Since first joining SonicWALL in 2006, our annual conference for SonicWALL channel partners was always one of the main highlights of my year. It gave us an opportunity to meet face-to-face with our channel partners from around the world to exchange ideas about vital security industry trends, and learn about their concerns and priorities. It’s for those same reasons that I’m now elated to be joining nearly 600 channel partners as we host the North America event as part of the Dell family for the first time. The Dell Security Peak Performance Conference that kicked off this week in Orlando is co-sponsored by our partners Ingram Micro, Securematics, and Tech Data and is sure to increase the engagement and collaboration with our channel.
There couldn’t be a better time to gather with Dell Software partners to reflect on what’s behind us, and strategize on how we can continue to grow and strengthen our alliances as we close off this year and start fresh on the next. It’s been two years since Dell Software Group was formed, and one year ago Dell took the critical step of integrating the unique partner programs of legacy Dell Software businesses, including SonicWALL, into one set of new software channel competencies under the PartnerDirect program. Since then, we’ve seen great momentum for both Dell and our partners, with highlights including:
- Dell channel partners are taking complete advantage, with the 60 percent of software sales’ volume now going through the channel.
- Dell Software in the channel achieved 15 percent revenue growth year over year (as of last quarter), including 42 percent year over year growth in information management, 20 percent in systems management, and 7 percent in security.
As a sign of our commitment to doing everything we can to support our partners, we conducted a survey of 120 Dell partners randomly selected at the conference to better understand their customers’ top security priorities. The findings indicate that customer demand for security solutions continues to grow, especially in the areas of network security, unified threat management (UTM), mobile security and cloud security. Additionally, when we asked about the security threats that keep their customers up at night, we found that BYOD and Advanced Persistent Threats are at the top. The findings are detailed in this press release issued by Dell at Peak this week.
Additionally, the survey clearly reinforced the importance of training and rebates for building a profitable channel program for our partners. In response, this week at Peak we announced a 50 percent instant rebate for multiple SKUs in the Dell SonicWALL TZ and NSA series available now through October 17 (details here); and recently launched our first advanced competency in Network Security.
Dell channel partners can offer the complete portfolio of Dell Software solutions and secure associated product rebates to grow their businesses. The opportunity that being part of Dell presents is tremendous; we have a massive market at our fingertips. And well-trained partners are just that much better equipped to take advantage of the opportunity to make a powerful impact for their customers. Recent cyber security threats and breaches demonstrate clearly that security is more important than ever!
In all, it’s been an incredible week so far at Peak engaging with partners. For those of you who cannot be with us in Orlando, I encourage you to follow the ongoing discussion on Twitter with #DellPeak14, #PartnerDirect, @DellChannel, @DellSecurity, and post your comments below. And, don’t miss next year!