Michael Dell And Joe Tucci's Call To Arms For EMC Sales Force: 'The Opportunities Are Massive'

Taking The Long-Term View

Dell's planned $67 billion acquisition of EMC is on schedule and moving fast, and the companies' top executives came together to pump up EMC's sales force in a virtual sales kickoff meeting. While the merger is creating turmoil in the short term, it is creating huge opportunities for salespeople, the executives said. A transcript of excerpts from a "fireside chat" with Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell and EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci moderated by Bill Scannell, EMC president of global sales and customer operations, was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday. Here are eight key quotes from the presentation.

The Merger Is On Schedule, Moving Fast

"We're right on the same schedule that we said when the deal was announced back in October," Dell said. "It's that May to October time frame. We'd certainly like it to happen sooner rather than later. We're going as fast as we can. We have to follow all the requisite rules and that sort of thing. The integration teams are making great progress, and regulatory things are happening at exactly the pace you would expect them to happen. We haven't found any difficulties. We're moving along at a steady pace."

Change, Turmoil Come With Opportunity

"Obviously, this announcement of this merger introduced change," Tucci said. "The industry itself is changing and then, of course, you have geopolitical events out there which are causing a high degree of change. Of course, that comes down on the back of all [of] you that are trying to make your numbers and trying to serve your customers well. Again, as a leader, when you see that kind of change and the turmoil that comes from that kind of change, you also see the opportunity that comes from that kind of change. The opportunities are massive. You focus on how we capitalize on those opportunities with this talent we have, the product portfolios we have, the technology we have. The people, you guys. I really believe [in] merging with Dell and taking the strengths of both companies. ... We've had [a] great partnership [with Dell] for seven-years-plus, did over $2 billion in revenue together."

'Building The Pre-Eminent, Leading Infrastructure Company'

"I think the plot in the data center is converged infrastructure and with VCE, EMC has done an awesome job in capturing that territory," Dell said. "EMC, yes, is a storage company, but it's gone way beyond storage. When I look at the leadership that you and your team have exhibited in infrastructure -- and really what we're building is the pre-eminent leading infrastructure company in the world -- this makes a ton of sense. I'll also say, that's where the headquarters is, but we're not moving people around, we're going to have people all over the world with centers of confidence and capability and we've got – the infrastructure business will be a $30 billion-plus business. We'll be based in Hopkinton, [Mass.], and we'll have a really strong position, of course, in storage, in servers and converged infrastructure. Really pleased with what I'm seeing in the hyper-converged road map. The opportunity is ours."

Tucci And Dell: Leaders, Partners, Friends

"Michael's an extraordinary leader. We've been friends since 1994; this is our third partnership," Tucci said. "This partnership's going to go to another form. They've been successful and I just feel really good about this win-win. Then, of course, with win comes growth and with growth comes nothing but goodness for all of you. You get to grow intellectually and get challenged. You get to grow your career and you get to, hopefully, grow your wallet. Those are all pretty good things and all good things happen with this kind of opportunity to grow. Again, a great leader like Michael. I think this is great."

'Creating An Unbelievable IT Powerhouse'

"We have the ability to bring the combined innovations of EMC and Dell together to customers. That has a lot of interest from customers," Dell said. "We're creating an unbelievable IT powerhouse that is unmatched in the industry in terms of scale, scope and strength. When you think about the IT of today, as you mentioned, Joe, the servers and storage, virtualization, cloud software, PCs, we have enormous scale businesses there that go together, complement each other incredibly well. Then we have this great set of capabilities and positions in the IT of tomorrow -- digital transformation, the software-defined data center, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile, security. Incredible scale. $80 billion plus business. Incredible team. Bill [Scannell], you've built an awesome sales engine … and that complements the Dell team, which has a very strong midmarket reach. This is really an unbeatable combination. When I look at what I've seen from the EMC team in the 2016 product innovations and capabilities, it's awesome. Layer on the Dell capability in servers as we get into the second half of the year. It's going to be great."

Best Of Both Worlds

"There's no doubt that when we sell our layer cake of capabilities together, leading with whether it be digital transformation or a software-defined data center or -- it doesn't matter where we lead from -- but when we can give customers a more fuller set of solutions to meet their problems of today and tomorrow, we just do better," Tucci said. "Of course, you put the leverage in that Michael's talking about that Dell brings in here, it's unbeatable. The real key is how do we get the best of both worlds? How do we make sure that each of these companies really executes on their mission? Then how do we get the ability to come together and do something truly special? That's how we're going to win and that takes a lot of leadership, and people like you and then, of course, Michael, ultimately.

Everyone Makes Customer Calls

"That is really the funnest part of the job, being out there with customers," Dell said. "I'm relishing the opportunity to do that. I'm going to be with you all at EMC World and really looking forward to those few days, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities, even before the close, to interact together and, of course, we're one big happy family. We're going to go kill it."

It's Not About Tucci

"This is not about me. It truly isn't about me. This is about building a truly great company," Tucci said. "A company that can win and capture this opportunity. We all know about the disruption that's happening now. On the other side of the coin, the disruption is the side of opportunity. That's what we need to capture. I'm dedicated to helping us capture that. This isn't a deadline for me on a certain day. I'm here to help. Even after I do retire. If any of you need something and you call on me, you're going to get it. I love this industry. I come to work as excited today as I did when I was in my 30s, 40s, 20s.