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TELECOMS AND SOFTWARE NEWS
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Dell rolls SaaS-based services into Europe
Ian Brown
Dell rolls SaaS-based services into Europe
Dell claims its Modular Services options allow customers to choose the delivery method that suits them best. Services can be managed on-premise by the customer using Dell's tools and support capabilities, or they can be delivered via Dell's software-as-a-service (SaaS) model to be managed either in-house or by Dell as a fully managed service. But Dell's interpretation of 'services' is still limited: SaaS rather than service; lacking a 'local' face; and strictly non-legacy. Mid-market customers and highly distributed enterprises need off-the-peg, click-to-use functionality
Dell has started to roll out its Modular Services offering into Europe, which consists of three services towers: consulting (ProConsulting), managed services (ProManaged) and support (ProSupport). Not surprisingly, the UK is first to get them (after the US), with non-English-speaking customers getting them direct from Dell in the next few months, while some of its email, remote infrastructure management and business continuity solutions are already being delivered by channel partners.However, it's the Dell-delivered, Dell-managed options that will resonate most with customers. Historically, Dell's success was built on its much-lauded but now passé direct model. Dell changed this approach more gradually than is generally recognised; as its acceptance among corporate IT departments grew, so did its need to work with systems integration partners. The more recent embrace of consumer channel partners is a further evolution of Dell's move towards indirect selling. Meanwhile, although Modular Services can be sold and delivered in conjunction with partners, there is also a strong element of the direct model that served Dell so well in the past. Modular Services provide a menu of services options that can not only be ordered direct from the Web but also delivered via the Web. The key to web-based delivery for all three services towers is SaaS management tools that can be managed either by the customer or by Dell and/or its channel partners. The chief selling points for the services are simplicity, modularity and time to implementation - similar strengths to those on which Dell originally built its product business. These are off-the-peg, function-specific services, where the onus is on the customer to select what they need. This is not the vendor taking control of the customer's desktops or data centres; it's customised, not custom. The unique selling point is the SaaS delivery of services - particularly the ProManaged services. SaaS enables greater flexibility than an off-premise solution. Solutions can be run from the network or on the devices where they're needed. Not every customer will want to do it that way - whether in-house or outsourced, most large enterprises will want to bring the management behind the firewall. However, for smaller, mid-sized organisations or for highly distributed enterprises in sectors such as retail, branch banking and the public sector, the ability to select and switch on the service from a management console and use it when and where it's needed will be attractive. Software or a service?
So is this software or is it a service? Delivering asset management tools via the Internet, for example, probably isn't strictly speaking a service, in spite of the 'as-a-service' epithet. A 'service' implies that a third-party manages an operational process on behalf of the customer. In their SaaS form alone, Dell's Modular Services are not services in the traditional sense. However, the customer does have the option to add in management by either Dell or a channel partner and that elevates Modular Services from software to service. In addition, there are certain elements in the offer, such as Email Management Services and Business Continuity, which very much are services in the traditional sense.But does Dell's Modular Services offer do anything to change perceptions of the vendor's services capabilities? On the positive side, it has produced a comprehensive suite of end-user, data-centre and business continuity management tools that can be delivered where they're needed through SaaS. It's also working with customers and partners to develop common management access portals and ecosystems. However, Dell is still slow to 'localise' its services - the services might be generic and from the cloud, but non-English-speaking customers will have to wait longer before the services get a 'local' face. In addition, while Dell has done much to integrate and automate the tools that make up Modular Services, it still has to do more to lead with services rather than product. And although Dell's Modular Services data-centre toolset is comprehensive, it's still only for x86 systems and software. Dell does services, but not for your legacy systems.
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