First, the good news. Greg Davis, the face of Dell’s channel business, has finally been named worldwide channel chief. His title was strictly North American channel chief.
In an interview last year, I remember him correcting me on that point. Dell did not have a global channel chief and really Davis has been running and drafting all of the company’s channel strategy and operations. I congratulate him.
Now, the bad. I was supposed to have an interview late last year with Linda Loe, McAfee’s channel chief, but now I’ve learned that she has left the company along with Dave Dickison, who at one time ran the North American channel business for the security vendor.
Roger King, who is in charge of McAfee’s worldwide channel operations, has taken over their duties for now. No word yet on any replacements, but I will keep an eye out for that.
I understand that vendors are cutting back on expenditures, cutting staff headcount and letting attrition take hold because of the bad economic times, but these are important positions that need people who are committed to them and to the channel. You can’t have a revolving door in your channel office. It leads to confusion, lack of direction and, inevitably, lost sales for the vendor and the channel.
I have to commend Dell for sticking with Davis, who is now the new vice-president and general manager, Dell Global Channels. Not that he was in any jeopardy. Now is the time for building; not making changes. Davis has a very important job and it comes with a lot of pressure. Keeping him or any other channel executive in place shows the solution providers that you're committed to them and it sustains consistency. Something we all need now.
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