Michael Dell: Dell Technologies has 'more powerful channel than any other technology company'

Eponymous leader talks up the opportunities for the combined Dell and EMC on the day the historic deal closes

Michael Dell has said Dell Technologies - the new umbrella brand name for Dell and EMC - has a "more powerful channel than any other technology company anywhere", as he talks up the benefits of scaling up the company.

Dell's acquisition of EMC was finalised today, seeing the Dell Technologies brand come into action. EMC will sit in Dell's Infrastructure Solutions Group and will be known as Dell EMC.

On the call to press and analysts, Michael Dell (pictured) said the combined channel for the new organisation will be formidable.

"In go-to-market, our new company has the strongest capabilities and the furthest reach, with more direct customers and a more powerful channel than any other technology company anywhere," he said.

Dell and EMC will operate their separate channel programmes from now until 1 February next year, when a new, combined version will come into play.

When asked if becoming a bigger organisation will mean Dell innovation slows down, Dell said scaling the business to the size it is today has taught him how to remain innovative.

"We always think about how we go faster," he said. "The single best way that I have found to do that is to actually detach yourself from the 90-day reporting cycles that are common among large companies. In 2013 we took the historic step to take Dell private and I think that has kicked the company into a new gear. The structure that we have with Dell Technologies allows us to not only have the scale in terms of R&D, innovation, the industry's strongest supply chain, but also the flexibility and agility to have start-up businesses within Dell Technologies which act very fast and are not governed by short-term concerns."

Dell and EMC's strategy to become a larger company by joining forces is directly at odds with that of HP, which split into two in a bid to become more agile and innovative.

While Dell would not comment on the rumours about rivals and their strategic plans, he did insist scale is essential.

"I think that the formation of Dell Technologies is an industry landscape-changing event. If you think about the other companies out there, they're in one form or another reacting to what we've done. That informs their strategy. We have stated for a long time that we think scale matters and the ability to invest for the long term matters," he said.

"Innovation and breadth of go-to-market reach matters as well. We feel quite confident in our ability to manufacture and grow and do well in both the new fast-growth parts of our industry as well as those where consolidation is under way. Let's just say other strategies others may be considering are going to be more challenging. We feel quite confident in the approach we have taken."

Dell Technologies - key facts

Businesses included: Dell, EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtusteam, VMware
Total revenue across all companies: $74bn
Total number of staff: 140,000
Combined sales force: more than 40,000
Global manufacturing locations: 25
Global service centres: 1,800