Companies need to more than double spending on IT innovations to stay competitive, the founder of Dell said yesterday. Michael Dell, also the chief executive of the US computer maker, said companies needed to simplify technology they owned. Mr Dell said 80 per cent of IT budgets were wasted on old computers and complex applications, with the rest invested in new, innovative products.
"How can a company stay competitive when it spends so little on innovation?" he told an industry conference in Dubai. Firms should shift half of their IT spending to new products and services, and spend the rest on "keeping the lights on". After the economic downturn led many countries to cut spending for IT services by as much as 14 per cent, IT spending this year is expected to rise about 4.6 per cent globally, the consultancy Gartner reported yesterday.
Mr Dell detailed new technologies available for firms to adopt that could help cut costs and improve operations, such as moving internal data to private centres and virtualisation. Virtualisation uses software to maximise unused computing power and create virtual processors that can be operated alongside their physical counterparts. Mr Dell invited executives in the Gulf to discuss opening a Dell-operated data centre in the region. Dell has about 40 data centres around the world.
@Email:dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae
