Dell: On The Road Again

Dell kicked off its 2003 Dell Total Business Tour, a 38-city tour across the country designed to help small and medium sized businesses get up close and personal with new technologies. Dell provided on-the-ground technology expertise for small and medium businesses starting in Houston this week. Dallas and Fort Worth are next in line as the tour traverses the country over the next six months.

During the tour, customers can step inside an 18-wheeler equipped with the latest technology ideally suited for smaller businesses. Taking Internet technologies of this magnitude on the road is no small feat — the truck is tricked out with a satellite feed that works as a roving backbone for the tour to stay connected.

Experts will be on hand to discuss topics ranging from the benefits of mobile computing and wireless devices, to the savings businesses can anticipate from consolidating their server systems.

Jim Porter, Dell senior marketing manager, said the tour is designed to help small- and medium-sized businesses understand the hot new technology options available to them today.

“Our goal is to travel across the country and reach as many businesses as possible,” Porter said. “We have exciting new products on display that can help businesses run their operations better by improving productivity and lowering costs.”

Porter said the tour is focusing on three key trends in business computing — mobility, wireless networking and business servers.

“Through presentations and individual meetings, Dell experts will highlight the advantages of standards-based technology, an important topic given the challenges facing businesses today,” Porter said. “We’ll show how businesses can benefit from standardizing their network environment onto a single platform as well as consolidate servers and storage devices to maximize efficiency.”

Small- and medium-sized businesses will also have the opportunity to learn about the latest advancements in mobile computing and the benefits of including wireless networking and handheld devices in new or existing systems.

Dell is drawing its pool of advanced system experts and local sales personnel to pull off producing the rigorous roving tour. The 2003 Dell Total Business Tour runs from May through October, stopping in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, among other major cities across the country. Porter said pre-registering for a local event is recommended because space is limited. A complete list of stops for the 2003 tour is available online.

Dell has produced a similar road show in the past. Porter said about three years ago the company took to the road with a tour touting Dell’s advanced servers. Surprisingly, a lot of smaller businesses attended the enterprise-class presentation.

There’s a lot on the line for Dell in the SMB market. Research from IDC forecasts that businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees-will account for 53 percent of the growth in IT spending this year. IDC also reports that Dell is the leading provider of computer hardware, including desktops, notebooks and servers, to the U.S. SMB market with 26 percent market share.

It’s a tough economic environment out there and Porter said businesses of all shapes and sizes are looking for ways to be more efficient with IT resources.

“SMBs have always been important to Dell” Porter said. “We understand the challenges that businesses are facing, and that’s why we’ve put together a team to directly reach out to these customers across the country.”