Dell names channel director

Trade

Industry veteran Paul McCord has been appointed as channel director for Dell Ireland. He helped set up Compaq’s operation in Ireland in 1994 and rose to become head of HP’s personal systems group before moving to an EMEA sales position at Sun.

McCord joined Fujitsu-Siemens Computers’ as commercial sales director in December 2006 but left at the beginning of 2008 for a short spell outside the industry before joining Dell.

Announcing the appointment of Dell’s first certified partner in Ireland – Action Point in Limerick – McCord told Irish Computer it was in Dell’s own hands to make the vendor’s channel strategy work after years of direct sales.

“It’s up to Dell to make sure we are the best product in a reseller’s shop window,” he said, as well as ensuring it was able to deal with the price pressures, service pressures and logistical pressures associated with a channel model.

McCord accepted Dell Ireland was two or three months “behind the curve” compared to other European countries in establishing a channel. Although Action Point was “a fairly small company” it was part of Dell’s desire to shape its channel “a little bit differently,” said McCord. “It’s not just a volume play, it’s a skills play as well”.

He added that there were a number of other prospective partners going through the process, but declined to provide further details.

McCord also opted not to rule out using distribution in future. “Never say never,” he said. “I have the ability to do what I feel is best for the Irish market.” He pointed out Dell was already using Microwarehouse to distribute printers in Ireland.

Dell launched its PartnerDirect programme for Europe in February this year. In the run-up to the launch, when McCord was at FSC, he accused Dell of “quite breathtaking hypocrisy” by spending many years publicly denying the benefit of the channel when it had been using partners anyway.

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