Exclusive Interview: Indrajit Belgundi, Senior Director, Dell India

In a candid interaction with DQ Channels, Indrajit Belgundi, Senior Director, Client Solutions Group, Dell India shared the deep insights on coming trends of Modern workplace and how Dell India is coming up with different solutions of the future workplace.

What are the megatrends and constituents of future workspace?

Nowadays, work is not about nine to five or just going to the office. It has become more of an activity. We are seeing this trend within India and globally as well. It’s more about the fact that data is mobile and people want to work only on those devices which they like to use.

While there are lots of challenges coming up from an IT perspective, at Dell, we have identified 5 personas and that’s how we are building solutions based on user needs.  It’s not about hardware but about giving a solution to the particular user as per their personas.

For professionals who travel a lot, it’s not just about having a notebook, some of these users would prefer a convertible notebook or a device which has better battery life. We have been working on better battery life and an end to end solution for a particular user.

For a remote worker, we have an offering called factory image. Through this, whenever a new device, whether it’s a desktop or an All-in-One, or a notebook reaches that particular user, the moment the user powers on the notebook, all the company images are already pre-installed at the factory itself.

We also actually offer lots of security solutions which are a part of our complete CSG offering. It can be theft protection, malware, and data protection encryption as well. Based on their environment, we offer rugged notebooks as well as rugged tablets. Ultimately, it’s about different certifications, which we offer.

We have one of the best end-to-end product portfolios, starting from thin clients, desktops, All-in-ones, notebooks, a rugged portfolio, and workstations. In India, we provide onsite support to 50,000+ pin codes, and we pioneered on-site warranty for notebooks, many years ago.

What is Dell India’s current market share in India?

According to the latest IDC report of Q1 CY2019, in the commercial segment, we had a market share of 27.8% and a 4% year on year gain. In Q1 CY18, our market share was 23.8%. We are number one in displays and our market share in displays is close to 30%.

We are number 1 in large enterprise and very large enterprise. In Q1, we had a 39.8% market share in the medium businesses and leveraged our strength through the channel.

And last few years we are actively working along with the partners doing a various set of

How is Dell’s security solution different from your peers?

We offer Dell data protection and encryption as software. For instance, if a notebook gets lost and the data is still encrypted, it will be difficult for someone to use that data. If someone removes that hard disc drives and puts on other notebooks, he/she will still not be able to work on it.

What are the recent developments have been done in Dell?

We have recently launched the world’s smallest 14 inch commercial 2-in-1, the Latitude 7400 2-in-1 notebook. We have packed a 14-inch display in a 13-inch chassis and the device has received lots of great reviews at the CES 2019.

It has a lot of features such as 24 hours plus battery life, the ExpressCharge, which charges 80% of the battery in an hour.

The second feature is ExpressSign-in, an industry-first feature that we are offering. The Latitude 7400 2-in-1 has a proximity sensor, and when the user walks towards his or her desk, the proximity sensor senses that and enables Windows Hello, which helps sign-in to the laptop. When the user steps away from the desk, the proximity sensor senses it and automatically locks the notebook. We sometimes inevitably tend to forget to lock our notebooks and this ExpressSignin feature will be very helpful and impactful. In this laptop, we have leveraged the XPS design.

We will also be coming up with the new Precision workstations and the workstations will be focused on verticals such as manufacturing, oil and gas banking and finance and education vertical with our newly launched mobile and fixed workstations.

How the government is adopting technology and how Dell is focusing on the government need?

We have seen an increase in the adoption of technology by the government. We have seen an increase in the adoption of all-in-one format in the government. It is still more about the different desktop offerings, and a lot of trends are shifting towards all-in-ones, whether it’s a 21.5-inch all-in-one or a 24-inch all-in-one

How is the Automobile sector looking towards this modern work or the future workforce?

We are seeing an increase in the adoption of AR and VR in the automobile sector. We also have seen strong growth for workstations because of our vertical-specific approach.

What is your future roadmap for the next 12 months?

Dell India will continue to come up with innovative products and solutions. When the Dell and EMC merger happened two years back, there were lots of murmurs on whether Dell will continue to focus on client solutions or not, but Dell Client Solutions Group still contributes to around 50% of Dell Technology’s revenue and we continue to be one of the largest business units from a Dell perspective.

We are innovating with new products. We have had 25 consecutive quarters of YoY share gain, that wouldn’t have been possible if we were not focusing on products & services and solutions. The overall PC market is alive and kicking.

Again, the trends have shifted a lot with VR and AR but we are confident that we will continue with our winning trajectory in the coming years. We will continue to invest in innovation, whether it’s a new form factor on desktop, or notebooks or 2-in-1 and the highly acclaimed workstations.