| Title: |
Business Value of SOA – An Analysis of the Dell Multi-Channel Case |
| Author: |
Richard Veryard |
| Publication Date: |
2 December 2008 |
| Report Type: |
Journal |
| Report Class: |
Best Practice |
| Abstract: |
For many years, Dell has operated a direct sales business over many different communication channels – phone, internet and retail kiosks – but all under its own control. Over the past couple of years, Dell has extended this business model to include multiple business channels. SOA has been a key element of support for this multi-channel strategy, and in this case study, based purely on published sources, we analyze the business value of SOA for Dell.
In this report we develop an approach to predicting and or measuring business value in a multi-channel situation. To illustrate this we have undertaken an analysis of the experiences of Dell. We have used and referenced publicly available materials, but the analysis and conclusions are entirely CBDI derived |
| Backgrounder: |
Original Business Concept
Michael Dell’s original business concept was selling PCs direct to the customer. He believed that this gave the company a number of advantages over its competitors.
To support this concept, Dell developed a direct-sales business channel, initially via telephone and subsequently via Internet. Michael Dell wrote a book called Direct from Dell, with the subtitle Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry.
In May 2007, faced with declining sales and other pressures (including an accounting investigation and a pending lawsuit for fraud), Dell announced a major shift in strategy. It had previously sold relatively small quantities of product through VARs (value-added resellers), but it was now going to expand these channels into a major sales thrust. And for the first time, Dell executives gave a figure for the company's annual sales through the North American solution provider channel: $4 billion and growing faster than the overall category.
Dell was an early adopter of SOA. Back in 2003, Microsoft published a case study describing how Dell had developed five web services in order to validate the adoption of a Web service architecture across the Dell enterprise. |
| Report Size: |
6 pages |
| Report Access Type: |
 | Gold (Gold Corporate) |
|
| Available for separate purchase |
Single copies of recent CBDI Journals may be purchased |
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