I met Michael Dell in the 1980s, soon after he formed PCs Limited, which would be rebranded and grow into the company we know today. Since then, I’ve taken a personal interest in how he’s grown Dell Technologies. He’s proven time and again over the 35 years he’s been at the helm to be very astute, knows what he’s doing and is both entrepreneurial and visionary, and is, of course, hugely experienced.

Today, Dell Technologies boasts annual revenues of $92 billion, a net income of $5.5 billion, and a market cap of $37.5 billion, which is somewhat lower than it should be, based on the currently depressed stock market. It also has a foothold in 98% of the Fortune 500 companies as customers, and a staff complement of about 165 000 staff members. Dell Technologies is divided into three segments: an infrastructure solutions group, representing 37% of revenues; a client solutions group, which is about 50%; and then VMware, in which it holds 80%, accounts for 13%. Its major areas of focus are hardware and associated services, software (particularly cloud-orientated) and security.