Dell names John Byrne global channel leader

Dell has named John Byrne as its new global channel leader of the combined Dell-EMC organisation. He will take on this role once completion of the deal has been finalised.

Byrne has been with Dell for a year and was most recently the global vice president of sales strategy, planning and channels. He was responsible for all facets of Dell’s market efforts, including channel strategy and enablement, managed the relationships with global systems integrators and distributors, and drove the team responsible for implementing our most rigorous Integrated sales planning process in many a year.

Byrne says it would be his goal to “not only have the industry’s best channel sales team but to build the best partner programme based on simplicity, predictability, and profitability.”

“Over the next few weeks and months as I move into this position, I’m looking forward to meeting with each of you to solicit ideas and feedback as we work together to create more customer value than any other solutions provider in the industry,” he said in a statement.

He added that both Dell and EMC will continue to maintain separate deal registration and partner programmes for 2016. From next February, it will move onto a unified partner and deal registration programme.

“From the closing until February 1, 2017, to protect partner accounts and deals, we plan for our teams to cross check all existing deal registrations to ensure that we are aligned with the partner of record. If multiple partners have the same opportunity registered, we will have rules of engagement in place to mitigate any possible adverse impact to partners and customers,” he says.

He says assigned partner-facing resource from both Dell and EMC to remain in place for 2016 and it will coordinate a “joint approach to ensure that we are all aligned as we work through the unified coverage model for 2017.”

Prior to joining Dell, John has enjoyed a 25-year career, including executive positions at AMD. He also managed the company’s channel and sales team, leading its partner programme throughout his tenure. Earlier in his career he founded and sold two channel companies based in Europe.