In an interview with CRN just after the acquisition closed Wednesday, Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said partners who have been briefed on upcoming changes have reacted positively.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see all this and talk with partners as they’ve gotten a preview of coming attractions, and they’re all quite excited and positive,” Dell said. “We’ve gotten strong and positive reaction.”

Dell COO and President of Enterprise Solutions Marius Haas said the company is trying to create a channel program that is predictable and that has “program elements that partners can get excited about both on the front end and back end. These are all the elements we’re putting in place. [Upcoming changes] are absolutely positive, and partners will absolutely see that their voice is being heard.”

It’s apparent that Dell is ready to make sweeping changes in order to hit the ground running after the landmark acquisition. The transaction creates a more than $70 billion global IT behemoth with a portfolio that includes everything from budget PCs to high-end data center infrastructure and cloud services.

“The period between [Wednesday] and the end of January is critical,” a top executive at an East Coast Dell solution provider said. “That’s the period where they begin to communicate everything and try to gain confidence in the marketplace.”

Dell executives have said they intend to run the Dell and EMC channel programs in parallel until Feb. 1, when the company’s fiscal year begins. At that point, the programs will be fully integrated and ready to run as one.

STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.