Dell draws up desktop plans
Vendor's services strategy offers hints of further channel involvement
After weeks of stalling, Dell has announced its managed desktop services strategy, but the direct vendor is remaining tight-lipped about how resellers will fit into its plan.
Rod Arnot, who heads up the UK services offering at Dell, said: "We are seeing commoditisation of infrastructure services over time. They are commoditised to the point that it is attractive to Dell to enter the market."
The firm wants managed services to account for a third of its services business in three years, up from seven per cent now.
There are four main elements to Dell's services offering. Lifecycle assessment analyses the cost of a firm's desktop environment; asset discovery includes discovery of hardware and software; managed deployment covers design, planning and execution of desktop deployments.
The fourth element, managed client services, is a suite of services following the lifecycle of a system from procurement, asset management, hardware break-and-fix to disposal.
These desktop services will be delivered by Dell through partners, including Unisys and Getronics. Arnot said that the firm would be "extending that and bringing others onboard", but would not say how many partners would be added, or when.
However, Dell did confirm to Computer Reseller News last month that it would be using the channel as services partners in enterprise accounts in the UK, a similar plan to the one it uses in the US.
"We continually look to review the number of partners we have," Arnot said.
Jon Collins, senior analyst at Quocirca, said that the move could make Dell products more attractive to larger organisations and the public sector, which demand services when they buy new hardware.
But he added: "It seems Dell is trying to fill the gap that hardware resellers already fill. I don't believe Dell is doing this in its opportunistic way.
"I think Dell is trying to grow its share of the PC market because it has reached a point where its share won't increase unless it starts selling in the way that other people are selling. It is up against its own glass ceiling."