Q1 2020 has been remarkable for Dell Technologies’ server business. Highlight from which all segments you have witnessed maximum traction, and did you also witness interest from SMBs?
I am happy to share that the year 2020 started fairly on a good note for us. As per IDC Q1 2020 India Server Industry report, we was ranked as No. 1 in the x86 server segment with 36% revenue share. Number of units we shipped were more than what our next two competitors shipped. I believe that our leadership in this segment is a testimony to our holistic server portfolio that resonated well with our customers in India, including SMBs. Our wins from verticals like professional services, financial institutions, high-tech semiconductor manufacturing companies, and telecommunication vendors helped us secure the top spot.
How do you see market situation spanning over the period of time? Does the same imply for SMBs?
The current situation has forced all enterprises, be it large or small, to innovate and adapt themselves. It has made them realize that technology advancement is the only catalyst that will help them sail through this present latitude. Few upcoming trends that we can witness are:
- Since, businesses cannot have physical connect with their customers, they are trying to deploy new channels of engagement. But, this is only possible when they have entire backend and front-end digitally connected. Organizations have realized the benefits of a digital-first approach and therefore, we are seeing increase in digital adoption across segments
- Present situation has also forced majority of the workforce to operate from home. This big change has necessitated new architectures and infrastructure to be deployed by organizations so that employees get the same level of granular access to data when working from home. Hence, we are seeing workforce transformation at large
- Employees are now working from different places and due to this, the number of ports have opened up, making security a major concern than ever before. Organizations not only require to manage the extensive workloads across locations but also equally need to ensure that they’re securing all parts from where the data is coming without a security glitch. Thus, growing importance for security
Do you believe that on-prem deployment is increasing or its just sentimental change, looking at the multiple options that cloud solutions are offering?
Organizations are realizing that it is going to be a multi-cloud world in the long run. Some workloads will be suitable for public cloud, some workloads will be extremely critical, and thus, organization will be willing to store them on a private cloud i.e. on-prem. So, every organization will have a co-existence of multiple clouds. Businesses would need to equip themselves with all the modern infrastructure, so that they could manage their applications and workloads across locations.
At a time when many of the companies are laying off their employees, where do you see current consumption going?
As per the IDC Q1 numbers, while the market has not grown and the overall demand in the industry for servers actually declined year on year, however, for us, we were able to garner a larger share of that particular market segment. Having said that, we firmly believe that in the longer term, we will see significant growth in the Indian server market.
What are the new products/technologies you plan to bring in the market and how would provide training to the channel partners?
We have been focused on bringing modern-age solutions to our customers in their journey of digital transformation. On the technology front, we are looking towards bringing in solutions that make the work from home experience better, enhance the transformation journey, and significant investment in that area have been made by us. We are also building security at the core of the servers rather than just keeping it at the periphery as well as deploying automation tools and manageability at the core. Additionally, we have also brought solutions, which are easy and ready to deploy, known as ready solutions. At Dell Technologies, we are providing validated and engineered solutions to our customers beforehand, so that customers can deploy them very quickly and easily and no iterations are required from their end
For our channel partners, we have kept a close relationship with them. At a time when physical connection is a concern, we have been conducting regular webinars, training for them across tier 1, 2 & 3 cities, so that they understand the portfolio and deploy those solutions to the customers end.
What are the factors that led to the significant growth for Dell Technologies in the market?
We have always been at the forefront in delivering the best technology innovations to our customers. Few notable highlights that helped us to achieve the market share are:
- End – to- end solutions – Today, we are the only organization in the industry that provides end-to -end solutions to our customers from the edge, to core, to cloud. Customers see us as being that one-stop-shop for all their IT solutions and requirements
- Differentiated strategy – All of the solutions that we are developing, are resonating well with our customers. Our ready solutions and innovations at the core are some of the offerings that are extremely differentiate from what anyone else is doing in the market
- Go-to market strategy – The trust that our partners and customers instill in us is a reflection of our successful market strategy. We are closely working with our channel partners and enabling them with working capital solution, so that they provide value proposition to our customers in current times
What are some of the key trends that you can forecast in the upcoming months?
- Accelerated digital transformation – To stay competitive, businesses will need to modernize and automate their systems to ensure that they are able to manage the workloads, both the traditional and new-age ones
- Workforce transformation – Organizations would have to provide their employees the same application and access to products/solutions that they were having in office
- Security Transformation – Businesses would need to have security at the core of IT infrastructure rather than the periphery. Approach to security should be proactive
What is your growth strategy going ahead?
Our strategy has significantly hinged on the fact that we have been one of the most innovative players in this segment. We are well-connected with our customers, we understand their needs, and assist them accordingly. We will also continue to invest in developing new and contemporary solutions and support our channel partners so that they can reach out to customers, providing them with right technology.
