"Re-energised" Dell talks up benefits of privatisation

Dell claims privatisation has helped it to focus on customers, get products to market faster and enabled growth.

"It's been a year since we completed our privatisation - actually the largest company ever to go private. We couldn't be more pleased with the positioning, the progress and the performance of our business," Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, said to kick-off the firm's annual technology conference in Austin, Texas.

"One of the advantages of being private it that we can direct 100 per cent of our energy towards the success of our customers and partners, and focus on a future that is well beyond the next quarter, the next year or the next shareholder activist."

Things are looking up for the the one-time largest PC maker. Despite declining to give a detailed breakdown of growth and revenue, Dell did reel off some impressive stats. The company has seen double digit revenue growth in its software business and Q3 PC shipments have risen by approximately 10 per cent year-on-year.

"We have a great PC business. We're growing and we're gaining shareWe still believe that the PC is how real business gets done," he continued.

Of course, the straight-talking CEO couldn't resist having a dig at arch-rival HP, which continues to struggle in turbulent market conditions.

"One has to ask the question, who is this [spinning off] for? Is this for customers, does it actually help customers by doing this? Does it help partners? Does it help in research and development [or] to create the next great new innovations?"

The decision to spin-off will create "chaos" and "complications", according to Dell, and his firm will no doubt try and capitalise on this.

Customers see a difference in Dell

Earlier in the day, a customer panel helped to back up Dell's claims it has improved since going private.

"Dell used to have a very broad portfolio. The difference now is that they are more focused. Just in the last year we've noticed how quickly they have [developed products]. It feels like overnight," said Jason Cook, CTO of BT global services during a panel.

James Lowey, VP of technology at Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), also said he noticed Dell's increased focus on customers in the last 12 months, especially when it comes to providing engineering support.

"Dell has always been a customer-focused company...They can stand up and deliver quickly and don't just talk about [doing] something."