It seems that no one is threatened by Dell launching their managed services in NYC. I have to say I am not particularly worried about Dell stealing our clients either and it is refreshing to hear that others have the same outlook on it. I do think as a group we will have to deal with Dell managed services and the price points they have set as they start to pump marketing dollars into the market to educated business owners.
Dell is providing three levels of managed services, alerts only, resolution based pricing, and managed pricing escalating in price from $9, $39, & $59 respectively on the PC side and $59, $199 & $299 on the server side.
This shows that dell has done their pricing homework to figure out what price points are working in the market, they are a bit on the low side to provide high touch service but I assume they will make up for that in volume. I for one don’t believe Dell will provide the level of service our customers expect and even demand and look forward to watching their attempt.
Dell has maintained the stance that they understand and are embracing the Channel (you and me) over the past 12 months both in press releases and on this very blog. I would argue that the push for direct customers with no communication to the channel, that I am aware of, would indicate that they don’t know how to deal with us. I am sure the Dell guys reading this will argue they have spoken to hundreds of partners and even have focused on delivering these services in NYC through some select partners but the majority of people I have spoken with in NYC and around the county have this opinion “Dell says move over we are coming for your clients and the only way to deal with it is to become a Dell partner and register all your deals with us.” Not sure about you but if I am not ready to do that, which I am not, I am convinced that I should stop selling, recommending, or using the word Dell around any of my clients.
I am not saying that we have made this decision, yet, and I have the opportunity to speak with the head of Dells managed services initiative this week so I will keep you all updated on how they believe we should d be reacting in our businesses.
JC
