Joe Kremer resigns from Dell Australia

Dell's Australian & New Zealand managing director, Joe Kremer, has resigned from the top job after more than a decade with the PC maker.

According to a company statement, Kremer is leaving Dell "to spend time with his family and to pursue personal and philanthropic interests".

Kremer joined Dell in 2003 and was appointed ANZ boss in 2005.

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He will be replaced by Angela Fox, a New Zealander who was previously vice president and general manager of Dell’s Services Business across Asia Pacific and Japan, based in Singapore.

Kremer said in a statement: "Having hired Angela into the business in 2007, it extremely gratifying to see her success at Dell. It is a testament to her achievements that she is returning to run the business in ANZ."

Fox will relocate and begin in the role on 7 July.

The top-level reshuffle comes as Dell posted a 7.8 percent increase in Australian sales in the 12 months to 31 January 2014.

The PC maker's profits dipped slightly, down from $11 million to $10.2 million.

Kremer was "reluctant" to discuss specifics around numbers, but said: 'We have enjoyed some strong shared gains across most of our lines and are very pleased with the revenue and profits."

Dell has been making a lot of noise about its partner focus in recent months, with founder Michael Dell just last month saying that going via the channel was now "Dell-normal"

Speaking today, Kremer said: "The channel is crucial for us. Over the past four years – and quite heavily in the last two years – we have invested heavily in our structures and our contracts and all the elements have become much more formal.

"As a result, we have had three years in a row where our channel business is growing substantially faster than our non-channel business and there is plenty of scope to continue that."

Fox added that she would keep driving this pro-partner push. "We will continue to build our channel. I will come into the role and work closely with Pete Murphy, who leads our  channel business in ANZ and maintain the momentum that Joe refers to."

Dell's famously direct sales approach is giving way to a more channel-friendly focus in Australia, local partners told CRN.

Chris Mearns, chief executive of Melbourne-based Murdoch Webster Technology Group, which was promoted from Dell Preferred status to Premier last month, said: "I think they have a bit to go. They are going in the right direction with channel. We have had our issues in the past but over the past few months we have had no issues."

Stephen Knights, managing director of Sydney-based Commulynx, said: "We have had challenges but I am hearing news of some changes in the model and I am intrigued enough that I will go back out there and revisit the discussion.

"Obviously there have been challenges with conflicts on the past, which I am sure is no secret."