May 9, 2016

Is rebranding a fantastic or disastrous idea for Dell?

With any major merger or acquisition, the question of rebranding always arises.

Whenever a substantial merger or acquisition occurs, the question of rebranding always arises. Will a company change its name? Adopt a new logo? There are many questions that must be answered throughout the process to ensure the ultimate success of the deal. Since Dell announced its $60 billion merger with EMC Corporation in October 2015, many in the industry have been speculating about the fate of EMC's brand, according to Forbes.

At EMC World 2016, EMC's annual customer conference held in Las Vegas, Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell announced during his keynote presentation that upon the close of the Dell-EMC deal, the newly combined company will be called Dell Technologies. This overarching brand will contain all of Dell and EMC's current companies, technologies and capabilities under one umbrella organization.

What is the future of Dell Technologies?
Dell explained that Dell EMC will be the sub-brand and title for the organization's enterprise business, while Dell will remain the name and sub-brand for any client solutions relating to institutional, consumer and business customers. 

"Dell Technologies will create more value for customers and partners than any other technology solutions provider today," Dell said. "We will be more nimble and innovative, and we will deliver world-class products and solutions to customers of all shapes and sizes."

While rebranding and creating multiple sub-brands can be confusing for customers, certain industry analysts found that this strategy may prove to be beneficial for Dell. Some of the main reasons for Dell's potential success over that of other organizations is that the two companies boast vastly different services, products and customer bases, according to Information Weekly. This way, the newly combined company will retain its independent customer base, while continuing to expand its market reach.

New branding means new leadership
At the conference, Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO of EMC, announced he would be stepping down from his position so that Dell will lead the newly merged organization. After his speech, TechTarget reported that nearly half the crowd gave the 69-year-old former CEO a standing ovation.

"Dell Technologies looks to be hopefully a great corporation going forward," Randy Cochrane, lead for servers and storage at Cameco Corp., explained to TechTarget. "We're sad to see Joe go, because he's been pivotal part of EMC for so many years – and he was kind of breaking up on stage with his announcement there. And I think everybody in attendance, all 10,000 people, kind of felt that with him."

Tucci assured the crowd that "something great and something truly special" will arise out of this multi billion dollar partnership. In Dell's keynote address, he emphasized that Dell Technologies will be known as a "family of businesses" and joked that he is partial to the name Dell, as it is his family's name.

Dell stated that the combined company's vision will better integrate its customers' experience in terms of hardware, software and cloud storage.

This deal is the most influential and largest business technology deal in history and is still on track for federal and industry approval. Company officials remain confident that the deal will be finalized this year. This recent announcement also answers the questions many had been wondering since the deal's announcement in October. Some of these questions include whether or not EMC would retain its name, Tucci would keep his position and how Dell would go about branding its latest acquisition.