What will that cheap hard drive really cost you?

As a Dell OEM Solutions representative, I spend the majority of my time talking to OEMs who are just getting started working with Dell’s ability to help them go to market efficiently.  I just got off the phone with one of my customers today who proposed a frequently asked question: “Can’t you get my hard drive pricing lower?”   This always leads me to ask: “Really? Is the hard drive cost really at the heart of what you are trying to accomplish as an OEM, or are you really thinking about the total cost to your business with this question?”

I’m sure this all starts innocently enough within the OEM’s organization: “hey, let’s keep a few spare hard drives around in case one of our customers has a failure” or “let’s put the hard drives in ourselves – that will lower our costs.”  Then, I get a call like the one above which typically leads to a discussion of some of following issues many customers fail to consider:

  • Now, how do you know what drives went into what systems?
  • How much time will it take your tech support staff to direct your customer to get the information on the drive that may have failed? 
  • Where are you going to inventory those hard drives?
  • Who in your organization is going to be responsible for keeping track of the inventory?
  • And if you are putting them in yourself prior to delivering your solution, how long does that take? Who will perform the labor? Couldn’t their time be better spent?
  • What do you do with the returned drives – does your supplier require you to return them (because they were really refurbished hard drives)?

Surprised by the number of questions? Didn’t realize that there were so many aspects of hard drive costs that should be examined when looking into price comparisons?

Now, imagine a world where your supplier was able to furnish you with brand new, factory tested drives that included support. That support allows for the replacement of those drives easily and efficiently. No more inventory. No more labor costs. Just focusing on your solution. That’s what we do with Dell OEM ProSupport. We even give you the option to dispatch the parts yourself with Dell Online Self Dispatch.

Still think getting a deal on a hard drive is less expensive? Let us know, and we can help you run the numbers to determine the real costs.

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About the Author: Mary Berg