November 18, 2007

Can Dell Be Your Local IT Consultant?

Dell led the model of selling computers directly to the customer. No middle-man, no reseller, just Dell to the customer. In recent years, as competition from HP, Lenovo and Acer has eroded the uniqueness of this direct model, Dell is selling their comptuers through various retail channels.

For some time, Dell has also been doing providing IT installation and support servcies to businesses. Some of the support has been through Dell employees, but much of it has been through local, outsourced partners.

With its recent aquisition of IT support company Everdream Dell is on track to have even better technology to service customers - remotely.

Everdream is one of the early leaders in providing advance remote support solutions to customers. Similar to Centerbeam (another early leader), Everdream is able to completely and remotely manage and support computers on your network.

As Dell moves to offer services, beyond just products, acquisitions like this are going to be done more and more. Like other companies, Dell's acquisitions will be done for 3 reasons:

• to acquire more customers (a reason much lower on Dell's list of criteria)
• to acquire technology and
• to acquire expertise.

Dell's press release reads The planned acquisition is a key component in Dell's strategy of enabling customers to Simplify IT. Everdream's capabilities complement those provided by the recently acquired SilverBack Technologies, further enabling end-to-end remote management of customers' IT environments. With this acquisition, Dell can now extend remote management of critical IT assets from servers, storage, printers, etc. to desktops, notebooks and other end-user devices globally.

Let's look at another acquisition:

Software licensing is very important as a revenue stream but also simply to help businesses manage their licenses. Dell recently spent $340 Million to acquire ASAP Software. Dell's press release reads - The acquisition will help simplify information technology by combining Dell's reach as a leading supplier of commercial technology and services and ASAP's expertise in software licensing and asset management. Dell is strengthening its software business by integrating ASAP's complementary expertise in managing software licensing, purchasing, renewals, and compliance.

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