>> 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.