As Dell World 2015 kicked off in Austin, Texas, the biggest buzz was around the news of the Dell-EMC merger, though other points of high interest were addressed and announced in the morning’s keynote speeches.

Cheryl Cook, VP of global channels and alliances for Dell, Inc., spoke with John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, to discuss these developments and more. Among the talking points were the success and expansion of Dell Financial Services, the excitement and concerns regarding the big merger, and how Dell is continuing to tailor services to satisfy its customers.

Partner community

“The initial reaction and reception that I’ve received [to the merger news] … has really been more positive,” Cook stated. “Bringing these two [EMC and Dell] together gives us quite a complementary scale on serving the customer base.”

She also addressed the worries of customers who expect that Dell might strong-arm new channel management. “This notion of a behemoth end-to-end … we know that we have to be nimble and fast … [but] we want to make sure that we do the right thing for the customer.”

Flexible models

Cook noted that bringing the innovations and form factor of technology to partners was an important concern for Dell, citing the need to “simplify and extend the portfolio for our partners and our customers. … It’s not infrastructure for infrastructure’s sake.”

Recognizing that there was a “mandate from the customers” to make sure they would remain able to do business the way they want to do business, Cook emphasized the importance of partners on a local level in meeting consumer wants and needs as they gear toward further coverage and extension.

“The one thing we definitely will see is how can we be more agile and responsible and flexible to meeting customer needs,” she said.

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Dell World 2015. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts during Dell World 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE