Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Friday, March 29, 2024

Dell Expands Deployment Services 

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Dell this week expanded its deployment services to help organizations reduce cost and increase competency.

Rather than spending their limited technology resources on deployment, enterprises should consider outsourcing these tasks and use the savings for advanced scale computing, cloud, analytics, and other business-centric and differentiating solutions. That's the advice from Rob Brothers of IDC in a Dell-sponsored whitepaper, released in September 2015, "Growing Business Value by Utilizing Deployment Services." But 80 percent of IT's time typically is spent on routine tasks including patch management, installation, troubleshooting, remediation, and monitoring, IDC found. IT spends a mere 20 percent on innovation at a time when organizations expect technology to lead them to new business opportunities.

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, 78 percent of enterprises currently use some form of deployment service. Savings typically are about $2,138 per server; $2,037 per storage array, and $1,911 per network device deployed, IDC found.

Dell unveiled the ProDeploy Enterprise Suite, featuring three levels of deployment service – Basic, ProDeploy, and ProDeploy Plus – as well as training and certification. Available in 55 countries and covering Dell servers, storage, and networking, ProDeploy Enterprise includes 18 storage and networking training courses plus certifications tested in 18 countries. It also includes series competency in 123 countries in Dell SC series, PC series, N and S series networking, according to Dell.

"Basic is rack and stack. We consider that a transaction. There's not a lot of conversation. There's not a relationship," said Anna Le, executive director of Enterprise Services, Global Consulting, Deployment and Support in an interview. "For ProDeploy, it starts with when the order drops. We make contact with the customer. The number one thing they value is the planning component. Every datacenter is different so you need comprehensive and extensive planning."

Most customers spend 20 percent of their resources simply managing contracts, said Le. These contracts can run from 90 days to many years and this is a waste of valuable time, she said. By working with a deployment partner, enterprises eliminate this chore, said Le.

Dell also unveiled its Certified Deployment Professional program that recognizes individuals for their additional knowledge and skills, and offers both storage and networking certification tracks. The vendor's deployment services competency via PartnerDirect gives participants access to Dell methodologies and tools, plus the opportunity for additional revenue via co-delivery.

About the author: Alison Diana

Managing editor of Enterprise Technology. I've been covering tech and business for many years, for publications such as InformationWeek, Baseline Magazine, and Florida Today. A native Brit and longtime Yankees fan, I live with my husband, daughter, and two cats on the Space Coast in Florida.

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