Why Dell’s focus on the important things puts it in pole position for the AI age
As AI becomes an integral way of life for many businesses, having the hardware and capacity to make the most of its benefits is becoming a crucial concern.
At the recent Dell Technologies World 2024 event, the company was keen to highlight its role in helping provide such assistance, with CEO Michael Dell pledging to be “a trusted partner” to customers in the age of AI.
But when it comes to innovation, how Dell itself is moving forward is also crucial, and we spoke to Gil Shneorson, Senior Vice President, Solution Platforms, Dell Technologies, at the event, to find out more.
Internal focus
“What Dell has done incredibly well is focus a lot of effort on Dell,” Shneorson told us the day after Michael Dell’s opening keynote, which unsurprisingly focused heavily on AI, and the possibilities working with the company and its technology can bring.
“My opinion is the world of hardware has become fairly standard - it was cruising along just fine from generation to generation, but it seems like somebody broke the mould all of a sudden,” he says.
His CEO agrees, stating in his keynote that, "The real question isn't how big AI can be, but how much good is AI going to do…and how much good can it do for the world?"
"It's both a sprint and a marathon…the uptake and demand for AI is unprecedented - it will touch each industry, in every organization."
Shneorson says the biggest difference, and what helps set Dell apart, “is the rate of innovation - everything is happening so fast.”, He notes everything being announced by Dell in recent weeks has been big steps forward, rather than the variety of small incremental features previously celebrated as major improvements.
"We know the AI rate right now is faster than ever before, and if you want to get started right now, you will find…people are solving the "now problems" - looking around takes time, and time is not our friend,” he says.
Adding value
So why is Dell so well-placed to help companies on their AI journey? The answer, Shneorson says, encompasses pretty much every area the company works in, providing a frictionless journey for its customers.
“We do have a fairly extensive ecosystem,” he explains, noting the Dell supply chain is “a core differentiator.”
"The supply chain is always value-add,” he adds, “once people know (we have) the ability to deliver systems, networking, servers, racks properly…that is a combination that makes us relevant.”
“We were very quick to identify future customer needs around AI, and respond to that very quickly - now we have keep responding to it very quickly, because the market itself is changing very, very rapidly”
"The core benefits to working with Dell have never changed," Shneorson concluded, counting off the company's supply chain, support, and services as main USPs - but he was also keen to stress the importance of Dell's core values and its people as the main selling point.
"Ultimately, people work with people," he said, "if you have a known set of values, and what to expect from a company, how they think, how they behave - it’s very productive."
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