Dell Buffs Up Public Business Group with Jim Duffey

When interviewed by ExecutiveBiz in May of last year, Jim Duffey, EDS Vice President and General Manager of U.S. Public Sector business, shared that a big challenge his company faced was to defend its market share. This is a challenge that will surely travel with him as Duffey transitions from EDS to Dell, where he will serve as vice president and general manager for the Public Business Group.

Gaining and maintaining market share has always been a large part of Dell’s approach to market – and during Duffey’s 25 years at EDS he remained conscious of how this could be achieved by differentiating from competitors, while at the same time listening to customers so their business needs are addressed.

The new role at Dell’s Public Business Group – formed in January of 2007 after the firm’s main business unit was split in two – would be a formidable one for many given it encompasses the federal, state and local, education and health care sectors. But not so for Duffey, whose division at EDS accounted for 12,000 employees and 3 Billion Dollars in annual revenue as of last year.

Duffey, a voracious reader, counts “Good to Great” by Jim Collins as his favorite business book. Collins examined what is required to make a company really great. Dell may already be well past “good,” but its decision to add Duffey is a great one.

Brian Lustig is co-founder of Lustig Communications, a Rockville, MD-based communications firm that works with growing technology and government IT firms. Lustig is also a contributor to local business and industry publications.

Posted by Brian Lustig on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008. Filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry