Michael Dell: We Need ‘A Longer-Term View Of The New Normal’

‘Now we’re reorienting our business toward new customer priorities, aligning with our customers’ needs to continue to do it fast and to also to do it right for the long-term transformation of their businesses,’ writes Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell in a letter to employees.

Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell said the “new normal” created by the coronavirus pandemic will likely continue for much longer than initially believed, which will force businesses to implement long-term changes.

“We’re all done with coronavirus, but unfortunately the virus isn’t done with us,” wrote Dell in a letter to Dell Technologies employees. “This is going to be a marathon and it’s going to be uneven and frustrating at times. Some of our sites are opening—others are not. … We are all going to have to be incredibly flexible, agile and patient. Patient with each other and patient with ourselves and our families. And we are going to have to take a longer-term view of the new normal.”

Dell said his $91 billion Round Rock, Texas-based company, which was recently named a Leader in Gartner’s new 2020 Data Center Backup And Recovery Magic Quadrant, is shifting its business to accommodate the new customer demands, including remote workforces.

“Now we’re reorienting our business toward new customer priorities, aligning with our customers’ needs to continue to do it fast and to also to do it right for the long-term transformation of their businesses,” wrote Dell.

[Related: The Top 11 Hyperconverged Products In The Market: Forrester]

The infrastructure giant is helping its channel partners and customers stay afloat during COVID-19 by making $9 billion in financing available to fund critical technology needs.

Dell Technologies also made a quick pivot to keep its business running to deliver essential services and solutions to customers.

Michael Dell himself decided to forgo all of his base salary due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus. In addition, The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is donating a massive $100 million to help small businesses, health-care workers and others combat COVID-19.

Dell wrote in the letter to employees that he is coming to realize that “whatever or whenever normal happens, it isn’t going to be anytime soon.”

Dell Technologies is the market leader in storage, server and hyperconverged infrastructure, while also being a major player in the PC market and owning a majority stake in VMware.

The pandemic has yet significantly disrupt sales at Dell as the company reported first fiscal year 2021 revenue of nearly $22 billion, representing flat year-over-year growth.

Michael Dell said his company is going to have to “dig deeper” during this next phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This next phase will be all about resilience and grit—and we’re going to have to dig deeper into that well of goodwill and kindness and generosity, which are going to be more important than ever,” said Dell. “We will get through this together.”

My latest message to our global team https://t.co/tYEQzZ7bAn

— Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) August 6, 2020