Machine data may now be regarded as the goldmine of the future, but the trouble is no longer in the actual mining of the gold. Data is easy to come by and increasingly easy to store and manage. The difficulty lies in two questions: What data is valuable for the company or application, and how is it used to make decisions?

The progressive technologies getting a boost from big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, are sure to prove their usefulness in this arena. But as the role of data grows larger, companies need to prepare and understand how they are receiving their data if they want to maximize its potential. Dell EMC is working hard to be at the forefront of those changes to offer companies a roadmap, according to Jeff Clarke (pictured), vice chairman of products and operations at Dell EMC.

“I think it requires a modern approach,” Clarke said.” It requires an approach to understand how that information is coming in to be able to do something with it. That’s where we’re focusing.”

Clarke talked with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Dell Technologies World event in Las Vegas. They discussed data, the changing role of information technology, feedback from customers, and Dell’s engineering culture. (* Disclosure below.)

One-stop solutions

Comprehensive solutions are another goal of Dell’s, driven by customer requests. Clarke is hearing more demands for end-to-end solutions. “I don’t see how you provide an end-to-end solution if you don’t have one of the ends,” he said.

Clarke is also seeing the same demands on the infrastructure side of the business. “New entrants to the workforce are pressuring conventional definitions of how we do work and we deploy technology,” he added. “So we have leadership, products, and now you can capture or tie that together with VMware Workspace ONE or an AirWatch or RSA class of products. And you begin to modernize the experience. How could you not do that if you’re not integrating the pieces?”

These approaches are just two of the ways Dell is demonstrating its belief that IT has a strong role to play in business. Rather than viewing IT as a mandatory expense, companies would benefit from viewing it as part of their business model and an investment that helps make them more competitive, Clarke concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World 2018 event. (* Disclosure: Dell EMC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell EMC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE