Jimmy Yam serves as Managing Director — South Asia and the
Developing Markets Group for Dell Computer Corporation, Asia Pacific. In this
position, Jimmy leads and drives Dell's business through distributor partnership
in emerging markets. He brings with him over 15 years of valuable finance and
marketing experience in the Asia Pacific IT industry to Dell. Most recently, he
was Director and Controller for Dell — Asia. Prior to joining Dell, Jimmy held
various senior positions at IBM, Pepsi, and ICI Paints. He holds an Accountancy
degree from the National University of Singapore. Jimmy recently visited
Pakistan. Availing this opportunity, PAGE discussed Dell's strategy and
focus on Pakistan. Following are the excerpts from an exclusive interview.
Dell Computer Corporation was founded in 1984 by Michael
Dell, the computer industry's longest tenured chief executive officer. His
concept was simple: by directly delivering PCs custom-built to specific customer
orders, Dell could most effectively and efficiently understand and respond to
customer needs. Today, Dell is the world's leading direct computer systems
company and a premier supplier of technology for the internet infrastructure.
The Company ranks number 56 on the Fortune 500, number 154 on the Fortune Global
500 and number 3 on the Fortune 'most admired' list of companies.
Dell designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and
supports a full range of personal computer systems ranging from notebooks to
workstations. Each and every system it delivers is custom-built to a customer's
unique requirements. Through its pioneering 'direct business model', Dell has
fostered direct relationship with large multinational corporations, government
agencies, educational institutions, medium and small businesses, and
individuals. Dell was also the first PC provider to offer customers direct
toll-free technical support by phone and the next-day on-site service programmes
that are now the industry standard.
Dell once again leads the industry using the internet to
further evolve its direct business model. Dell led commercial migration to the
internet, by launching its website in 1994 and adding e-commerce capability in
1996. Today, Dell operates the highest volume internet commerce in the world
based on Microsoft Corporation's Window NT operating system. The site accounts
for about 50 per cent of Dell's overall revenue.
Dell has served business, governments, large corporations and
individuals in Asia Pacific since the early 1990s. Dell entered Asia Pacific in
select markets and began investing in regional facilities, and management
services and technical personnel in 1993, with its first operations in Japan and
Australia. Currently it has direct sales operations in 13 markets in the region.
In addition its distributors serve another 26 countries.
At the heart of Dell's Asia Pacific operations is the Asia
Pacific Customer Centre in Penang, Malaysia. The manufacturing facility opened
in October 1995 and received ISO-9002 certification in July 1996 and ISO-14001
certification in November 1999. To keep up with demand in China, Dell
established the China Customer Centre in August 1998. The Centre received
ISO-9002 certification in June 1999 and ISO-14002 certification in September
2000.
First year revenues (May 1984 to January 1985) were US$ 6.2
million and the revenues for the last year ending July 28, 2000 were US$ 28.5
billion. Net income for the fiscal year totalled US$ 1.9 billion — up 27 per
cent over the previous year. Revenue by geographic regions for the year were:
Americas (73%), Europe (19%) and Asia Pacific (8%). Revenue by product line for
the year were: Desktops (51%), Portables (30%) and Enterprise (19%).
The policy statement of the GoP regarding development of IT
in the country is very encouraging. The presence of a large number of computer
literates and professionals indicates tremendous market potential. However, we
are aiming the corporate clients. I would not like to commit on the numbers or
volume of sales but Dell would follow the strategy of adding value and numbers
will automatically increase. We have a network of distributors in Pakistan
through which Dell is promoting its products. Any product which is
launched/introduced in the US market is also made available in Pakistan
simultaneously.
Dell technology Consulting can provide implementation
services to assist customers with technology and systems recommendations for
their specific environments. Dell offers services that include planning,
consulting, implementation and performance optimization, as well as training
programmes designed to get customers up-and-running quickly with their Dell
systems.
