(bright upbeat music) >> Okay, we're back with Jenn Saavedra, who's the Chief Human Resource Officer of Dell and we're going to discuss people culture and hybrid work and leadership in the post isolation economy. Jenn, the conversations that we had at Dell Tech World this past May around the new work environment were some of the most interesting and engaging that I had personally. So I'm really eager to get the update. It's great to see you again. Thanks for coming on theCUBE. >> Thanks for having me, Dave. There's been a lot of change in just a short amount of time. So I'm excited to share some of our learnings with you. >> I mean, I bet there has, I mean post pandemic companies, they're trying everybody's trying to figure out the return to work and what it looks like. Last May there was really a theme of flexibility but depending, and we talked about, well, millennial or not, young, old, and it's just really was mixed. So how have you approached the topic? What are your policies? What's changed since we last talked? What's working, what's still being worked? What would you recommend to other companies to... Over to you. >> Yeah, well, this isn't a topic that's necessarily new to Dell technology. So we've been doing hybrid before hybrid was a thing. So for over a decade we've been doing what we called connected workplace. So we have kind of a history and we have some great learnings from that. Although things did change for the entire world. In March of 2020, we went from kind of this hybrid to everybody being remote for a while. But what we wanted to do is we're such a data-driven company. There's so many headlines out there, about all these things that people think could happen will happen but there wasn't a lot of data behind it. So we took a step back and we asked our team members, how do you think we're doing? And we asked very kind of strong language because we've been doing this for a while, we asked them, do you think we're leading in the world of hybrid? And 86% of our team members said that we were which is great, but we always know there's nuance behind that macro level. So we asked 'em a lot of different questions and we just went on this kind of myth busting journey and we decided to test some of those things we're hearing about Culture Willow Road or new team members will have trouble being connected or millennials will be different. And we really just collected a lot of data asked our team members what their experiences. And what we have found is really you don't have to be together in the office all the time to have a strong culture, a sense of connection, to be productive, and to have a really healthy business. >> Well, I like that you were data driven around it with the data business here. But there is a lot of debate around your culture and how it suffers in a hybrid environment, how remote workers won't get promoted. And so I'm curious, and I've seen some like-minded companies like Dell say, Hey, we want you guys to work the way you want to work. But then I've seen them adjust and say, Well, yeah, but we also want you to know in the office week so we can collaborate a little bit more. So what are you seeing at Dell and do you maintain that cultural advantage that you're alluding to in this kind of strange new ever changing world? >> Yeah, well, I think, look, one approach doesn't fiddle. So I don't think that the approach that works for Dell Technologies is necessarily the approach that works for every company. It works with our strategy and culture. It is really important that we listen to our team members and that we support them through this journey. They tell us time and time again one of the most special things about our culture is that we provide flexibility and choice. So we're not a mandate culture. We really want to make sure that our team members know that we want them to be their best and do their best. And not every individual role has the same requirements. Not every individual person has the same needs. And so we really want to meet them where they are so that they can be productive. They feel connected to the team and to the company and engaged and inspired. So, for us it really does make sense to go forward with this. And so we haven't taken a step back. We've been doing hybrid, we'll continue to do hybrid. But just like if you, we talk about not being a mandate. I think the companies that say nobody will come in or you have to come in three days a week, all of that feels more limiting. And so what we really say is, work out with your team, work out with your role, work out with your leader what really makes the most sense to drive things forward. >> I mean, you talk- >> So that's what we do. >> You were talking before about myths and I want talk about team member performance 'cause there's, a lot of people believe that if you're not in the office, you have disadvantages, people in the office have the advantage 'cause they get FaceTime. Is is that a myth? Is there some truth to that? What do you think about that? >> Well, for us, we look, again we just looked at the data. So we said we don't want to create a have and have not culture that you're talking about. We really want to have an inclusive culture, we want to be outcome-driven. We're a meritocracy. But we went and we looked at the data. So pre pandemic, we looked at things like performance, we looked at rewards and recognition, we looked at attrition rates, we looked at sentiment. Do you feel like your leader is inspiring? And we found no meaningful differences in any of that or in engagement between those who worked fully remote, fully in the office or some combination between. So our data would bust that myth and say, you don't have to be in an office and be seen to get ahead. We have equitable opportunity. Now, having said that, you always have to be watching that data and that's something that we'll continue to do and make sure that we are creating equal opportunity regardless of where you work. >> And it's personal too, I think I think some people can be really productive at home. I happen to be one that I'm way more productive in the office 'cause the dogs aren't barking. I have less distractions. And so, yeah, and I think the takeaway that in just in talking to you Jenn and folks at Dell is, whatever works for you we're going to support. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and talk about leadership and very specifically, empathic leadership has been said to have a big impact on attracting talent, retaining talent, but it's hard to have empathy sometimes. And I know I saw some stats in a recent Dell study, it was like two thirds of the people felt like their organization underestimates the people requirements. And I asked myself, I'm like, Hmm, what am I missing with our folks? So especially as it relates to transformation programs. So how can human resource practitioners support business leaders generally, specifically as it relates to leading with empathy? >> I think empathy's always been important. You have to develop trust. You can have the best strategy in the world, right? But if you don't feel like your leader understands who you are, appreciates the value that you bring to the company then you're not going to get very far. So I think empathetic leadership has always been part of the foundation of a trusting strong relationship between a leader and a team member. But if I think we look back on the last two years and I imagine it'll be even more so as we go forward. Empathetic leadership will be even more important. There's so much going on in the world, politically, socially, economically, that taking that time to say you want your team members to see you as credible and confident that you can take us forward, but also that you know and understand me as a human being. And that to me is really what it's about. And I think with regard to transformation that you brought up, I think one of the things we forget about as leaders we've probably been thinking about a decision or transformation for months or weeks and we're ready to go execute, we're ready to go operationalize that thing. And so sometimes when we get to that point because we've been talking about it for so long we send out the email, we have the all hands, and we just say we're ready to go. But our team members haven't always been on that journey for those months that we have. And so I think that empathetic moment to say, Okay, not everybody is on this change curve where I am, let's take a pause, let me put myself in their shoes and really think about how we bring everybody along the journey. >> Jenn, in the spirit of myth busting I mean, I'm one of those people who felt like that a business is going to have a harder time fostering this culture of collaboration and innovation in post isolation economy as they could pre-COVID. But I notice there's an announcement today that came across my desk, I think it's from Newsweek. Yes, and it's the list of top hundred companies recognized for employee motivation, satisfaction. And it was really interesting because you always see, oh, we're the top 10 or the top 100. But this says as a survey of 1.4 million employees from companies ranging from 50 to 10,000 employees. And it recognizes the companies that put respect, caring, and appreciation for their employees at the center of their business model, and in doing so, have earned the loyalty and respect of the people who work for them. Number one on the list is Dell, SAP. So congratulations. SAP was number two. I mean, there really isn't any other tech company on there certainly no large tech companies on there. So I always see these lists, I go, Yeah, okay that's cool, top a hundred, whatever. But top one in an industry where there's only two in the top is pretty impressive. And how does that relate to fostering my earlier skepticism of a culture of collaboration? So first of all, congratulations. How'd you do it? And how are you succeeding in this new world? >> Well, thanks. It does feel great to be number one, but it doesn't happen by accident. And I think while most companies have a culture, and a spouse values, we have ours called the culture code. But it's really been very important to us that it's not just a poster on the wall or words on paper. And so we embed our culture code into all of our HR practices that whole ecosystem, from recognition rewards, to performance evaluation, to interviewee, to development. We build it into everything so it really reflects who we are and you experience it every day. And then to make sure that we're not fooling ourselves, we ask all of our employees, do you feel like the behaviors you see and the experience you have every day reflects the culture code? And 94% of our team members say that in fact it does. So I think that that's really been kind of the secret to our success. If you listen to Michael Dell, he'll always say, "The most special thing about Dell "is our culture and our people." And that comes through being very thoughtful and deliberate to preserve and protect and continue to focus on our culture. >> I don't you think too that repetition and, well, first of all, belief in that cultural philosophy is important. And then kind of repeating, like you said, Yeah it's not just a poster on the wall. But I remember like, when we're kids your parents tell you, okay, power of positive thinking, do unto others as you have others do it to you. You're going to do some dumb things but don't do the same dumb things twice and you sort of fluff it up. But then as you mature you say, Wow, actually those were- >> They might have had a point, right? >> Values were instilled in me and now I'm bringing them forward and paying it forward. But I guess my point is, and it's kind of a point observation but I'll turn it into a question. Isn't consistency and belief in your values really, really important? >> I couldn't agree with you more, right? I think that's one of those things that we talk about it all the time. And as an HR professional, it's not the HR people just talking about our culture. It's our business leaders, it's our CEO, it's our COOs, it's our partners. We share our culture code with our partners and our vendors and our suppliers and everybody, this is important. We say when you interact with anybody at Dell Technologies, you should expect that this is the experience that you're going to get. And so it is something that we talk about that we embed into everything that we do. And I think it's really important that you don't just think it's a one and done 'cause that's not how things really work. >> Well, and it's a culture of respect, high performance, high expectations, accountability, having followed the company and worked with the company for many, many years, you always respect the dignity of your partners and your people. So really appreciate your time, Jenn. Again, congratulations on being number one. >> Thank you so much. >> You're very welcome. Okay, you've been watching a special presentation of theCUBE inside Dell Technology Summit 2022. Remember, these episodes are all available on demand at thecube.net and you can check out siliconangle.com for all the news and analysis. And don't forget to check out wikibon.com each week for a new episode of Breaking Analysis. This is Dave Vellante, thanks for watching and we'll see you next time. (bright upbeat music)

(upbeat music) >> As we said in our analysis of Dell's future, the transformation of Dell into Dell EMC and now Dell Technologies has been one of the most remarkable stories in the history of the technology industry. After years of successfully integrated EMC and becoming VMware's number one distribution channel, the metamorphosis of Dell culminated in the spin out of VMware from Dell and a massive wealth creation milestone pending of course the Broadcom acquisition of VMware. So where's that leave Dell and what does the future look like for this technology powerhouse? Hello, and welcome to theCUBE's exclusive coverage of Dell Technologies Summit 2022. My name is Dave Vellante and I'll be hosting the program. Today, in conjunction with the Dell Tech Summit, we'll hear from four of Dell senior executives. Tom Sweet is the CFO of Dell Technologies. He's going to share his views of the company's position and opportunities and answer the question why is Dell a good long term investment? Then we'll hear from Jeff Boudreau, who's the president of Dell's ISG business unit. He's going to talk about the product angle and specifically how Dell is thinking about solving the multi-cloud challenge. And then Sam Groccot is the senior vice President of marketing. He's going to come in the program and give us the update on Apex, which is Dell's as-a-service offering. And a new edge platform called Project Frontier. By the way, it's also Cybersecurity Awareness Month and we're going to see if Sam has any stories there. And finally, for a company that's nearly 40 years old, Dell has some pretty forward thinking philosophies when it comes to its culture and workforce. And we're going to speak with Jen Saavedra who's Dell's Chief Human Resource officer about hybrid work and how Dell is thinking about the future of work. We're going to geek out all day and talk multi-cloud and Edge and latency, but first, let's talk wallet. Tom Sweet, CFO, and one of Dell's key business architects. Welcome back to "theCUBE." >> Dave, it's good to see you and good to be back with you, so thanks for having me today. >> Yeah, you bet. Tom, it's been a pretty incredible past 18 months. Not only the pandemic and all that craziness, but the VMware spin. You had to give up your gross margin pinky, just kidding, and of course the macro environment. I'm so sick of talking about the macro. But putting that aside for a moment what's really remarkable is that for a company of your size, you've had some success at the top line which I think surprised a lot of people. What are your reflections on the last 18 to 24 months? >> Well Dave, it's been an incredible, not only last 18 months, but the whole transformation journey if you think all the way back maybe to the LBO and forward from there. But stepping into the last 18 months, it's, I think I remember talking with you and saying, "Hey, the scenario planning we did at the beginning of this pandemic journey was 30 different scenarios roughly, and none of which sort of panned out the way it actually did," which was a pretty incredible growth story. As we think about how we helped customers, drive workforce productivity, enable their business model during the all remote work environment that was the pandemic created. And couple that with the rise then and the infrastructure spin as we got towards the tail end of the pandemic coupled with the spin out of VMware, which culminated last November as we completed that, which unlocked a pathway back to investment grade, which then unlocked, quite frankly shareholder value, capital allocation frameworks. It's really been a remarkable 18, 24 months. It's, it's never dull at Dell Technologies. Let me put it that way. >> Well, I was impressed with you Tom before the leverage buyout and then what I've seen you guys navigate through is truly amazing. Well, let's talk about the challenging macro. I mean, I've been through a lot of downturns but I've never seen anything quite like this with Fed tightening, and you're combating inflation, you got this recession looming. There's a bear market. You got, but you got zero unemployment, you're rising wages, strong dollar, and it's very confusing. But IT spending is, it's somewhat softer, but it's still not bad. How are you seeing customers behave? How is Dell responding? >> Yeah look, if you think about the markets we play in Dave, we should start there as a grounding. The total market, the core market that we think about is roughly $750 billion or so, if you think about our core IT services capability. If you couple that with some of the growth initiatives that we're driving and the adjacent markets that that that brings in, you're roughly talking a 1.4 to $1.5 trillion market opportunity total addressable market. And so from that perspective we're extraordinarily bullish on where are we in the journey as we continue to grow and expand. We have, we're number one share in just about every category that we plan, but yet when you look at that, number one share in some of these, our highest share position may be low 30s and maybe in the high end of storage or at the upper end of 30s or 40%. But the opportunity there to continue to expand the core and continue to take share and outperform the market is truly extraordinary. So if you step back and think about that, then you say, okay, what have we seen over the last number of months and quarters? It's been really great performance through the pandemic as you highlighted. We actually had a really strong first half of the year of our fiscal year '23 with revenue up 12% operating income, up 12% for the first half. What we talked about if you might recall in our second quarter earnings was the fact that we were starting to see softness. We had seen it in the consumer PC space, which is not a big area of focus for us in the sense of our total revenue stream. But we started to see commercial PC soften and we were starting to see server demand soften a bit and storage demand was holding quite frankly. And so we gave a framework around guidance for the rest of the year as a result of what we were seeing. The macro environment as you highlighted continues to be challenging. If you look at inflation rates and the efforts by central banks across the globe through interest rate rise to press down and constrain growth and push down inflation, you couple that with supply chain challenges that continue particularly in the ISG space. And then you couple that with the Ukraine war and the energy crisis that that's created. And particularly in Europe, it's a pretty dynamic environment. But I'm confident, I'm confident in the long term. But I do think that there is, there's navigation that we're going to have to do over the coming number of quarters. Who knows quite how long. To make sure the business is properly positioned and we've got a great portfolio and you're going to talk to some of the team later on as you think your way through some of the solution capabilities we're driving, what we're seeing around technology trends. So the opportunity is there. There's some short term navigation that we're going to need to do just to make sure that we address some of the environmental things that we're seeing right now. >> Yeah, and as a global company of course you're converting local currencies back to appreciated dollars. That's another headwind. But as you say, I mean, that's math and you're navigating it. And again, I've seen a lot of downturns, but the best companies not only weather their storm, but they invest in ways they that allow them to come out the other side stronger. So I want to talk about that longer term opportunity the relationship between the core, the the business growth. You mentioned the TAM. I mean, even as a lower margin business, if you can penetrate that big of a TAM, you could still throw off a lot of cash and you've got other levers to turn in potentially acquisitions and software. But so ultimately what gives you confidence in Dell's future? How should we think about Dell's future? >> Yeah look, I think it comes down to we are extraordinarily excited about the opportunity over the long term. Digital transformation continues. I am on numerous customer and CIO conference calls every week. Customers are continuing to invest in digital transformation, in infrastructure, to enable their business model. Yes, maybe it's going to slow or pause, or maybe they're not going to invest quite at the same rate over the next number of quarters but over the long term the needs are there. You look at what we're doing around the growth opportunities that we see, not only in our core space where we continue to invest, but also in the, what we call the strategic adjacencies. Things like 5G and modern telecom infrastructure as our, the telecom providers across the globe open up their what previous been closed ecosystems to open architecture. You think about, what we're doing around the EDGE and the distribution now that we're seeing of compute and storage back to the edge given data, gravity, and latency matters. And so we're pretty bullish on the opportunity in front of us. Yes, we will, and we're continuing to invest. And you hear Jeff Boudreau talk about that I think later on in the program. So I'm excited about the opportunities and you look at our cash flow generation capability, we are in in normal times a cash flow generation machine and we'll continue to do so. We've got a negative CCC in terms of how do we think about efficiency of working capital? And we look at our capital allocation strategy which has now returned somewhere in near 60% of our free cash flow back to shareholders. And so, there's lots to, lots of reasons to think about why this, we are a great sort of, I think value creation opportunity in a over the long term. That the long term trends are with us and I expect them to continue to be so. >> Yeah, and you guys, you do what you say you're going to do. I mean, I said in my other piece that I did recently, I think you guys put $46 billion on the balance sheet in terms of debt. That's down to I think 16 billion in the core which that's quite remarking. That gives you some other opportunities. Give us your closing thoughts. I mean, you kind of just addressed why Dell is a good long term play, but I'll give you an opportunity to bring us home. >> Hey Dave, yeah look, I just think if you look at the grid, the market opportunity, the size and scale of Dell and how we think about the competitive advantages that we have, we can, if you look at say we're a hundred billion dollar revenue company which we were last year as we reported. Roughly 60, 65 billion of that in the client in PC space, roughly 35 to 40 billion in the ISG or infrastructure space. Those markets are going to continue. The opportunity to grow share, grow at a premium to the market, drive cash flow, drive share gain is clearly there. And couple that with what we think the opportunity is in these adjacent markets, whether it's telecom, the EDGE, what we're thinking around data services, data management, we, and you put that together with the long term trends around data creation and digital transformation. We are extraordinarily well positioned. We have the largest direct selling organization in the technology space. We have the largest supply chain. Our services footprint. Well positioned in my mind to take advantage of the opportunities as we move forward. >> Well Tom I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. Good to see you again. >> Nice seeing you. Thanks Dave. >> All right, you're watching theCUBE's exclusive behind the scenes coverage of Dell Technology Summit 2022. In a moment, I'll be back with Jeff Boudreau. He's the president of Dell's ISG Infrastructure Solutions Group. He's responsible for all the important enterprise business at Dell, and we're excited to get his thoughts. Keep it right there. (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) >> As we said in our analysis of Dell's future, the transformation of Dell into Dell EMC and now Dell Technologies has been one of the most remarkable stories in the history of the technology industry. After years of successfully integrated EMC and becoming VMware's number one distribution channel, the metamorphosis of Dell culminated in the spin out of VMware from Dell and a massive wealth creation milestone pending of course the Broadcom acquisition of VMware. So, where's that leave Dell and what does the future look like for this technology powerhouse? Hello and welcome to the Cube's exclusive coverage of Dell Technologies Summit 2022. My name is Dave Vellante, and I'll be hosting the program. Today in conjunction with the Dell Tech Summit. We'll hear from four of Dell senior executives. Tom Sweet is the CFO of Dell Technologies. He's going to share his views of the company's position and opportunities and answer the question, why is Dell a good long term investment? Then we'll hear from Jeff Boudreau, who's the president of Dell's ISG business unit, who's going to talk about the product angle and specifically how Dell is thinking about solving the multi-cloud challenge. And then Sam Grocott is the Senior Vice President of Marketing is going to come in the program and give us the update on APEX which is Dell's as-a-service offering and a new edge platform called Project Frontier. By the way, it's also Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and we're going to see if Sam has any stories there. And finally, for a company that's nearly 40 years old, Dell has some pretty forward thinking philosophies when it comes to its culture and workforce. And we're going to speak with Jen Saavedra, who's Dell's chief Human Resource officer about hybrid work and how Dell is thinking about the future of work. We're going to geek out all day and talk multi-cloud and edge and latency, but first, let's talk wallet. Tom Sweet CFO, and one of Dell's key business architects. Welcome back to The Cube. >> Dave, it's good to see you and good to be back with you. So, thanks for having me today. >> Yeah, you bet. Tom, it's been a pretty incredible past 18 months. Not only the pandemic and all that craziness but the VMware spin. You had to give up your gross margin binky just kidding, and of course the macro environment. I'm so sick of talking about the macro but putting that aside for a moment, what's really remarkable is that for a company at your size you've had some success at the top line which I think surprised a lot of people. What are your reflections on the last 18 to 24 months? >> Well, Dave, it's been an incredible, not only last 18 months but the whole transformation journey. If you think all the way back maybe to the LBO and forward from there, but, you know stepping into the last 18 months, it's, you know, I think I remember talking with you and saying, Hey you know, the scenario planning we did at the beginning of this pandemic journey was, you know 30 different scenarios roughly, and none of which sort of panned out the way it actually did which was a pretty incredible growth story as we think about how we helped customers, you know drive workforce productivity, enable their business model during the all remote work environment, that was the pandemic created. And couple that with the, you know, the rise then in the infrastructure spin as we got towards the tail end of the, of the pandemic coupled with, you know, the spin out of VMware, which culminated last November, as you know as we completed that, which unlocked a pathway back to investment grade, we still unlocked, quite frankly shareholder value, capital allocation frameworks. It's really been a remarkable, you know, 18, 24 months. It's never dull at Dell Technologies Let me put it that way. >> Well, well, I was impressed with you, Tom before the leverage buyout and then what I've seen you guys navigate through is truly amazing. Well, let's talk about the challenging macro. I mean, I've been through a lot of downturns, but I've never seen anything quite like this with fed tightening and you combating inflation, you got this recession looming, there's a bear market you got but you got zero unemployment you're rising wages, strong dollar, and it's very confusing. But IT spending is, you know, it's somewhat softer, but it's still not bad. How are you seeing customers behave? How is Dell responding? >> Yeah, look, if you think about the markets we play in Dave and we should start there as a grounding, you know, the total market, the core market that we think about is roughly 700 and, you know, $50 billion or so if you think about our core IT services capability. You couple that with some of the growth initiatives that we're driving and the adjacent markets that that brings in, you're roughly talking a 1.4 to $1.5 trillion market opportunity total addressable market. And so from, from that perspective we're extraordinarily bullish on where are we in the journey as we continue to grow and expand. You know, we have, we're number one share in just about every category that we plan but yet when you look at that, you know number one share in some of these, you know our highest share position may be, you know low 30s and maybe in the high end of storage you're at the upper end of 30 or 40%. But the opportunity there to continue to expand the core and continue to take share and outperform the market is truly extraordinary. So, if you step back and think about that, then you say, okay, what have we seen over the last number of months and quarters? It's been, you know, really great performance through the pandemic as, as you highlighted. We actually had a really strong first half of the year of our fiscal year 23 with revenue up 12% operating income up 12% for the first half. You know, what we talked about is you, if you might recall in our second quarter earnings was the fact that we were starting to see softness. We had seen it in the consumer PC space which is not a big area of focus for us in the sense of our, our total revenue stream. But we started to see commercial PC soften, and we were starting to see server demand soften a bit and storage demand was, was holding quite frankly. And so, we gave a a framework around guidance for the rest of the year as a result of what we were seeing. You know, the macro environment as you highlight it continues to be challenging. You know, if you look at inflation rates and the efforts by central banks across the globe to with through interest rate rise to press down and and constrain growth and push down inflation, you couple that with supply chain challenges that continue particularly in the ISG space. And then you couple that with the Ukraine war and the energy crisis that that's created. And particularly in Europe it's a pretty dynamic environment. And, but I'm confident, you know, I'm confident in the long term, but I do think that there is, you know that there's navigation that we're going to have to do over the coming number of quarters who knows quite how long, you know, to make sure the business is properly positioned then. You know we've got a great portfolio and you're going to talk to some of the team later on as you think your way through some of the solution capabilities we're driving what we're seeing around technology trends. So the opportunities there, there's some short term navigation that we're going to need to do just to make sure that we address some of the, you know, some of the environmental things that we're seeing right now. >> Yeah and as a global company, of course you're converting local currencies back to appreciated dollars. That's, that's, that's another headwind. But as you say, I mean that's math and you're navigating it. And again, I've seen a lot of downturns, but you know the best companies not only weather their storm, but they invest in ways they that allow them to cut out come out the other side stronger. So, I want to talk about that longer term opportunity, the relationship between the core, the business growth. You mentioned the TAM, I mean, even as a lower margin business, if you can penetrate that big of a TAM, you could still throw off a lot of cash and you've got other levers to turn in potentially acquisitions and software but so ultimately what gives you confidence in Dell's future? How should we think about Dell's future? >> Yeah, look, I think it comes down to, we are extraordinarily excited about the opportunity over the long term, digital transformation continues. I am on numerous customer and CIO conference calls every week. Customers are continuing to invest in digital transformation in infrastructure to enable their business model. Yes, maybe it's going to slow or, or pause or maybe they're not going to invest quite at the same rate over the next number of quarters but over the long term the needs are there. You look at what we're doing around the growth opportunities that we see, not only in our core space where we continue to invest but also in the, what we call the strategic adjacencies. Things like 5G and modern telecom infrastructure as our the telecom providers across the globe open up their what previous been closed ecosystems, you know to open architecture. You think about, you know, what we're doing around the edge and the distribution now that we're seeing of compute and storage back to the edge given data gravity and latency matters. And so we're pretty bullish on the opportunity in front of us. You know, yes, we will, we're continuing to invest. And you'll hear Jeff Boudreau talk about that I think later on in the program. So, I'm excited about the opportunities and you look at our cash flow generation capability, you know, we are in normal times a cash flow generation machine and we'll continue to do so. You know, we've got a negative, you know CCC in terms of, you know how do we think about efficiency of working capital? And we look at our, you know our capital allocation strategy which has now returned, you know, somewhere in near 60% of our free cash flow back to shareholders. And so, you know, there's lots to, lots of reasons to think about why this, you know, we are a great sort of, I think value creation opportunity in a over the long term that the long term trends are with us and I expect them to continue to be so. >> Yeah, and you guys, you do what you say you're going to do. I mean, I said in my, in my other piece that I did recently, I think you guys put 46 billion dollars on the balance sheet in terms of debt. That's down to I think 16 billion in the core which that's quite remarking. That gives you some other opportunities. Give us your, your closing thoughts. I mean, you kind of just addressed why Dell is a good long term play but I'll give you an opportunity to bring us home. >> Hey, Dave yeah look, I just think if you look at the grin, the market opportunity the size and scale of Dell and how we think about the competitive advantages that we have, we come you know, if you look at, say we're a hundred billion dollar revenue company which we were year, you know, last year that as we reported, roughly 60, 65 billion of that in the client in PC space, roughly, you know, 35 to 40 billion in the ISG or infrastructure space, those markets are going to continue. The opportunity to grow share, grow at a premium to the market, drive cash flow, drive share gain is clearly there. You couple that with, you know what we think the opportunity is in these adjacent markets, whether it's telecom, the edge, what we're thinking around data services, data management you know, we, and you've cut, you put that together with the long term trends around, you know data creation and digital transformation. We are extraordinarily well positioned. We have the largest direct selling organization in the technology space. We have the largest supply chain, our services footprint you know, well positioned in my mind to take advantage of the opportunities as we move forward. >> Well, Tom really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. Good to see you again. >> Nice seeing you. Thanks Dave. >> All right. You're watching The Cube's exclusive behind the scenes coverage of Dell Technology Summit 2022. In a moment, I'll be back with Jeff Boudreau. He's the president of Dell's ISG Infrastructure Solutions Group. He's responsible for all the important enterprise business at Dell and we're excited to get his thoughts. Keep it right there. (upbeat jingle)

>> The Cube presents Dell Technologies World brought to you by Dell. (crowd murmuring) >> Welcome back to Las Vegas. It's The Cube live at Dell Technologies World 2022. This is day two of our coverage Lisa Martin, with Dave Vellante. We've had a lot of great conversations all day today half a day yesterday. We've got another great conversation coming up about ESG environmental, social and governance. Please welcome JJ Davis, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Dell Technologies. Welcome to the program. >> Hi, thanks for having me. >> Hey, hey. >> It's great to be here. >> ESG is a very popular topic. >> Yes. >> It's one thing to talk about another thing to actually have a plan, have a strategy, have those 20, 30 moonshot goals and implement. Talk to us about what ESG means for Dell Technologies and some of these great things, that you have going on. >> Absolutely. So you said it, I mean it can be acronym soup. When you think about, is it social impact? Is it corporate social responsibility? Is it ESG and the beauty of having an environmental social governance strategy is we now are bringing ESG much closer to the corporate strategy and how we meet the needs of all of our stakeholders. So I'd love to just back it up for a minute and think about the purpose of Dell Technologies is to create technologies that advance human potential. Our vision is to be the most essential technology company for the data era. The way we do that is we're growing and modernizing our core businesses like PC servers and storage while we're building the technology ecosystem of the future. Well guess what? ESG is embedded in all of that because the future is more sustainable, built by people that represent our customer base with a workforce that is more diverse and a workplace that is more inclusive. We put human rights and the needs of people at the center of what we do as well as the needs of the planet. And when I get to put together purpose planet and profit and bring that strategy together in partnership with so many leaders of across the company and meeting the demands of our customers. ESG is just a part of the way we do business now >> It's part of the DNA. >> Yeah. >> Talk to us about some of the key priorities from a climate perspective, for example. >> Sure. >> What are some of Dell's key focus areas where that's concerned? >> So when we think about our ESG priorities as a whole there are four climate, circular, economy, diverse workplace and digital inclusion. And so within our sustainability pillar of our strategy or the E, we are committed to being net zero across scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2050. We are revamping our product energy goal right now to relaunch that. When we think about our customers 95% of our big customer RFPs ask about sustainability and our commitment and what we'll be doing to help them because they're going to be reliant on technology to meet their own sustainability and climate goals, whether it's green IT or IT for green and they're going to really be looking to us to help them. >> You know, I love this purpose planet profit. >> Yeah. >> You and I have talked about this a little bit. It's actually good business. Explain why ESG is good business? >> Well, I mean, used to social impact kind of sat off to the side. We might have been called do gooders or people that are passionate about things that maybe don't align to the corporate strategy. And now when you think about business round table and Michael Dell as a member and they came out with their purpose of a company statement it'll be three years in August to really redefine the purpose of a company to meet the needs of all stakeholders from employees, to customers, to shareholders as well. And so we know that new hires and new buyers demand more of their employer and of the companies they buy from. They want their own personal values to align with that of the company they work for or buy from. And so now we need to the needs of our business commitments, but also if companies don't take a leadership role, we're screwed, we're not going to be able to reverse the negative impacts. So climate change and technology plays a big role. >> Yeah. "The earth gets the last at bat," as they say. >> Yeah. >> From an accountability perspective that you mentioned 95% of RFPs are coming in and customers are looking for- >> Yes. >> Dell Technologies's commitment to ESG. Talk about the accountability to your customers to all customers where ESG is concerned and how is it measured? >> Sure. So we've been spending a lot of time over the last year, year and a half on the G of ESG the governance. And so we have been doing this for a couple decades really moving the needle on social impact. Michael talked about it in his key note, that this is in our DNA like you said. But now we have to be able to really measure. You can't manage what you can't measure. We have put a lot of governance around, what do we disclose and why Michael Dell is an active participant in the world economic forum, common metrics project because, you know, there's too many metrics and frameworks to know what companies need to be measuring and how we hold ourselves accountable and what we ultimately report to our shareholders. And so there's a lot of work to get more clarity there. You're seeing the SEC put out new rules around climate and human rights. And so when you start to get regulated that changes the game in terms of how transparent you need to be. And then what are the third party assurances that you need to have to validate the data that you're reporting on? We do have an annual ESG report that comes out every June where we report across several moonshot goals across sustainability, inclusive culture, transforming lives and ethics and privacy. Then we have sub goals. There's probably about 25 in total. And we're going to tell you our stakeholders every year how we're doing against our 20, 30 commitment. And I think it's that level of transparency and measurement that we have to hold ourselves accountable to and our customers do as well. >> Can you share a little bit about where you are on the 2030 moonshot that was announced about a couple years ago at the beginning of 20, yeah, towards the beginning of 2020. Where is Dell on the that, what's your moonscape look like? >> Yeah, sure. So we are announcing our update from calendar year 21 in June. So I'm not going to get the numbers exactly right. But if you take sustainability so one of our moonshot goals is around 100% of our packaging by 2030 will be made of recycled or renewable content. We're over 90% now. So we're going to probably restate that goal and evolve it or meet it early and set a new one. In terms of product contents. We have a goal that is 50% of our product contents will be from recycled over renewable materials. That's a little harder, plastic is easy, steel is hard. And so we're still working through how across the main components that go into our machines. How does that become more renewed and sustainable? If you think about 50% women in our workforce 25% African American or Hispanic in our US workforce we're making really good progress. And we have scaled programs that are helping us deliver on those commitments. >> Yeah. I think I'm quoting JJ Davis, correct me if I'm wrong but, "ESG marries who we are with what we do." What do you mean by that? >> So when you think about what we do, we build technology that delivers or advances human progress. We help our customers solve their biggest problems but really who we are. We are a founder-led company and Michael Dell was a purpose led driven CEO before that was even a term. And so he always wanted to have an ethical company that just did business above and beyond what the law required. And we'd been recycling PC for more than 20 years. And so we are an inclusive culture where we can bring our full selves to work and we are entrepreneurial. And, you know, if we have an idea and you raise that idea or a problem, you see then oftentimes the management will say, "Okay you go fix that." And so I think just what we do, we build technology. Who we are, is we're problem solvers for our customers. And that is good for business and good for the environment and what it is society really expects of us. And we're empowered to make a difference. Feels good. >> One of, I'm curious to get your perspective on , you know, the events of the last two years. One of the things that's happened is the great resignation. I think we all all know multiple people who have decided they're moving forward, lots of opportunity but where is Dell's ESG strategy as a differentiator for people going, I get it, I support that, that's the kind of company I want to work for? >> Our Chief Human Resources Officer Jen Saavedra calls it, "The great reshuffle." I think that's maybe a more positive way to look at it. And, you know, I've had people actually join my team because they are really positive on our mission and not just our proactive strategy around ESG but how we have handled our response to social issues. >> Yeah. >> I mean, who knew that company CEOs would be expected to speak out on voter access or LGBTQ rights and, you know. So a lot of people are coming to work for us because we are very measured in where we weigh in and what we stand for, how we speak out. But they're also really buying into our ESG strategy. I would also say our flexible work commitment. It's a big part of our DNI strategy as well and helps us attract and retain diverse talent. You can live and work wherever you want to proximity the headquarters is no longer criteria for advancement. And that's going to be a really big differentiator companies that get this right will win the talent war. And that means they'll better serve their customers. >> When you took over this role, I'm guessing you kind of did a scan to see who else was out there, what others were doing, not just in Tech. >> Sure. >> Not just in North America, but globally. What did you find? Where do you get your inspiration? Are there any organizations out there that are really models that you get inspiration from? Or is it so new? You are the model. Can you just talk about that? >> Well I mean, I think we're doing a really good job and we're pretty advanced, but nobody has this figured out and frankly, we need to do it together. This is a space where you don't actually want to compete. >> Right. >> You want to partner. And so we have our own sustainability advisory aboard and companies like Boeing or on that. I serve on a sustain the advisory board from McLaren and Unilever's chief sustainability officers there. That is a company that is really inspirational to us. And so partners like Intel, they're very involved in 50. So the next 50% that needs to get connected to the internet and participate in the digital economy. We're big partner, as you know we're their largest customer. And so there's a lot going on across our competition our customers and our partners. And we're all inspiring each other and figuring it out together. Cause it's evolving so fast. Nobody has all the answers. >> But that's a great point. The evolution is happening so quickly and every day you turn on the news and there's something else that needs to be responded to. >> Yeah. >> I mean, think that from a strategic perspective from that overall vision perspective, it sounds like what and there's been some announcements this week. >> Yeah. >> That respect to issue. What's been some of the feedback from the part of ecosystem, from customers, from investors on this laser focused vision that Dell has with respect to sustainability and ESG? >> So Cassandra Garber, our head of ESG just finished out of cycle road show with investors and had really good conversations. They're asking a lot of questions about our strategy. They're asking questions about executive compensation tied to ESG as an example. Our customers are very positive and responding. They're looking for technology solutions. As I mentioned to meet their own climate commitments. And from our channel partners they really want to partner on our initiatives and really go do good and make an impact together. And we're getting really good feedback. >> So carrot or stick, it's probably not 100% that the channel partners or even suppliers, you know, some just don't have the resource possibly or maybe they don't share your values. >> Right. >> So how do you approach that? Is it through inspiration? Is it through a little tap in the head or a little headlock? How do you deal with that? >> It's both. I mean, our suppliers have to adhere to the contract and the RSA code of conduct that they have to sign on to uphold. And so we very much hold them accountable just like we do our ourselves. And so that is more compliance driven but we do have partners like Western's Green in our supply chain who we're really involved with us in some early work around recycled gold and partners that are involved with us in setting up the ocean plastic supply chain. And so we have great partnership but there are things they have to do from a human rights perspective or commitment to the environment that are required. From a channel partner perspective, you know, we want to incent them. We want to make money together. We are for profit businesses after all. And ESG can be a part of that. And if you don't have the resources to drive your own take back initiative, then we can do that in partnership through our asset recovery services which partners can sell and then use our infrastructure to take back and recycle old equipment. >> I mean, I feel like a lot of my questions are two-way but you feel as though you're in influencing public policy or a public policy is influencing you? >> Both. I mean, early on when the SEC was looking at the climate rules that they just put out, there was, I think we submitted a six page response to their, you know, ask for inquiry and response. And so that's good. We're able to talk to each other and have conversations and shape things, but ultimately we'll be regulated in these areas and that's fine. We just got to make sure that we're ready. >> Great. >> It's always good to have that push and pull it's like with the pandemic all the silver linings that have come out of the acceleration, we talk about that all the time on this show. The acceleration of digital transformation, we were talking about the acceleration of retail in the intelligence store. >> Right. >> And as consumers, we expect that, but that push and pull sometimes those forcing functions are necessary to be able to drive forward. >> For sure. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> My last question for you is Dell just came off it's most successful year. >> Yes. >> First time hitting north of 100 billion. >> Yes. >> In the company's history. What are some of the things that we think is the moonshot goals, we're only in 2020. >> I know. >> But as time is going by so quickly, what are some of the things that you are personally looking forward to from a corporate affairs ESG perspective say the next like three to five years? >> Well, I'm really excited about some of the groundwork we've laid in digital inclusion. We just made some new hires there. We're connecting the dots, you know, and we have a lot of initiatives that can really if we can scale them, make a big impact. So we have student tech crew, it's where high school students serve as the technical support in their local high school and get certified. So they are job ready the minute they graduate. If they don't want to go to community college or university they can go right into the workforce. How do we marry that up with other skill building initiatives that we have? And if you add 1 plus 1 it equals 3. And I think this year will be a really big accelerator for us in the area of digital inclusion and how we bring connectivity, community services and support and digital skills together. Because that's what, you know, those that aren't participating in the digital economy we need to partner and really deliver on the promise of what it means to be in technology and at least have the skills to compete >> Right. Start eliminating that digital divide. JJ, thank you for joining David and me today talking about ESG- >> Thank you. >> corporate affairs, such an interesting focused efforts that Dell is really wrapped around. And it sounds like there's that push pull from the customers, from policy, but ultimately going in a great direction that can be measured. Thank you for your insights and your time. >> Thank you. >> For JJ and Dave Vellante I'm Lisa Martin. You've been watching The Cube live from Las Vegas. This is the end of day 2 of our coverage of Dell Technologies World. We thank you for watching. You can find all of our content on replay on theCUBE.net. And of course, we will be here tomorrow with John Farrier and Dave Nicholson as well. Have a great night. We'll see you tomorrow. (upbeat music)