In a single day, legacy channel publication Computer Reseller News posted two glowing stories about Dell’s progress in the laptop and government markets, respectively. Has hell frozen over? Is Dell that hot — or has CRN finally put the deep freeze on all the negative Dell coverage?
First, CRN noted that Dell seems to be turning around its laptop business. A few hours later, CRN was back with a report about Dell solutions providers winning government sector business. Wow. And wow again. A double play. A dynamic duo. Two thumbs up.
Kidding aside, CRN and its army of Everything Channel reporters break a ton of quality news. But The VAR Guy — call him Everything Else Channel? — has always thought CRN spends a bit too much time bashing Dell. As recently as March of this year, CRN declared that Dell suffered from a cultural crisis.
Really? Cultural crisis? With so many experienced channel veterans now running around inside Dell, The VAR Guy is betting that the PC giant figures out how to empower solutions providers with managed services.
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If we truly had a Dell cultural crisis going on internally, you wouldn’t see the CRN tonality change that we’re all witnessing. When we started the program, the industry and our Dell team understood that it would take 18-24 months for the program to take shape and solidify. CRN’s recent comments show our progress, effort and the fruits of our experienced channel team starting to take shape. While it isn’t talked about much (outside of The Var Guy), Dell has recruited awesome talent within this space, many were VARs themselves or have years of channel experience.
We appreciate the Dell warming via CRN, especially since we’re just getting started and still have much more to accomplish over these next several months. We look forward to continuing these conversations about Dell’s Channel DNA and the PartnerDirect evolution at our Dell Channel Blog(http://www.direct2dell.com/channel).
Feel free to join the conversation on our community tools or reach out via email…
Amie Paxton
Dell Channel Community Manager
Email: Amie_Paxton@Dell.com
Twitter:@APaxtonatDell
OMG, I threw up in my mouth a little, first at the VAR Guy’s post, then at Paxton’s disingenuous response. You both are kidding me, right? CRN is warming to Dell because Dell is doing a better job?
Anyone even remotely connected to the channel knows that CRN changed their tune on Dell in May of 2007, exactly the time Dell paid CMP’s IPED $2 million in folding American money to REVAMP DELL’s CHANNEL PROGRAM. Part of that deal included putting Michael Dell on the cover of CRN that same month. As Dell’s Chris Bates wrote in August 2007, “We’ve recently hired IPED-a member of the CMP family-to help us flesh out details of our initiatives. Their channel expertise and credibility is extremely valuable to us, and we are excited about the partnership.”
So, what are the CMP magazines gonna say now? Dell’s channel program sucks? THEY CREATED IT! And they got paid handsomely for the job. Stop treating us like idiots, VAR Guy. CMP is already doing enough of that by taking Dell’s money and continuing to pretend they are reporting fairly on them in their magazines.
Teddy P: those are some serious allegations. A few thoughts from The VAR Guy:
1. Careful what you say. You better be able to back up your claims with posts like that.
2. The VAR Guy worked at CMP (1992-1996) as a reporter/writer and there was a clear separation of Sales and Editorial. Has that changed in recent years? The VAR Guy can’t comment, since he hasn’t been part of the CMP family for more than a decade. But your claims are pretty controversial. And The VAR Guy sometimes wonders if sales influences editorial. But he doesn’t have any proof on the matter so he doesn’t make big-time claims about it. If you’ve got proof, The VAR Guy is all ears…
And to claim that CMP/IPED “created” Dell’s channel program? That’s a bit far fetched. Vendors hire media companies to do market research all the time. But that doesn’t mean the research “created” the Dell channel program.
Wow, The VAR Guy almost sounds like he’s defending CMP and IPED. Well, not really. He’s just saying that it’s dangerous for readers to post comments full of allegations without disclosing their proof.
3. No need to attack The VAR Guy over CRN’s Dell coverage. The VAR Guy is independent and was 100 percent self funded. In terms of sponsors, The VAR Guy clearly discloses the advertisers that pay his bills (see the My Sponsors menu at the top right of this page). This full disclosure helps to ensure that The VAR Guy is providing balanced coverage rather than getting cozy with his sponsors. If you ever feel as if The VAR Guy is kissing up to his sponsors, please raise those concerns.
4. If you’ve got problems with CMP, feel free to take your allegations to them rather than stating that The VAR Guy treats readers like idiots. On the contrary, The VAR Guy works overtime to interact with readers and welcomes constructive criticism — but not personal attacks.
5. Come to think of it, let’s stop talking about CMP. They no longer exist. Your alleged problem is with Everything Channel, the successor to CMP’s channel group.
Hey VAR guy – do your self a favor and give everything channel’s IPED division a call and ask them – it’s simple dell paid IPED (Institute for partner education and development) close to $2M to flesh out a channel program – that is what IPED does! That is their business model – Now, think about it _IPED is a big revenue generator for Everything Channel and the CEO of everything channel was EIC of CRN a little while back! The picture becomes very clear – I’m glad you worked at CRN when it was a serious publication, but the CRN of today is a vastly different beast, little integrity and no separation from edit and sales – don’t believe me? Just take a look at their webinars, where a vendor can buy an editor! How about Xchange shows, where sponsors can rent editors to relay their messages -
Now – I’m not attacking your coverage at all and like what you do, it’s just that there is a lot more to the CRN loves Dell story than meets the eye! The real story here is how CRN has dropped their integrity for advertising dollars! – Just take a look at their product reviews and it becomes clear who the editors really work for!
There are a couple interesting threads in this discussion. The first is about the idea of hiring experts to help create products or programs. I’m thrilled that Dell isn’t arrogant enough to think they know it all. There are thousands of the smartest people in the world here, but we still listen. And sometimes there are people or organizations out there that actually know something better than we do, so listening to them makes what we deliver to customers even better. Hiring consultants and specialists is just what Dell, and thousands of other companies, do every day. The second point is about listening in general. One thing that Dell does really well is listen to what customers want, and then deliver it. It isn’t rocket science, but it is deeply engrained in the culture. So when Dell embarked on a channel program they used the same strategy – listen to channel experts and channel customers. Again, not rocket science, but in the end, better for customers. Not trying to sound like a drone here, but just compare the Dell program to others. You’ll see the voice of the customer throughout.
Note to Former Dell Channel Guy @4: Thanks for the note. For the record, The VAR Guy never worked at CRN. He spent his youth breaking big IT stories for InformationWeek.
But you do point out a bigger issue across the industry: Vendors really are renting editors to host sponsored webcasts, etc. But this isn’t a CRN-only issue. This is an industry-wide challenge.
Even The VAR Guy’s parent company, Nine Lives Media Inc., hosts sponsored webcasts where Editorial Director Joe Panettieri moderates. But Nine Lives is striving — extra hard — to make sure the webcasts are informative, business-driven discussions. Product pitches and sales pitches from vendors are a big no no.
Is there an easy solution? Not when traditional tech publishers are so desperate to find custom media revenue. And certainly not in the world of Web 2.0, where editors can write for a range of clients without disclosing their financial interests.
But generally speaking, The VAR Guy strives to disclose his sponsor names and relationships, so that readers can make their own judgment calls in terms of The VAR Guy’s coverage.
Thanks for the note, tho. You point out a big problem. Traditional tech editors are getting laid off in favor of custom editors who can write, host events, and hang out with vendors without embarrassing themselves.