If the computer industry stagnates, something is wrong

When talking about technology and innovation in Mexico, a company that plays an important role is Dell.Although the company is commercially known for its computers, it not only offers these devices, but also technological solutions and business services. Rack Mount Lcd Monitor

According to figures from the consulting firm Gartner, global PC shipments fell 16.2% throughout 2022 and 28.5% in the last quarter of this year, which represents the largest decrease since the mid-1990s.

Despite this, Luis Gonçalves, president of Latin America for Dell Technologies, shared that they are seeing a positive recovery and, in an exclusive interview with Expansión, he talked about the needs of consumers in Mexico.

We are very excited to see everything that is happening in our industry in terms of advances in Edge Computing, advances in AI and digitalization, as companies adopt more and more solutions based on digital technologies.

During the pandemic there was overconsumption due to remote work.So, it was expected that there would be a drop at the end of the pandemic.But we are already seeing a recovery around the world.The fact that people need computers to access services, systems, and work in the hybrid format brings us good expectations in that market.

The reality is that this industry continues to sell almost 300 million units a year.I mean, it's huge.And yes, there are peaks, but we are still doing well.

In this industry, if there are no changes, we are not doing it right.I give you two examples.

The first is that the pandemic showed that people want to bring the office to the home to improve in terms of productivity.So, they want many devices such as multiple monitors, stations, keyboards, mice, everything necessary to have an efficient, lightweight computer with good instruments to make a video conference.

And as for the office, it's all that plus collaboration and co-working tools.This is an example of how demands changed and today there is a lot of search to bring all these elements to computing solutions.

Another interesting fact is that, as people work more and more remotely, they are more concerned about the issue of energy consumption and efficiency.

They are not very different from the rest of the world.However, we see that in Latin America there is still a lack of physical structure.Digital has already gained tremendous prominence.I mean that infrastructure is needed to carry out public and personal procedures, health issues, education (...)

Now, when it comes to computers, what worries us is energy efficiency, easy connection, battery life, and lightness, but in reality, if you ask a European user they will probably say the same thing.

There are two elements that are very clearly distinguished.First, all the inclusion of security platforms already on the device.We have control over the data, the application, the connection, the user and the device per se (...) And this triggers holistic security systems.

And the other is all the artificial intelligence algorithms.For example, for decades we have had algorithms that analyze in real time how data is used in storage solutions to decide where it should be in terms of cost.

They are two very distinguished elements of our platforms that all clients already use today, especially the issue of security, since we know that Mexico is one of the countries that suffers the most from cybersecurity attacks.

Actually that's where we are.Dell has always been a company that has a focus on democratizing access to technology so that everyone can use it, and technology actually has even greater value when it is taken off en masse.It is of no use that only a few have access to technology, but that we are all connected.

Dell already has a portfolio of AI-based solutions today to help customers accelerate adoption.Because part of the adoption is the infrastructure, that is, the computer, the servers, the storage solutions, the security solutions, everything, to process an unmanageable amount of data, that is, unthinkable.

Government entities around the world, including Mexico, are very interested because in one way or another they also want to benefit from the possibilities, because with artificial intelligence or digitalization one can bring differentiated services or more services at a lower cost.That is, with the same taxes paid you can have better education or health services, to mention a few.

So, if governments understand that the use of technology can provide them with a gain in terms of productivity, in terms of what they do, and they look for solutions, they can benefit greatly.

Now, the main concern of many government clients in Mexico and abroad is around security.And governments are very focused on that.

I think it is very difficult to predict what can happen.But everything we see now, the possibilities that artificial intelligence brings, is going to change everything we know today in terms of the use of technology and its impact on our lives.

And it is not because it is a new topic, because AI has been discussed for more than 50 years, but the point is that it has now become commercially viable.

Before we talked about Smart Cities, it seemed like something only for very rich cities, for governments that have a lot of money (...) Today the reality is that technology costs are lower and they deliver more to you at very viable costs.Imagine the impact on health.Experts say people still suffer from cancer, not because there is no cure, but because we haven't discovered a cure yet.

So if AI could accelerate the trajectory of discovery, we could perhaps discover solutions to many of the problems we have today.