Sneak Peak at Dell World’s SMB Focus


mark horanRecently, I had a chance to talk to Mark Horan, Vice President/General Manager at Dell to learn about what Dell World has to offer for SMBs. Here’s a recap of our conversation. 

Laurie: Hi Mark, and thanks for taking time to provide some color commentary on Dell World. As usual, my focus is on small and medium businesses, so can you preview for me what Dell will be doing at Dell World this year that is geared toward SMB customers?

Mark: Just like we purpose-design solutions for SMB customers, Dell World features speakers, sessions, solution showcases, and networking opportunities for SMBs. Two of my favorite things for SMBs are the User Forum, where customers can deepen their technical knowledge around Dell solutions, and keynote speaker Alexis Ohanian, a New York based entrepreneur who founded Reddit.

Laurie: Why would SMB customers and prospects attend Dell World?

Mark: It’s a world-class event and opportunity to network with and learn from not only other SMB customers but other types of organizations from around the world. The diverse perspectives are invaluable. For customers who rely on technology to grow their business, whether they’re Dell customers already or not, it’s a great way to learn about where Dell is going and how that helps customers achieve their goals.

Dell also recently commissioned an extensive research study that explores how respondents adopt, consume, use and influence technology in four key areas – mobility, security, cloud and big data. The research focuses on mid-sized organizations (100 to 5,000 employees) across the globe), and we’ll be sharing and reacting to the results in numerous sessions at Dell World.

Laurie: How many SMB customers do you expect to attend? Do you have any SMB customers being showcased at the event (Executive Track, Partner Summit, Main Track and/or Ancillary events)?

Mark: We expect over 600 SMB customers joining us for Dell World 2014. SMB customers will participate in all of the Dell World tracks: Executive Summit, Partner Summit, User Forum, and more.

Laurie: What particular SMB solutions is Dell showcasing at the event? Addressing which SMB customer problem areas?

Mark: We’ll be showcasing many of our solutions; ones that I think are of particular interest for SMBs include our SonicWALL network security appliances and management consoles that provide industry leading software-designed protection for facilities of all sizes from small branches to massive data centers; our 13G servers and new SC4020 storage array will also be prominent. Systems like these help customers increase performance, reduce their IT footprint, and maximize the value IT can drive for their business.

Laurie: Are there any ‘birds of a feather’ or interactive sessions specifically for SMB customers at the event?

Mark: Absolutely. My team and I will be hosting a reception on Wednesday evening at Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin for SMB customers, channel partners, and Dell leaders in the space. Any SMB customer registering for Dell World should ask their account team for an invite to the reception.

Laurie: I understand that  the Solutions Expo is a bit different this year and geared more around starting with a customer’s problem, then taking that customer down a specific path to a solution. What kind of path would an SMB customer take for the following problem areas at the show:

Mark: It is a bit different this year. It will help customers self-select the most relevant content for them including:

  • Mobility/mobile workforce Connect Journey to Evolving Workforce
  • Security Protect Journey to Security Deep Dive
  • Cloud Transform Journey to Cloud Deep Dive
  • Big data Inform Journey to Big Data Deep Dive

Other Deep Dive areas include: Services, Software, Internet of Things and Data Center.

Laurie: What makes Dell a good choice for SMBs?

Mark: Dell’s ability to provide industry leading and cost-effective solutions from the endpoint to the data center to the cloud that address key needs for productivity, security, data protection, and analytics is world-class. We architect and deploy these systems for SMBs through a dedicated model for sales and support from both our direct sales teams and our channel partners.

Laurie: Mark, thanks so much for the sneak preview, and see you at Dell World.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Dell.

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