Connected Provisioning: The Best Way Yet to Equip Your Workforce

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What a difference the cloud makes! Take video streaming, I can watch what I want, when I want. Compare that to the old days of trekking to a store, wandering the aisles and hoping they have the videotape I want. Streaming is a remarkably better experience.

View this On-demand Session recorded during Dell Technologies World, May 5-6, 2021.

In much the same way, Dell’s new first-to-market Connected Provisioning service leverages the cloud to transform how organizations equip their team members with the devices they need to do their work. The result is a dramatically improved experience—for both IT and for employees.

Now IT can manage the entire provisioning process online—and users get a smart-phone-like start-up experience, so they can begin working with their new system in a matter of minutes, not hours.

Dell is the first to integrate modern provisioning directly from our factory to the customer with Connected Provisioning. 1

Another Breakthrough on the Journey

Dell has long recognized that as the functionality, connectivity, and mobility of end user devices grow, the challenges involved in getting the right tools, to the right user, in a secure manner get more complicated. Add a global pandemic that has turbocharged the trend to working outside of the office, and a new approach to end-user provisioning becomes critical.

To address these issues, Dell has been a proponent of pushing as much of the work as possible to prepare and provision a system into our factory process. Connected Provisioning, available in the U.S. today and in other regions later this year, takes advantage of unique aspects of our supply chain and our strategic partnerships with VMware and Microsoft, the leaders in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), to reduce the burden on IT while improving the employee experience.2

In simplest terms, Connected Provisioning integrates modern provisioning directly into the factory process. At no point does IT need to physically touch a device. Instead, IT uses their cloud-based VMware Workspace ONE or Microsoft Intune tenant to create various deployment groups that can be associated to profiles in the Dell Technologies TechDirect portal and assigned to any order. Dell configures and images the devices accordingly—updating the order status in TechDirect every step of the way—from production and build, to imaging and provisioning, to shipping and delivery direct from our factory to the end user. IT administrators can use TechDirect to build and save multiple profiles, apply them to subsequent orders, and modify them over time to reflect changing company policies and technology.

Because systems are shipped with the user’s profile and applications already loaded, there are no confusing remote set up procedures, lengthy downloads, or bandwidth issues. Users log in with their existing credentials and begin working with their familiar privileges and tools right away.

To learn more, read my colleague Colin Sainsbury’s blog, complete with screen shots that walk you through the Connected Provisioning process via TechDirect.

 A Remarkably Better Experience

Just like video streaming, Connected Provisioning enables a simple, cloud-based, self-service experience.  It shifts tasks away from IT, employees, and corporate networks into Dell configuration centers and relies on Dell expertise, logistics and supply chain to accelerate time-to-value, while reducing effort, cost, and even carbon footprint.  Organizations gain:

  • More IT control – Profile-based configuration management gives IT the flexibility and control to use tenant, domain and group tags to assign and configure devices in each order
  • Zero IT touch – IT can manage the entire registration, enrollment, and provisioning process using their own cloud UEM tool and the TechDirect portal
  • Cloud-based simplicity – Dell prepares PCs for shipping with no need for access back into the customer’s corporate network, eliminating security concerns and bandwidth constraint issues. In addition, IT administrators can access the service without having to be on-prem or behind the corporate firewall
  • Better user experience – Because all user registration, enrollment, apps, settings, drivers and so on are already loaded on their system, end users find unboxing and logging on to their new PC can be as easy as setting up a new phone
  • Faster time to value – By shortening the time it takes from initial order to team member productivity, Connected Provisioning accelerates return on investment.

Dell makes it possible for zero IT touch and little to no end user set up time with Connected Provisioning.3

We leveraged our long-standing configuration and provisioning expertise to help modernize these processes for you.  We now look forward to delivering on the promise of no IT touch and little to no end-user setup time. Contact your Dell Technologies Services representative to bring Connected Provisioning to your organization.


View this On-demand Session recorded during Dell Technologies World, May 5-6, 2021, “Modern Provisioning: Deliver Pre-configured, Ready-to-Work Devices in About 5 Minutes“. We can help you be ready for whatever comes next.


1Based on Dell analysis, January 2021. Connected Provisioning requires a UEM environment using Microsoft Intune or VMware Workspace ONE.

2Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management, August 11, 2020.

3Based on Dell analysis, January 2021. Connected Provisioning requires a UEM environment using Microsoft Intune or VMware Workspace ONE. Zero Touch is dependent on the UEM configuration setup and software made available during provisioning.

About the Author: Dan Oldroyd

Dan Oldroyd is responsible for product management for Dell Technologies’ Client Deployment Services. This portfolio includes Configuration Services, Managed Deployment Services, Logistics Services and Asset, Resale and Recycling. In this role Dan is tasked with understanding market opportunity, customer needs and competitive dynamics and then bringing specific service offerings to market. Dan has served in various marketing and product management positions during his 20 years at Dell including, product manager, brand manager, alliances manager and marketing communications manager. Prior to Dell, Dan held several roles at start-up companies focused on document management software. He received both a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Management from Brigham Young University. Dan resides in Austin, Texas with his wife and children. In his free time, he enjoys running, hiking, camping and traveling.
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