June 2008 - Posts

• Steve Harvey: The Next Big Idea

  Mon. Jun. 30, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  When we launched IdeaStorm in January 2007, it was well-received by our customers. Since then, the community has submitted over 9,000 ideas and shared more than 70,000 comments. Up to this point, besides talking about it from a social media perspective, we haven't advertised IdeaStorm to a wide audience.

  Today, we're starting to do that by working with comedian and successful talk show host Steve Harvey. His radio show, The Steve Harvey Morning Show attracts millions of listeners every day. He's someone who built a career on a big idea. Take a look at this video to hear more about that from him.

  You'll be hearing from more people like Steve in the future on this topic. Dell understands the importance of your ideas and want to encourage you to keep sending them to IdeaStorm so we can continue to improve our products and services. There are a lot of you who do that on a regular basis, and we appreciate your participation. If you are new to IdeaStorm, we invite you to spend a few minutes there to share your thoughts on the next big idea.
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• Supporting Progressive E-cycling Legislation

  Fri. Jun. 27, 2008
  by Fran Valluzzo, Manager—U.S. State & Govt. Affairs

  Recently, I testified in Pennsylvania on the issue of computer recycling.  In my remarks, I urged the Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy to consider adopting legislation adhering to Dell's producer responsibility policy.  Our company's recycling policy focuses on consumer-friendly, efficient and effective means for recycling and reuse of electronic equipment. This marks the 11^th time Dell has testified on this issue around the country.

   Across the U.S., state legislatures are grappling with what to do with unwanted computers.  As a leader in computer recycling programs, Dell is working with states to develop comprehensive, environmentally-positive legislation that is free for consumers and efficiently addresses the question, "What do I do with my computer at the end of its life?"

  Last year, Texas became the first state to pass the so-called "Consensus Model" legislation.  This legislation was passed unanimously by the legislature. It was supported by a broad group of environmentalists, consumer groups, trade associations, cities, counties and of course, computer manufacturers.

  The Commonwealth of Virginia followed quickly by passing the Computer Recycling and Recovery Act. The photo below shows Virginia Governor Tim Kaine  (D) singing the bill into law.  I was proud to represent Dell at the signing ceremony with Governor Kaine (D), State Delegate Ken Plum, the bill's sponsor, and my colleagues from Goodwill, Fairfax County and the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

  

  Steam has picked up considerably this year and three other states have passed the "Texas" legislation.  West Virginia, Oklahoma and Missouri passed almost identical legislation.  And several other states, including Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, and South Carolina, have bills pending that are based on the Texas law.

  Of course, this is not the only approach to e-cycling legislation.  California passed the first recycling law at the state level.  However, that law, which mandates that computer sellers charge a "recycling fee" that is then remitted to the state, is controversial.  No other state has passed such a system.  Other state laws are a mix of producer responsibility with government mandates, government fees and excessive regulation.

  Dell's goal has always been to ensure that any regulation or legislation is flexible and efficient.  And as we continue to provide consumers across the globe free recycling for used Dell products, we will work with elected officials to help bring free computer recycling to as many U.S. consumers as possible.
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• Dell Studio 15 and Studio 17 Details

  Thu. Jun. 26, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Jay Pinkert published a post about the new line of Consumer systems we unveiled earlier today. Beyond the blog post, you can also see information on the new line at www.dell.com/studio. 

  Click on the image below to see a larger version of it, or click here to see more images in Flickr.

  
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• Answering Tough Questions about Second Life

  Wed. Jun. 25, 2008
  by Laura P. Thomas, Global eCommerce

  Cybergirrl Oh, aka Aliza Sherman, recently put me on the proverbial hot seat with her "Five Questions in Five Minutes" on the Real Biz in SL Internet television show. It's an SLCN.tv show entirely filmed in Second Life (machinima) that bills itself as part talk show, part tour.

  

  Past guests have included Millions of Us, an agency specializing in virtual worlds, Cisco and IBM. Watching the IBM interview, one observer found it quite entertaining to see a television anchor and her guest flying super-hero style throughout the tour. Cybergirrl and I did quite a bit of flying ourselves before teleporting to the SLCN studios for those five tough questions:

  • What kind of investment is your company making in Second Life?
  • What kind of return on your investment are you seeing?
  • What are the metrics you are using to evaluate your Second Life initiative?
  • Is it worth being in Second Life?
  • How much longer do you plan to be in SL?

  One blogger watched it live and then mused on the variety of new media - "odd sequences from pownce [stet] to Second Life" - that combined to bring him into the audience.

  You can see the entire replay over in the Real Biz in SL archives, or you can check out the YouTube video below.
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• First to 80 PLUS Gold Energy Efficiency

  Wed. Jun. 25, 2008
  by Albert Esser- VP, Power & Infrastructure

  Today, the Dell ReGeneration team is celebrating a new and important milestone in our commitment to become the ‘greenest' technology company on the planet. A few minutes ago, Dell became the first in the industry to achieve 80 PLUS Gold-certification for a server power supply, a testament to our commitment to achieve environmental savings for the planet, drive unprecedented cost savings for customers and challenge our competition to join us in reaching for the highest possible standards. Energy efficiency, free recycling for consumers, carbon neutrality and customer partnerships are a few of the core fundamentals that every green company must embrace as we all work toward a low-carbon economy.

  The 80 PLUS certification enables our customers to compare and contrast power supplies based on criteria from Energy Star and the Climate Savers Computing initiative. Our new 80 PLUS Gold power supply meets July 2009 Climate Savers targets for servers more than a year ahead of schedule, which require 92 percent minimum efficiency for the power supply unit at 50 percent of rated output. Earlier this month, we became the first Tier-1 computer manufacturer to achieve 80 PLUS Silver-certification for our client desktops. The 80 PLUS Silver certification is up to 8 percent more efficient than what is required to meet Energy Star 4.0, up to 3 percent more efficient than the Energy Star 5.0 draft and also meets the July 2009 PC requirements outlined by Climate Savers.

   Stay tuned for more updates on our commitment to become the greenest technology company on the planet.  Share your thoughts and ideas and join the conversation on how we can all save the planet together. We're working hard with our suppliers, partners and employees to become carbon neutral by the end of 2008 and will be sure to keep you posted. If the frequent ‘green' updates on the pages of this blog are any indication, we have a number of projects in the works that will continue to drive savings for customers, encourage our competitors to make similar improvements and bring us all closer to achieving a green future. Our customers and shared environment deserve no less.
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• Windy City Recycling

  Tue. Jun. 24, 2008
  by Joe Strathmann, Sr. Mgr.—Asset Recovery Services

  Yesterday, I was in Chicago to speak at the Electronics Recycling Conference hosted by Recycling Today.  It was a good gathering of professionals and influencers there to discuss and learn about the latest electronics recycling efforts.

  My panel was looking at approaches by some of the large OEMs to implement customer recycling programs for electronics and I was joined by representatives from Sony, Panasonic and Waste Management.

  Any gathering like this is a good chance to talk about Dell’s commitment to offer recycling services for the products we make.  We’re want to remind customers and industry alike, that we will recycle anything with the Dell brand on it for free at any time, other brands of equipment for free with purchase of new Dell. Our home pick-up program will come to consumer’s homes to pick up the used equipment.  In short, we’re making it free and convenient for consumers to do the right thing.  The results are showing, a few weeks ago we announced that we recovered 102 million pounds of used products from customers globally in 2007 for responsible recycling.

  I also had a chance to speak on our work with Goodwill on the Reconnect program.  This unique partnership is bringing free recycling to more U.S. consumers every day and helping support Goodwill’s job training and community building missions at the same time.  Just last week Reconnect expanded to cover Western New York State and you’ll be seeing this program expand more this year.

  We know it’s critical to make recycling free and convenient for consumers to take part. And we’ll continue to find ways to partner with stakeholders and policy makers, as well as with customers, to help raise consumer awareness about the importance of recycling used electronics.
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• Dell Service Options for Business Customers

  Tue. Jun. 24, 2008
  by Katie MacDonald, Program Manager

  Over the last year, Dell has worked to expand its global service programs focused on our corporate business customers.  Since I get a lot of questions about these services, I thought it might be helpful to outline them:

   

  • Pro Support  We introduced ProSupport earlier this year, ProSupport aims to customize service options for small and medium, public and large business clients by offering different levels of warranty support.  The Pro Support motto is: “Beyond One-Size Fits-All", and with its Fast-Track Dispatch model, certified Dell IT technicians can get their parts quickly from one of Dell's hundreds of 4-hour warranty part dispatch centers.

  •  Partner Direct is a program focused on our global reseller partners, also provides service support for in warranty clients, as well as IT consulting and Dell product sales via the Channel partners. It’s been live in the United States for just over six months, and less than that in other countries. PartnerDirect is now available in each of Dell’s main regions—the Americas, EMEA and APJ. To date, more than 16,000 partners have registered via PartnerDirect globally.

   

  In addition to these offerings, we continue to offer existing programs like Warranty Parts Direct (WPD) is a his service meant for Dell customers who use a  help desk for service dispatch, provide self maintenance or for customers who want to appoint a service provider to maintain their Dell branded hardware.
  
  Programs for established companies are one thing, but, what about partnering with smaller IT vendors, who may or may not have an existing relationship with Dell?  What about extending Dell service offerings to out-of-warranty systems?  
  
  Those are two of the reasons we rolled out the Service Partner Program (SPP Long before we finalized that program, we asked for feedback from ISPs. Two of the needs we heard most often were 1) getting a part fast – and, 2) getting a part at a reasonable price.
  
  That feedback helped shape the Service Partner Program.  Now, technicians can order parts up until 7 p.m. CST with the option for Next-Business-Day delivery upon request.  We also did our homework to make sure our pricing was competitive with other options you have from our competitors. SPP aims to engage the independent service providers and help them improve their own business efficiencies by proving that we stand by our certified parts and warranties and stand by the technicians who are in the field working on our products every day.  

   

  How else can we improve SPP, or any of the service programs that I mention in this post?

   

   
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• Dell & Twitter

  Sat. Jun. 21, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Whether we're classifying types of Twitter users, talking about Twitter at the center of breaking news, cool Twitter apps, why we love Twitter, using Twitter as customer service (@Zappos is simply on another level! Check out twitter.zappos.com to see what I mean) or Twitter downtime, seems like we can't quit talking about it.

  Still, for all that chatter, there's a lot of folks that still have questions about it. The folks at CommonCraft have a great introductory video, and Laura Fitton's blog post is probably still has the best big-picture explanation of Twitter that I've come across.

  From a Dell perspective, @RichardatDell told me yesterday that Dell has about 40 folks who use Twitter pretty regularly. We've got RSS feeds of all the Dell blogs and IdeaStorm in the Twitterverse. We also have other places where we sell Dell products in Twitter like @DellOutlet and @DellHomeOffers. Not too long ago, we added @DellSmBizOffers to the mix. Like BusinessWeek noted, we recently surpassed $500,000 in revenue through Twitter, and that number is growing. In all of our Dell brand Twitter locations, you will see one or two Dell individuals that they follow. That way, if you have a question, you have a Dell person to follow up with.

  I got a chance to sit down with Ricardo Guerrero (@ggroovin), who was one of the main folks behind our Twitter activities overall to talk about this stuff in a bit more detail.
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• The Power of Green IT – and Partnerships

  Fri. Jun. 20, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  In case you missed it, The Climate Group recently released a 90-page study exploring the role the high-tech industry could play in helping to ensure a sustainable planet, and the conclusions point to a wide range of possibilities.   As the global demand for computer equipment and data centers increases, the study found that the high-tech industry has the potential to triple its CO2 emissions by 2020.  However, the study also found that as IT companies implement more sustainable practices, the industry has the potential to lead the charge towards a low-carbon future.

  Dell is already working against this challenge by pledging to become the ‘greenest’ technology company on the planet and delivering technology that helps customers achieve their environmental goals today.  This morning’s San Francisco Chronicle also cited Dell's recent decision to completely power its global headquarters in Round Rock, Texas with "green" energy.  Carbon neutrality, energy efficiency, free recycling for consumers and partnering with customers, employees and stakeholders are the core fundamentals of environmental responsibility. Regardless of industry, every company can embrace them. A skim through our products and the pages of this blog demonstrates our commitment to more energy-efficient products and practices.  We owe all this to listening to our customers' concerns, and encourage all of you to continue to let us know what you expect from us in the future.  While it's nice to be singled out for our commitment, we recognize they there's still a lot to be done.  With your help, we will meet our goal of becoming the "greenest" technology company on the planet and ensure a clean and healthy future for generations to come.

   
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• My Thoughts on Blog Potomac & More

  Thu. Jun. 19, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Last week, I had the pleasure of being one of the speakers at Blog Potomac, an event that was well-organized and driven by Geoff Livingston and Debbie Weil. It was an honor for me to be part of such a strong group of social media folks. Simon Heseltine wrote a wrap up post and also summarized each of the keynotes over at EndlessPlain.com. Or take a look at the Blog Potomac site for all kinds info—videos, photos from the Flickr feed and more.

  Since I still get broad questions about how Dell's social media strategy has evolved over the last two + years, I figured it made sense to begin my part of Blog Potomac by providing a framework for our external efforts:

  • Listening: Originally started from a pure customer service perspective in April 2006. I've blogged about this in the past.
  • Launching our own blog: Direct2Dell went live in July, 2006. Now we blog in five languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Norwegian and Japanese. We've also rolled out several additional standalone blogs: DellShares, Cloud Computing, Small Business, Inside IT, Dell Channel, Your Blog, and ReGeneration.org. A University Relations will be coming soon.
  • Brand presence in the blogosphere: Started in August 2006 as natural extension from the listening we had started earlier. Outside of customer service issues, we found lots of bloggers who were commenting Dell from a brand perspective. It made sense to have conversations on that front as well.  
  • IdeaStorm: Launch date, February 2007. Click here for a background on what it's all about.
  • Our latest phase is Microblogging: Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube and Flickr comment threads.

  I know this was familiar territory for folks that have followed Dell throughout our experience in social media. In fact, Technosailor called our blog outreach efforts old news, and asked me what we planned to do moving forward. My answer was that we've combined our outreach strengthen our focus. This combined team is a mix of our Digital Media Communications team, the Dell Community Forum team and our blog outreach team.  I went on to add that we're also beginning work to better integrate our social media properties. More on that in a bit.

  I failed to mention the concept of accepted solutions will play an even greater role in the future. Essentially, any customer who creates a new thread on the Forum can mark a response as an answer to the question or issue they raised. Take a look at Natalie's blog post for a better understanding what they're all about. Accepted solutions have taken off quickly—we've recently surpassed 7,500 accepted solutions since we introduced them in the Forum. We need to bring that functionality to the blog, and longer-term figure out how to pull useful information from accepted solutions into wikis.

  That's where Integrating our properties comes in. We're really just getting it off the ground, and it's going to take us a while. We're aiming to have Dell Community Forum, Direct2Dell and wikis on the same platform. May seem easy on the surface, but it's pretty complex thing to solve. In my view, all of our social media efforts should revolve around connecting our customers to information that's helpful to them—whether they are looking for product support or trying to educate themselves on new technology or the latest Dell products.  Lots of work to do there, but I think if we can get it right, we'll reach a more mainstream set of customers. We need to make it easy for all our customers to have conversations with Dell employees or other customers, and most importantly, to find the information they need.
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