Dell computer deal

There is a great old Twilight Zone episode about a successful businessman about to retire when the Devil pays a visit. The man is offered a chance to be young and start again.

He sells his soul to the Devil, and then things start to fall apart. In the end he is nothing but a janitor.

At the annual CDN Channel Roundtable, which featured the marketing managers from the top six distributors in Canada, I asked if they would ever deal or partner with Dell.

Dell recently engaged the channel with its white box PC products in the U.S.

They all had very interesting responses; two actually referred to Dell as the devil. But most would deal with Dell depending on the circumstances.

Bygones will be bygones when it comes to making money.

Michael Mercer of Bell Microproducts Canada gave an excellent example with EMC. A few years ago it was completely direct. EMC today embraces the channel with success.

The reason is very obvious: it has fine products and developed a channel strategy that works.

But, as Tom Carswell of EMJ Data Systems said, Dell comes with a lot of animosity. Resellers have long memories and remember how much pain and suffering they had to endure when Dell began winning away business in a big way.

Dell is like many other companies in many other industries. It is trying to find new ways to do business. This is what any good business does. Will it be successful is anyone guess. I think the channel will give it a shot. All the panelists on this year's roundtable agreed that they would proceed with caution when considering a partnership with Dell.

That would make sound business sense when you are dealing with the Devil.