the enormous growth opportunities the new combined company will offer partners.

"It's my goal, along with my team, to not only have the industry's best channel sales team but to build the best partner program based on simplicity, predictability, and profitability," he says.

"We'll have an award-winning product portfolio and breadth to help you solve your customers' business challenges.

"Over the next few weeks and months as I move into this position, I'm looking forward to meeting with each of you to solicit ideas and feedback as we work together to create more customer value than any other solutions provider in the industry," says Byrne.

Byrne says he believes the combined partner communities will play a critical role in the future success of Dell Technologies.

"In this spirit I am sharing decisions which we expect will take effect once the combination is finalized," he says.

• Dell and EMC will continue to maintain separate deal registration and partner programs for 2016.  Effective February 1, 2017, we will move to a unified partner and deal registration program.
• From the closing until February 1, 2017, to protect partner accounts and deals, we plan for our teams to cross check all existing deal registrations to ensure that we are aligned with the partner of record. If multiple partners have the same opportunity registered, we will have rules of engagement in place to mitigate any possible adverse impact to partners and customers.
• We plan for your assigned partner facing resource from both Dell and EMC to remain in place for 2016.  We will coordinate our joint approach to ensure that we are all aligned as we work through the unified coverage model for 2017.

"I also wanted to take a minute to thank you for your continued engagement in Dell's channel program and for your confidence and business as we continuously work to increase the level of partner satisfaction," Byrne adds.

" I am thrilled to share that in the last year, Dell's channel partner satisfaction scores achieved their highest-ever rating.  We appreciate this vote of confidence and pledge every day to earn your trust and business," he says.

Byrne will assume this role effective the completion of the deal and will report to Haas.