You might think that Dell might be at a disadvantage when it comes to serving the technology requirements of the smallest business customer given that many of these companies don’t have dedicated IT managers and instead would look to rely on the expertise of a reseller in the channel to manage this bugbear of IT support for them. Well if you are Aonghus Hegarty, head of SME business for Dell in Ireland, you would have the opposite view and see that a greater understanding of the customer’s requirements comes from the intimacy of a direct sale relationship. “There is no stock, no inventory and as such no agenda”, Hegarty argues.
Intimate understanding
Hegarty believes that Dell’s direct sales model helps it to understand the small business IT needs and that the company is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of 80% of the micro-enterprises in Ireland that support between one and four employees. “As we sell we observe “use, purpose and needs” and our sales staff are individually trained to identify opportunities where they suggest technology solutions to suit the needs of a customer. Bu undertstanding the needs of the customer, we can build a long lasting relationship.”
Dell has a dedicated consumer and small business sales team that caters for the needs of companies of up to 10 employees. Companies with 10 to 200 employees are account-managed.
New technologies
Hegarty maintains that Dell is not all about offering technology solution at the best possible price. The company also has as an objective, to put new technologies in front
of small business as they arrive. Right now, Hegarty observes a huge shift to mobility, especilly with the pervasiveness of 3G mobile access and Wi-Fi wireless hotspots in hotels, airtports, offices, cafes and other public spaces. The Dell sales team try to encourage businesses to adopt wireless networks in small offices while the services team can ensure that strict security is maintained on any such wireless set-up.
Hegarty sees a great opportunity to gain real competitive and cost advantage by adopting the lastest technologies: “The price points are all coming down on printers, projectors and storage units.” The backing up of critical data should be central concern for all businesses now and Hegarty finds that the majority of small enterprises do not have a suitable back-up solution in place. “Companies should have the ability to do a mirror of hard drives on to the company network. Data is the business and if the data is compromised, well so it the business.”
Source standard software
The Dell small business team will “source standard software” complement the hardware implementation. Sage is good example for accounting software and Microsoft for a database or CRM application. Where required and desired by the customer, Dell can also prtner with a beposke develop to deliver an application.
Hegarty encourages small businesses to take advantage of the numerous and flexible financing options which are available through the company’s financial services division. “Cash flow is the critical issue for most small businesses and they should look to tie it up. Rather, they should look to give them some breathing space by managing the payment for their technology investment in structured fashion that accounts for upgrades and scalable growth in the future.”
Services business growing
Right now, worldwide, Dell has annual revenues of $14bn dollars and $1bn of that accounts for services. This figure is growing and if Dell can get the balance of affordbale hardware and reliable services just right, then the myth that indirect through a resller is the only way to go for a small business without an full time IT manager could be dispelled for good.
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