Dell turns to Gizmo to drive home support services

Dell has enlisted the help of Sydney-based tech support company Gizmo to help drive its business further into the home and small office market.

Gizmo will provide the increasing number of Dell consumer buyers with help in setting up their new PCs, networking equipment and audio/visual support.

Historically Dell has been very strong with its commercial offerings, but this is changing said Evan Williams, Dell's Southeast Asia consumer sales and marketing general manager.

"We're into the consumer space in a very big way," he said. "The last 12-18 months Dell has been positioning itself as a strong consumer player in the market."

Services start from $149 for basic home PC set up, $169 for networking services and $249 for a media centre PC with audio/visual components.

Williams said Dell's standard on-site next business day warranty support will continue, but that the partnership with Gizmo is an extension of its existing service to provide more hands on support. Gizmo, with a current base of 100 employees, has metro offices nationwide that provide in-home support. It also services regional Australia through phone support.

Brett Chenoweth, Gizmo CEO, said its focus as a company on consumers and SOHO is "relatively myopic".

"It is one of the reasons we are excited about the relationship with Dell. It really shows that Dell are making a concerted effort into the home . So the consumer space is a our sweet spot."

Although partnering with Dell opens up Gizmo's potential customer and hence revenue base, Dell claims its financial gains will be more indirect. "Satisfied customers are everything to us. Having customers come back and buy more solutions from us in the future because they have had a great experience; that's our financial model," Williams said.

Chenoweth said over a third of Gizmo's business is from customers taking up its networking services. But as Dell ramps up its home entertainment product lines he expected support service to shift more into the audio visual space.

Williams said the deal with Gizmo was non exclusive, but at this stage Dell was not looking at any other service providers.

The partnership with Gizmo follows Dell's announcement in May in which it selected office stationery and IT supplies chain, Officeworks, as its first local retail partner.