Dell enhances its AI strategy for the new era of computing
The organization has developed a line of AI personal computers, with a strategy anchored on five core beliefs to help accelerate enterprise AI adoption
After years of being relegated to the status of utility, enterprise hardware is once again strategic, with specialized chips and next-generation devices becoming necessary for realizing the promises of the artificial intelligence revolution. The introduction of AI personal computers (PCs) will perhaps be the most critical shift in enterprise devices since the rise of smartphones.
“Of the 1.5 billion PCs in use today, 30% are four years old or more. None of these older PCs have the chips to take advantage of the latest AI PC advancements,” says Vivek Mohindra, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Dell Technologies Inc.1 The Austin-based provider of personal computers, servers, storage, and networking rolled out a line of AI PC products to meet demand for the new era of computing. “Our strategy is to accelerate enterprise AI adoption so organizations can achieve desired outcomes around productivity, growth, experiences, and innovation,” Mohindra says.
Mohindra and his team anchored Dell’s overall AI strategy in five core beliefs that support the overarching business. First, AI is all about data quality. Second, as Mohindra says, “it’s better to bring AI to data than data to AI,” meaning that more data is being generated on edge devices each year, and on-device AI can be more effective, efficient, and secure in processing that data. Third, there is no one-size-fits-all for models, and companies will increasingly develop purpose-built models. Fourth, as Mohindra says, “you need an open, modular architecture to deliver AI benefits to customers because different aspects of technology are moving at different paces.” And finally, Mohindra’s fifth strategic belief is that Dell needs a broad ecosystem to deliver AI benefits to customers, as no single player can accomplish everything.
According to Mohindra, Dell builds on those core beliefs and categorizes its AI initiatives into four distinct areas. These help the company systematically approach AI integration and ensure that each aspect of its business benefits from AI advancements:
- Embedding AI into product offerings to improve results for customers
- Using AI internally to improve operations. "We think of ourselves as customer zero," says Mohindra.
- Understanding how customers use AI products to achieve their desired outcomes
- Collaborating with ecosystem partners to deliver AI benefits
As Dell executes on these initiatives, Mohindra believes AI can support a bevy of use cases—out of which, his team has prioritized software development, content generation, sales tools, customer care, and supply chain management. For instance, in customer care, AI can handle the vast amount of information needed by care agents, making the process more efficient. Similarly, in sales tools, AI PCs can efficiently generate responses to proposals and manage large calculations. "There’s a whole range of applications that will be primed for execution on AI PCs,” he says. “We’re at the early innings of this journey.”
Mohindra is confident that AI PCs will be ubiquitous in the years to come. Citing IDC projections, he says he expects that over 90% of PCs will feature embedded AI chips by 2028.2 “When you look at the pace at which new use cases are emerging, companies will want to future-proof their purchases by upgrading to AI PCs,” Mohindra says.
Such a broad change won’t be without its challenges, and sustainability is a crucial aspect of Dell’s AI strategy. "We keep emphasizing to our customers that all of us have a role to play to make this sustainable,” Mohindra says. Dell adopts an end-to-end sustainability approach, designing energy-efficient portfolios, including hardware with more sustainable cooling innovations, management of software insights, and responsible system retirement. The key lies in “right-sizing” AI solutions to help avoid unnecessary computational waste and excessive energy consumption. For example, an AI PC can often be the most energy- and cost-efficient location to execute certain AI workloads, minimizing the impact of AI on energy use in the data center.
Talent is also a key concern, and Mohindra believes Dell’s strategic approach positions the company well to drive the next wave of innovation, as AI is likely to impact nearly every role in the enterprise. Mohindra says, “The majority of job creation since 1960 has been driven by technology. When spreadsheets came along, human workers stopped doing calculations and moved into financial planning. In the same vein, we’re heavily focused on skilling our people internally. We want them to begin using AI tools to move into higher-order work.”