Michael Dell Issues Memo to Staff, Challenges to Unseat HP in Server Industry

Below is a piece of Michael Dell's memo to Dell

employees: "- Extend end-to-end information technology solutions capabilities . We anticipate making significant investments in research and development, capital expenditures and personnel additions. This includes hiring additional R&D, services and sales personnel in order to extend the depth and breadth of our capabilities and to increase the number of customers to whom such services and solutions are provided. Dell's strategy of becoming an integrated provider of end-to-end IT solutions is expected to require additional investments in converged infrastructure solutions, software, cloud solutions, application development and modernization, consulting and managed security services. In addition, it is likely that we will need to make additional acquisitions to complete our transformation. - Hire additional sales personnel . Our goal is to increase sales coverage and expand the depth of partnerships with channel partners in our Partner Direct program. We also expect to significantly increase investment in training for both new and existing sales personnel, including our channel partners. - Compete aggressively in emerging countries . We anticipate making significant investments to enhance our presence and ability to compete in emerging markets, including the BRIC countries (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India and China). In addition, we expect to expand aggressively in other parts of Asia, Latin and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. - Invest for growth in the PC and tablet business. We have plans to significantly increase investment in our PC and tablet business to enhance our ability to compete. While Dell's strategy in the PC business has been to maximize gross margins, following the transaction, we expect to focus instead on maximizing revenue and cash flow growth with the goal of improving long-term sales and competitive positioning. - Accelerate delivery of a simplified and enhanced customer experience . In 2012, we began an effort to simplify every aspect of the customer relationship. If successful, we believe this initiative will make it easier for customers to do business with Dell, eliminating friction and complexity and enabling more rapid response to customer needs. We expect to make significant operating expense and capital expenditure investments to accelerate this effort, which should yield improvements throughout the value chain, eliminating unnecessary complexity from our solutions, go-to-market, premium support, online sales and support, procurement and supply chain. Over time, this should help improve the customer experience, grow customer relationships, drive efficiencies and improve cycle times."