October 2007 - Direct2Dell

Powered by an 80 percent efficient power supply, the Inspiron 531 comes pre-configured to switch to a low-power sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity. Entry-level configurations include an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 250GB hard drive, CDRW / DVD combination drive, NVIDIA integrated graphics, Windows Vista Home Basic, and one year limited warranty with In-Home service and support.

Dell has played an active role in the Energy Star program since 1993. We offer multiple desktops, workstations and notebooks that meet the new Energy Star 4.0 requirements. Every Dell flat panel display we've released this year is also Energy Star 4.0-compliant. According to our calculations, using an energy-efficient desktop with a flat panel monitor for four years can result in significant savings due to reduced electricity bills.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out www.dell.com/energy for additional details on our commitment to delivering the most energy-efficient products in the industry. As always, we'd like to hear your environmentally-focused ideas and feedback on ways we can continue to build on our "desktop to datacenter" energy-effiency strategy.

Today, we're launching two new categories on Direct2Dell: IdeaStorm and Ideas in Action. Over the past several months we've heard from customers and from several folks like Mack Collier that we should strengthen the ties between Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm. In the IdeaStorm category, you'll hear from folks like the IdeaStorm Manager Caroline Dietz and the IdeaStorm Moderator Kara Krautter. They'll use the overall IdeaStorm category to blog about feature improvements, policy updates and to provide perspective on issues that the community raises, and insight into Dell's lessons in crowd-sourcing. Similar to how Kevin Rose and team use the digg.com blog.

Pages like the Moderator Update page and the Ideas in Action page were static before. The team hopes that moving this content to Direct2Dell will allow the IdeaStorm community to comment on and share their thoughts on how IdeaStorm continues to evolve.

To give you an idea of the kinds of things to expect, Kara's first two posts provide more context about this move, and explain the IdeaStorm category list in more detail. If you are really interested in getting automatic updates on either category, you can subscribe to an RSS feed for the IdeaStorm category here and the Ideas in Action category here.

Subscribing will pull new content into your favorite RSS reader like Google Reader, Google Homepage, My Yahoo, Bloglines, or NewsGator. That way, you will automatically receive any updates that are added to either category.

We look forward to hearing more from the IdeaStorm community and continuing the discussion.

Last week, I attended Microsoft's Global High Tech Summit in San Jose to give folks an overview of Dell's experience since we tried to enter the conversation. I tried to talk about some of the progress we've made in the digital media space, the challenges we continue to face and what I think it means to companies in the future. 

Participants were  made up of business leaders and executives. Lots of smart folks like Geoffrey Moore who spend a lot of their time talking to other companies about innovation.Then there was me. I might have surprised a few folks, because I was pretty straightforward about some successes we've had and some of the improvements that I know we still need to make. Frankly, I could have done a better job with the presentation, but here's some points I tried to make: 

Any company can say they listen to customers. Many of those same companies are thinking about launching a blog, or forum, or the next IdeaStorm.  I think that in itself is a good thing. However, companies should be careful to ensure that these things don't just become checklist items. Launching these things is the easy part. Maintaining it and supporting the community is where the real work starts Integrating the customer feedback that results from these to make real business changes on behalf of customers is what will make you successful. Companies that don't figure out how to do that will probably fail, and they will fail publicly.

Integrating that feedback is challenging, and that's an area where I know Dell needs to do better as a company. We need to get better at what I call connecting the dots. The reason why companies should be thinking about digital media is because these tools connect you to your customers. That's why the Dell Community Forum, Direct2Dell, IdeaStorm and our blog outreach initiatives beyond Dell have become early warning posts. In my mind, we should be taking the customer feedback that comes from digital media tools and comparing it to things we've been analyzing like the top call drivers and top issues in online tech support chat sessions. We have lots of work to do on this front and it will only become more challenging as we add more languages to the mix. Many folks here at Dell are thinking about how we take that next step.

One of the highlights for me was listening to Pete Thompson, who is the GM of Microsoft's Surface Computing division.  If you haven't heard about it yet, it's like a coffee table with a clear display. Kinda like an iPhone plus the ability to interact with real objects like a cell phone, an MP3 player or digital camera. Amazingly cool technology, and one that I think will open up lots of possibilities in the future. If you want to see more, take a look at this article and video from Popular Mechanics to see what it's about.This video is similar to some of the functionality that Pete showed off.

Man, was I bummed I didn't have my camera in that session. Cool stuff.

New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson visited Dell today to speak with employees and executives at the Round Rock campus. The event was Dell's first presidential "town hall" forum and also marked the second time a presidential candidate has visited Dell. Last month, former U.S. Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson toured the Topfer Manufacturing Center. Both visits are part of a unique series of events Dell will host throughout the coming year for team members to hear from the major candidates for President and share what's on their minds.

Governor Richardson arrived this afternoon and was greeted by Eddie Dixon, vice president of Dell Legal who introduced the Governor and also served as moderator of the town hall discussion. Nearly 400 employees attended the candid and open dialogue about a wide variety of issues including global innovation, the war in Iraq, social security, health care, immigration and yes, even the alleged alien landing at Roswell.

Following the discussion, the Governor attended a briefing led by Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Steve Schuckenbrock. Dell board member Tom Luce, Vice President for Strategy Tim Mattox, Vice President for Facilities Kip Thompson, Dell Financial Services Head Don Berman and Legal Vice President Eddie Dixon participated in the policy discussion which covered Dell's leadership in areas such as energy efficiency, the environment, education and the importance of global competitiveness.

Governor Richardson listened to the many thoughts and ideas of Dell's leaders and remarked that because of innovative companies like Dell, America can be proud. Once the briefing was completed, Governor Richardson moved outside and fielded a number of questions from local and national media before departing. All in all, the day was a great opportunity for the Dell community to take an active part in the political process.

StudioDell was on hand to help capture the Governor's Town Hall remarks on video. We're including Governor Richardson's introductory remarks in the vlog below today and will add in the Q&A Monday.

Since I'm on the road and haven't had time to pull this together, thought I'd leverage the work done my my good friend and colleague RichardatDell to tell you about the Social Media Club event we're hosting here in Round Rock on Tuesday, November 6. Now on to what Richard had to say:

You thought all things social media were west-coast-oriented?  Not so. The Social Media Club shares best practices, establishes ethics and standards, and promotes literacy around the emerging area of Social Media.

And, one of the places to start that conversation is right here. Starting the Conversation takes place on the Dell Campus on November 6^th with some of the "best and the brightest" coming for a one day workshop for anyone who wants to attend—from Dell and other companies.

Co-founder of the Social Media Club Chris Heuer, Shel Israel, author of Naked Conversations, and local area notables Connie Reece and Kami Huyse will join members of the Dell team to discuss how social media can propel business to the next level.  We will discuss social media and how it can improve marketing, communications, recruiting, support and customer relationships.

If you want to explore how business becomes personal again and learn about new and innovative ways to build stronger relationships, trust and loyalty, then plan on attending this workshop.

There is special pricing for the Austin event: the regular price of $299 will be discounted to $199 if you register by Monday, October 29.  Use the discount code CONNIE for an additional $50 off when you register online.  If you're a member of Social Media Club at the professional, business or corporate level, the price is just $149.