It’s been almost two years since the earliest conversations about formalizing our relationship with our OEM Partner Program. Looking at some of our most long-standing partnerships, we realized we had an entire OEM ecosystem that includes everything from custom hardware and software integration, final assembly and testing, financing options, and inventory management. 
Solidifying these relationships to ensure their long-term success and make them mutually beneficial to our organization was something about which I felt passionately and was the driving force behind our pilot partner program.
With that, today we announced the official launch of the Dell OEM Solutions Partner Program.
As we “test drove” different ways we’d work with our partners, developed branding, marketing and sales training programs to fully capitalize on these relationships and talked to everyone about what they needed to be successful, I realized something. This hadn’t been done before, to this scale.
Never before were there so many different providers assembled with the sole purpose of helping companies design, manufacture, deliver and support the solutions they sell to end users.
I think what continues to surprise me as I look at NCS Technologies and Premio, Inc. (who join existing partners) Arrow OCS,arvato, Avnet Embedded, CCIntegration, NEI, KIOSK Information Systems and Whalley Computer Associates, is their deep understanding of the unique needs of OEMs. We all speak the same “language” and provide a seamless infrastructure that acknowledges these needs and delivers solutions most effectively.
We’re especially proud of the flexibility we afford the companies who choose to partner with us. Whether they are OEM Channel Partners or OEM Solution Partners, the program is designed to maximize the services we offer customers together, every step of the way.
Additionally, we’re working with some other key technology and services providers like Intel, Red Hat and SUSE to integrate their solutions into Dell hardware that’s delivered to customers, further augmenting our capabilities and the size of our ecosystem.
I think our partners say it best in some of the feedback they’ve shared with us:
“Arrow OCS is uniquely positioned to support OEMs by offering a global infrastructure to support their design and integration needs,” said Brian Armstrong, vice president of Arrow’s OEM Computing Solutions. ” As a Premier partner, Arrow is able to choose from Dell’s entire product portfolio of industry-leading hardware and comprehensive services to help OEMs bring it all together and achieve success in their market.”
“Being named a Premier Partner underscores the value NEI brings to Dell’s products and demonstrates the strength of our relationship with the company,” said Jeff Hudgins, vice president of marketing at NEI. “As a key partner of Dell, we will continue to meet the demanding requirements of the telecommunications and security markets with an enhanced Dell product portfolio.”
“We believe that a great distribution partner should do more than just assemble your products, they should bring game-changing services to your business,” said Chuck Kostalnick, senior vice president, Avnet Embedded Americas. “Our ‘Build OEM Better’ program shows the true value of Avnet Embedded: strong partnerships with key suppliers, technical support and unmatched logistics and integration capabilities.”
While we’re focused on the Americas for now, other regions around the world are working on their own, regionally-appropriate partner programs we’ll tell you more about as they come together. And, in the meantime, many of the partners with whom we’re already engaged can help customers deliver products to the worldwide marketplace.
How have you leveraged your own partnerships to drive innovation?
