More often than not channel comings and goings represent a dramatic change in the channel weather. To put it bluntly it either means the channel is being put out to pasture or is taking a more strategic position at the company.

All in all, there are very few top level channel executives that have made a long and successful career helping companies become channel successful. One of those executives that actually has made such a difference is Nancy Reynolds, a 17 year channel veteran who was just snapped up by Dell to lead an enterprise channel charge as director for business strategy, global commercial channel.

There are very few channel rock stars. Reynolds is one of them. She has taken companies like Trend Micro and refashioned them into a channel powerhouse. So it was big news when earlier this year Palo Alto Networks, which had recruited Reynolds to lead a channel assault, let her go because of a pressure from the company’s venture capitalists (File that move under venture capitalists don’t understand just how big an impact a channel savvy executive can have on moving the sales needle up). By the way you’d never see that kind of move on a vice president of sales. (What’s wrong with this picture?).

One of the criticisms we had of Dell when Greg Davis took the channel helm two years ago was that Dell’s decision not to go outside for fresh channel talent could be interpreted as a sign that the company was less than serious about becoming a full fledged channel power. That said, Dell has put together a steady and constantly improving channel effort under Davis.

So how does Reynolds fit into this picture? In my view it’s a BIG game changer. The decision to bring Reynolds on board is a sign that the company has made a strategic decision to up its channel IQ in order to go great guns into the Enterprise OK Corral calling out rivals Hewlett Packard and IBM. Remember, the Dell decision to bring Reynolds on comes at a time when many companies are looking at channel cuts.

Make no mistake about it the Reynolds addition represents a move by Dell to go out and recruit HP and IBM partners and bring them into the Dell enterprise posse. IBM has IBM Global Services. HP has its EDS group, which it acquired only one year ago for $13.9 billion. Dell wants to go head to head with both of those services powers.

The question is: will Dell look to make a blockbuster acquisition to get that services muscle or rely on the channel? In the past the company has made no bones about its ability to take advantage of channel services powers rather than putting high priced services talent on its balance sheet. That services talent, by the way, gets pretty costly when they are sitting on the bench. Remember the standard utilization rate to make a profit is 65 percent.  Even best in class companies have trouble running at 80 percent plus. So it’s a costly propostion to have your own services talent.

And remember Dell’s value proposition in the enterprise is a lot different than HP’s or IBM’s. In short, the Dell business model is to offer leading edge performance at a value price. So getting some enterprise channel powers on board and setting them loose on IBM and HP could have a big impact.

There’s a channel change in the air at Dell. And it’s not good news for either HP or IBM. What do you think of Dell’s move to bring Reynolds on board?