It’s official. It’s been a year since the creation of Dell Technologies. Last week, we celebrated our official anniversary on September 7th. This week, we’re celebrating together as a giant global team. In that spirit, several Dell team members have offered up their take on the last 365 days of change and transformation–read them below and keep checking back in for new stories!
Mike Scully, Sr. Advisor Project/Program Mgmt – IT,Dell
This past year was like a career theme park ride, nothing short of amazing! I celebrated my fifth anniversary with the company, the first time I reached that milestone with any company in my career. While it was five years, this last year the company was being reinvented daily, which meant so many twists and turns, changes, highs and lows. While “Day One” launch day was such a fun celebration and coming together of two very different companies, the journey of integrating and merging teams and departments is what has brought the most excitement. I made an early choice to embrace the change, take on the challenges and be very intentional about remaining positive.
Instead of remaining in a safe or comfortable space or being protective of what I knew at the time, I ran full force into the changes that were happening. I used self-teaching tools like our intranet so I could collaborate better with my new colleagues, found new and innovative ways to improve project communications, championed the changes happening and helped others navigate those challenges. I was one of the first on the Legacy EMC side to receive a “Value Champion” award in the new company; but I didn’t stop there, I pushed into joining the actual Dell Champions program, helping others learn and harness the excitement of being part of Team Dell. And finally I decided to do my own “go big” and jumped in with both feet and took on a brand new role with a team that was entirely Legacy Dell, joining the Global Portfolio Management Office, which is part of IT in the office of the CIO. This was not only my biggest challenge but also a great example of how I won big! I have greatly enjoyed joining this new team. This first year as a new combined company has been a tremendously exciting ride and I cant wait to see where we go next because at Dell we are making anything possible!
Mike Cote, President and CEO, Secureworks
This was an exciting year for Secureworks. Just a few months after becoming a publicly traded company, we joined the Dell Technologies family of companies with its formation in September 2016.
For more than 17 years, Secureworks has focused exclusively on helping organizations navigate security challenges and mitigate risk when adopting new technologies. Our aim is to build relationships, and earn the trust and confidence of our clients while we ensure they have the right security protections, visibility and expertise at their disposal.
The collection of capabilities within Dell Technologies offers tremendous opportunity, and with that comes an equally significant obligation to help protect our clients and ensure that security is a top priority in all we do. We can be certain that threat actors also recognize the expanding attack surface with the “Internet of Things,” and security will remain a top challenge businesses face as they adopt cloud and implement strategies for digital transformation.
Secureworks’ platform architecture is vendor-neutral and today we monitor and process security events for clients with RSA and VMware security devices. We look forward to further collaboration across the Dell Technologies family to bring the best, integrated solutions to our customers. We are convinced that the leading and complementary security capabilities within VMware, RSA and Secureworks provide unmatched solutions for our clients.
Happy first anniversary Dell Technologies!
I am excited about our future and look forward to celebrating our second year together.
Jennifer Gruninger, Sr. Advisor, Marketing Technology, Dell
My highlight of the past year was when our Employee Resource Group (ERG) GenNext/GenNext North America in partnership with Dell’s internal Marketing University and the Graduate Engagement Program hosted an event (pictured here) in Round Rock, Texas, called “Creating a Path to Professional Success” featuring speakers Jennifer Saavedra and Anne Grady with more than 110 team members in attendance.
Gilles Philippe, Canadian Marketing Manager, Channels, Dell
As they say, everything is connected and you have to love it when a plan comes together.
Two large companies consolidating invariably resulted in change to the account coverage of our customers. Change in account coverage is generally not desirable. During this period of change our valued channel partners, not only continued with consistent account coverage to customers, they now represent an extensive portfolio from both Dell and EMC. Many said it couldn’t be done. Putting together two large channel programs, with the best elements of both, in just a few short months. Not only was it launched globally, the first half of our fiscal year was a resounding success in NPS, eNPS, marketshare and financial results (our four key measurements). It reminds me of a duck paddling on water – smooth up top, lots of action below the surface. Not without issues, but always moving forward. It’s been an extraordinary year working and winning together. Look how far we’ve come. Now buckle up, because we just got started.
Rodrigo Gazzaneo, Executive Briefing Center Director, Silicon Valley, Dell
It was finally “Day One” then. September 7 is a national holiday in Brazil, so we took some rest to see what was coming. We had just delivered a great customer program at the Rio 2016 Olympics, but it was full of disclaimers because of the upcoming date. I had been with the company for 16 years and we had tremendous success with the Dell and EMC past alliance around CLARiiON family years ago. This time we were looking forward to meeting old colleagues again and getting to know new people.
Our office in Rio was selected one of the venues for the global “Dell-ebration” day on September 14. We had a big party with Brazilian-style barbecue (the real churrasco!) and I remember I was lucky to win one of the social media prizes during the day.
Fast forward one year and a lot has changed. I am getting ready for our Dell-ebration again, but this time it will be in Santa Clara, California. We will be opening our new Customer Solutions and Executive Briefing Center on September 12 and I couldn’t be more excited.
The new Center is located in the in heart of Silicon Valley, taking advantage of the huge innovation ecosystem. Besides the Customer Solutions and Executive Briefing Center, we will share the building with the Dell Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Lab and Dell Networking engineering. Moreover, the Silicon Valley is home to VMware and Pivotal, two of the most strategic members of the Dell Technologies family. Here, we will be able to help our customers and partners realize their potential by successfully overcoming their challenges with the four transformations.
Dell Technologies is the biggest startup of world. Only one year old and so much to accomplish, so many opportunities, so much we can execute in the spirit of “better together” and “going big to win big.”
Adolfo Escalante, Client Tech Support Specialist, Dell
I am proud to be coordinating the Emergency Brigade for Dell Costa Rica (pictured left), and in the past year we have been improving, getting people trained at the National Fire Department Academy on how to control Fire and medical incidents. We have built a better communication channel so we can provide a better service to the site. We have collaborated to get the site re-certified in the recent International Organization for Standardization (ISO) audit, and we keep on pushing to get better every day, especially now that we are moving to a new building. The sky is the limit!
Mohammed Hammad, Sr. Analyst, Business Operations, Dell
The official beginning of Dell Technologies was a moment of pride for me that my company was elevated from being a PC manufacturer to stand strong in today’s global market as the world’s second-largest tech company.
I started preparing myself for more responsibility from day one of the announcement as I realized the enormous opportunity ahead for us and our customers. The bigger vision of Dell Technologies that has brought in a wave of optimism amongst our team members globally–we see more opportunities for career growth and advancement.
As I started working towards my next role in Dell Technologies and found myself a mentor, I upskilled myself by meeting people from different organizations within the company, trying to understand their new idea of success with Dell Technologies.
Now I am complete part of Dell Technologies, where I feel proud of what I do, I play a vital role in our organization. I support our business tools to ensure there is no interruption in business so that our employees give their best service to our valued customers and thus I align my goal with my org and so with Michael and team.
I strongly echo Michael Dell’s idea of being an entrepreneur. In my role I consider my area of work as my own business. I am passionate and committed to give my 100 percent in collective success of organization to grow and thrive. My next goal? Coffee with Michael, soon!
Giacomo Ravo, Sr Advisor, Supply Chain, Dell
My highlight moment of the first year at Dell Technologies was the GameChangers global innovation competition.
In June Justin Cammack and I, along with the GenNext Biz Dev core team, hosted the final event for the GameChangers global innovation competition at Dell. This year we had more than 650 global participants and successfully integrated Dell and EMC employee resource groups (ERGs). Three of the finalist teams came from Legacy EMC teams. Three came from Russia (winning team), one from Israel, North Carolina, and Central Texas and had the opportunity to present their ideas to our leaders. The leadership team at Dell, encouraged by Michael Dell, is very supportive to Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and helped us put together a great event.
The judges at the final event were: Chief Commercial Officer Marius Haas, Chief Customer Officer Karen Quintos, Senior Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition Marie Moynihan, and Vice President of Product Strategy and Innovation Neil Hand.
Along with the competition, we created more valuable opportunities for participants:
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- University classes on Design Thinking, Marketing, Finance, and Presentation Skills
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- Mentoring by category sponsors and Network of Influencers (this is a group of Directors from several organizations that have supported us throughout the competition)
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- Networking and collaboration across organizations
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- Post-competition support to implement the innovative ideas
It’s always inspiring to see the level of engagement at every level of the company during the competition. Several research reports show that employees involved in ERGs have higher level of engagement with the companies they work for and higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) than average. It is exciting to contribute positively to the internal NPS and create great opportunities for our team members.
Thanks to all organizing team members: Francesco Tuzzolino, Natomi Blair, Pradeep Venkataraman, Marina Martinez, Lionel Shiwala, Adrian Ionescu, Phillip S. Rasy, and Maria Chronis.
Lupita Garcia Esquivel, Sr Advisor Management Services Consultant, RHR, Dell
Wow, it has been a year already? Time went fast! But I probably felt it this way, because I have been enjoying every piece of it, and when this happens, you don’t realize that a year has already passed by. During this last year, many wonderful things have happened. First, I was invited to join a new team, Management Services, which is part of the Regional Human Resources organization. At the beginning I admit, I had some uncertainty asking myself, who will my leader be, who will my peers be and if we would get along well with them, what was the new role going to look like, would I like it, etc.
I was overthinking it until I stopped myself and decided to embrace the change, see the bright side and be part of this transformation that was making history. I changed my thoughts, left my fears and said to myself, wow! New team? I get the opportunity to have a broader network. New leader? I get the opportunity to see other perspectives of guidance, more lessons to come, more new opportunities, more knowledge and so on. I decided to be part of this change, to be a role model, so I started making the first moves and reached out to my peers, setting one-on-one meetings, asking how could I help them, or just offering my support if anything was needed. I have to say, that I was surprised with the quick turnaround and the supportive, fun, creative team we have become into today, and the great leader who has guided us along this way.
I am so happy to have been part of this integration, and now to be called the second-largest IT company in the industry. This is huge! It fills me with pride and inspiration, and encourages me to continue “Going Big and Winning Big” every day at what I do. We have made quite a journey in our new role as Management Services, focusing in the moments that matter for our leaders, providing consultation and helping them continue enhancing their skills by positively impacting their teams. And believe me, being able to do this is why I love what I do, to have the opportunity to positively influence others is how we continue to win constantly. Helping others to grow and thrive is how we live our Culture Code (see video below), because we say what we do, and not only for our customers externally, but for our leaders and team members who day to day excel at what they do. They are our brand internally and externally. They keep this company moving. They put on the T-shirt and make things happen, to become the company we are today, and continue having the power to do more! Thank you Dell Technologies for this fantastic year, I am ready and excited for the future! Are you?
David Goulden, President, Dell
It’s remarkable to reflect on the last year, and just how much we have accomplished coming together as one company – Dell Technologies – and what we’ve made possible for our customers as Dell. The depth and breadth of our portfolio is unmatched, with a set of solutions and services that are proving to be critical in our customers’ journey to Digital Transformation through IT Transformation. Bringing together seven companies into one powerful organization that is #1 in just about every market play is simply incredible. We should all take a moment to reflect on that fact alone – and be proud.
And yet, despite these milestones, in some ways it feels like we’re just beginning. We have an even bigger opportunity ahead as we continue to accelerate innovation that not only transforms our customers’ IT infrastructure, but transforms our own business and enables the realization of our own vision to drive human progress through technology.
I’ve also been incredibly inspired by the talent and teamwork born from the combination of our organizations. We’ll continue to embrace the ingenuity, drive and leadership that defines our Culture Code, and is at the core of our commitment to deliver the world’s highest-quality IT infrastructure portfolio backed an exceptional customer experience at every touchpoint – from product to sales, supply chain and services.
Alexandre Xavier, IT Product Owner, Dell
On August of 2016 the Dell Vocal Group started its rehearsals and now, almost together with Dell Technologies, we are also commemorating our one year too! Then, it was a wonderful year for us since we were able to consolidate the idea of having such group at Dell and as part of the team work, we were able to be known by our colleagues and leadership, delivering good musical moments to the Eldorado do Sul site, in Brazil.
The group started by initiative of some IT folks in Brazil, Alexandre Passos, Alexandre Xavier and Renata Milani that started to discuss their passion by music, more specifically by Choral music in which most of them had some experience already, and from these small talks, we put together the project and started to look for the company support.
With that idea in mind so, that group of people started to work to make it happen. The first step was to submit the idea to the CIO People group, a group within the Dell IT organization responsible to apply the company people strategy in IT that didn’t hesitate to support the idea. After that, they started by sharing their wish with others to see how many people would have the same interest, applying a survey to all Brazil IT folks and discussing with the site leadership about the advantages of this kind of group in companies, sharing benefits, investment needs, logistics needs, etc.
Around August of 2016, the Dell Vocal Group received the approval to go ahead from the site leadership (Giovanna Muller and Gabriela Stangl were essential to make it happen). So, the group hired a choral conductor, booked a room and had our first rehearsal with around 10 people. After some discussions, with a balance from many and different music styles, the first songs were chosen.
The work done so far is proving the alignment of this kind of initiative with Dell’s values of “Winning Together,” when a team get together towards to a goal and make it happen, “Innovation,” when disrupting the daily technical IT activities to stop by one hour and sing, “Results,” when establishing a goal, training and executing with good results and even “Integrity,” when working with people from different teams with respect, sense of team and proud to show the others the result of a work.
The group nowadays is divided in four voices, Soprano, Contralto, Tenor and Bass. The current composition is:
- Sopranos: Irene Pitrofski (Bea), Marcela Bairros, Lai Chin (Christina Lai), Paula Fleck, Juliana Pereira
- Contraltos: Renata Milani, Liliana Prieto Diaz, Mary Parissi, Caroline Silveira, Silvia Oliveira, Laura Mattos Flach, Maria Souza
- Tenors: Alan Cafruni Gularte, Mauricio Costa, Lucas Timm Florao, Igor Kimieciki, Joao Flach Da Silva, Marcelo Schiling, Marcelo Salcedo
- Basses: Alexandre Xavier, Jose Escobar, Andre Queiroz, Eduardo Scricco
Vandana Bellur, Sr. Advisor, Project/Program Management, Dell
This past year has been memorable for me on so many fronts! I can recall the excitement of Bangalore being one of the sites to have the live employee celebrations and that I got to be one of the live bloggers of the event! With my awesome photographers Badarinath R and Raghu V, we captured some amazing photos!
Work wise, I got promoted and moved into a new team in April! Yay! From the Employer Branding team in Talent Acquisition to moving into the Business as a University Relations program manager for Bobbi Dangerfield’s org, the journey has been great.
I managed the summer internship at Bangalore and was delighted to hear such great feedback on the program from the interns. I am really proud of the best-in-class programs we have which not only fulfills their academic requirement but also helps them in overall career development.
From on-boarding, networking sessions, executive leader talks, and even participating in a Legacy of Good activity, these interns truly got to experience our winning culture.
Looking forward to many more exciting things at Dell!
