You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer on Bloomberg Radio. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week. I do want to just rehashuh and reiterate what Charlie just mentioned. Maderna's vaccine benefits outwing it's risks. This is from that FDA advisory panel. We know that they were reviewing and voting today, the panel voting twenty zero one extension to back the Maderna's shot, and the panel voting at that meeting on the Maderna vaccine data. Remember, this is about
emergency use authorization. So we will look for that final headline about that, but it was largely expected some of these headlines that we're seeing, all right, We're talking about a lot uh, and we're also kind of watching some of the big trends that we have seen in our world, and when it comes to the tech world, we have seen worldwide PC shipments totaling about seventy one point four million in the third quarter of that's about a three
point six percent increase from the third quarter of twenty nineteen. Some data coming from Gardner. You know, for a long time we talked about the end of the PC it hasn't happened that way, and working from home has been a boon for those PC workers and PC makers. So let's get into that with Sandbird, president of the Client
Solutions Group at Dell Technologies. He's got a front row seat to this industry, responsible for the success of Dell's commercial and consumer client portfolio, which includes notebooks, desktops, workstations, tablets, tablets and software, and a lot more. He joins us on the phone from Austin, Texas. Sam, it is nice to have you here with us. How are you and your team? Uh doing well? Thank you very much for
having me. Carol. Well, we'll talk to us a little bit about your world, because I know you guys I think at the end of November actually came out um with earnings. I mean, you guys are seeing some strong demand for PCs. Tell us a little bit about that and if that strong demand has continued. Yeah, we've seen you mentioned some of the results in in Q three.
If you look at the industry on whole um and using the way I d C looks at it, we're on track to ship about three million PCs in an industry in which will be the biggest the industry has been in six years. Expectations are that it grows again next year, and uh, if you look at it. You know, we talked ten years ago some people were talking about the death of the PC and that was definitely overhyped.
It's it's not true. And you know, the PC has been really important as people have been working, learning from home and dealing with the pandemic. Well, what do you think happened? I agree with you, like I think for a while there, that's what we talked about, that the death of the PC, and it hasn't been that way. What's happened over the last decade and increasingly, as you said, it's being exacerbated. I think some of those trends as
a result of working from home. Yeah, the thing we've seen is is technology is really important to people being able to get done what they want to get done, whether that's being a student, Uh, you know, working in a business looking to go change change the world, reinvent an approach, or someone just trying to relax and uh, maybe enjoy some downtime by connecting with friends or playing games.
And you know, we believe for ten years and from the beginning of our company when we were uh founded that technology and technology in the hands of people is a really good thing. It's a positive force for good in the world. It helps people be more more productive, more successful in their lives. And I think we've really seen that come alive in the last decade. And you know, during these trying times over the course of this year, well, Sam,
you know what also happened. I feel like we went through a period where everybody was like downsizing their like technology equipment, you know, phones got smaller, like that was kind of the trend, and then all of a sudden, we realized, you know what, I actually like to sit at a laptop and have some space to work on things. I don't want to read everything on a tablet or on my phone. And I do wonder what happened in terms of our thinking, whether it's personally or you know,
in offices, what happened. Do you think that that train, that trend kind of shifted. Yeah, you know, Carol, we've we've seen that there is not one device and one approach to end all so times when a small screen is great, but exactly what you said, a larger screen lets me see more information and that's a that's a big deal whether I'm I'm doing things on social posts or productivity things for work. Being able to see more equals I can process more, I can get more more things,
more things done. So you think about that kind of form factor. You know, we've seen the same thing of the trend has been PCs that are powerful enough to do video conferencing, other kind of demands that we threw on them, but then people also putting like displays and peripherals around them of like I'm sitting here with a forty in super wide monitor where you can look at two sets of information side by side. It all equals, you know, allow people to make better decisions, get things
figured out faster, have more time to themselves. So we've seen the value of the bigger screen. We've seen the value of a keyboard for input. People want choice and there's a re and those have done well because they're
pretty convenient and easy ways to interact with technology. So what are you seeing in terms of capital expenditures, you know, plan strategies by some of your clients, And I'm curious about some of the conversations that you're having that as a result of the pandemic, maybe how have things change in terms of their expectations for their buying patterns going into well, we've seen a big increase in the interest
in technology. We've seen that in different sectors, so you think about education, government, consumer sectors have been strong as people, UM look at the technology they have and think about the requirements and upgrade that technology, and you know, we look into the future and we see we see that continuing to be important. We see a world where work will be done in a hybrid fashion. We're not all going back to the office, We're not all going to
be in our homes forever. But the flexibility people got today they will continue to want in the future. Will want technology to be a big part of that. And companies putting the best technology in people's hands equals people can go go do more, be more successful in their jobs. We looked at gen Z millennial people coming into the workforce, for over of them are influence in the job decision that they make by the technology they have because they
want to make a difference. They know getting something and good in their hands helps them do that. UM. One thing I want to ask you, Sam is how has the pandemic and what you guys have experienced at Dell, how is it maybe impacted you're thinking about longer term strategies when it comes to technology trends and maybe even how you lead your team. You know, we've we've worked very differently, Carol, So I mean we went from about of our our company working remote literally overnight we had
of our company working remote. So we saw the you know, the challenge is and going and doing that that it's getting the right technology in um the hands of your employees and team members. You know, the process you use for how you interact the culture and how you do things online. But all that's served us pretty well because we think about the future world and we see giving our team members the flexibility to work how they want. And many of the businesses I talked about are are
working through these same things. But you get your team members the ability to work in the way that they want, you're gonna be able to attract a broader set of talent. You'll be able to engage them in a way that allows them to balance, uh, you know, the time they're putting into the business and their their personal life. And
we think that's a really good change. But it's like technology isn't a an enabler in that, whether it's a you know, PC device at the edge and the parts around that, or the infrastructure that you put in place in your business. The companies that are going to thrive and and succeed are investing in that so they can get the best people working in the way that they want. Yeah.
I do feel like the relationships between companies and employees and the role of technology and all of this, it went from maybe guiding kind of our world to actually being a true tool and almost kind of on par with I don't want to say on par with people, but we really figured out a way to use it, uh in a way where we were the masters in terms of getting things done. Yeah, well, I think that's right. I think we realized, hey, technology is really a friend
and helps us out a lot. It became more apparent if you didn't have great technology, it was hard to be connected with some of the things going on. And then as we look at the future, like we're building those capabilities into our systems. I'm excited about the investments were able to make in technology. You think some of the things you mentioned, like how do you build intelligence into the system so it, you know, it learns you.
It is a friend that knows you. It does the things that you want without you having to mess around around on that, whether it's tuning the system, you know, self healing it. So just as it's a it's a helper in your life. That's that's our aim and why we're bullish around the role technology will play in the world today and in the future. Yeah, it's pretty fascinating. So what do you think, I don't know, when you think kind of pie in the sky ideas in terms
of where technology goes, you know, next next? I mean I think about was it twenty years ago, thirty years ago, like this whole idea of voice recognition, like it was just it took a long long time for that to actually work as well as it does now, right, and we take it for granted. I talked to you know, my home products and asked me, you know, ask for this and that, and you name it, you know, whether it's Google, whether it's Amazon. You know, you guys are
all working on this stuff as well. Where do you think it all goes and what's maybe the next big I don't know, is there a hump that we kind of get over when it comes to technology, Well, I. You know, I think we're seeing UM different devices and foreign factors all play a big role. We talked a little bit about intelligence being built into systems, and we're seeing that happen in a big way. You hit on the way people want to interact with systems, of really
making that natural. So there are times when a keyboard is great, there are times when talking is easy, there are times when touch is easy, and really building that intuitive interface in UM, getting devices so they're connected all the time. You know, we've seen who would have thought about connectivity, but you sit and suddenly home networks were overburdened.
You can think about the importance of screens and where those will show up in an office environment and a house and like the uh, you know, you can go back to future visions of how do I get that that data in front of me so that I'm able
to interact with it? And then and you know, another thing we're thinking about, Carol, is just how we also do that in a really sustainable way and building out a circular economy, so you know, your old technology is essentially going into your new technology, and how we're recycling those components so at the same time we push cutting edge. We want to be responsible in what we're doing. I love I love you said that. We were talking earlier
about the Patagonia CEO. One of our correspondents caught up with him, and you know that's what they are all about. But there is something that seems like it also happened this year where we've all been thinking about sustainability, sustainability or regenerative or circularity. But I do feel like it took a big step forward. Is that is that fair
to say, Sam, We've just got about forty seconds left. Yeah, I mean we we've had it as something important to us for quite a while, but certainly look at it. We're looking at it more and going how do we push that forward? Carol. You know we've done that with plastics, precious metals, with magnets in our systems, and there's opportunity to do more. So I think it's it's brought that into clarity, certainly for us and for many people in
the world. All Right, Sam, thank you so much. Have a healthy and happy or as happy as can be in this environment, but certainly a safe holiday season, Sam, thank you so much. Sambird is president of the Client Solutions Group over at Dell Technologies, and he was joining us on the phone from Austin, Texas.