Dell takes managed service offering national

Hello Josh

I think your last remarks sums is up very well.

We have seen the same thing happening the last 2 years here in the Netherlands.
KPN, the largest telecom provider, also likes to get into the IT business.
( they took over Getronics)
They started with Internet Backup. They had a huge campaign on the tv and in newspapers with it.
so what happened:
Our customers were requesting Internet backup. Even the ones we least expected it from.
Did the go to KPN. No way. 24 hour email only support. Internet only service. Still installing everything yourself.
And what about restore if you needed your data fast. No options there.

There big. They can’t think small. So they need to have procedures, big turnovers etc etc to make it work. For the customers this is anonymous helpdesk, waiting and ridged services.
They will try to commoditize there offering as were the customers big companies.
Will they have people with knowledge. Yes, but only hidden very far away. The account managers en service managers are managers and are driven by numbers and profit.
Dell has been in the professional services before, but failed.

What business are we in. We are in the caring business. Yes we care, i would say. What business is Dell in. The turnover business. The spreadsheet rules. They like to get in this business because the see money. Again to make it work they need big numbers. Do they help customers. Yes, but only with what they offering. They can’t be flexible. It’s not in there model. Are they worried at night if a customers system is down. I don’t think so.
Customers also don’t want all the details. They like things explained to them in plain language so they can make a (budget) decision if needed. They don’t like to go over the 38 pages report every month with all the IT mambo jambo. They expect us to take care of it. They want’s it to run and if not they like us to take care ASAP.

We are working with Dell for there hardware. Were not a resellers, but sell more hardware then ever before. Because customer don’t like to go through there website, because the don’t have the knowledge. We even have problems ordering the right server with all the option.
We have seen numerous times that big companies think they can do business in the SMB world. Hardware vendors tried it and others tried. In the end they stopped because they couldn’t make the margins.
Here in The Netherlands Dell even started with reselling trough a distributor for some of there hardware.

So please start with managed services. make it know to our potential customers. It’s great marketing for us.

Gerard
Radix
Managed service provider to the SMB

As a Dell partner, I find it interesting that the reports provided by the Dell direct offering do not match the reports available in the managed service product available to Dell partners.