Why Partners Are Not Our Customers

1 + 1 = 10. Maybe more. I’m not algebraically-challenged. I’m partner-inspired.

EMC creates the technology that facilitates business transformation. But it’s when we collaborate with our partners to craft customized solutions that we are able to truly change the game for our end-users. The business and impact we can realize together is so much greater than what we could accomplish on our own. That exponential potential is what really separates partners from customers. And that’s why our partners are not our customers. Our partners are our partners.

As you’ve seen from me before, I love a good definition. Webster’s defines “partnership” as “a union or association formed for mutual benefit.” Mutual benefit is the key point. For partnerships to work, each party has to derive and perceive value. At EMC, we don’t want our partnerships to just work though. We want them to thrive, to flourish. They have to be more than what we sell to an end-user. Don’t get me wrong, that’s pretty darn important. But the end-user is, in a sense, just that – an end point. A partnership is the journey to get there.

Partners are key to delivering scale, leverage, and incremental revenue, and they’re also key to taking EMC places we couldn’t get to on our own. And similarly EMC powers the best-of-breed solutions that give our partners competitive advantage and proven outcomes. Our technology underpins the unique use-cases that often translate into significant partner businesses in their own right. We are not selling TO partners, but rather going to market WITH our partners. We leverage their specialized skills and expertise to design truly differentiated, targeted solutions for customers. We’re even working with our partners to develop unique service catalogues, customized by industry: healthcare, oil & gas, SLED, telco, and so much more. One-size-fits-all or even one-size-fits-most doesn’t work for our customers, and it doesn’t fly with us. We are meeting customers where they are, helping them get to where they want to go, in the way they want to consume: by industry, via utility, as a service.

Today, more than ever before, we are thinking about our partnerships holistically, as a global extension of and critical value-add to our team. EMC plus our partners equals 10-fold the opportunity, maybe more, than either of us could grab alone. That’s where my math comes in. 1 + 1 = 10.

At this year’s EMC World, our theme and customer call-to-action was “modernize.” It’s also a challenge we’re issuing ourselves: modernize and transform how we do business, in order to guide our customers in their digital journeys. We’re going faster, further, bigger, and better, side-by-side with our partners.

About the Author: Jay Snyder

Jay Snyder is Senior Vice President of Global Alliances at Dell EMC. Dell EMC, a part of Dell Inc., enables organizations to modernize, automate and transform their data center using industry-leading converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies. This provides a trusted foundation for businesses to transform IT, through the creation of a hybrid cloud, and transform their business through the creation of cloud-native applications and big data solutions. Dell EMC services its customers – including 98% of the Fortune 500 – with the industry’s broadest, most innovative infrastructure portfolio from edge to core to cloud. Snyder is passionate about building relationships that deliver mutual benefit for Dell EMC and its customers and partners. Having led EMC’s (now Dell EMC) Global Alliances organization since 2015, Snyder focuses on bringing uniquely differentiated industry solutions to market through strategic relationships with systems integrators, strategic outsourcers, and cloud service providers. With more than 25 years of experience in the high-tech and consulting industries, Snyder has been with EMC (now Dell EMC) for 18 years where he previously ran Americas Services and was the first COO of Americas Sales and Customer Operations. Prior to joining EMC, Snyder was Senior Director of Technology Alliances for PeopleSoft and a Senior Manager at Accenture. Snyder, a passionate supporter of giving back to the community, helped initiate EMC’s global philanthropy program, EMC Gives Back and is its current Executive Sponsor. He is an active member and Vice Chairman for Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County. Snyder serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for Corporate Growth, Silicon Valley. Snyder holds a Bachelor of Science from Bentley University.