Rewarding innovation with innovation; that is the key theme that has driven an Ingram Micro incentive around Dell EMC this past year. As a result, not only has one partner been recognised for its ability to represent Dell EMC’s innovative solutions to the market, but it has been given a major asset that will benefit the company significantly – a Tesla Model S vehicle. That winner was Queensland-based value-adding reseller, Computer Merchants.
The Tesla Model S remains on the cutting edge of electric vehicles. As one review notes, “It's the kind of car you get when you want to up the luxury and technology stakes to a whole extra level.” Nedahl Stelio, family reviewer, Cars Guide. Thanks to the quality of its vehicles, Tesla has become a leader in the Australian market, recording a rapid increase in sales over the last few years.
It’s the perfect symbolic prize to represent the prestige and continued innovation of the Dell EMC brand in Australia. At $US67 billion, the acquisition of EMC by Dell was one of the biggest deals in the history of technology. Thanks to the heighted scale and solution range the merger has afforded Dell EMC, it is now a recognised market leader in terms of sales and innovation, as shown by its “leadership” rating in a raft of Gartner technology magic quadrants.
The acquisition also made Dell EMC more channel-friendly. Now, resellers want to take its products to market.
Today, Dell Technologies channel has delivered $49 billion in orders in the past year and momentum remains strong. Dell, a company that was once infamous for its direct selling model is now renowned – as Dell EMC – for its highly successful embrace of channel distribution.
“We have the strongest and broadest partner community in the world,” chairman and CEO, Michael Dell, said at the company’s Dell EMC World 2017 conference in Las Vegas. “There are enormous cross-selling opportunities across the full portfolio – those are opportunities to make meaningful impacts for our customers.”
Rewarding innovative selling with innovation
To be eligible for the Tesla Model S, resellers needed to spend a minimum of $100,000 on purchasing Dell EMC products across the promotional period (November 2017 – October 2018). Once eligible, for every $5000 spent, the reseller received one entry in the draw. For example, a partner that spent $200,000 on Dell EMC products earned 40 tickets into the draw.
Once the competition period closed, the draw for the winner was conducted with full oversight by an external legal entity, in order to ensure complete fairness.
The winner, Computer Merchants, is a Queensland-based reseller of servers, storage and networking, as well as a provider of professional services, cloud, and as-a-service solutions. It is Dell PartnerDirect registered and a Dell EMC Gold partner, and now has an additional competitive advantage as company CEO, Norm Jefferies, has decided to pledge the Tesla Model S to his sales and service team.
“We are very proud to partner with Ingram Micro. The Telsa Model S is great symbolism for Dell EMC’s innovative technologies. As a company, we have a strategy to embrace sustainability and green energy. Both our office and the Tesla are powered by solar energy which is a great message to take to our customers and staff. The car is kept on premises and is available for our staff to use.”
Dell EMC, Australia and New Zealand, general manager, channel, Shant Soghomonian, said, “This exciting incentive, with Ingram Micro, enabled us to further showcase the benefits of the Dell EMC channel program to our community of partners. We continue to work tirelessly to deliver a simple, predictable and profitable program to our partners, underpinned by our industry leading technology and solutions portfolio. Our partners and resellers are using our technology in innovative ways to deliver business value that was never imagined a few short years ago.”
According to Finder.com, the cost of fully charging the battery of a Tesla Model S is about $20, which is significantly less expensive than filling a car’s petrol tank. There are also fewer service costs involved in a Tesla, as the motor is more efficiently designed than that of a traditional car. Computer Merchant’s sales team will now get on-site with clients cheaper and more cost-efficiently than previously.
Ingram Micro also ran a competition with Dell EMC from November 2017 to June 2018 to reward 13 of the top Dell EMC resellers with a skiing tour in New Zealand. Ingram Micro is well known in the local industry for its incentivisation programs, and the Dell EMC competitions have been particularly popular with resellers.
In addition to the major prize, there were several other rewards handed out to resellers throughout the promotional period, ranging from drones through to VISA prepaid cards.
“We wanted to showcase the power of partnership between Dell EMC and Ingram Micro and showcase the various ways we jointly drive value into the partner community” said John Brown, Ingram Micro senior general manager, technology solutions. “It was a way we could really highlight the innovative technologies that Dell EMC offer in market and draw attention to the benefits of their lucrative partner program.”
For more information on current Ingram Micro promotions and events visit - https://ingrampartnercentral.com.au
