Dell Technologies World Preview: 4 Things To Watch For
From Project Apex to the future of Dell’s partnership with VMware, here’s four areas channel partners and attendees should watch for next week at Dell Technologies World Digital Experience 2021.
Although Dell Technologies World Digital Experience 2021 marks the company’s second year in a row that Dell’s flagship conference is virtual, it doesn’t mean big news won’t be unveiled during the two-day online event.
Thousands of customers, channel partners and industry leaders will be in attendance virtually to hear from the likes of Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and Vice Chairman Jeff Clarke to Bill Nye the Science Guy and film director star Robert Rodriguez.
Dell Technologies World Digital Experience 2021 is free to sign up and runs from May 5 to May 6. Here are four things you should watch for during Dell Technologies World Digital Experience next week.
The Future Of The Dell-VMware Partnership
The biggest market news right now around Dell Technologies heading into Dell Technologies World is the company’s recent confirmation that Dell will spin-off its 81 percent stake in VMware. Although both companies say the split will not interfere or interrupt with Dell and VMware’s longstanding technology and go-to-market partnership, attendees need to hear it straight from the top, such as from Michael Dell, that business will not be disrupted by the split.
It is key to note that Raghu Raghuram, VMware’s Chief Operating Office of products and cloud services, is a keynote speaker at Dell Technologies World.
Project Apex
At the Dell Technologies World Digital Experience 2020 in October, Dell unveiled Project Apex, the company’s new as-a-service strategy of the future. Project Apex aims to simplify how customers and partners access Dell’s as-a-service capabilities across storage, servers, networking, hyperconverged infrastructure, PCs and architectural offerings. It unifies the company’s as-a-service and cloud strategies, technology offerings and go-to-market efforts, providing a consistent experience wherever a workload runs including on-premises, at the edge or in public clouds.
However, new news and offerings around Project Apex has been far and few between over the past six months. Dell needs to make a big splash around Project Apex during Dell Technologies World next week by potentially launching its first offering of storage-as-a-service.
‘Partner For The Future’ Session
The most important session at Dell Technologies World that channel partners need to attend is ‘Partnering For The Future,’ which is the company’s channel-specific session. This is a deep dive session on Dell’s channel partner strategy in a post-COVID-19 world exploring the role of partnerships in seizing growth opportunities and driving positive customer impacts through digital transformation.
The session is being led by Dell’s top channel executives including its global channel chief Rola Dagher; Cheryl Cook, senior vice president of global partner marketing; and Denise Millard, senior vice president of global alliances. It will be interesting to hear if Dell’s channel executives talk about cross-selling with VMware solutions or any changes to channel incentives regarding VMware.
Dell’s ‘Partner For The Future’ session is from 11:00 a.m. CT to 11:30 a.m. CT on May 6.
Michael Dell’s New Book
On a lighter note, industry legend Michael Dell just announced that he has written a new book, ‘Play Nice but Win: A CEO’s Journey From Founder to Leader.’
The book appears to be based around Dell’s business philosophies and the reasons behind major company decisions that he’s made since dropping out of college to start Dell in the 1980s.
“Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely,” says the description about his upcoming book. “Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company‘s evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed.”
Coming soon: Play Nice but Win https://t.co/Bw3BfDSwLu
— Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) April 29, 2021
Although Michael Dell’s book doesn’t come out until Oct. 5, 2021, Dell Technologies has been known for generously providing gifts to attendees during its conferences.