Dell sees slowdown in IT spending by large enterprises

NEW DELHI: Dell India is witnessing slowdown in IT hardware spends by large enterprises, its biggest customer base, and is relying on segments
such as public sector, small and medium businesses (SMBs) and individual consumers to shore up market share in India, its country head said on Thursday.

"The market is slowing down but we keep looking for areas where we can grow our market share in these times," Dell India country general manager Sameer Garde said.

In the public sector, Dell India is particularly eyeing education and healthcare segments. It has participated in some ICT programmes in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. i Large enterprises are looking to reduce ther maintenance costs within their reduced IT budgets, while SMBs are an untapped market, Mr Garde added. Of the 8 million SMBs in India, only one million spend on IT, he said.

Dell recently restructured its operations to focus on four business segments - large enterprises, public sector, SMBs and consumer. "We have changed our go-to-market strategy in the last 6-8 months and moved from a purely direct selling model to a mix of direct and retail," Mr Garde said. He refused to comment on whether the Indian arm is on track to achieve its target of $1 billion in revenues this year.