Dell in charge
A year after taking over as CEO, Michael Dell has his company back on track
By Scott Ferguson and Jessica Davis fered the previous two years. There leverage the best prices for its hard-
Count lew moorman among have been new technologies added ware. What is different, King said,
those impressed with Dell to the portfolio, a radical rethinking is the approach Michael Dell and
the last 12 months. of the hollowed direct-sales model, his management team are taking
Moorman, senior vice president an embrace of the IT channel and to improve the company through
for strategy and corporate develop- retail sales, and some hefty acqui- several bold acquisitions.
ment at hosting company Rack- sitions that many industry observ- “What really has impressed me
space, has never been shy about ers believe represent the biggest is that since Mike Dell’s return, the
telling Dell it needed to improve its change at the company and are key company has moved forward with
technology. He was vocal in push- to unlocking its new strategy. some very specific products and has
ing Dell to adopt Advanced Micro In an interview Feb. 4 before his made bold changes through acquisi-
Devices processors for its servers. company unveiled a new line of tions, which it had never prided itself
Afterseeingthe OEM storage products—the on before,” King said.
lose some of its edge first fruits of its $1.4 So far, Michael Dell’s return to
over the past few years, billion purchase of the day-to-day operations to replace
Moorman reacted with EqualLogic—Dell said Kevin Rollins—his handpicked
cautious optimism 2007 was a good year, successor—more closely resembles
when Michael Dell as illustrated by the Steve Jobs’ return to Apple than Ted
announced his return growth in the storage Waitt’s move back to the front office
as CEO Jan. 31, 2007. business. at Gateway.
While more remains “I’ve been really “Michael Dell’s return was a very
to be done, Moorman pleased with our last dramatic event, and I think you have
sees a company that, four quarters,” Dell seen that instead of a rip-and-replace
while different in some said. “I feel really plan, there has been a much more
ways, has rediscovered good about us right methodical approach and a look at
the formula that made now. We’re growing what has been working and a look
it one of the industry’s Acquisitions were key to the com- pany changes Michael Dell made. at a faster rate than at where they can shore up the weak
most recognizable ever. Our storage points,” Kingsaid.
powerhouses. business is the fastest-growing in In the year since his return,
“We have had a very positive the industry right now. It’s been Michael Dell has taken the com-improvement with our relation- that wayforthelastsevenquarters. pany to places that many never
ship with Dell during the last year,” This is due to our distribution sys- thought it would go. The first, and
Moorman said. “I don’t know how tem, new and innovative products, probably most notable, was into
much of that is because of leader- our geographic expansion, and a the channel—both in terms of
ship change, but in terms of them better cost structure alignment that agreements with distributors and
being more customer-centric and we’ve put into place. Storage is one VARs as well as the consumer retail
listening more, we have seen a big of our three most important busi- channel with big announcements
improvement—both from a product nesses right now, along with serv- involving the likes of Wal-Mart
standpoint and a customer relation- ers and PCs. I intend to maintain and Staples.
ship standpoint. We feel that we are that emphasis in 2008.” The other major transformation
in much better hands than we were Charles King, an analyst with of the company involved acquisi-
18 months ago.” P u n d - I T R e s e a r c h , s a i d D e l l tions, an area that the organization
Since his return as CEO 13 remains fundamentally the same had shunned previously. Within
months ago, Michael Dell has company it has always been, mean- its enterprise business, Dell used
workedtobringhisnamesakecom- ing that it still takes significant acquisitions to bolster its storage
pany back from the malaise it suf- advantage of its supply chain to division—such as the EqualLogic
