LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. -- Dell Computer Corp. CEO Michael Dell told information technology managers this week that he plans to grow his company's service offerings for large businesses.
"We'll be offering more in services," Dell pledged to 8,000 attendees of the Gartner Group's Symposium/ITxpo 99.
During his keynote speech, Dell said his company currently employs 2,000 engineers who come in direct contact with large enterprises in a services function. The services generated $2 billion in revenues for the company last year, approximately 7% of its total revenues.
Under a DellPlus program, customers can provide software images that Dell will install on large PC deployments. And when a PC generation ends, Dell is now developing a faster upgrade path for customers to allow for quicker installation for software images across a large fleet of computers.
Users have criticized Dell for not developing a full service arm, especially as other PC makers have, two analysts for Gartner told Dell.
But Dell said there's a lot of "e-hype out there," and that Dell has plenty of initiatives including the DellPlus program.
Dell also said one of his biggest challenges in running one of the largest PC makers in the world is finding qualified workers. His company expects to need 14,000 additional workers in the next 12 months, but there are no easy solutions for where to find the bodies, he said.
"If you can spell 'technologies' in a foggy mirror, you've got yourself a job," he said to laughter. "It's a war for talent out there."
For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld online. Story copyright © 1999 All rights reserved.
RELATED LINKS
