The digital future companies imagined three to five years from now is here: Amit Midha

AMIT MIDHA, President, Asia Pacific & Japan / Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies

With the digital acceleration brought in by the pandemic, customers are not only focused on modernising their devices but also their entire infrastructure, which presents us with a whole new array of opportunities,” says Amit Midha, president, Asia Pacific & Japan, Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies. “Dell Technologies’ capabilities, leadership and innovation in technology has made us essential to customer’s digitisation journey,” he tells Sudhir Chowdhary in a recent interview. Excerpts:

Give us an update on Dell’s Q4 performance and how is India as a market contributing towards your company goals?
Dell Technologies had a strong Q4 and FY21. Our operating model was not only resilient but also flexible, agile, and we were able to support our customers with their business needs. We recently launched Project APEX, PowerEdge and PowerStore to serve our customers and partners with best-in-class products and solutions. Dell continued to deliver in extraordinary ways even during the uncertainty, meeting unprecedented demand for future of work, while increasing revenue to $94.2 billion.

In India, we are number one in client, mainstream server, storage and VMware. In terms of market share, Dell became the leading PC brand in India as our sales surged 57.1% from a year earlier to achieve a 27.5% market share in Q4. We led the commercial segment with a share of 32.7% resulting in 15.2% y-o-y growth. Dell’s consumer shipments registered 159.1% y-o-y growth and maintained the lead for the second position in the category.

In what ways has Dell helped customers and partners to transform their businesses and grow despite the challenges?
Year 2020 was all about establishing the right infrastructure with security to enable remote workforce and support work from anywhere for better productivity. As the industry progresses towards economic recovery with tremendous digital growth, customers will expect more business capacity to manage their multi-cloud journey on a shorter lead time. Dell’s product portfolio offers a flexible and modern architecture that gives customers tremendous agility and scale to manage their business from anywhere, with proper security and cost effectiveness.

Considering the current situation, what are the growth opportunities for the businesses in APJ and India region?
We are no longer perceived as a product provider, instead we are called upon as a partner that helps customers navigate through the opportunities. The industry has recently experienced a lot of acceleration and organisations are looking at their capabilities, infrastructure and realising that the digital future they have imagined three to five years from now is here today. Dell’s 2020 Digital Transformation Index shows that 80% of organisations in APJ have fast-tracked some of their digital transformation programmes.

While the industry is dealing with unpredictable times, we are staying positive and looking forward to trends and opportunities for the industry. Areas which will see large investments include cybersecurity, 5G infrastructure, remote work capabilities, privacy software, digital experiences and data management tools. Migration to cloud, hybrid cloud and infrastructure consolidation is happening more than ever before. So is automation, to reduce dependency and manage such issues in future. So, partners should enhance their skills in these areas to build their capabilities on AI / ML ready platforms, or on all-cloud-certified platforms.

Tell us about Dell’s partnership with the government on education and skilling.

Dell has collaborated with government and NITI Aayog to foster and nurture innovative mind-sets amongst the youth and teachers of India. Our continued association with government has impacted more than 11.4 million students and 1.1 million teachers enabling them to utilise technologies and democratise education. Our Progress Made Real 2030 goals are focused on advancing sustainability, cultivating inclusion by appointing 50% women team members globally and 40% leaders as women, transforming lives and upholding ethics and privacy. We have till date achieved 30% women team members globally and 23% women leaders.

What are Dell’s priorities for this financial year and how does India fit in this plan?
India is an important region for Dell Technologies. The India team continues to provide global support services, innovation, R&D and global manufacturing capabilities, the only region outside of the US to provide support in all the functions.

Dell Technologies in India is supporting a number of companies like Blue Dart, Hexagon Life Sciences, State Bank of India and SBI Life, TNQ Technologies, Bikanerwala, Technicolor, Evalueserve and many others by deploying best-in-class storage and server solutions to increase their business efficiency and optimise their infrastructure. We will continue to focus more and more on India in terms of technological innovations and social impact and increasingly bring India towards a leadership role, globally.