Dell to open Middle East’s first customer briefing centre in Dubai

Dave Brooke, the general manager of Dell Middle East, says the briefing centre will give customers a hands-on experience. Razan Alzayani / The National

Dell is to open a customer briefing centre in Dubai, the first of such centres throughout the Middle East, Africa and the emerging markets in Europe to help drive growth in the region.

Current and potential customers will be invited to the centre to test out the company’s solutions before making a purchase. Dell recently moved offices in Dubai’s Internet City to accommodate the new centre, moving from building three to building 15, where it has double the floorspace.

“This is the first of its kind in the region. It highlights the importance that Dell puts on the region as the Middle East as well as broader emerging markets,” said Dave Brooke, the general manager of Dell Middle East. “There is a significant benefit for the customer, it gives them a hands-on experience. Historically we have taken customers to our European briefing centres, so now we are localising the service, which is very significant.”

This month US regulators approved Dell’s privatisation. Founder Michael Dell bought the firm back with investors Silver Lake Partners for US$24.9 billion in a bid to turn the company’s fortunes around in the face of a declining PC market.

Despite Dell’s global PC shipment growing from 10.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2012 to 11.6 per cent in the third quarter of this year, the overall desktop market has slowed down by 8.6 per cent and is expected to contract by 10 per cent at the end of this year. There is more hope for the Middle East and Africa region where Dell is pushing for growth.

There will be a soft launch for the centre within the next month, but the official launch is scheduled for the beginning of next year.

“It is part of the growth strategy. Dell’s strategy both locally and globally is to be the number one end-to-end supplier. We have acquired 24 companies over the past four years to allow us to offer a full range of solutions and we can demonstrate them at the briefing centre,” said Mr Brooke.

Dell is currently present in seven countries in the region, with two more offices set to be opened up next year. The company is also focusing on Iraq as an area of growth.

“The UAE and Saudi Arabia are our largest markets by virtue of their size and dominance, but we also have growth in Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Iraq,” said Mr Brooke. “Iraq represents a very significant opportunity in our business. We look after it primarily through our distribution channels and partners, but we also launched the service as Dell, where we warranty products ourselves.”

With regards to public sector customers, most of its engagements are in Qatar as the government is looking to boost the education, security and healthcare sectors.

“If you look at government sectors across the Middle East and their investment portfolios it talks very closely to our offerings. We are the largest healthcare IT services provider in the world and education and healthcare building is very important here,” said Mr Brooke.