New York, NY -- An article on the PC World website announced on March 31 that we could be seeing Dell enter into the market for managed print services as early as this year. This move is an effort on the part of Dell to further establish themselves in the printing and imaging market.
Dell made a huge move in this direction late in 2009 with the acquisition of Perot Systems for $3.9 billion in cash. They brought the entity into their fold by creating a new unit called Dell Services. While most of their current work is on the hardware and supplies but the focus is shifting slightly to incorporate control of document flow within an organization. Dell is also taking steps with their hardware and software to simplify management of printers and digitization as well as the printing of documents. The services that were originally part of Perot Systems are being examined as well.
Over the next several months, Dell plans to release software which will bring together device and task management into one application by combining OpenManage Printer Manager and printer infrastructures in enterprises for the Dell Management console. Further, Dell will be embedding Java capability into their printers which allows customizable printer software to be installed as needed on a given machine.
They do have their work cut out for them with both HP and Xerox who are already established in the managed print services market. If Dell can establish a presence despite the opposition, this part of the printer industry has the ability to generate a reasonable amount of revenue for them.
With the acquisition of Perot Systems, who themselves had previously acquired Meditech, a software and consulting group for the digitizing of medical records, Dell has the opportunity to enter a niche market, says one president of an IT company. He further suggested that going forward then, Dell may benefit from establishing partnerships with other smaller companies that already have “domain expertise to develop software” which would mesh well with Dell’s “server, storage and printing and imaging hardware.”
