After an exhaustive search to find Tara Fine’s replacement, Dell EMC Canada has promoted Deanna Thomson to the role of channel chief for Dell EMC Canada.
Thomson is a 20 year Dell veteran with experience in sales and various leadership roles, including the past eight years as Dell’s channel lead in Western Canada. She is based in Vancouver, but will be spending a significant time on the road, travelling across Canada.
“I do plan on spending a large portion of time in Toronto, and I think my best bet is to have a very predictable travel schedule to the best that I can manage it,” Thomson told CDN. “It is very important to make sure that I’m available and communicative to my team and to our partners. The more that I’m out in the field the better outcomes there will be for everybody.”
With the launch of Dell EMC’s global partner program coming in early February, Thomson has an aggressive 90 day plan that involves meeting with each Canadian partner across the country and getting out in front of her new team. This follows her core channel philosophy, which revolves around collaboration.
“My philosophy is one of building very strong relationships at all levels of the organization. Right from the top and all the way to the field. It’s all about building relationships internally and externally so that we can facilitate in good business outcomes both for the partners and our customers,” Thomson said.
As that February date creeps closer, Thomson has an important role to play in the combination of Dell EMC’s enterprise and commercial organizations into one. The combining of the two is done with the purpose of easing communication between partners and sales.
“We’re going to go through that exercise pretty quickly, and we will have one unified team that’s represented out to our partners. Part of the that will be over the next 90 days and getting out in front of the partners and explaining exactly what they can expect and speaking with them not only about our portfolio, but about the program that is coming and ensuring that the team is thoroughly engaged,” Thomson said.
As the national director of Canadian channel sales, Thomson will head a team of 20, and ultimately report to Gregg Ambulos, senior vice president of North America channels at Dell EMC.
“Deanna is a 20 year veteran of understanding EMC, and on the Dell side, the channel. I’m thrilled to have her work on the Canadian team, and she’s going to work with all of us to really reach new heights and build upon the successes we’ve already had. I’m extremely excited to have Deanna leading the Canadian team,” Ambulos told CDN.
To reach those new heights and grow the company’s market share and business, Thomson believes it starts with the partners.
“We will make sure that we really have a solid understanding of what our partners growth strategies are and making sure that we as a channel organization is being evangelist for taking those strategies and ensuring that our business units and sales makers are understanding where our partners are working and where they want to grow. That’s going to build our mutual success,” she said.
Leading into February and the arrival of Dell EMC’s global channel program, Thomson’s priority will be getting out in front of the company’s Canadian partners as quickly as possible – a challenge Thomson is excited for.
“I’m very keen on understanding and ensuring that those partners that are investing in Dell EMC technologies are seeing the reciprocal back from us in terms of investment, time, resources, and energy from Dell EMC teams. That’s what really what I’ll be focused on.”
