5. A Strong New Channel Team

Dell EMC pulled together a new channel team under the leadership of Channel Chief John Byrne. Byrne, an entrepreneur and experienced tech sales executive assembled the team in the second half of the year, making Gregg Ambulos, formerly EMC's channel chief, head of Dell EMC's North America channel, and making Cheryl Cook, formerly Dell's channel chief, head of channel marketing.

Byrne's agenda for the channel is aggressive, and he's already organized the new Dell EMC Channel Partner Program into three main tiers – Gold, Platinum and Titanium – as well as a super-exclusive Titanium Black tier for high flying partners that double down with Dell.

Byrne has also hinted that rebate levels for legacy EMC partners will improve and that Dell EMC will provide ironclad deal registration.