Dell’s acquisition of EMC in 2016 set the legacy company on a direct course for hybrid cloud client support and digital transformation. Today, the company is making substantial progress in the market, as well as with customers and partners seeking new solutions in virtualized computing environments.

“We’ve really elevated this event to the Dell Technologies World … for the partner community. We’re bringing IT transformational campaigns to them,” said Cheryl Cook (pictured), senior vice president of global channel marketing at Dell EMC. Formerly known as Dell EMC World, this year’s Dell Technologies World event has been revamped with a new moniker and a new mission.

Cook spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu) and Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at the Dell Technologies World event in Las Vegas. They discussed how the recent shifts at Dell are working to provide expanded support for its partner ecosystem. (* Disclosure below.)

Providing structure and solutions

Dell’s pivot has transformed the company into a valuable resource for businesses seeking support in a range of areas overhauled by cloud compute. With a record attendance of 6,500 partners at this year’s event, it appears Dell’s internal transition is lending itself to others seeking their own transformation.

“[We’re] working on enablement and driving more cross-functional, inclusive competencies and trainings to enable [partners] and their team members to be more effective,” Cook said.

The company builds its educational programs from an outcome-based, efficiency approach that encourages faster time to market. “We’re very mindful of trying to develop … our curriculum around training that would include … vSphere from VMware … along with the Dell EMC infrastructure … so our partners wouldn’t have to take them multiple times,” Cook said.

Dell hosts partner advisory boards and integrates requests for more solution marketing and approaches to customer dialogues heavily into the development of training programs. “One of the things we announced this week is an IT transformation marketing campaign … that map[s] together all the technologies … across the strategic landline businesses to the outcomes they’re talking to their customers about,” Cook said.

The company is also addressing education around emerging technologies with initiatives like the recently launched IoT Competency for jumpstarting deployments for “the internet of things”.

While Dell maintains steady growth through its traditional business, Cook revealed what the future holds for its partner community. “They’re … forming new alliances, looking at acquisitions, buying new skills and capabilities. We want to help chart that map … of where the vision is heading and how we can help align with them [and] continue to bring solutions and reference architectures to market,” she concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World 2018 event. (* Disclosure: Dell EMC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell EMC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE