 "Photo: Craig Bland")
Innovative thinking and the ability to adapt to change were the keys to Dell Inc.'s success, Michael Dell told about 1,000 UT students Tuesday.
Dell, founder of Dell, Inc. and chairman of its board of directors, spoke about the future of the company and his business philosophy as a guest of the Distinguished Speakers Committee. Dell took an unconventional approach to business when he dropped out of UT in 1987 but emphasized that learning is a daily process.
The computer industry is constantly changing, Dell said. For that reason, his company constantly develops new ideas and strategies for reaching customers.
"We have a lot of sort of curiosity in our business. We like to ask questions. We like to think about how can you do things differently," Dell said.
Doing things differently has been the basis of Dell's success since he started his company in 1987, he said. His vision was to sell custom-built personal computers directly to customers, an idea which has helped Dell grow into a $56 billion company, Dell said.
Last quarter, there were more than 400 million hits to the Dell.com Web site, and the company receives about 1 million phone calls per week, Dell said.
"Those are opportunities to learn about what customer needs are and what they want to do with our products or products that we don't have. If we can tap into that information, that's incredibly valuable to us," Dell said.
Ninety-six percent of the people Dell wants to sell products to are people outside of the United States, Dell said. Part of Dell's strategy for the future is to continue to expand into foreign markets, particularly Asia, he said.
"China is the third-largest market in the world for Dell. It's bigger than Canada. It's bigger than France, and it's growing at an enormous rate," Dell said.
The company is also expanding domestically, Dell said. Dell will soon open a new call center in Oklahoma, a new distribution center in Ohio and recently opened their biggest plant in the world in North Carolina, he said.
In the future, Dell will also retain its nearly 20,000 employees in Central Texas, a number that will continue to grow, Dell said.
Larry Carver, director of the Liberal Arts Honors Program, moderated the discussion, asking Dell a series of prepared questions. He asked Dell how much more successful he thinks he would be if he had stayed at UT for all four years of his education rather than dropping out at the age of 19 to run his company full time.
"For me, education is an ongoing daily process," Dell said.
After Carver, the audience was able to ask Dell questions. During the question-and-answer session, Dell revealed that in many ways he's a pretty typical guy. His average day starts when he wakes up at 6 a.m., he said. Some days, he takes his children to school before work. He's usually home in time for dinner and is able to spend time with his family in the evening, he said.
Tracey Gilliland, future programs director for the Distinguished Speakers Committee, said the organization was pleased that Dell agreed to come speak for free, after speaking at commencement in 2003.
"I think it's a big honor that we've gotten him to come speak," said Gilliland, a government senior.
Several audience members expressed their excitement at having the chance to see Dell, telling him during the question-and-answer period that they were fans. One student even asked Dell to sign a copy of his book, "Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry."
Jennifer Cooke, a government and journalism senior, said it was extremely exciting to hear Dell talk, because he's been such an innovator in his industry.
"I admire his amazing ability to come up with efficiencies in his business that have made him a success," Cooke said.
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