Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems clearly demonstrates that Dell is in the midst of abandoning its historic advantage as the most efficient direct marketing company in the tech industry, in favor of following the increasingly failed outsourcing models of its bigger hardware rivals.

By buying Perot Systems, Dell is following in the footsteps of HP’s acquisition of EDS in an attempt to match the IT outsourcing (ITO) and services capabilities of IBM.

The only problem is that an increasing number of large-scale enterprises have become disillusioned with tradition ITO because these asset transfer deals have generally failed to achieve their business objectives. Even traditional IT consulting engagements frustrate many IT and business decision-makers because they tend to be too long and expensive.

Blending a labor-intensive business, like Perot Systems, with a product-centric company, like Dell, is also a formula for trouble. These are two very different … Read More »