In a telephonic conversation with BusinessLine, Indrajit Belgundi, the Senior Director and General Manager of the Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies India, emphasised on the relevance of personal computers (PC).
He further said that the personal computers market will continue to grow despite the challenges faced amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The traditional PC market in India has taken a hit owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The PC market has witnessed a 16.7 per cent year-over-year (YoY) decline in the first quarter of 2020 with a total of 1.8 million shipments, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
However, according to Belgundi, PCs are “alive and will continue to kick in.”
“It's more to do or to do in terms of how both desktops and notebooks are relevant to the market. The desktop and notebook the PC will always play a central role in how we imagine the way the users are working and even anticipating that we need to be more productive,” said Belgundi.
“I believe that there will be bumps or in between challenges. But desktop and notebooks both will continue to grow,” he added.
Talking about the growing popularity of notebooks over PCs, Belgundi further added that despite notebooks garnering popularity, certain verticals and use case scenarios will continue to drive the need for desktops.
Technology and workforce transformation
The PC market will be led by a workforce transformation, i.e, organisations will need to think in a digital-first manner. According to Belgundi, the world is moving towards a “workforce transformation.”
“I believe the transformation is already happening. It isn't because of the current situation in the workforce. Work is no longer about a nine to five workforce, it is more about activity. It is not about a location and that's where we are we have been getting ready because it is a workforce transformation,” he said.
According to Belgundi, workforce transformation refers to how a user’s work is evolving and the tools which they need are changing.
“The users are now much more mobile, how do we ensure that they are productive as well? It is more about technologies driving the rapid change in the world in terms of business. Each and every organisation needs to be a digital organization,” he said.
The transformation to a remote workforce and the technology driving the same will happen in three phases, elaborated the Dell Technologies executive.
“We believe remote workforces are here to stay,” Belgundi said.
“In the month of March and April, it was more to do with doing it light, I call it work from home wave one. Customers were just looking out for a device which is immediately available for them,” he explained.
“The work-from-home wave two will do it the right way. This is where we would like to help our customers develop a comprehensive remote technology stack. This includes not only about the right device. That's where we have our unified workspace technology,” he further explained.
This is where organisations will need to enable advanced technology including cloud, technologies for modern Lifecycle Management, ensuring security and backup solutions for systems, etc.
“The third wave, according to me, which will come will be more about innovation,” he said. “It's more about how we continue to drive innovation to create based work from home experience.”
Features of Dell’s Latitude 9510
As work-from-home continues to evolve, Dell technologies on Monday brought its premium laptop, the Latitude 9510 introduced at CES 2020 to India. Dell introduced the ultra-premium 9000 Latitude series device pitched as “the world’s smallest and lightest commercial 15-inch PC” for its enterprise customers.
The commercial laptop is equipped with 5G and other AI capabilities. With the 5G launch yet to happen for India, Belgundi said that the device is “future-ready.”
“This is so that this notebook will not become obsolete from a technology perspective. So it's a step ahead right now,” Belgundi said.
The device, meant to enable productivity for a workforce on the move, weighs 1.5 kg. The business laptop targets up to 34 hours of battery life with Dell’s AI solution for longer battery life, the Dell Optimiser. The commercial laptop comes with Intel’s 10th Generation VPro processors, Dell’s Infinity bezel. It comes with Wi-Fi 6 capabilities. It is also equipped with E-SIM technology support.
The Latitude 9510 is available in both, the 2-in-1 convertible as well as a clamshell laptop variant with a starting price of ₹1,49,000.