L-R: Grace Soo; Andy Sim; Amit Midha; Ng Tian Beng and Lee Man Wei (Dell Technologies)
Dell Technologies is directing channel partners to its recently reopened Executive Briefing and Solution Centre (EBSC) in Singapore, following a refresh period in which the vendor added new industry solutions and capabilities.
In showcasing credentials linked to Digital Cities, the centre spans an end-to-end portfolio housing multi-cloud, cyber security and server product lines, in addition to applications serving sectors such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing and retail.
Located in Changi, the new EBSC launch appears perfectly timed as Singapore relaxes COVID-19 measures and reopens its borders, allowing opportunities for customers and partners to run demos from across the region.
Channel Asia attended an exclusive media roundtable with Dell executives, Amit Midha -- president of APJ and Global Digital Cities -- and Andy Sim -- vice president and managing director of Singapore -- to discuss ways in which the Asian channel can support customers amid post-pandemic recovery plans.
Helping customers manage data complexity
Midha highlighted that despite technology becoming centre stage for businesses in Singapore and beyond, skills and innovation gaps remain, notably in relation to rising threat levels.
"With technology becoming essential, it also has its challenges – particularly around security,” he added.
Previously, Midha acknowledged that security remained an afterthought for many companies, which typically built a system first and then included security as an additional layer.
"Now you have to say, ‘hang on, data in the centre, protection right next to it, and then everything else comes after that’,” he said. “It’s a completely different paradigm to think about in the future with autonomous systems."
Hence, Midha advised partners to work closely with customers to understand evolving concerns around filling such skills and security gaps to help them thrive in the post-pandemic environment. One such example is centred on helping end-users manage increased levels of data complexity and volume.
"The first problem today is data and data protection are built via a cloud or a data centre inside a four-wall mindset,” he said. “You need to be able to put a data protection framework where you can actually manage any data, distributed from any hybrid cloud system."
Also, while vendors may be able to share industry best practices to help protect an organisation’s data, customers should also consider building strong infrastructure foundation in parallel.
"Ultimately, building the infrastructure in such a way that data protection is ‘built in’ is the best way to go – that’s the direction we’re headed," Midha advised.
Long-term support is key
Furthermore, while customers grow eager to advance the organisation’s digital transformation, partners should be prepared to support alongside. Regardless of the size of the company, for transformation to be a success, there needs to be a consideration of three factors: people, processes, and technology.
Customers need to be prepared that it won’t be a “one-day event”. From experience, Midha shared that organisations typically want to make changes across all fronts.
“The process from supporting digital will be different from the process supporting physical [change],” he said.
Additionally, traditional companies need to be aware for them to sufficiently compete with more nimble start-ups or technology-versed organisations, they must also increase the speed at which they do things, for example with system updates.
“I know corporations that have worked with us saying that their applications used to deliver one update every three months,” he said. “Now, they have one update a day.”
With centres like the EBSC and access to Dell’s resources, customers can also look forward to reference designs to make the journey “faster – versus having to relearn everything from the ground up”.
“The EBSC is open to customers [of all sizes]," Sim noted. "We will spend time working with them to talk about their outcomes and look at their processes, before they decide which path they’ll take.”
“This journey is an important one,” said Midha. “If it doesn’t have support, the journey can stall."
