
Loading summary
A
Small businesses are ready to thrive again and looking for resources to rise to the challenge. That's why Dell Technologies has assembled an all star lineup of podcasters for the third year in a row to create a virtual conference to share advice and inspiration for small businesses. Whether you're working remotely or back together again, let Dell Technologies help safeguard your business with Modern Devices and Windows 11 Pro. Search Dell Technologies Small Business Podference on Odyssey.com, spotify or Apple Podcasts starting May 10th. Hi, this is Jim Miller, host of the podcast Origins. Recently I was able to sit down with Eric Day, Dell Technologies Senior Vice President and Small Business and Global Executive Chair, to discuss what it was like to have a multinational portfolio during a worldwide pandemic. Exciting new products like the podference, and what innovations and benefits Dell Technologies will be bringing their clients and customers in the years ahead. The interview was wide ranging on both professional and personal fronts and serves as a great window into life at dell technologies in 2022. Eric, tell me, when did you get to Dell?
B
So I it's a really fun story. I started at Dell about a year after undergrad. I graduated in 1998. I was going to school in Dallas. I wanted to get out of Dallas. I got my first job out of school in Houston. Hated it, hated the job, hated Houston. And I had a couple of job offers out of Austin. One was with a very well renowned telecommunications company at the time, mci. Jim, you might remember them.
A
Yeah, absolutely.
B
And they were like, oh, 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, we're going to put you on this management track. We love SMU grads. And then I went to Dell, who was just kind of got out of that, selling PCs on the Internet. Their consumer business was growing leaps and bounds because we had pulled out of retail at the time and they were hiring people off the streets and they're like, why are you here? You should be hired, be hiring full time as a temporary agency. And I said, well, this is where I was told to go. And after my dad told me that his investment in Dell split like the two years before that, he's like, oh no, no, you need to go work for Dell. And it was a 10th job, 2 to 11 on the phones, talking to consumers about technology. I think I was off on Tuesdays and Fridays. It was quite a crazy start, but I loved it. I loved what I did, I loved what the company stood for. And I haven't stopped ever since. And here I am, 23 years later, running one of the most important global jobs at Dell, servicing small Businesses around the world.
A
So give us an idea of what that means. Tell me just a quick little bit about the fabric of your day. Are you in, let's say, are you in a lot of meetings? Are you spending a lot of time reaching out to various teams around the world? What constitutes a day for you in this job?
B
That's a fantastic question, Jim. Yes, I spent a lot of time on Zoom. Here we are on Zoom Airlines, as Michael Bell likes to call it. And so I spend a majority of my day, especially my mornings and evenings, with my global team, so that I try to wrap my schedule around their schedules so they're not having to do too many gymnastics talking about more than business performance. But how does, how do we change strategy in order to reach our customers in a better way? You know, we have really kind of changed the brand of what we do from sales to advising. We believe that small businesses globally cannot succeed without digitally transforming and using technology to do that. And I think given our history as a company, we are the best brand in the SMB space to really do that. And so I spend a majority of my day working with my teams globally on how do we evolve and how do we access more and more customers through different programs, different ways to go to market, different events and partnerships in order to be able to get access to as many small businesses as we can.
A
I want to talk about the pandemic for a moment because obviously it was such a huge disruption for everyone on the planet. From a business point of view, how did it affect you and your group? I'd like to break it down into two different areas. One is maybe in terms of the need or the creation for new products and understanding different needs that your customer base may have. And then the second is more internally focused, which is how do you, as a leader at Dell, preserve the culture you want as a leader inside the company when you don't have the opportunity to sit with people face to face and get everyone together in the same room?
B
From a customer standpoint, I think there's really two important points to make. The first important point to make is that immediately the demand for technology became massive. And so the biggest part of our job was to be able to service our customers where they were at, to get technology to them as fast as they possibly can. So in many cases, where companies needed to move from an in office environment to an at home environment, we helped them through those changes. The biggest thing that we did with our small businesses was around this idea of pivoting and how you could use technology to pivot. Believe it or not, there was a lot of retail companies out there that didn't have an online shop. There were a lot of restaurants that didn't understand how to use technology to move from an in person dining experience to delivery service experience. Legal folks and realtors didn't realize what they could do with video technology and PC technology in order to make the experience really great for their clients. So we really tried and used this opportunity to get in front of so many people. We used our partnership with Microsoft and we used teams and Zoom and all these other things to, to really help our customers pivot. So that was the one thing that we really did. We used technology to address the demand that was in the market and to help our small business customers pivot to really focus on digitally transforming their business so that they could actually work in this pandemic type environment. The second thing we did for our customers is we really changed our message, right? The idea of entrepreneurships and startups and this idea of fast growing small businesses is all about success and drive and being able to be innovative and reaching to the moon and doing all these other things. And we had just were just about to launch a marketing campaign when the whole world shut down. And that message of like we're going to drive your success, it almost seemed tone deaf. And the other thing we did is we scrapped a multimillion dollar campaign that we were about to launch. Completely scrapped it. And within probably three weeks time, we refilmed all through video technology, a completely new campaign that was all about meeting our customers where they were and that we were going to be here at home, around the world. We did it in Japanese, we did it in Portuguese, we did it in German and French. And we really wanted our customers to know that we would be here for them through this and we would allow this idea of advising them on their technology as a core to what we did to help them where they're at. So I think that's kind of the two things that we did to focus on our customers and our business. On the second part of your question, which is around what did I do as a leader and how did I connect with my people? Diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything that I do. And this was a time where I really got to, I think, not only continue to develop those skills around being inclusive, but I really got challenged in those skills because of how people wanted to work. And I'm a big extrovert. And so I like to be in front of people and I like to go to big events and socialize and hobnob and all this other stuff. So this is very interesting for me. And as it evolved, I had to figure out how to use this new technology to connect to my people. And what we did is we used not only my own team and being able to drive, you know, different type of events. Like we did a wine and cheese night and we did kind of this really cool experiment where we kind of went around the entire team and they got to talk about what their families were doing. We did this like cribs, a vision like. So all of the, all of my team would like walk around their house and show us elements of their home. And we met their kids and their dogs and it really was a really cool experience. And then the other thing we did is we used our ergs, our employee resource group. So I, as an outgay senior executive at Dell, I run the pride erg globally. And we started doing these lip sync battles and these talent shows and we became the center of joy for the entire company. And it was amazing to see how we built this very inclusive culture around enjoying each other's company, even though we couldn't be there with each other. And it really did help a massive productivity dip that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic. We quickly and very rapidly kind of improved on that to get our folks to be really excited about what they were doing, even though they couldn't do it in person.
A
As a postscript to that, given the length of service at Dell, can you talk for just a moment about how the culture at Dell itself has changed through your time there? Because one of the things that happens at some companies obviously is as the company gets bigger, it loses its DNA in terms of how it relates to employees and how employees feel about the company. How do you feel Dell has been able to preserve the connection to its employees and that sense of one company despite the massive growth that has occurred since you arrived?
B
You know, again, I don't mean to be drinking my own Kool Aid or tooting our own horn, but, you know, when I hear Michael Dell talk about our competition and the way that our competition has kind of got through a lot of these things, one of the things that Michael really wanted to focus on is that, and he talks about this in his book about the idea of going private and the importance of the PC division and all of these rumors that the PC was dead and all this other stuff, and voila, look at the pandemic. The PC is at the center still of everything that we do. And the reason I say that is because he never swayed from having this idea of that we could truly be an end to end service provider for our company when it comes to technology. We can service the very smallest customers, we can service the very biggest customers and we don't have to split up our company into two. We don't have to spin off the PC division for somebody else to buy it. We really do believe in this idea of being able to service the customer as they grow, as their company grows. And the greatest thing about the role that I play in all of that, which is why I think that we keep so incredibly focused on each other, is that my success leads to medium business success, medium business success leads to corporate success, corporate success leads to Dell Technology select, which is our biggest customers. Like these parts of our organization are so intertwined that we're constantly working with one another on how to uplift every other's jobs and strategy in order for our go to market to really service our customers through their journey. And there's really still only one technology company that's still, that is our side that's still founder led, that actually still services the customer from the very, very first purchase to some of their most complex purchases when it comes to data center, cloud and the services and security that go around that infrastructure. So I think it's a pretty special thing that has really kept the culture there and that's the reason why so many of us have so much tenure, because it's amazing to follow still a founder led company that has been able to kind of get through some of these trying times and these tribulations and still kind of come up on top.
A
As a podcaster. I'd be negligent if I didn't mention podference because it sounds like such an ambitious and intriguing vehicle. Could you talk for a moment about what it is and what your goals are for it?
B
Yeah, I think this is something, another pandemic, kind of really cool innovation. I push my team. I don't own marketing. We have much smarter marketers. I consider myself half marketer, but not full marketer. We have amazing, very smart marketeers at the company. You have to, when you're, you know, you're over $100 billion and our marketers are insanely good. But my job as someone who drives demand and gets customers from that marketing is to hold them accountable to innovation and to look at media much differently. The media landscape today is incredibly different than the media landscape of yesterday. And podcasts have just absolutely blown up. And because of this ideation process that we do and this brainstorming that we do. The marketing team came up with this idea of, hey, we can't get together, we can't go to conferences, we can't go to these big in person events. What if we use podcasts to bring our communities together on topics that are really important to them, using a piece of media that they're using more now than they've ever used before? The podcast memberships have gone through the roof since the pandemic. So this is kind of what the whole goal of this was, is how do we bring the small business community using Dell to a media that they use a lot, that they can use while they walk the dog or do exercising or go on a road trip or go from point A to B so that we can actually have them interact with our brand through a media that is more up their alley. That's going to teach them something about what we're trying to do outside of just the standard, okay, here's Dell on TV or here's Dell on a magazine, or here's Dell in some out of home. Right? This was really trying to meet our customers where they're at. And we've had huge success, millions of impressions, a lot of positive feedback around the content that we're delivering. And we only do it once a year because we want to make sure that it's special. At one point I was like, oh my God, this is going so good. Let's do it once a quarter. And the team was like, Eric, if we do it once a quarter, it takes away from how special it is and the fact that we do it during Small Business Week month. So that's kind of how it all started. And we love who we're partnering with and the content that's delivering to our customers is outstanding because we believe that small business customers have a lot of problems that they're facing. And you all, like you yourself, Jim, are bringing just these amazing conversations that go way past technology. And we think that it's an important role that we play as a technology company to bring other content and opportunity for our small business customers to learn so that their business can thrive.
A
I heard that you were recently able to venture out, so to speak, for the first time since the pandemic and go to, I believe it was a conference in Brazil. Can you talk to me a little bit about what that was like after being kind of locked inside with the pandemic and what the goals of that conference were and what you learned from it?
B
Yeah, I mean, the Idea of. So I did. I traveled to the south of Brazil. Our main location for our Brazil business is out of Porto Alegre, which is in a state just south of Sao Paulo. It's about an hour and a half flight from Sao Paulo. And so one of the first goals was to see the team. And I had thought that it was going to be a very weird experience that people were not going to be as socially engaged as I thought they would be before. But it was outstanding just to see people back in the office engaging with one another, engaging with me, having roundtables. That was the start of my trip. And that alone was worth it. And I really came back on there. There is an importance for flexible work, but there's also an importance of being able to connect and engage in person. And I think that this is really important to learn about this debate around virtual work versus in person work. I think the future is hybrid. Like I think most of the future and many things is hybrid. And it was just really great to connect with the team. Then I attended this conference called South Summit, which was an idea coming out of Madrid, Spain, out of the financial crisis out of 2008, which was going to be this conference to bring founders, entrepreneurs, investors, technologies, technologists, companies together in one space to share content and learn, share best practices, et cetera. Porto Alegre is kind of in the south of Brazil, is trying to be that next tech innovation, tech entrepreneur hub of Brazil, similar to what I would say the Austin area has become for the United States. And it was amazing. They were expecting about 5 to 6,000 people a day across three days. They ended up having probably between 10 and 12,000 a day for the three days and five stages. Amazing conversations around technology, raising capital, understanding what it's like to be a woman entrepreneur. I was able to Talk to about 1200 people around the importance of building a team of diverse and inclusive talent in order to be able to grow so that your company can look and feel more like the customers you serve, rather than just the person and the idea that you have. And that was a fantastic talk. And then we were able to have a marketplace where Dell was able to show products and have people come up and talk to us about it. And it just, it was huge. It generated so much excitement for the community. It was a great economic boost for the city. And it was great to kind of be able to be back in front of people talking about these things because I think it was something people had been missing for a very long time.
A
So I'm interested in the idea that you want to shift away from this perception that you all are salespeople and really trying to understand what your we should say instead of customers, I guess your clients are up to. Can you tell me about the DNA of your interaction with them? Because that basically requires you and your team to have a keen understanding of what your clients are working on and some of the challenges they're facing so you can better suggest solutions. Right. And I'm just wondering, how does your team take the time and know what questions to ask in order to find out the problems that your clients may not even be aware of so you all can produce solutions?
B
Yeah. So let me take the first part of that question. About five years ago, I realized that telemarketing, this idea that's happening in Europe with GDPR customers not wanting to hear from vendors, this idea of our inability to reach our customers because customers were sick and tired of getting just blasted by spam and telemarketing and all this other stuff. And I was reading some data that was saying how unhappy customers were with just the inundation of people just trying to sell their own stuff and not really trying to help solve their problems. And I really listened to that and that was kind of the first step of trying to say, hey, how do we move past us trying to have a motivation here other than trying to solve customers problems? And then this idea came up with this branded term called the Dell Technology Advisor. And that's ultimately what we've turned out to be. So that was kind of our evolution from being inside sales representatives or account managers or whatever it might be, to true Dell Technologies advisors. We created millions and millions of dollars of campaigning around this because we wanted customers to see us as a place they could go to help solve their problems. And ultimately, when it comes to technology, this isn't an algorithm that's too hard for us to train our advisors to do. It's around understanding if our customers have a technology business case, are they thinking about the way that they're going to manage their data? And how do we break these questions down for them to make it so not hard to understand the difference between public cloud and private cloud? And why do you want something of both? We've broken a lot of these conversations down to the level that many of our small business customers who don't have IT staff can almost use us as their IT staff.
A
So does that mean that sometimes because you have a certain innovation in your toolbox, you share with the customers and that then in a way fundamentally changes the way they do Business.
B
Of course it does. And it should change the way they do their business. Because what we're seeing now, the trend we're seeing now, Jim, is that, you know, you don't need hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of staff people to try to make your innovation come alive. Right now, you need probably half as many people in a really good technology suite in order to be able to build your business to the goals that you ultimately have in your business case. But the problem is, is that a lot of our business leaders, and depending on what kind of IT infrastructure they have from a people standpoint and who's advising them, they don't necessarily know how to do that. And so we try to understand what's the problem that we're trying to solve, and then how do we ultimately use technology to be able to solve that problem for them. And, you know, I think that's where this whole advising has come from. It ultimately is around, okay, how do I keep my team productive, and then how do I make sure that I manage my data and I'm able to use it to make my company even better? How do I continue? How do I have technology that's constantly looking at my data and telling me what I should do next? What's my next best action? And there's a, you know, there's suites of products and there's technology that can ultimately help them do that. And we use our suite of hardware and software products to be able to do that for them. And sometimes we. A lot of times we involve amazing channel partners that we have. Sometimes we don't need to do that, but sometimes they have their own. And we work within their parameters to make them as successful as possible, to make them feel comfortable so that they can be the most successful business that they can be.
A
For over three decades, Michael, Dell has been talking about vision and projecting wants and needs for the future, both for the company and for the customers. What are you thinking about now as we sit here in May of 2022? What are you thinking about in terms of the road ahead, the changes? Is there some big ambition that you have on your radar screen that you want to conquer or that you want to immerse yourself in for the future? That's going to be personally and professionally satisfying for you.
B
Yeah. So we just had Dell Technologies World in Vegas just recently, and a lot of our customers and a lot of the folks listening to this podcast right now probably have heard the word Apex. And ultimately Apex is a program that we are trying to drive at Dell to help our customers manage Their technology as a service. Right. Rather than constantly be buying and recycling and all this other stuff, is there a way that we can give them what they need as a service? And right now it's kind of surrounding our very biggest customers and how they're using storage and how they're using data security and data manageability. And we haven't quite brought it down to the small business customer. So my ambition is how do we give you the access to the technology you need by one day never delivering anything to you? By literally just checking boxes, almost like a sushi menu of everything that you need in order to run your business? Right. We provide all those services, we give you a monthly bill, and that's how your data is managed. Right. It's this idea of. And then you ultimately have the PC and everything else, but everything else is kind of managed through multi cloud. Right. Michael talks about this all the time, that multi cloud is here to stay. It's not all public cloud, it's not all private cloud, it's not all off prem, it's not all on prem. It's a hybrid motion. And if we can do that motion and make it super simple for our smallest customers and then allow them to pay for it as flexibly as possible, almost like a utility, it's a game changer. And I think this is where the ambition is going and where we really need to be there for our customers to make using technology as easy as possible so that they can make their teams as efficient as possible and they can reach their goals. Because that's, at the end of the day, what many of these new startups are thinking about. They're trying to save the world or they're trying to figure out how to access and get medicine to people quicker. And they're trying to figure out how to make energy even cleaner. And they're trying to. They're solving really big problems and technology needs to be easy and fast and affordable. And that's the way that we're going to make the world a better place.
A
Eric, I can't thank you enough for your time, really. It sounds like you have exciting days and exciting road ahead, so all the best for you and your team.
B
I appreciate it, Jim. It's such a pleasure to be on here. Thank you for your partnership with Dell and thanks for having me today.
A
Absolutely. Thank you.
C
The new year is here and it's the perfect time to kickstart your meditation practice. The Morning Meditation for Women podcast has short daily guided meditations that will help you start your day with intention and focus and make it so easy to get you into the habit. Imagine feeling so much more calm and confident in 2025. Follow and listen to morning meditation for women on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast.
Origins with James Andrew Miller: Episode Summary – "Dell Technologies Podference Interview with Erik Day"
Release Date: May 20, 2022
In this compelling episode of Origins with James Andrew Miller, host James Miller engages in an in-depth conversation with Erik Day, Senior Vice President and Global Executive Chair for Small Business at Dell Technologies. The discussion delves into Erik’s extensive tenure at Dell, the company’s strategic adaptations during the global pandemic, innovative initiatives like Podference, and visions for the future of technology services for small businesses.
Background and Early Career
Erik Day shares his personal journey, highlighting his decision to join Dell Technologies shortly after graduating in 1998. Initially unhappy with his first job in Houston, Erik was drawn to Dell’s burgeoning consumer business, which was expanding rapidly by selling PCs online.
“I loved what I did, I loved what the company stood for. And I haven't stopped ever since. And here I am, 23 years later, running one of the most important global jobs at Dell.”
— Erik Day [01:46]
Tenure and Growth
Over 23 years, Erik has grown within Dell, eventually overseeing one of the company’s most critical global divisions focused on servicing small businesses worldwide.
Role and Responsibilities
Erik describes his daily routine, emphasizing the extensive use of virtual meetings to coordinate with his global team.
“I spend a majority of my day, especially my mornings and evenings, with my global team, so that I try to wrap my schedule around their schedules.”
— Erik Day [03:08]
Strategic Focus
His primary focus is shifting Dell’s brand from mere sales to advising, helping small businesses digitally transform to thrive in a technology-driven environment.
Customer-Centric Innovations
Erik outlines Dell’s swift response to the pandemic by addressing the surge in demand for technology. Dell assisted businesses in transitioning from in-office to remote operations, leveraging partnerships with platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
“We used technology to address the demand that was in the market and to help our small business customers pivot to really focus on digitally transforming their business.”
— Erik Day [05:07]
Marketing Pivot
Acknowledging the inappropriateness of their initial marketing message during the pandemic, Dell quickly revamped its campaign to focus on supporting customers through challenging times.
“We rebuilt our campaign to be all about meeting our customers where they were and that we were going to be here at home, around the world.”
— Erik Day [05:07]
Maintaining Company Culture
Internally, Erik prioritized diversity and inclusion, utilizing virtual events to maintain team morale and engagement.
“We used our ERGs, our employee resource groups. We started doing these lip sync battles and these talent shows and we became the center of joy for the entire company.”
— Erik Day [08:30]
Founder-Led Vision
Erik attributes Dell’s enduring culture to its founder-led approach, emphasizing a unified strategy across all divisions to serve customers comprehensively.
“We keep so incredibly focused on each other, because my success leads to medium business success, medium business success leads to corporate success, corporate success leads to Dell Technology select.”
— Erik Day [10:20]
Unified Organizational Structure
This integrated approach ensures that despite significant growth, Dell maintains a cohesive culture and strong employee connections.
Concept and Goals
Podference emerged as an innovative solution during the pandemic to replace traditional in-person conferences. It leverages the growing popularity of podcasts to engage the small business community.
“What if we use podcasts to bring our communities together on topics that are really important to them, using a piece of media that they're using more now than they've ever used before.”
— Erik Day [12:53]
Execution and Impact
Launched annually during Small Business Week, Podference has achieved significant reach and positive feedback, positioning Dell as a valuable resource beyond conventional advertising channels.
Return to Physical Engagement
Erik recounts his first in-person visit to Dell’s team in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and participation in the South Summit conference post-pandemic.
“There is an importance for flexible work, but there's also an importance of being able to connect and engage in person.”
— Erik Day [16:09]
Conference Highlights
At South Summit, Erik addressed over 1,200 attendees on building diverse and inclusive teams, emphasizing the significance of reflecting customer diversity within businesses.
“Building a team of diverse and inclusive talent is crucial for your company to look and feel more like the customers you serve.”
— Erik Day [16:09]
Shift in Customer Interaction
Erik discusses the evolution from traditional sales roles to becoming Dell Technology Advisors, focusing on understanding and solving customer challenges rather than pushing products.
“We created the Dell Technology Advisor. That was kind of our evolution from being inside sales representatives to true advisors.”
— Erik Day [19:52]
Enhancing Customer Relationships
By simplifying complex technological concepts, Dell empowers small businesses to manage their IT needs effectively, often serving as their IT department.
“We've broken a lot of these conversations down to the level that many of our small business customers who don't have IT staff can almost use us as their IT staff.”
— Erik Day [21:57]
Vision for the Future
Erik shares Dell’s ambitious plan to expand Apex, a program aimed at providing technology as a service, making IT solutions more accessible and flexible for small businesses.
“Our ambition is how do we give you the access to the technology you need by one day never delivering anything to you?”
— Erik Day [24:25]
Simplifying Technology Management
Apex seeks to offer a subscription-based model, akin to a utility service, allowing businesses to manage their technology needs seamlessly with multi-cloud solutions.
“Make using technology as easy as possible so that they can make their teams as efficient as possible and they can reach their goals.”
— Erik Day [24:25]
In this episode, Erik Day provides valuable insights into Dell Technologies’ strategic initiatives aimed at empowering small businesses through technological innovation and advisory services. From navigating the challenges of the pandemic to pioneering new platforms like Podference and envisioning the future with Apex, Dell continues to reinforce its commitment to being a trusted partner for businesses worldwide.
“That's the way that we're going to make the world a better place.”
— Erik Day [24:25]
Erik’s passion for fostering inclusive cultures, coupled with Dell’s adaptive strategies, underscores the company’s pivotal role in supporting the growth and sustainability of small businesses in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Notable Quotes:
“I started at Dell about a year after undergrad... and here I am, 23 years later, running one of the most important global jobs at Dell.” — Erik Day [01:46]
“We used our partnership with Microsoft and we used teams and Zoom... to really help our customers pivot.” — Erik Day [05:07]
“We kept so incredibly focused on each other... because my success leads to medium business success, medium business success leads to corporate success.” — Erik Day [10:20]
“Podference... using a piece of media that they're using more now than they've ever used before.” — Erik Day [12:53]
“Our ambition is how do we give you the access to the technology you need by one day never delivering anything to you?” — Erik Day [24:25]
This episode offers a profound exploration of leadership, innovation, and customer-centric strategies within a leading technology company, making it a must-listen for entrepreneurs and business leaders seeking inspiration and actionable insights.