 Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE. Covering Dell Technologies World 2018. Brought to you by Dell EMC and its ecosystem partners. Welcome back to Las Vegas, everybody. You're watching theCUBE, the leader in live tech coverage, and this is day three of our coverage of the inaugural Dell Technologies World. We're in the home stretch, Stu Miniman and Dave Vellante joining you with Allison Duda. Newly minted CMO of Dell, great to see you. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. So, you've been with Dell for a long time. So you know the drill, you know the culture, but 23 days as CMO. Well congratulations, you were on stage today. Awesome show. Thank you, I couldn't be more delighted. Great experience for me personally. Great show for our customers. Yeah, I'll bet, I mean, and you brought in some outside speakers this year, which has not been typical of this show, at least the legacy EMC world, and certainly Dell world did that. Dell world did do it more. Hill Clinton, we saw some other amazing speakers. Elon Musk, I remember that Elon came. So that's good, and you got to interview Ashton Kutcher, which was quite amazing, he's an unbelievable, people maybe don't know. He's an investor, he's kind of a geek, even though he's- Engineer by training. So what did you think of his discussion? I mean, I thought it was fantastic, and I mean, as you said, I think people don't quite realize how involved in technology he actually is, and also how well and successful his businesses have been, and then equally important, the work that he's doing with his foundation, and the way he's using technology for really important human causes. I don't think he gets enough credit for that, and so it was great to sit on stage and have that conversation. It was super fun. Yeah, because we know him from that 70s show. I know, I like that 70s show. And he's a goofball, and he has a great actor, and a lot of fun. Yeah, there was one of the lines I actually really loved from the presentation. It's that he looks for companies that have counter-intuitive thesis, because if you're doing something that everybody else is, then chances are somebody's going to catch you and everything else like that. You also had, you had two talk about geeks, John Rose and Ray O'Farrell up there. Maybe share a little bit about some commonalities you saw between these speakers and some of the unconventional things they're doing. So I completely agree. I love the point of talking. There's so much hype in this space, and that's why I think that line is so important. And so the big commonality that we're really seeing and talking about this year in particular is we've been talking for years about data as the rocket fuel of the economy and of business transformation. And now we're really talking about data combined with those emerging technologies. So things like AI, IoT, blockchain, which are really taking that data and unlocking the business value, because for years there's been this hype about big data, but I don't think the reality has quite been there. And now as those technologies catch up, we're really starting to see some practical applications and use cases. And that's why I thought, in particular John's, John Rose's section on AI and how where we're seeing some of those really emerging practical applications was so interesting and fun and tied really well to Ashton's talk track. You know, that's a good point. I mean, I feel like we started covering the big data trend really early on. And I feel like big data was just, it was like the warm up. Okay, we're going to, it's cheaper now. We're going to collect all this data. Now that we have all this data, we're going to apply machine intelligence to that data. We're going to scale it with cloud economics. And that's really what's going to drive value and innovation. What are your thoughts on that? Absolutely, I mean, and so we talked this morning on the stage even about some of the companies large and small who are really doing that. I mean, I think one of the examples that's really interesting, Walmart using blockchain technology to decrease the amount of time from seven days to mere seconds, that it takes them to identify the source of food contamination. Really interesting things where a couple of years ago even, frankly, even 18, 20 months ago, that would have been a promise, but maybe not a reality. And so that's what I think is really exciting, finally. Yeah, it's something that's actually resonated with me this week. We've talked for my entire career. There's the journeys and it was like, a lot of times it's the journey of the technology. And a couple of years ago, digital transformation was okay, is it real, isn't it? Every customer I talk to, they understand, making it real, as you said, in the keynotes, where they're going, what kind of feedback are you getting from people at the show? So one of the things I talked about briefly on Monday, but I think is really important, is this promise and the hope and the optimism of digital transformation, and yet also the fear behind it as well. And so through some of the work that we've done in our own research for realizing 2030, we're really seeing that about 50% of our respondents say they believe in the power of the human machine partnership, which means that 50% don't. And all of the data questions are really divided and polarizing like that. As a Lifeline researcher, that's really interesting to me, because it says that there's something going on there. And yet at the same time, we're seeing over 85% of the respondents that we talk to who say they're committed to becoming a software-defined company in five years. So this idea of, I know what I want to do. I know what it means to transform an industry. And yet, I'm still not really sure that's going to do me or my business good. I'm not really sure what that means for myself or my employees, getting really practical, obviously, about the technologies. That's what we do. But the examples of how people can do that better from a business perspective, that's a lot of the customer conversation that I've had over this week. But you're an optimist. I am an optimist. You believe the world will be a better place as a result of the machines. Yes, I do and we do, so. Yeah, so are you an optimist? I am. I think there's obviously some challenges, but there's no question. Stu and I talk about this all the time on theCUBE that machines have always replaced humans throughout history. For the first time, now it's on cognitive functions. But the gap is creativity and education. So I am an optimist if we invest in the right places. And I think there's an opportunity for public policy to really get involved. Leadership from companies like yours, and others. Politicians, of course. We've actually, Dave and I didn't have that a couple of years ago with Andy McAfee and Eric Reynolds, and you had Andy here. Second Machine Aid, because it's really, it's not just the technology. It's technology and people and those have to go together. And Dave said there's policy. There's so many different layers of this that have to go into it. And I think we're just starting to really enter into that. And so, I think it's on that optimist versus the robots are coming to get a spectrum. Obviously there are things that we have to look out for as leaders, as society, as businesses. And yet, even if you look at the example from this morning where Ashton is talking about minimizing child sexual trafficking and using AI and machine learning to arrest many of the perpetrators of these crimes, as well as free thousands of children from sexual slavery. I mean, you hear those examples and it's hard not to be an optimist. What, I want to ask you about your digital transformation and how that's being led inside of Dell. What it means to you. So, obviously we are two huge companies that came together. So, when we talk about digital transformation and what that really means to have a very different way of operating and working with IT and being in a different business model, we know that really well. So, one of the things that's really interesting for me personally as the CMO for 23 days is one of the biggest line items in my budget is actually for our own marketing digital transformation. And obviously Dell in particular had many, many years starting in the consumer and small business and then growing up to larger businesses of direct marketing and we have a great relationship with our customers but we also have all of these legacy systems and processes and way that work is done. And now as we come together with EMC and we start to build Dell technologies, the idea of what a data driven marketing engine can be that possibility is something that we're also working to build ourselves. And so everything from how do we build our own data lake to actually bring all of these sources of data together, how do we clean up that data is something that I'm pretty deeply into myself. And so there's a lot of that work going on across the company and then for me personally as CMO, big initiative. So it's customer experience is part of but it's also a new way to work. Exactly, and it sounds so trite in a way to say the technology is the easy part but the really hard part begins when the technology is finished and I really believe that because if I look at my own team and my own team's experience, there's so many places where they've been doing marketing one way for a very long time. And if you come in and you ask them to do something differently, that's actually a pretty hard thing to do and the only way to unlock the power of the data and the power of the new technologies is to actually change how work is done. And I know it's an analogy that's overused but if you'd ask the taxi dispatch, are you important to the taxi business? They would have said yes, of course, I'm the most important person in this chain. That's how taxis get to customers and then along comes Uber and suddenly you don't need that. You have to really think differently about that and as a leader that's exciting and also really hard. I don't know if you've ever heard Sanjay Poonan talk about change, he says there's three reactions to change, you either run from it, you fight it or you embrace it. Exactly. That's it, and the third is the only way to go. It's the only way. It's the only way. So how about messaging? I'm sensing different messaging, much more around sort of the business, maybe a little bit less on the products. Plenty of product stuff here, but the high level stuff. So what's your philosophy on messaging? Yeah, so I used to say I'm a person who believes in shades of gray and about seven years ago I had to stop saying that. But the truth is I am a person who believes in shades of gray and I almost always believe that the answer is somewhere in the middle. So you get in marketing into these debates about is it these thought leadership and high level conversations or is it about product messaging and selling what's on the truck? And the honest truth is you have to do both. You have to set a vision, you have to build the brand, you have to talk about the business and where we're going from a business perspective. You know, as we talk about things like 2030, that's a really lean into the future conversation. At the same time, we also want to sell you some PCs and some servers and some storage, some data protection. So we need to do that well too. And frankly, we need to get better as a marketing machine, as a company and as sales people in terms of talking to customers at the right conversation at the right time. Again, sounds like marketing 101, but it's actually quite hard to do. So when you want to have a connected cities conversation, when do you want to just talk about how to modernize your data center? It's true. We always talk about above the line and below the line. Talking above the line, you might be speaking one language and below the line another language. And if you try to mix the two, it doesn't work. Right, exactly. You have to target the appropriate audience. And the way the conversation, one of the women on my team started talking about this and I thought it really made sense was macro conversations, micro conversations. So to get out of this advertising vernacular, and I grew up in the ad industry, sort of above the line, below the line, and those were always two departments who didn't even talk to each other and usually hated each other. And so instead of above the line, below the line, what's the macro conversation? How are we talking about realizing 2030? How are we talking about digital transformation? And then what are some of those micro conversations where I'm going to talk to you about what are the personas that you have in your workforce? And let's talk about some end user compute technology together with something really simple, like a monitor that's going to help them be more productive. Those things don't have to fight with each other, you just have to be honest about when you're doing which one. Target them in the right place. Allison, we're getting to the end of the show here. I can talk a lot. We've loved, first of all, new media row here. Gave us the biggest set. We've done this show for nine years. We're super excited. The therapy dogs next door. I love the therapy dogs. Not only fun to see, but every once in a while give a little bit of color in the background here. For people that didn't get to come and experience in person, I know the sessions are online, but give us some of the flavors and some of the fun things you've seen, and what would we expect from you in the future? So I think this is just one of the most fun shows. I mean, obviously it's important for us to set our vision. It's important for people to come and do the hands-on labs and the training and the breakouts and to learn and to engage. But you see things like the beanbags and sitting out there, the therapy dogs, and my team does want me to say that every year we get new beanbag covers, so we don't recycle those. And then really experience the fun in the Solutions Expo and talking about the way that we're taking trash out, plastic trash out of the oceans and making art with it. So we can talk about our sustainable supply chain in an interesting way. So I think I'm biased, but I think that this is the best show in terms of actual education and vision, but also some fun. Hopefully you guys think so too. Well, sting. Yeah, sting, yeah. And walk the moon. Do you guys know who Walk the Moon is? Yes. I don't. Me neither. I don't know. Come on and dance with me. Oh, okay. All right, great. I'm a child of the 80s. What can I say? All right, so I say 23 days in the job. What should we be watching from you, your team and Dell? And so as we talked about in the very beginning, this is our first Dell Technologies World. So obviously we have just gone through some of the biggest integration of large tech companies in the history. And we're really proud of how successful that integration has been. And yet we also still have so much work to do around telling that integrated story. Yes, Dell and Dell EMC, but also together with VMware Pivotal RSA Secure Works and the extended strategically aligned businesses. And so that's what you'll see us really lean into is how do we tell that story more effectively? We're continuing to invest in the brand. So a lot of the work that you've seen with Jeffrey Wright and those TV spots we relaunched again in March. And just making sure that people understand what the Dell Technologies family actually is. So really a more integrated story. It's something that Dell always tried to tell, but you didn't have the portfolio to tell it. Now you do. So that's got to be exciting for you. It is exciting, yeah. Great, Allison, thanks so much for coming on theCUBE. It was great to have you. My pleasure, super fun. Appreciate you having us here. Cheers, thanks. All right, keep it right there. We'll be back with our next guest. You're watching theCUBE live from Dell Technologies World in Vegas. We'll be right back.