1. To begin with, how do you see the landscape of technology evolving in this pandemic? Do you think Covid-19 has demonstrated just how critical technology is to the business?

The pandemic has been an ultimate test for business leaders and organizations to stay determined and learn to adapt. Market dynamics have altered drastically, and businesses continue to evolve at a quick pace to scout for more opportunities to grow. It has been a learning curve for all of us and has made us realize that the only constant factor for businesses growth and development is technology innovation. When most of the workforce is working remotely, and data transactions are occurring from multiple gates, it is technology that has enabled an immediate transition. Hence there is no doubt that the pandemic is amplifying the adoption of new technologies and tech advancement, which otherwise would have taken many years. Businesses across industries are upgrading their IT infrastructure to meet customer expectations, safeguard remote workforce and ensure business resilience. Technology can be the boon to leaders to achieve their business goals and navigate successfully during this difficult period.

2. If remote work is here to stay, how can CIOs make it work? And after the remote working rush, what do you think are CIOs' next challenge?

Remote work will continue after the pandemic, primarily in hybrid forms. Business are investing in technology solutions and strategies to scale up remote workforce and become future ready. For CIO’s the priority should be to establish an advance designated IT infrastructure that safeguards business, partners, and remote workers from external forces. They should consider choosing the right infrastructure that can offer a complete suite to employees, allowing them to overcome the technical and network challenges when not working from assigned workstations. At Dell, we are supporting and addressing some of the challenges with infrastructure, automation, monitoring tools and network topology to empower remote work collaborations. Moreover, we are constantly working with our end users and have upgraded and modernized our VPN around the globe to help them stay secure. 

Returning to office workstations will need more attention and focus from CIOs, ensuring a smooth transition, secured data management and loss and minimal outrage in system processes. Along with this, they will further need to ensure the upkeep for IT infrastructure at the site without any downtime error or hinderance.

3. What frameworks do you think CIOs should consider analyzing remote IT effectiveness?

With organizations transitioned to cloud collaboration in the remote working era, businesses must not risk data assets and resources. Therefore, it becomes a critical task for CIOs to adopt security solutions that offer a seamless working environment to their employees while safeguarding their business data and resources. Additionally, CIOs should focus on solutions that help them in accelerating their digital-first approach and enable IT transformation, to drive multi-workloads across locations and deliver systematic outcomes as per the business requirement. And finally, connecting with employees and stakeholders to understand expectations and offer customized solutions

4. What are the solutions/measures taken by Dell Technologies to support its partners and customers to overcome remote working challenges?

At dell technologies, have always been at the forefront of bringing innovative solutions keeping our partners and customers at the center. We have been constantly, engaging with our partners and customers to support them and ensure no disruption in navigating their business to further serve their customers, societies and employees, and at the same time they can move ahead with their digital transformation journey and become future ready. Additionally, we have rolled our Financial Relief Package, which aims to support organizations maintain business continuity. Through this initiative, we are backing them with Working Capital Solutions (WCS) program along with a new team-based pricing that will provide immediate financial assistance.