[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Dell Technology Forum event happened in Lagos on Wednesday, 26th June 2019. It had the company’s local sponsors and partners from across the country in attendance.

 

The event, which happened at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, took an interesting dive with Dell EMC’s contribution to the world of technology. Dell EMC is the computer data storage company owned by Dell Technologies.

 

The event kicked off with an opening remark by Dell Country Manager in Nigeria and Ghana, Travers Nicholas. He welcomed everyone to the event and then thanked them for coming.

 

 

A panel session held at some point at the event. Nicholas moderated the session, where some tech executives from Nigerian banks and a telecommunications company sat to speak. They addressed how technology was helping their business and the sector in general.

 

Women in tech

A very interesting part of the event was the Women in Tech segment. It had leading women in the tech industry on the panel speaking on the struggles women in the tech field face.

 

 

The panel had Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, the founder of Pearls Africa foundation, an initiative that teaches underprivileged girls to code; Edufon Japheth, the Head of Tech at Gtbank; Chioma Chimere, a Managing Director at Technology Distribution; and Yetunde Ojo, General Manager IT operations at MTN.

 

Spicing it up

To add an interesting mix, they included the Vice President of Sales, Emerging Africa at Dell, Habib Mahakian, in the panel. He explained that he has three daughters, and he has also ensured that Dell employed people based on their skills and not their gender.

 

Mahakian said that he also made sure that the pay range for staff has been maintained for every position and women are not paid any less than men. He expressed that he believes that women are their own worst enemy and they should look out for each other more.

 

A critical point discussed was the challenges women experience in STEM and why there are few women studying tech. The women agreed that they think more women should pick interest in STEM and parents should encourage their children to be more involved regardless of their gender.

 

Speaking on women stereotypes, Ajayi-Akinfolarin pinpointed the lie that it’s a man’s world and also that a woman’s place is in the kitchen. She said that technology needs human intelligence, not men intelligence. According to her, women can be in any room they choose. Furthermore, she says that you can decide to be in the kitchen today, and then be at a World forum tomorrow.

 

 

Yetunde Ojo said she’s had to deal with pay disparity that was up to £4,000 as compared to her male colleagues. She said women need to be more vocal and ask for what they want without fear of rejection.

 

Chioma Chimere explained that her organisation had three female managers out of the four in the company. She urged women to not overburden themselves and know that they can be whoever they want.

 

Advanced Technologies and Dell

The keynote speech was given by the Senior Director, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Walid Yehia. He spoke on how Dell Technologies intend to improve technology with its products and services. He also explained that data is a critical part of technology.

 

 

According to Yehia, Microsoft paid $26.5 billion for LinkedIn. He said it was a great move for them because they understood the value of data. The app was a great way for them to know the behaviour of professionals. This knowledge equips them to help create products and services that will meet the needs of these experts from various fields.

 

Yehia said the Internet of things is not a thing, but it’s a concept. The concept of Artificial Intelligence is an important form of technology prevalent in the present day. There are a lot of elements in the growing world of machine learning that are yet to be explored.

 

Speaking on what machines can do now. Yehia says a new form of technology can enable people to fuel their cars without even being near the car. Machines are smart, but there is still so much they cannot do without the help of human automation.

 

He gave an example of automated cars. He subsequently said a smart car will not know to swerve and hit a curb when a little child accidentally runs into the road like a human will. Machines, according to him are still limited and will largely still thrive on human guidance.

 

The Technology of Things

Yehia says it is a combination of the internet of things, sensors, connections, data, computer storage and analytics that create business value. In addition, he explains that Dell Technologies promises to deliver quality architecture for continuous and better outcomes to businesses.

 

 

Dell’s various software and hardware products make them a complete package for business. Clearly, they are committed to incorporating advanced technology to help businesses thrive. AI technology all around us pretty much improves user experiences with smart home products, industrial robots and also digital assistants.

 

The new virtual reality technology offered by Dell is supposed to help illiterates use advanced technology products. Yehia says this an era where Immersive Technologies like AR and VR are becoming part of the story of changing usage patterns to increase productivity. Nevertheless, gaming has gradually stopped becoming the reason why people use VR or AR technology anymore.

 

The company advertised the partnerships that help it improve agriculture and the lives of farmers around the world. It also offers everything from hardware mobile and desktop devices to accessories, security and support. Furthermore, it believes that security is power.

 

Digital Future

The Emerging Africa Senior Presales Manager at Dell, Noumeh Tahhan, then came on the shed light on how their IT transformation is building the foundation for innovation.

 

 

Tahhan explained that the Digital Future is now. It is here so that businesses can stay in the market today for the future. He also said every organisation needs to be a digital organisation powered by data and running in a multi-cloud world.

 

Furthermore, he explained the various Pillars of Dell’s IT Transformation. The first one is Modern Infrastructure by Dell. It is a simple, easy to manage, purpose-built infrastructure. It offers cloud platforms and data protection.

 

The second one is modern and consistent operations. This involves the tools needed to orchestrate and automate, tools to optimise and manage workloads, including intelligent remediation to use intelligence to detect when things go wrong.

 

Third on the chain is the modern service delivery. This offers multiple private clouds and IT services. It also provides hybrid cloud and native public cloud.

 

Dell’s Services

The idea is to equip businesses with support strategies from the beginning all the way to the end. They also help to accelerate software innovation by modernising how businesses design and build software. Drive developer productivity through self-service and quick integration of existing apps and data.

 

 

Tahhan said a good example would be the fact that the US Air Force uses technology to refuel aircraft. Dell apparently provides Private, Public and also Edge clouds that are joined together to bring a whole and clearer interphase for businesses.

 

The complete portfolio of hybrid cloud solution helps clients to reduce waste. However, their Apple Store and Google Store type are now available for enterprise solutions to help manage their businesses.

 

Finally, Dell boasts that it focuses on four areas of transforming businesses. They are the Application transformation, IT Transformation, Workforce Transformation and also Security Transformation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]