It’s not often you get a chance to hear one of the country’s foremost experts in information technology. Earlier this week we (myself and several colleagues at PKF Texas) were treated to one of the best, “A Conversation with Michael Dell”, founder, Chairman and CEO of Dell – and a native son of Houston.
On April 30th, Dell was the guest speaker on a panel for the Houston Forum. Also on the panel, Walter Ulrich, CEO of the Houston Technology Center, Leonard Rejcek, President and CEO of Manhattan Construction Co., moderated the session.
Dell took questions from Walter, Leonard, and the audience.
Some of the most interesting points I took from the presentation include:
- 1 billion people are currently on the internet
- 500,000 new users log on every day
- Use of the internet is expected to double in the next five years creating opportunities for
- Mobile
- Online
- Bandwidth
He also commented on his company, Dell, giving valuable insight into one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs:
- 10 years ago Dell’s revenues were $6 billion and they are currently at $61 billion
- In the past year (before he took over again as CEO) they experienced an annual growth rate of -11% and this year they are currently at a +21% growth rate
- Dell stresses keeping things simple for his people and customers alike
- He encourages conversation with your customers
- Dell (the company) recently launched www.dell.com/earth to address the company’s green initiatives
- Dell’s key target markets are outside the U.S. He refers to them as BRIC +10. BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. The +10 is several other countries where the technology sector is booming or has the potential to grow exponentially in the next few years.
A few other thoughts I noted about the technology growth:
- China currently has several of the worlds most visited websites
- Due to the fact that the internet does not have borders, social networks, collaboration are pushing content all over the world.
Great stuff, and I was glad I was able to hear him speak. If you get the chance to see one of his presentations, I would highly recommend it.