Indirect and to the point
The secret behind Dell's meteoric rise to become, at times, the biggest PC company in the world, has been a ruthless commitment to minimising costs and passing those savings on to its customers.
Probably the most recognised manifestation of this has been its bypassing of the channel and selling straight to its customers, be they consumers or businesses.
This all changed at the start of 2008 when Dell unveiled its Partner Direct programme, designed to formalise the channel business that was already underway.
This week we speak to one of the people behind the creation of Partner Direct in Europe - EMEA channel marketing director, Kathy Schneider - to find out what Dell has learnt from its first year in the channel.
