Earlie, take off your "Dell is pond scum" hat for just a second and let me know whether this idea of Dell going after resellers would be a positive or negative for them.
It seems to me like this would represent totally new business, if true, with no chance of cannibalizing the existing direct business. I don't see them EVER foregoing the direct model. Way to many purchasing managers are already very comfortable doing business this way. What's that saying? Once you go direct, you never go back.
Obviously many, many purchasing managers will always be more comfortable with the reseller route. So this development, if true, and if somewhat succesful, could open up a new way for DELL to sell more PCs. And if a purchasing manager doesn't mind paying a little more for the "priviledge" of buying a DELL from a reseller, I guess they would be stupid not to oblige.
Of course, I know you feel DELL is fast headed for the CPQ abyss so you will feel this is nothing more than a desperate act by a company headed for the cliff. A second question to you, would be "do you give the recent DELL management meeting any relevance in terms of the health of their business?"
Gary |
