“Dell’s Notebooks Blow Up. Come See Us.”
- Marquee sign of a locally-owned computer store, Sandia Computers. They also sometimes say, “Don’t Call India. Call Us.” Short and to the point, heh? I love driving by the place as they almost always have something equally pithy (and compelling) on their sign.
And now this morning I see this headling from Cnet: Dell Overhauls Support Services
Dell is revamping its support-services offering as the company continues to battle shrinking growth in PC and server sales…The overhaul will see the introduction of two services, Dell ProSupport for IT and ProSupport for End-Users, aimed at improving local support for enterprise customers by improving turnaround times and offering the ability to fast-track requests.
Well, it’s long overdue, but don’t I remember seeing they were doing similar overhauls before - partly in response to Jeff Jarvis and Dell Hell? Hmmmm….
Here’s the thing - I’ve done a lot of IT services product development and packaging - from desktops to DEC VAX to IBM mainframes (remember those?) - and unless Dell is fundamentally changing their operations - no amount of packaging and re-positioning will help.
I’ll be watching with interest - to see if Dell becomes a service star of if this is just another snafu…and I’m already anticipating Sandia’s next sign.
Read More: Dell’s Exploding Computer (NYT article)
Tags: Dell, Dell Services, IT services, services marketing, marketing troubleshooting
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February 21st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Hi Mary
Thank you for the perspective and feedback. We have been making a lot of changes over the past year, all with a view to listening, learning and delivering better and more for our customers.
This is not about packaging. Check out Ideastorm or Re-generation leading the industry to be the greenest IT company. Or look at the new products and services (XPSOne called an Imac killer by PC Magazine). We have removed extra software (bloatware) on a special line of PCs for small business and now are the best in the industry in terms of less bloatware. We listened to customers and continued to offer XP, expanded Linux offerings. We are simplifying IT for business customers and making our products available in global retail outlets.
We have been making significant changes on the service front and you can read more here: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2007/db20071017_277576.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_top+story
or here:
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/02/michael-dell-ph.html
admittedly we are not perfect. we are working hard to improve, listen and learn every day.
Appreciate your keeping an eye out for us and for your feedback
February 21st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Thanks Richard.
And it is encouraging that you’re out here talking to people in blogville.
At least you’re trying which is more than can be said of many companies, such as American Airlines.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Mary
we listen and learn every day from people like you and our customers. Its great way to stay in touch and really nurture and build relations with customers
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
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