Keeping in mind the current pandemic situation across the globe, Dell Technologies is taking all the measures to ensure that its employees are working in a healthy and completely secure atmosphere. In line with this philosophy, the company has recently expanded its Connected Workplace program to all countries where it has team members and is empowering them with the ability to choose the work style that best fits them.
John Scimone, Senior Vice President, Chief Security Officer, Dell Technologies and Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan I Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies speak with Zia Askari from ChannelDrive.in about the company’s strategy to challenge the ongoing global pandemic situation and how the company is supporting its vibrant channel partner community in this situation.
Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan I Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies
The current scenario is going to usher in a new way of life for all of us – the new normal. What are some of the positives and way forward that Dell as an organization is deriving from this ongoing situation?
We have learned a great deal in a relatively short span of time. With the impact of COVID-19, it has become even clearer that the concept of work is being redefined and that flexibility is needed to succeed in today’s world. Our teams continue to navigate many complexities and responsibilities, and we want to ensure they have the space and flexibility to work in a way that best suits them.
We recently expanded our Connected Workplace program to all countries where we have team members and are empowering them with the ability to choose the work style that best fits them. Any team member who can be successful working in their role remotely can choose to enroll in the program and, upon manager approval, can work in a flexible capacity indefinitely. This means working from home anywhere from one day a week to five days a week.
We expect 50% of our employees would remain working from home, even after the pandemic, leveraging the great benefits we have realized through a technology-enabled remote workforce. Once our sites reopen, team members working flexibly can still come into the office for face-to-face meetings and to collaborate with their teams in person.
John Scimone, Senior Vice President, Chief Security Officer, Dell Technologies
We have been offering our team members remote work option for over a decade. We trust our team members and we want them to feel empowered by that trust and the ability to choose what’s best for them and their families. We know they’ll continue to innovate and collaborate just as they always have.
It is mentioned that in the near long term, Dell is looking at having less than 50 per cent of workforce on remote side of work. What will this mean to the existing office spaces and infrastructure that Dell has well spread globally?
We expect 50% of our workforce will continue working remotely even after the pandemic. And, we will have to all reimagine what the future office looks like. Things will look different, and the changes are made with the health and safety of our team members in mind.
What we’ve learned is proximity to a specific location won’t be a priority post-COVID-19. We will continue to be a leader in workplace flexibility, invest and evolve our Connected Workplace program, and empower our team members with the ability to choose the work style that best fits them.
This is not a departure from the way we’ve been working over the past decade. It’s simply an expansion to allow more team members to work in the way that they feel best fits their needs and lifestyle.
There is a lot of work that can be done remotely under pressing situations. However, certain critical work functions such as the research and development work – needs a lot of direct intervention from high end machinery. How is Dell able to maintain its critical work functions while in this pandemic situation?
First and foremost, the health and safety of our team members, partners and customers is a top priority.
We have our own essential workers working at select sites and in the field, but the majority of our team members will continue working from home where possible.
We’ve had rigorous practices and policies in place to make sure our team members are kept safe. For example, we’ve implemented thorough social distancing measures, sanitizing protocols, provided masks for our team members who are on site and kept the number of people on site to a minimum to make sure those who need to be on site can do so safely.
Channel Partners are considered to be the backbone for Dell operations. Moving forward, how is Dell going to extend its support hand to the channel community in terms of riding this long wave of pandemic?
COVID-19 has obviously changed the way we work, how we interact, but it hasn’t changed our commitment to our partners. In such unsettling times, we know that business cycles can be unpredictable, and we understand how the on-demand economy works. This is why we have long put in place measures that not only democratizes technology, but also to help our partners navigate market shifts and leverage the financing options available beyond just preservation of cash.
Earlier in April, we launched the Payment Flexibility Program (PFP) and announced $9 billion in financing to help fund critical technology needs. Dell Technologies has recently announced that they are extending the Payment Flexibility Program through October 30, 2020, with payment deferrals until 2021. Dell Technologies would also be introducing new updates to the Technology Rotation payment solution.
We’ve seen that many businesses want to acquire technology by paying over multiple years utilizing low cost financing. To meet the organization’s core infrastructure and remote workforce technology needs, we’re offering the lowest rate and total cost of ownership (TCO) ever for PowerStore storage arrays, PowerEdge servers, and Dell laptops and desktops as part of the Technology Rotation payment solution. At the end of the term, customers have the flexibility to return and upgrade their equipment with the latest technology to support hybrid cloud, on-premises workloads, or remote workforce initiatives.
This program helps businesses better control IT costs by saving significantly compared to the full purchase price on laptops, desktops, storage and server solutions, conserving cash by deferring their first payment until 2021, extending payments on servers and storage using up to two fixed 12-month extensions for flexibility to return or acquire hardware over five years, and expanding or enhancing PowerStore performance and capacity at any time in the contract through Anytime Upgrades.
These new options are available in addition to the current features of the Payment Flexibility Program which include: low to zero percent interest rates and deferred payments for Dell Technologies infrastructure solutions, short term options for remote work and learning with up to 12-month terms and refresh options for laptops and desktops to help with back-to-school and return-to-work plans, one-year term flexible consumption offering to better align payments to an end user’s technology usage and credit availability to our valued channel partners through our Working Capital Solutions Program extending payments terms up to 90 days, and when combined with a Dell Financial Services (DFS) payment solution, the partner is paid within a few days, improving their cash flow.
Our measures speak volumes about our commitment to our partners as we continue to empower both large and small organizations during this time together.
