Novell consultants target enterprise
Lee Copeland
Provo, Utah -- Novell Inc. is quietly expanding its consulting organization, a move resellers hope will raise awareness in strategic enterprise accounts.
Novell is planning to grow Novell Consulting Services to 300 employees from 185 by the end of October this year, Novell Chief Executive Eric Schmidt recently told financial analysts. The company, based here, is expected to introduce its new consulting plans at a business summit in Utah this week.
Novell is looking to spotlight its Novell Directory Services (NDS) as an enterprise solution.
"We want to create a new service space for Novell and our partners, particularly around NDS and the explosion of the ERP [enterprise resource planning] industry," said Greg Hudson, vice president of worldwide consulting at Novell.
"NDS is a step ahead of Active Directory, and organizations are coming to realize the benefits that a sophisticated directory service can bring," said Chris Le Tocq, industry analyst at Dataquest, San Jose, Calif. "Novell has to have a services organization to help get NDS deployed."
Novell Platinum VARs generally applauded the move, believing they will be pulled into these accounts, but asked for more details.
"They [consultants] will help more than they will hurt my business," said Richard Sudek, president of Nadek Computing Services Inc., a Novell Platinum reseller in Irvine, Calif. "The other advantage is having Novell at the larger account because it gives me leverage with my customer."
Said Michael Gansl, chief executive of NetLan Inc., New York, a Novell Platinum network integrator: "Novell is going to aim at big multinationals that want to deal with the manufacturer directly. But they obviously don't have enough people to not work without partners. They'll most likely project-manage and use a triangle approach, involving the customer, the VAR and Novell as partners."
For Novell, its consulting arm is more than a means to bolster the bottom line, analysts said. The company also wants to gain back ground in the enterprise, a turf where Microsoft Corp. has made inroads.
"If you look at the consulting business and the systems integrators, they lead with Microsoft in a lot of cases," said Mike Silver, industry analyst at the Gartner Group Inc., Stamford, Conn. "For Novell to go to their largest accounts and try to keep them in the Novell fold makes sense."
Building a larger consulting business will insulate Novell from having to rely on NetWare as its main revenue source, Silver said.
In contrast to Novell's target of 300 consultants, Microsoft Consulting has more than 1,900 consultants, a Microsoft spokes-woman said. A typical assignment lasts about two weeks and then is passed on to channel partners, Silver said.
Novell will follow a similar strategy, Hudson said. "Our strategy is a leveraged strategy, so we have to have our partners in these engagements. Once our piece of the project is done, we have to be in the position to respond to another request, but the continuity still has to be there, so partners have to complete the project," said Hudson.
"Consulting is one area [where] Microsoft has been able to get an advantage," said Randall Bennett, chairman of Secure Enterprise Computing Inc., a Platinum reseller in Durham, N.C.
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Novell's Direct Touch"
- Consultants to rise to 300 from 185
- VARs hope to be pulled into accounts
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