>> theCUBE presents Dell Technologies World, brought to you by Dell. >> Hey everyone. Happy afternoon. Welcome back to theCUBE. This is Lisa Martin with Dave Vallante. We are on day three of our coverage of Dell Technologies World live from Las Vegas with about 7,000- 8,000 people here. It's been a great two and a half days. Lots of people are still here. We're going to be talking more about Dell Services. I got a couple of guys from Dell Technologies joining us next. Please welcome Patrick Mooney, Senior Vice President of Services Product Management at Dell and Satish Iyer, Vice President of Emerging Services at Dell. Guys, welcome to the program. >> Thank you. Good evening. Great to be here to you. >> Happy to be here. >> So isn't it great to be back in person? >> So great. >> Those hallway conversations you just can't replicate it for video conferencing, right? >> Yeah. >> Priceless. >> It is priceless, I agree. Patrick, let's start with you. Talk to us about from a customer's perspective. What are some of the key services they've been looking for the last couple of years particularly, and how has Dell changed its strategic direction to deliver? >> Great question. Customers want outcomes and services are at the heart of outcomes. So when we look at customers transforming we're continually transforming and modernizing what we do and everything we're doing is centered around making it easy to buy, easy to consume and just centered around the customer. >> What are people looking for these days, Satish? I mean, what's the top three or four priorities. And we know cyber's up there. The cloud. One is when customers are consuming cloud, now there is more and more what we call as customers are looking for full stack solutions. So they start with giving me the best infrastructure on the platforms. Now they're saying, "I'm going to use those infrastructure to drive X, Y, and Z. "Now Mr. Dell, can you come and gimme those tags? "So I don't need to worry about anything "and I can actually consume it in the cloud like way." That's been massive for us. >> So, how do you guys respond to that? I mean, things in our little business things change so fast. And we can, but we're little. We can move fast. Customers are saying, okay, pandemic forced match to digital and now we got to figure it out. And now we got to modernize our HQ. How are you able to keep up? How are you changing your strategy as your customers pull you in different directions? What's going on inside the organization to enable that? >> Yeah. I think the key is that we meet customers where they are and help them plot out where they want to be. And then bring them along that journey. And we've really spent a lot of time developing four practices to help get there. One's around data and applications another around multi-cloud, another around workforce and another around security and resiliency. And no matter where they want to be, whether they want to do it themselves. They want us to help them do it or they want us to do it for them, we're there for them and we'll help them get where they want to be. >> Do you have like formal customer councils or how do you actually, especially the last couple years staying engaged with those customers? >> Absolutely. We're always talking to customers. It is critical to the model and we got a lot of ideas and customers have a lot of ideas and we want to vet those and talk through them. So no matter what point we're at in our product development cycle, we're always talking with customers, "Hey, do we hear you right? "Is this the value you're looking for?" And as we're developing it, can you help us test it? And so on. And we do that through regular conversations, field testing, customer insight councils, and it just feels so great to be having face to face conversations again as well. >> What is- >> Oh, go ahead. >> I was going to say, what are some of the things that you've heard face to face this week in terms of the direction, what Dell Services is delivering? >> Well, one big one for sure is that remote workforce is here to stay. And in our workforce pillar we spent a lot of time around how do we make it easy for customers to manage a remote workforce? It's a big challenge. So we've recently we announced here at Dell World, Lifecycle Hub Services where we it's a managed service where we're helping customers manage their entire device lifecycle around their PC. So imagine this you have a new hire joint or somebody leaves, how do you get 'em that PC? Have it ready? Let Dell take care of all the logistics, we'll we'll store it. We'll configure it. We'll send it to 'em we'll take the old machines back, we'll kit it for 'em anything that's needed and fully integrated it from the customer system into our system. So it's all automated. >> Okay. And all the patching, et cetera, >> Everything. Okay. So you got four pillars, data and apps multi-cloud, workforce and resiliency. What you just described, the automation, does IP and what's the IP portfolio look like? How does it map into those four pillars? >> Sure, you want to take that? >> Sure, so obviously when you look at growth areas and services, it's absolutely important for us to develop sustainable IP. If you look at one of the areas where we have invested and we are growing is cloud managed services platform. So Dell is unique in terms of managing our customer services. We actually do full lifecycle management of the customers. So we invested quite a bit of, I would say time and energy and engineering efforts to basically solve problems in engineered way. So the customer cloud managed services platform allows us to actually bring both, you talked about apex before to our other colleagues. So it allows us to both bring apex services to our customers and also allows us to bring non apex services in terms of fully managed to our customers. >> So multi-cloud must be a rich opportunity's probably almost infinite. There's a lot of gaps there for IP development. What are you seeing and hearing from customer with regard to those gaps? >> So one of the key areas when you talk about multi-cloud is we talk to customers about is the solution things we talked about. So we launched, we announced three solutions one we already launched. And the two of them will be announced is customers want that end-to-end outcome, right? 'Cause they are saying, well we are currently where we started today. We announced cyber security as a service. As you guys know, within the current geopolitical climate, cyber attacks are common, ransomware is common. So, and this is something which we are doing today to customers. What customers want is the simplicity of offering. They're like, you can help us with cyber security when something happens I have an insurance policy, so I can actually go I know where my data sets are. I can record from it, but can you streamline it for me? I don't want all the headaches. Can you make sure that it's easily consumable and Dell can take care of everything for me. And we are also investing on other LED solutions like machine learning, high performance compute. And we are also looking at vertical areas. So our customers, especially in telco, Edge and enterprise applications. So we are looking at those as a full stack offerings so that we can actually educate and take our customers on the journey on our MacCloud platforms. >> I going to talk about Dell Services as a facilitator of multi-cloud Chuck Whitton was on stage, He was here yesterday talking about multi-cloud is here by default. Well, Dell wants to change that to multi-cloud by design. How can Dell Services be a facilitator of that transformation that customers in telco or whatever industry have going from, We've got it by default to now it's actually by design, facilitating that? >> Yeah. I'll jump in and let you take it, we have a a robust consulting practice which can help you come in and understand where you're at and where you want to be and design that future. So that it's not, as you said by default, it's absolutely multi-cloud by design. Anything you want to add? >> Yeah. I mean, look again Dell has been doing multi-cloud for a long time. We just didn't call it multi-cloud. I would probably say 2014, 2015, Dell's been there. We know our customers have a choice. We want to operationalize. We want to help our customers run workloads wherever they want to run. Now, we have a term for it. We have a dedicated way of talking about it. And again, more automation more IP development, more software. And again, taking a lot of the people part away from services and driving more innovation, more IPs where we are going to be able to differentiate. >> So you're a large and pretty sophisticated services organization. We've talked about some of your IP. You now bring that to your customers. What are some of the adoption barriers that they have? How are you addressing those, in terms of taking your IP and your ideas? And you probably say, "Hey, we got this, you can apply this". What are they not ready for? That you sort of advise them, okay you got to do, these are some maybe, some out scope things that you haven't talked about or thought about. >> Yeah. I mean, I'll take one. And I know Patrick will probably touch on, I would say two big ones. I can think about the one is data. One is on security, right? I'll give you the data use case. So data has gravity, right? When customers think about, multi-cloud think about solution, think about these services. It's not easy to take petabytes and terabytes of data and shift all over the place. It's very, very expensive. So a lot of their cloud strategy really hinges on where the data is, and how they're going to optimize those data for the outcomes they want to decide. And that's something a lot of our customers initially don't think about it as we actually go and talk to them about this specific use case and application that actually becomes forefront of the discussion. >> Yeah. On the security front, customers are just overwhelmed with the number of options in a very fragmented, extremely important space. So we've tried to make that very easy for them with our managed detection and response services, bringing the best of the industry and Dell Services together to give them a one stop shop managed service, let us watch for you so that you can run your business. And when we detect something, we'll advise you and help you respond. >> What's the tooling like there. I mean, you have, do you have your preferred tooling? Are the customers saying, well we got to use this vendor or that vendor, how do you manage all that complex? >> Of course we have our preferred tooling and we partner greatly with secure works to do it as well as some other company, but that said what's important to us with the service is that a customer meets specific, they're green in five different categories. And if they're green in those categories, then we're good to help them. And if they don't know how to do that, then we'll come in and do a security assessment to help them get there. And just taking what's very complicated and making it easy. >> On the security front. We've been talking about the cyber skills gap, massive skills gap that's been around for years. How is Dell Services facilitator of organizations being able to close that gap? >> Sure. In a few ways, one, we can just do it for you, right? Two, if you want to do it yourself, we can supplement you with security residents to help you manage through the complexity and cross train while as part of your staff. And then three, we have our Dell Education Services where we can come in and train you as well. So lots of different options on how you want to do it. >> Yeah. >> No matter what you choose, we're here for you. (panelists laughing) >> That people option's important. I mean, people being the biggest threat factor that there is, right. >> Absolutely. >> For sure. >> That's probably one of the hardest ones to augment. >> Yeah. I mean, that's the reason why when you look at cyber security customers, want somebody else to manage it because you don't want the same folks making the same mistake on an insurance policy. So they're like Dell, you manage it for me. So I don't have the same actor is doing same things. So I have somebody managing my data but somebody managing my record option. So in case something goes wrong I know it's a different handset different people who are much more relaxed when things go back >> That's always nice to have somebody that's relaxed in a crisis. >> Absolutely. And I think I'll take that in my personal life too. Guys thank you for joining Dave and me talking about what's new with Dell Services the modernization that you're undergoing and how your customers are really helping to evolve this strategy. We appreciate your insight. >> Thank you, Lisa. >> Thank you so much for your time. Great seeing you. >> Right. Likewise for Dave Vallante, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE. This is day three of our coverage of Dell Technologies World, live from Las Vegas, stick around Dave and I will be right back with our next guest. (bright music)

>> Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE covering Dell Technologies World 2019 brought to you by Dell Technologies and its ecosystem partners. >> Welcome back to Las Vegas. Lisa Martin with Stu Miniman. We are on day one of theCUBE's coverage of Dell Technologies World 2019. We've got two sets, lots of great guests, lots of great conversations already. We're pleased to welcome to theCUBE for the first time Mike Apigian, Senior Director of Education Services at Dell Technologies. Mike, welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you, thanks for having me. >> Our pleasure. So here we are talking about digital transformation. We've been talking about it for a long time. >> Yes. >> I love how last year's Dell Technologies World was make it real, it being digital transformation, IT, work force transformation, security. This year it's about real transformation. We talked a lot about the technologies. What are some of the other things though that companies need to be thinking about as enablers of this transformation? >> Sure, great question and obviously the technology is a huge part of it, right? But of course, myself being from Dell Technologies Education Services, a big focus on the people. So that is what we see as an additional critical focus because at the end of the day, digital transformation is big. It's really big and technology alone isn't going to suffice, right? It's not going to be just that. So focus on the people and you know we hear it time and again from our customers, from research in the market that you know, one of the top three actually barriers from customers and organizations driving adoption and that success in digital transformation comes down to having the right skillsets in place. >> Yeah so Mike, I'm glad we have you on. We just had your Chief Customer Officer Karen Quintos on. >> Yeah. >> And she was talking a little bit about the skills gap. So we know how many people we're going to need to have and you know, half of the programs we're going to need is going to require them retraining of you know, my work force there, so. >> Absolutely. >> We've talked to years with what used to be EMC and is now Dell Education Services. >> Sure. >> From storage certification to converge certification to cloud certification. So what's the latest and greatest? What is the kind of go-to skillset that people need and the ones that people are calling up and saying oh my gosh, if I could learn this, it's going to really catapult my career? >> Yeah so the Dell Technologies now, Dell Technologies proven professional program has been in place for years. A lot of industry-recognized certifications to your point, a lot focused on storage, data protection, product-related and over the past 12 months to 18 months, we've actually got a lot of expansion beyond that into more areas of transformation and those areas where we've expanded beyond just products have been tied back right to that skills gap that we're seeing in customers and what they're challenged with that they drive digital transformation. So some examples being more of a focus on converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud. We have some associate level certifications we recently brought to market there. Multicloud, that's a big focus for us. Obviously some of the discussion and announcements this morning focused around multicloud and they talked about cloud chaos, right? So we have some expert level certification in place focused on that. We also have a focus around security and specifically designing infrastructure with that security-first mindset and then finally the other most recent transformational type of certification is a master level. So think of a career pinnacle level certification that's focused on transformational architecture. >> Yeah Mike, just to follow up on that, one of the things I hear in multicloud is there's certain technologies that might allow us to move, but one of the biggest challenges is skillset because if I learn and I understand how to configure it and how to manage it and how to do it here and if I move somewhere else, even if it's 70% the same, oh my god, that's not awesome. Can you just, I wonder if you can step back and give us you know, what you see out there and what works today and where do we need to go as an industry as a whole to try to help users to live in this multicloud world that we're already in but struggling with? >> Yeah I mean there's a ton of proficiency in the silos, right, in managing specific infrastructure service storage network now also around converged infrastructure as well as cloud deployments, but to your point, in a multicloud environment, there are different providers, both private and public, different technologies, and it can get complex fairly quick, right? So having the skillsets to kind of take a step back and look at that holistically and understand about workload placements, you know, there's knowledge and skillsets that require to make some of those determinations. We obviously have a lot of services capabilities that help provide that, but there's a level of obviously proficiency that our customers want and need in house as well. So a lot of it is building that knowledge and understanding the decision points and the criteria for the different providers as well as workload placement and movement across that multicloud environment. >> Essentially-- >> Very different than skill sets in the past. >> Sorry about that, very excited. I'm curious about if we talk about talent and retention with respect to some of the guys and gals who've been around for a while, Michael mentioned on stage this morning that later this week is Dell's 35th anniversary in business and as we look at all the technology transformations and multicloud world that we live and Stu mentioned, what are some of the benefits for, I don't want to say an older population, but say the veterans of technology? Why, what are some of the things that Dell Technologies Education Services will deliver to say the more seasoned individual to stay relevant and be able to adapt as quickly as technology is so that they're competitive for jobs themselves? >> Yeah, yeah, great, great question and I mean it's the pace of change is so fast and it's impacting everyone, everyone from recent college graduates, right, getting right into the field that we're in in technology as well as to your point, seasoned veterans who've been around for a while and that's where a lot of the difficult transformation is taking place, right? 'cause it's the roles of the past and today, the skillsets of today, like those roles and skills that have gotten us to today are very different than what's needed to get us to tomorrow and that's where a lot of our technical training, our curricula as well as our industry certifications come into play and helping build that knowledge, the required and the skills and the certifications to validate those capabilities for the next generation workforce. So it's really for the right out of school and maybe new to the field as well as evolving throughout their career. >> All right so Mike, we know that your team's doing things throughout the year, talking to your customers, but you've got 15,000 people here at Dell Tech World. I've seen the hands-on lab, I know there's always certification. So give us from your team, you know, some of the big focus, some of the activities and some of the takeaways that you want people to have from your team. >> You know, the one big thing that I would give a plug for is our proved and professional center. So right downstairs in Casanova 501, we have 57 certifications available and we have hundreds and hundreds of customers and partners that will be taking certification exams and then achieving certification this week, all right? We have a promotional offer. So every attempt at, first attempt at every exam is free just for this week so I encourage everyone who's here to check it out. In addition to taking those certifications in preparation for that, we have 29 different preparation sessions that we're running. So right downstairs, two rooms next door where we're rotating through on topics that are specific to our latest and greatest product lines, PowerMax, PowerEdge MX, in addition to that cloud-focused data science certification prep sessions, multi-cloud expert. There's a whole array of prep sessions that are helping our customers and partners prepare for taking those certifications. >> AI machine learning? >> There are some intersections with that as well, certainly, as part of our data science curriculum and certification exams. >> And where are customers in terms of discussing with you, say maybe at last year's Dell technologies World, like these are some of the certifications and the trainings that we really need. Talk about that sort of bi-directional symbiosis where customers are, I'm assuming, help you the teams identify, develop and then deliver this spot-on training. >> Yeah that's a great question. So actually every year here at Dell Technologies World, we have a customer advisory council and that should last two years, came out loud and clear last year was more of a focus in some of the areas that they're challenged with from a transformation perspective. Security came into play in a big way, different aspects of cloud and multicloud, enterprise architecture, a lot of our focus related to Pivotal and a lot of the offerings there, application development. So all of that feedback and discussion that we have into customers actually feeds into our prioritization and road mapping and it has a big impact on the technical training and the certifications that we bring to market. So we're going to be our customers throughout today, also tomorrow and that'll be additional input to where we go in the future. >> All right, Mike, what other feedback are you hearing from customers? We hear in the keynotes some of these broad topics and you talk about AI and IoT and edge computing and how much of that funnel back and are they looking for help on that now or you know, how do they start getting themselves ready for some of these massive waves that are coming? >> Yeah that's definitely part of the themes that we hear and the feedback that we get from customers and what's really relevant to them and that ties into their skills transformation as well. As you said, IoT, AIML, data engineer. That's a more recent role that we're focusing on and you'll see a bunch coming out from Dell Technologies Ed Services on that in the not too distant future so a lot of that. Those themes are, we hear the exact same, same customer base and those are areas that we're addressing in our roadmap and as we bring new technical training offerings to market. >> So listening to your customers is key. As Stu mentioned, we were talking to Karen Quintos a little bit earlier that that's essential for pretty much any role, but you're listening, you're taking that into account, you're designing it and delivering for that. A lot of benefits we can talk about for the individuals going through the training, right, in terms of upscaling and job retention, but from your customers' perspective, do you have a favorite example of a customer who's really been able to transform their company because they've made this investment and ensuring that their talent has the latest and greatest education? >> Yeah, and actually, we've seen, we've done a bunch of research in market and what we see time and again is a really really strong correlation between those organizations that are focusing on and investing in their people and the skills development, a correlation between that and the progress and success that they're having with their transformation initiatives, right, and one area where we've been engaging a lot deeper with customers as of just recent and beginning to do a lot more of is we call it an organizational learning program. So we obviously offer technical training and certifications, but this is more of a consultative engagement with our customers more at the organization level and very consultative and we work closely with them to understand their digital strategy, their plans, and as part of that, drive a very prescriptive assessment of what's going on in their environment from a people and skills perspective. So really understanding their current state and where they want to go, where they need to be, and based upon the findings of that assessment, we work closely with them to develop a defined documented strategy and plan. In this case, it's a learning plan. It's a continuous learning plan for that organization over a series of quarters to work against and drive and really capture, gain those skills and knowledge that's required to help move them forward. >> Yeah, Mike, I love that. It reminds me of the joke in your space is what if we give them new skills and they leave? And of course the alternative is what if we don't give them new skills and they stay? >> Exactly. >> So last thing I wanted to ask is talk a little bit about internal. There's a lot of change going on. You've been from the EMC to Dell for quite a few years. >> Oh yes. >> I won't say how many just to protect the innocent, but one of the things, I mean I spent 10 years at EMC and the training was something that helped me a lot in my career. Talk a little bit about, you know, what's changed and how you help the internal teams and all the different groups stay up on the latest and greatest areas. >> Absolutely so in Education Services to your point, we support our employees, technical employees, around the globe, our partners and customers. So huge focus on enabling those employees and if you think about it, right, they are, they're the front lines, they're the folks that are with our customers and they need to be as up to speed, if not more up to speed in these areas of technology. So we have a massive undertaking to enable our services audiences, pre-sale systems engineers, our consultants around the globe to ensure that they are up to speed and quite knowledgeable on the latest and greatest technologies and really how those come to life within our customer environments. >> It seems like maybe Education Services is a catalyst for this internal cultural transformation that we're seeing from Dell Technologies. >> It absolutely is. There's transformation everywhere. It's internal, it's external and at the end of the day, kind of back to where we started, right? It comes down to the people. It's our customers and us as a company, our most important asset and at the end of the day, you know, the people need the right skills to be successful and to go digital. >> Great stuff, Mike. Thank you so much for joining Stu and me on theCUBE this afternoon and sharing all that you're doing to help transform Dell Education Services for your internal folks and your customers alike. We appreciate your time. >> Thanks for having me. >> Our pleasure. For Stu Miniman, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching us live from Las Vegas. Day one of theCUBE's coverage of Dell Technologies World 2019. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)

>> live from Las Vegas. It's the queue covering del Technologies. World twenty nineteen, brought to you by Del Technologies and its ecosystem partners. >> Welcome back to Las Vegas, Lisa Martin with Stew Minimum and we are on Day one of the Cubes coverage of Del Technology World twenty nineteen. We've got two sets, lots of great guests, lots of great conversations. Already. We're pleased to welcome to the Cube for the first time that Mike, a pigeon senior director of education services at Del Technologies like Welcome to the Cube. >> Thank you. Thanks for having me >> our pleasure. So here we are talking about digital transformation. We've been talking about it for a long time. I loved how last year's Del Technologies world was. Make it, really it being digital transformation, it t workforce transformation, security. This year, it's about real transformation. We talked a lot about the technology's what are some of the other things, though the companies need to be thinking about as enablers of this transformation >> your great, great question and obviously the technology is a huge part of it, right? But of course, myself being from Del Technology education services, a big focus on the people So that is what we see as an additional critical focus. Because at the end of the day, digital transformation is is big. It's really big, and technology alone isn't going to suffice, right? It's not going to be just that. So focus on the people and, you know, we hear a time and again from our customers from from research in the market that, you know, one of the top three, actually, barriers from customers and organizations driving adoption and success in digital information comes down to having the right skill sets in place. >> So, Mike, I'm God we have you on. We just had your chief customer officer, Karen Kito song, and she was talking a little bit about the skills gap. So we know how many customers, how many people we're going to need to have and, you know, half of the half of the programs we're gonna need it's going to need going to require retraining of, you know, my workforce there. So we talked for years with you know, what used to be emcee ends now, Del Education services, you know, from storage certifications to convert certifications to cloud certification. So you know what was the latest in Great is what is the I kind of go to skill set that people need And, you know, the ones that you know people are calling up saying, Oh my gosh, if I could learn this, you know, it's going to really, you know, catapult my career. >> Yes. So the Del Technologies now del Technologies proven professional program's been in place for years. A lot of ah, uh, industry recognized certifications to your point. A lot focus on storage, data protection, product related. And over the past twelve months to eighteen months, we've actually in a lot of expansion beyond that, into Mohr areas of transformation and those areas where we have expanded beyond just products have been tied back right to that skills gap that we're seeing in customers and what they're challenged with as they drive a digital transformation. So some examples being more of a focused on converged infrastructure hybrid cloud way, have some associate level certifications we recently brought to market there, uh, multi cloud. That's a big focus for us. Obviously, some of the discussion announcements this morning focus around multi cloud, and they talked about cloud chaos. Right, So we have some expert level certification in place focussed on that way. We also have a focus around security and specifically designing infrastructure with that security first mindset. And then finally the other most recent transformational type of certifications, that master level. So think of it a career pinnacle levels certification that's focused on, uh, transformational architecture. >> Yeah, Mike, just a follow up on that one. One of the things I hear in Multi Cloud is there certain technologies that might allow us to move. But one of the biggest challenges is skill set. Because if I learned and I understand how to configure it and how to manage it and how to do it here and if I move somewhere else even if seventy percent the same Oh, my gosh, that's not awesome. Can you just wonder if you could step back and give you know what you see out there? And you know what works today and where do we need to go? Is an industry as a whole try to help users toe live in this multi cloud world that were already in but struggling with? >> Yeah. I mean, there's a ton of proficiency in in the silos, right? Indian managing specific infrastructure server storage network now also around converge infrastructure as well as cloud deployments. But to your point in a multi cloud environment, there are different provider's, both private and public different technologies, and it gets it can get complex fairly quick, right? So having the skill sets to kind of take a step back and look at that holistically and understand about workload placements, you know there's there's knowledge and skill sets that required to make some of those determinations. We obviously have a lot of services capabilities that help provide that. But there's a level of obviously proficiency that our customers want in need in house as well. So a lot of it is building that knowledge and understanding. The decision points in the criteria for the different providers, as well as work, replacement and a movement across that multi cloud environment. It's very different than skill sets in the past. >> Sorry about that. Very excited I'm curious about if we talk about talent and retention with respect to some of the guys and gals who been around for a while. Michael mentioned on stage this morning that later this week is Dell's thirty fifth anniversary in business. And as we look at, you know, all the technology transformations and multi cloud world that we live in. This two mentioned What are some of the benefits for? I don't want to say, you know, older population But, say the veterans of technology White What are some of the things that Del Technologies, Education Services will deliver to say that more seasoned individual to stay relevant and be able to adapt as quickly as technology so that they're competitive for jobs themselves? >> Great, great question. And I mean, it's it's the pace of change is so fast, and it's impacting everyone, everyone from from recent college graduates, right, getting right into the field that that were in in technology as well as your point seasoned veterans who've been around for a while. And that's where a lot of the difficult transformation is taking place. Right, because it's it's the rolls of the past, and today the skill sets of dead like those rules and skills that have gotten us two today are are very different than what's needed to get us to tomorrow, and and that's where a lot of our technical training our curriculum as well as our industry certifications come into play in helping build that knowledge required and the skills on the certifications to validate those capabilities for the next generation workforce. So it's it's really for the right out of school and may be new to the field as well as evolving throughout their career. >> All right, so, like we, we know that your team's doing things throughout the year talking to your customers. But you got fifteen thousand people here at Delta Tech World. I've seen the hands on labs. I know there's always certification. So give us from your team. You know, some of the big focus, some of the activities and some of the take away if you want people to have from >> your one big thing I would give a plug for is our proven professional center. So right downstairs here in Casanova five o one, we have fifty seven certifications available, and we have hundreds and hundreds of customers and partners that will be taking certification exams and and achieving certifications this week. All right, we have ah promotional offer. So every attempt attempt at first attempt at every exam is free just for this week. So encourage everyone who is here to check it out. In addition, Teo to taking those certifications in preparation for that we have we have twenty nine different preparation sessions that we're running so right downstairs two rooms next door where we're rotating through on topics that are specific to our latest and greatest product lines. Power Left Power Max Power Edge A Max In addition to that cloud, focus data Science certification Prep sessions multi cloud expert. There's, Ah, whole array of prep sessions that air helping our customers and partners prepare for taking those certifications. >> Aye aye, machine learning. >> There is some some intersections with that as well. Certainly is part of a data science curriculum and certification exams >> and where our customers, in terms of discussing with you, say, maybe at last year's Del Technologies world like these are some of the certifications in the trainings that we really need. Talk about that sort of bidirectional symbiosis where customers are. I'm assuming helping you didn't teams identify, developed and then deliver this spot on trainings? >> Yeah, yeah, that's a great question to Eric. See, every year here at Del Technologies world, we have a customer advisory council and Actually, the last two years came out loud and clear. Last year was more of a focus and some of the areas that the challenge was from a transformation perspective. Security came into play in a big way. Different aspects of cloud and multi cloud enterprise architecture. Er, um a lot of our focus related Teo pivotal and some of the offerings, their application development. So all of that feedback and discussion that we have in customers actually feeds into our prioritization and road mapping, and it has a big impact on the on the technical training and the certifications that we bring to market. So we're going to be with our customers throughout today, also tomorrow. And there will be additional input to where we where we go in the future. >> All right, Mike, what are their feedback? Are you hearing from customers? You know, we hear in the key note some of these, you know, broad topics, and you talk about, you know, a I and I ot and ej computing. And how much does that funnel back? And are they looking for help on that? Now are you know, how do they start getting themselves ready for some of these massive waves that are coming, >> Yeah, that's definitely part of the themes that we hear and then and the feedback that we get from customers and what's really relevant to them and that ties into their skills transformation as well. As you said, I o t a m l data engineer. That's, ah, more recent role that we're focusing on on and you'LL see Ah bunch coming out from Del Technologies at services on that in the not too distant future. So a lot of that those themes are we hear the exact same same customer base, and those are areas that where we're addressing in in our road map and as we bring new technical training offerings to market. >> So listening to your customers is kiss as to mention we're talking to Karen can just a little bit earlier that that's essential pretty much for any role. But you're listening. You're taking that into account you're designing and delivering for that long A benefits. We can talk about it for the individuals going to the training right in terms of ups, killing and job retention. But from from your customer's perspective, you have a favorite example of a customer who's really been able to transform their company because they've made this investment and ensuring that their talent has the latest and greatest education. >> Yeah, yeah, actually, you know what we've seen? We've done a bunch of research, and Mark, what we see time and again is did a really, really strong correlation between those organizations that are focusing on and investing in their people and the skills development, correlation between that and the progress and success that they're having with with their transformation initiatives. Right. And one area that that where we've been engaged in a lot deeper with customers as of just recent and beginning to do a lot more of is we call it an organizational learning program. So way obviously offer technical training and certifications. But this is more of a, uh, consultative engagement with our customers more thie, organizational level and very consultative and way work closely with them to understand their digital strategy, their plans, and is part of that drive a very prescriptive assessments of what's going on in their violent from a people and skills perspective. So really understanding their current state and where they want to go where they need to be. And based upon the findings of that assessment, we work closely with them to develop a defined, documented strategy and plan. In this case, it's a learning plan. It's a continuous learning plan for that organization over a Siri's of quarters to to work against and drive and really capture gain those skills and knowledge that's required to help move him forward. >> Yeah, Mike, I love that. Reminds me of the joke in your space is what if we give them new skills and they leave? And of course, the alternative is What if we don't give them new skills and they stay back? So I want the last thing I wanted to ask is talk a little bit about internal. There's a lot of change going on. You've been, you know, from the sea to the Del for quite a few years. We'LL se How money Just to protect the innocent. But you know, one of things. I mean, I spent ten years in the emcee and the Internet. The training was something that helped me a lot in my career. Talk a little bit about you know what? What's changing? How you help the internal teams in all the from groups stay up on the latest and greatest areas. >> Absolutely so in at education services. To your point, we support our employees. Technol employees around the globe are partners and customers. So huge focus on on enabling those employees. And if you think about it, right, they are there, the front lines, they're the folks that are with our customers. And they need to be as up to speed, if not more up to speed in these thes areas of technology. So we have, ah, massive undertaking to enable our services audiences pre sale systems Engineers are car consultants around the globe to ensure that they are up to speed and quite knowledgeable on the latest and greatest technologies. And really, how those come tto life within our customer environments. >> Sounds like maybe education services is is a catalyst for this internal cultural transformation that we're seeing from Del Technologies. >> Absolutely is. It's his transformation everywhere. It's internal, its external and at the end of the day, kind of back to where we started, right? If it comes down to the people, it's are our customers and and us as a company, our most important asset. And at the end of the day, you know the people need the right skills and to to be successful in to go digital. >> Great stuff. Mike, Thank you so much for joining student me on the cue, the stuff for noon and sharing all that you're doing to help transform del education services for your internal folks. Your customers like we appreciate your time. >> Thanks for having me. >> Our pleasure. First time in a man. I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching us live from Las Vegas. Day one of the cubes. Coverage of Del technology World twenty nineteen. Thanks for watching.

>> Narrator: Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE. Covering Dell Technologies World 2018. Brought to you by Dell EMC, and its ecosystem partners. (techno music) >> Hey, welcome back to theCUBE, day three of our coverage of Dell Technologies World. I'm Lisa Martin joined by John Troyer, and we're excited to welcome back to theCUBE, distinguished alumni Bask Iyer, the CIO of Dell Technologies and VMware. Bask it's great to have you here. >> Thank you, thank you very much. >> So we were joking before we went on that we're right next to the therapy dog area, so always nice to have a technology conversation populated with dogs barking. >> No I like the dogs better if you want to talk about dogs or guitar, I would rather prefer that over >> Oh I could talk about that all day. So talk to us about, you are the CIO of Dell Technologies and VMware, first Dell Technologies World, 14,000 attendees >> Right. >> In person. >> Yep. >> 6,500 technology and solutions partners here, another expected 30,000+ people engaging with the livestream, the on-demand videos. Big, big focus this week. Love to get your perspective on the role of the CIO, the role that you have now, you know you a few years ago, it was truly all about technology, now it's really about your involvement in the corporate strategy. Talk to us about the vision that you're setting, with Michael Dell, with your peers in IT and other stakeholders at Dell Technologies. >> Okay. No it's a great event I love this. A lot of these are colleagues, other CIOs. So they know, they want to know really do you use it inside Dell. A lot more credibility when you talk real stories about how you use it in Dell. The first thing is when I started this career there was no such title as CIO. That itself is pretty new. We were just the geeks who kind of ran everything. And then you became head of IT. So it was very strongly technical, and then they said you needed leadership and business skills, the pendulum swung one way to all business and leadership skills and no technology, and then came back to we should need both of that. And then you have business and general management, so every year the job changes. What I'm finding though, which is good and bad, is nothing goes away. You still need to know the technology, you still need to know the business skills, soft skills, still need to be a general manager. What is now is a lot more on the strategy. So the importance of strategy though is you never talk strategy if your operations is not good. Right nobody cares. But if your operations is somewhat good, you better not talk about operations. So I tell people don't keep on saying your trains are running on time. It has to run on time, if it doesn't, if it runs recently on time, talk about strategy. So now it's an important job to do that, and your question about in a technology company, I am the customer. I'm probably one of the very few people who actually signed a purchase order within Dell Tech to buy Dell or EMC or VMware. So they're interested in the customer's perspective. So you're the internal voice of the customer. We are also using all the tech that we make, and we need to give feedback to the developers and the R&D folks. So we call it drink our own champagne, but not our own Kool-Aid, you know what I mean. >> I like that. >> So sometimes you get carried away by the marketing things that we do. The challenge though is you working with Michael Dell, you're working with Pat Gelsinger and everybody else, and thousands of engineering fellows and so on, who know IT, who've invented a lot of things in IT. So you cannot really keep up with them. You know you need to know enough to hold your own, but if you try to compete with them, that is not a good thing. So luckily for me I was a good B student, I'm comfortable with A students around me. So you have you to be comfortable that you're not the smartest one in the room, but you're still contributing. That's the change you have. It is surreal to go in front of a Pat or Michael or other people and talk about digital transformation. And they're making eye contact they want to know how, what do you mean by digital transformation? How do you do it internally? What's your plan? So every once in a while you pinch yourself and say I can't believe this is happening. But it does happen. >> So Bask, I mean digital transformation is a theme of the show, right? >> Yeah. >> Make it real. As you talk with other CIOS, do they feel like they have a seat at that table? Are they the driver, are they the implementer? You start to hear more about a Chief Digital Officer, is that, does the CIO became the CDO, are they different? Do you have any thoughts on that? >> Yeah I'm very strong on the fact there's a again if the CIO focus only on operations and cost, then people say your trains are running on time lets get somebody clever to do the innovation and digital. You don't want to leave that, that is the cream of the crop. So I think if you're a good CIO, you want to be the Chief Digital Officer for the company. You don't want to have two CFOs, one for Wall Street and one for doing the real work. You don't want to have two salesperson, one for putting the numbers and one actually selling. So you need to have one technology person. Some companies may be so complex that you may consider that. I started as a chief Digital Officer in Hunnewell, ended up as the CIO for Hunnewell for example, but you need to have people who are very collaborative, those two have to work very closely together. It's very difficult to find one person who's collaborative and nonpolitical to be a leader of an IT organization. To find two and working as a team is complicated. So that's what I want. So I'm not a big supporter of that although I could see why it would happen, if you will. Okay. >> Lisa: So drinking your own champagne I like that by the way, you are in this role, it's interesting that you say you still kind of feel like you're pinching yourself when you're talking to a Michael Dell or a Pat Gelsinger, but you're up there having to implement digital transformation within Dell Technologies and all the companies underneath. >> Sure. >> That's a pretty big seat at the table. How are you sort of embodying the theme of this event and making digital transformation real for Dell Technologies? >> So I go very practical and I give, yesterday I talked to my fellow CIOs on the mistakes I've made. Right I came as the VMware CIO, we've already done this journey in a couple of years ahead of time. So wouldn't it be a cut and paste? Given the hybrid cloud, given the best end user environment possible and you're done. You already have that start. But I made the same mistake every CIO makes, we preach this but we don't follow it. It's not just the technology, it's people, process, culture, and technology, and I jumped on the technology, and I'm kicking myself to say, first three months didn't make a whole lot of progress. I was just yelling like a madman to say why is it not getting done. And then you have to go back into I have to hire the right people. So lets talk a few things. I made changes to the leadership team. Certain people were not comfortable in the pace of change. We did it respectfully but we had to have people who can actually lead the change. That was first. Then we called something about putting T back in IT. Which a long time in IT what we have done is we've outsourced, off shored, treated IT as a commodity and then we have program managers and leaders. Every magazine asked us to do that. Well, guess what we've been wrong. I think I've been wrong, doing that. You do need technologies right now. You cannot do digital transformation without understanding the technology. So we have to staff internally, we have to get good folks. Still manage the cost right, that doesn't go away, but you have to do the right thing. So IT, first get the right people, the process for it, what it dawned on me is we are talking about Agile and DevOps and continuous development. Those are all IT, geeky terMs. Those are not business terms. Those are not business terms even in Dell technology. Because there are manufacturing folks and HR folks and finance folks and so on. So I looked at fast experience of somebody like Hunnewell or GE. Remember they adopted Lean Six Sigma some kind of process to transform their company. And even me who's an IT geek had to go through a green-belt certification or a black-belt certification. And I revolted I said why would I do that, I'm an engineer why would I go through this stupid course, but it was required otherwise you don't get promoted. So now you need a prescriptive process to change the culture. So digital transformation needed that. Luckily for us we took the pivotal way, which we have within our company. We made it the Dell Digital way, since you still have to write it in your own language if you will. That is the process we use, we train our folks and our customers, our clients as I call them, customer is the person who buys the products from us, client is all the colleagues. So finance folks have to know what Dell Digital way is. You cannot do requirements the old way, and throw it over the wall and expect me to develop. You have to get into the room, With me and draw it on the wall and be able to design it together. So that's been a good change. And the culture changes with us because initially people are thinking, this guy's coming from Silicon Valley, he's not going to stay here, he's going to do all these things, he's going to get either fired or leave. So people try to run out the clock a little bit. So it takes a little bit of time to work on the culture and say innovation is not only demanded from you, but you have to keep the trains running on time. You have to chew gum and walk at the same time. So that's the process we go through. >> I love what you just described Bask because both in terms of culture and in technology, that actually makes for an interesting set of IT careers, right. That turns IT into a very interesting career again. >> Right. >> Many of my colleagues are IT pros, do you have any advice for somebody who is maybe in the start, the middle of their career, maybe specializing in something but they have I think this dream at the end of the tunnel, maybe the CIO is where they want to be. What do you see, how do I prep to be a CIO now, to be a CIO in say ten years? >> I'd tell him are you crazy? (laughs) Do you know what you're getting into? But here's what there's some truth to it. Getting a job is really easy I think. Doing the job is very difficult. So I tell 'em, get prepared for the job. Also, you should have some passion for technology. If you're a sportswriter, I mean I'm into sports, so you can give me all the magazines you want, I can see all the videos, I can watch 'em all day long. I can retire just watching sports all day long, or playing occasionally. You have to have the passion in technology because things keep coming at you. So we think Blockchain is cool by the time it get off the seed it's going to be something else. You have to be interested and passionate to keep up with that, right. So first thing is can you keep up with the change. Are you actually interested in it? Michael Dell sends you a text in the middle of the night, I don't think he expects me to react but I do. Because he's reading something and he's hearing something from the customers. You need to be interested in learning. So I said you have to be a lifelong learner, passionate on technology, and also learn the ropes because I always felt when I was younger I wasn't given the opportunities at the right time. I felt like am I going to die before I become a vice president or a CIO or whatever? It felt to me that it took a little longer than I wanted it to but thank god because once you got the job you were prepared for it. So that's one of the things I tell people is get prepared. Get into learning. Also the job changes all the time so I can't really write a book on it. You have to almost be like a chameleon in a sense. You got to learn so the last few years was technology, then it was business, then it was soft skills, transformation, ERP implementation, now it's business strategy, it's not going to stop. Technology is going to keep coming as a wave. So be ready for adapting and adopting to the changes if you will, right. >> I'm glad that you brought up people because it's not just systems and processes, none of this comes to fruition, companies don't transform IT, transform digitally, deliver more differentiated products without the people. We had some folks on earlier I think day one with Dell EMC Education Services, we've talked to the Channel folks about the things that they're enabling and one of the things that I think is really important that you brought up is all the things you said, I made all these mistakes. But those are opportunities not just for you to learn and grow, but also for you to share with the people that look at you and say I want to be Bask Iyer on stage. >> Yeah. >> You know in a few years because it's really all about being brave enough to say you know what I didn't know this, or I made a mistake, actually maybe it wasn't a mistake, maybe if I didn't go this path I wouldn't have learned and gotten more solidification under my feet to be able to be up there and get a text from a Michael Dell [Bask] That's right. >> In the middle of the night. >> That's right. >> So your advice to the next generation I think is key but I also really respect identification of hey all the things that maybe I did them wrong and encouraging more people as they want to grow their careers to not be afraid to go I don't know this. This this is an opportunity for me to learn. >> Yeah you cannot be the I wish I was the smartest room in Dell Technology, you know that is not possible. You're not even talking about the senior managers you have to talk to the fellows and engineers we have who I just nod and pretend like I know what they're talking about, it's just amazing. So you need a little bit of the humility I think to learn what you want to learn. But have the confidence right. You cannot have nothing and come and work here because I always tell people working in a tech company versus being a CIO of a regular company and I've done both, it's like getting to a batting cage and all of a sudden the balls are coming at 150 miles an hour. You better be prepared to face it. So you have to figure out can I face a ball at 40 miles or 60 miles or 150 miles. So you need to prepare yourself to get there. But having said that though, we are all learning. We are all growing, we all make mistakes. In fact I learn a lot from my millennial kids. They seem to know more about this than I do. I learn a lot and I do something called reverse mentoring in Silicon Valley, which is all the people from LinkedIn, Google, they want to learn from me because they think I'm the greatest CIO whatever, and I want to learn from them. I ended up at the end of the session learning a lot more from them and I feel actually guilty that the mentoring session has gone the other way but, that's what keeps it's interesting is the minute you feel like you know everything or you've done it, very risky in a technology profession, especially in a CIO profession. >> Lisa: So wrapping up the show here, talk to us about some of the things, and in the spirit of learning, what are some of the things that you've heard from customers about, whether it's the new product announcements or new partnerships or just the new areas that Dell Technologies is going in, what has the feedback been like? >> People love the fact that they saw Pat onstage and talk about VMware and Dell working together. People want to see the independence of VMware as well, and they want Dell and VMware working together. They want to see both. They want to make sure that there is the fierce independence that VMware is known for, and the fact that they're working together. That was good to hear because if you do one or the other people get freaked out. The fact that the best private cloud in the world is getting hooked up to the best public clouds in the world, that's a good message for people because they don't want to be locked into a cloud discussion or other kind of stuff. So you want to have the freedom to do that. A lot of people are now expressing interest in IOT and other kind of places and why the edge is important again. What tends to happen in my profession is we talk about IOT last year, this year we talk about AI and ML, guarantee next year's going to be something else. The technology sweet spot takes three, four, five years to hit. So if you just chasing the next wave because you want to be cool and fun you're missing out on opportunity to leverage this. So lot of buzz around the whole world is going to be wired, everything's going to have sensors, the amount of data that comes in and how to manage it and secure it. A lot of CIOs are saying we should get on top of that. Before it's done to us. Lot of buzz on that. I freaked out. I, like any other geek, went to the show to see the cool techs that everybody has. I went to the Dell booths to see the latest laptops because sometimes they don't show us the latest things >> (laughs) >> they keep it for the show. And then Michael Dell is in the booth. He didn't think it was funny but I thought Michael Dell in a Dell booth in Dell World, that's like you want to go buy a Mustang and you find Mr. Ford in the dealership. So I thought it was hilarious and I was shocked and he was just amused to say why do you think that is so funny. But it's nice to have a founder who's like an icon in the industry. Is he listening? Let me stop. (laughs) >> (laughs) He is a big fan of theCUBE. >> Thank you, then I'm not going to say anything nice about him. >> So, last question You talked about last year was IOT, now it's AI and ML, next year's going to be something else, are the people that are chasing those trends the ones that need the therapy dogs the most? (laughs) >> Yeah I think so because you know we have no time for anything these days, we are chasing the next shiny object. When AI and IOT come together, this is going to be fascinating for me. I worked on industry controls and so on, but if every wall could talk, and every object could talk to you what it would be telling you? And humans cannot comprehend it, because the wall is going to tell you so many things. So and so walked by, so and so sat here, whatever. You need artificial intelligence to filter it and say, you know Eric Clapton was here because that's the only thing maybe you want to know. I don't want to know about anything else. That requires AI to process and say this is what Bask would be interested in. And the rest of it doesn't really matter. So this combination I think is very powerful and I'm pretty excited about what if everything, what if dogs could talk, what if walls could talk, What if thermostat could talk >> Oh I'm waiting for that. >> So it's going to happen in our lifetime, pretty soon. >> Lisa: Well Bask thanks so much for stopping by theCUBE and sharing your insights of how you're leading the charge as the CIO, right up there with Michael Dell, Pat Gelsinger and all those big cheeses, but also how you're bringing the technology to the people and really like you said drinking the champagne. >> Thank you, appreciate it. >> We want to thank you for your time. >> Thank you for the time. >> And we thank you for watching theCUBE, we are live day three of Dell Technologies World, right next to the dog therapy center if you need a little break, come say hi and stop by and see some dogs. I'm Lisa Martin for John Troyer, stick around we'll be right back after a short break. (techno music)

>> Narrator: Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE, covering Dell Technologies World 2018. Brought to you by Dell EMC, and its ecosystem partners. >> Welcome to theCUBE, we are live on day one of Dell Technologies World. I'm Lisa Martin with Keith Townsend. This is a huge event, the biggest they've ever had, 14,000 live attendees expected, and an additional 35,000 expected to engage with the live streaming in the on demand video experiences, amazing. We're excited to welcome, from Dell Education Services, Sophie Barratt, Senior Director, and Charles Atkins, VP of Education Services. Guys, welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good to be here. >> Thank you for having us. >> Lisa: Absolutely, our pleasure. So this morning in Michael Dell's keynote, he talked about, and we're going to hear a lot over the three days, of digital transformation, IT transformation, security transformation. There's a fourth transformative element that companies need to apply to be successful, and that's workforce transformation. Chuck, Charles, sorry, I'm giving you a new name, Chuck. We already have a Chuck. You're Chuck for the day. >> We're all friends already. >> We're already old friends. >> Exactly, we go way back. Charles, talk to us about workforce transformation, from a thought leadership perspective, what does it mean? >> Well it's key when you think about digital transformation, that large, at the end of the day it's all about people. I mean you can have a common digital vision for your company, for your infrastructure, but at the end of the day you got to have the workforce to make that real. So, us in Education Services, I mean we talk to our customers on a daily basis, we look at, you know, a nauseating level of research, and there's a huge skillset gap, that continues to grow, expodentiously. And when you look at the level of automation that's been introduced, in all across the workforce, the gap is continuing to grow. So in education, we're taking a long hard look at, okay, what are the skillsets of the future that are needed today? When you think about machine learning, you know, artificial intelligence, data data data, you know, years ago big data was, you know, all the rage. Now we have all of that data. Now that data's becoming more intelligent. Now we need to educate our workforce, to live and work in a digital age, right along with robotics and everything else. So pretty exciting time. >> Well Charles, I would love to hear both you guys are veterans of education, veterans of the IT industry, it has changed tremendously over the past five years, versus when I cut my teeth 20 years ago in IT. It was very step ladder, you know, I got a vendor certification, I learn the product, I was able to get into the industry, how has machine learning, digital transformation, how has that changed your jobs, and your approach to how you educate your customers? >> So great question, and I too come up in that age, right? So back in the day when you needed a Microsoft certification or a storage level certification, having that kind of siloed view, all of that has changed. And when we think about skillsets needed today, it's across multi-Cloud environments, security infrastructure, the in-user devices are as smart as the data center solutions that are driving the Clouds on the backend. So now you have to have a broad range of skillset, so obviously, times have changed, skillset development has changed, and that's a big reason why we in Education Services are hyper focused on that fourth tower, workforce transformation, to enable that digital realization. >> You wrote a blog recently on skills transformation, can you kind of break it down, some of the transformation certifications that Dell EMC's enabling? >> Absolutely, so we just launched four net new transformational certifications, super excited about this, and when you think about, again, the history, you think about product level certifications. You know, individuals go out, and they get trained and educated on how to use that specific product. But as those silos start to go away, and the technology starts to become across multiple platforms, we had to take a step back and say, "Okay, education today needs to change". Both in how learners learn, how they have need personalized education services, 365, 24 by seven across the globe, but also, they need to be less product centric. So we launched four new certifications in the security realm, converged infrastructure, multi-Cloud, enterprise architecture, big one. So think along the line of an enterprise architect, building an end to end, company to company solution, that is a multi-Cloud environment, security architecture on the backend, product level, that's a completely different skillset than we had 10, 15 years ago. So, you know, that is the workforce of the future, is having those individuals, really multi-facet, multi-skilled, all across not only Dell EMC products and technology, but also all the strategic aligned businesses. So we have you know, co-skilled, co-badged, certifications available today, with VMWare and Dell EMC, starts to broaden that range of the true skillset that's needed for today and definitely for the future. >> So I would love to hear from you Sophie, about the CI0, CTO story, what is the ask? Because, there's a combination of University, there's the combination of vendor training, What's the ask from the CIO, (mumbles), on the services that they're expecting from Dell when it comes to education? >> So they're expecting us, just as Charles had articulated, to go well beyond product level training, right? They want their people to understand the context to that they're operating in, and they want them to be able to see themselves as service providers, right? They're managing now a portfolio of IT services, and they need to think about how they deliver that portfolio to their customers. That could be other departments within IT, or onto the end customer, which is a very different way of thinking about IT, right? That when you're just sort of operating, you know, a product, or a suite of products. So that's something we hear from CIOs pretty often. And the other thing I would say is, you know, sort of in return, we have an ask for CIOs, right? Which is to understand that, it's really not just about, sort of training, and making sure that people are trained on, you know, particular solutions, whatever the flavor of the day happens to be, but making sure that as they're thinking about digital transformation, IT transformation, that they're underpinning it with a focus on continuous learning. Because the technology has morphed incredibly quickly, the expectations of IT are morphing incredibly quickly, and if learning doesn't happen continuously, you know, individuals and COs themselves are not going to be able to keep up. So we're trying to enable them with a suite of, you know, sort of point solutions, as well as that continuous learning environment, and sort of cultural affinity, that can help them be successful and make IT really a competitive differentiator. >> In the spirit of continuous development, talk to us about some of the research that you've done recently to understand, and really kind of shape the direction of the new Education Services, that Dell EMC is delivering. >> Sure, well actually you know, one of the really fascinating findings, and I sort of started to elude to it just then, was the importance of sort of the commitment from the CIO level down, as well as the individuals up. And that sort of reciprocity between a person, like an IT professional's commitment to learning, and their own development, as well as the management team creating that environment, where it's okay to learn, right? And it's okay to admit that, you know, you don't know something, or that you have an appetite to develop yourself. So we just did some research that showed that where individuals are the most transformation ready, themselves, is actually in IT departments that have a very strong commitment to learning. And that inverse is also true. >> When we look at IT transformation, as Michael Dell even said this morning, as the opportunity for IT to become a profit center, IT transformation has so much potential to enable every part of the business, to use data and apply it multiple times, to combine it, re-combine it, identify how customers are using that, how can IT, as you were saying, seems like it's much more of a cultural propensity to learn, how can IT help influence other parts of the business, to have this appetite to continuously learn? >> Sure, let me start with that, and then Charles you can add your perspective, but, you know, interestingly we have a customer advisory panel, here at Dell Technologies World every year, and we'll probably talk about it when we have this year's event tomorrow, but last year this was actually a topic that came up, and IT professionals struggle with that, frankly, right. How they can better partner with the business, to talk the same language as the business is talking, and translate the business requirements back into a technology solution, and architecture that makes sense for that digital future. And actually that was one of the main drivers behind our new multi-enterprise architect certification that Charles eluded to a minute ago, so there's a lot there in that, you know, there's a big journey for IT departments to travel, but we're doing our best between helping with those continuous learning environments, the training and certifications that can really sort of bridge the gap right between the business and IT. >> I think most IT organizations are in that transformation, or at the cusp of it, and it really goes back to having that digital vision, and really that digital thought of saying, "Okay, where do we want to go? And how do we get there?". Workforce transformation's a big piece of it, obviously all of the IT architecture software development aspect on the backend is huge. But you got to come up with that vision first, and you really need to think about the future of the IT organization, as really expected customer outcomes. So the customers that they service whether they're internal or external customers, they're expecting an outcome, so really truly becoming an IT customer service organization. And you know, some are struggling, some are at the onset, some are deep into that transformation, and I would like to echo one of the things that Sophie said, when I looked at all of the research, 61% employees surveyed said they're not digitally ready. 61% of companies said, "We don't have a clear digital strategy". So, you know, the emphasis really is upfront, now's a good, opportunistic time for companies to take a step back, and say, "Okay, what does that digital future really look like?". >> Keith: 'Cause we're not-- >> If you look over, sorry, when I look over the next five years or so, look at the advancement in machine learning, artificial intelligence, get too far behind that digital evolution, some companies might not be here. >> So I had a really engaging conversation with one of the leaders in open source, serverless, and he was, he debated that enterprises are absolutely ready for this transformation. Me, maybe not so much. How do you help to do that heavy lifting? We talked about enterprise IT inspiring other organizations, but Sophie, you eluded to that this is a two way conversation. This is not just about Dell EMC Education going out and producing materials, IT professionals have to feel motivated to actually consume that data, and move forward, so that they can embrace the digital transformation, and help educate. Help talk to me about the boots on the ground. How are you guys hoping to inspire regular enterprise IT folks, the legacy DNS administrator who's sitting at his desk. I've been doing DNS for 10 years, I know how to do DNS, now we're asking him to engage and maybe not do machine learning, but embrace DevOps for example. >> Sophie: So there's a few tools that we have at our disposal, actually, speaking of AI and ML and sort of, you know, advanced ways of doing business, we're also trying to incorporate some of those technologies in the way that we create learning experiences. So we're also trying to make the learning experiences themselves more compelling to the people. But that aside, in terms of the content itself, we actually recently did a MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course, around DevOps, so there are a ton of resources for IT professionals who want to get started, and just kind of immerse themselves in this space, and learn, sort of incrementally, like sort of be exposed to it, and then once they decide that they want to take that step and get certified, or whatever it is, we have those more formal tracks for them as well. >> I'm wondering to even how much, in our personal lives, we have everything in our pockets, we expect that, and how many people have our home assistants and are actually using or part of the machine learning user experience at home, and not really thinking about that. How much do you think culturally that's actually going to help the IT folks become more able to make workforce transformation real, at the spirit of the event, by what's happening in their personal lives? Do you think that's going to be a big influence? >> Charles: I think it's going to be huge. I mean, look at the automobile industry, and the transformation that's gone throughout, just the last decade alone. And apply that to our everyday life. I mean, again, if you look at it as a core edge solution, the edge solution, I mean, the amount of data that is transacted on a daily basis just from me driving my vehicle, everything from health and vehicle reports, when it's time to change the oil, et cetera, I mean it's going to be a consumer driven motivator. And it's going to force companies to really kind of think through, okay how do we get more intelligent with our data, because the customer expectations have now increased 10X. And it's going to create smarter devices. I mean, whether it's our mobile phones and, I'm old enough to remember when that got introduced, I don't know if that's a positive or negative, but in looking how much that one device has changed my life, and now the level of intelligence that I see just in the software apps that are on the phones. I mean, it's going to be a key motivator. One of the things I would like to touch on, that Sophie briefly touched on, you said, "Boots on the ground". So we have something called skillset analysis, Learning Needs Assessment's what we're going to name it, but really it's an opportunity for individuals to go out and really go through and define what their level of technical expertise is. I think it's something that, you know, when I look at learning and development worldwide, even for myself, I need an area I can go out and, kind of test my skills, to your point about the DNS person, right? And I talk to these individuals on a daily basis, being an old engineer myself, already know all of that. But getting those individuals to go out there and really do an assessment of what is their true skillset, in this net new world of technology and digitalization, helps create at least a profile that tells Charles, "Hey I'm not really that good in this this and this". So maybe there is an opportunity to improve my skillset development in those areas. I think having that personalized level of learning interaction, and it allows the individual to be honest with where their skillset is, and take a step back and say, "Okay maybe I do need to go learn X Y and Z". And that'll help propel it. >> Lisa: And I'm wondering too, with Imposter Syndrome being something that is so publicized, I didn't even know what it was and I had it, until I saw it being talked about and I thought, I know, it made me feel a little bit better, but I'm wondering, on the personalization front, you know, we expect our lives and all of the digital assistance that we have, in our cars or our home or whatnot, to give us a personally, help us through life. How are you encouraging participants to take this assessment and go, you know what, maybe I've been in this for 20 years but there are things that I don't know. Maybe that's more of a psychological thing, but how do you encourage people to kind of identify, I have Imposter Syndrome, but I want to actually get better. What's the cultural education component to that? >> Charles: Alright, you have to take a a personalized social approach. How many surveys have you done that have randomly popped up in one of your apps on your phone? Or whatever the case may be. Now, obviously we're starting as a little bit more internal, really looking on our internal skillset and capability but, as this, you know, user interface goes live around the world, I expect both customers and employees internally to go out there and just be curious. Where do you fall? And whether you've done an IQ test online, or hey what are your 10 favorite movies, getting that social action, our interaction I think will be a key enabler in driving that. And that's really going to create the stickiness 'cause I would much rather not have a conversation between individuals saying, "Well Charles, you're really not that good at X". I would like to go out and do an assessment so, wow, I was right, I'm really not that good at X. Okay now what do I need to do to drive my own career advancement, my own education advancement, and that really puts, you know, learning in the hands of the end user, because I want to be responsible for my career, yes I want to do great things for the company, but I'm also trying to figure out, okay where does my career go from here? And this allows that user to be in control of that. >> I think it comes back also that reciprocity right, between sort of the environment in which you're working and creating that safe space or learning culture where you are empowered to take ownership of your own development in your own career, and that you have the toolkit, such as this Learning Needs Assessment, you know, that we can provide, as well as many other things, to be proactive and to take those first steps, and then to have sort of air cover if you will, from your organization to do that. >> Last question, how many people are you expecting to go through certification trainings, initiated at Dell Technologies World? >> Several hundred for sure. We have many people who pre-registered to take exams, and there's a continuous flow down through the professional center, you all should come on down and check it out, downstairs, Casanova 501, so we are running exam prep sessions, exams sort of continuously from morning till night, all three and a half days of the show, so we expect probably several hundred new certifications to come out of it. >> It's a tremendous opportunity, I'm afraid if I go down there and take, I'm going to fail all the assessments. I might need your help. >> It's okay 'cause the first failure's free, at least you get an assessment of how (mumbles) you are or not. >> Oh it's my lucky day, I'm going to go gamble. >> I at least understand the questions on there. >> Maybe you could help me cheat? Okay, so Sophie and Charles, or Chuck, as we're now calling you, thank you guys so much for stopping by, and sharing with us the continued learning opportunities that Dell EMC has provided us with. >> Thanks for having us. >> Absolutely, thanks for having us. >> And for my co host, Keith Townsend, I'm Lisa Martin, you're watching theCUBE live from day one of Dell Technologies World, in Las Vegas. Stick around, we'll be right back after a short break. (electronic music)