14 DAY TRIAL // The computer hardware manufacturer and vendor Dell is currently expanding its business either by acquiring different companies - both hardware and software centered ones - or by entering alliances and partnerships with companies that are activating in parallel fields.
This is the case of the newly announced alliance between Dell and a software developing company named SAP. The SAP and Dell partnership will bring together an important business software maker with clients worldwide and one of the most powerful hardware manufacturers and vendors. According to the news site News.Zdnet, this alliance will allow corporate and business customers to purchase better technical equipment for an increased business efficiency. "Under the agreement, Dell will team with SAP to offer an integrated point-of-sale (POS for short) store solution, enabling retailers to utilitze SAP for Retail software solutions on Dell's Retail OptiPlex 745 POS systems and Dell PowerEdge servers. The combined Dell/SAP retail offering is aimed at providing retailers a complete, cost efficient, standards-based business solution," said the Dell press release concerning this event.
What this alliance means is that SAP business centered software will run on hardware supplied by Dell and it will be sold through Dell's own distribution network and retail channels. From the business customers' point of view, this will mean better client demand data, real time operations over inventories and other combined features that will allow retailers to better track customers' demands and habits, as well as buying trends. "There are many factors that go into the refresh of a retailer's IT environment" said Terry Klein, vice president of Dell's Advanced Systems Group. "This partnership will enable retailers to focus on evaluating complete solutions that help them better serve their customers, rather than making separate hardware and software decisions".
As the vice president of Dell's Advanced Systems Group said, the retail channel distributors will no longer have to buy two separate systems - a hardware and a software one - as this partnership will supply both systems. Another bright point is that SAP has another contract for the retail channel with IBM, so from Dell's point of view, the company is advancing to the top of the hardware pyramid.