Security Staff Acquisition & Development, Enterprise

Dell Technologies Layoffs: 2,000-3,000 Job Cuts Coming

Dell Technologies will cut 2,000 to 3,000 jobs now that the EMC buyout is official, according to Bloomberg. Most of the layoffs will come in the U.S. and in areas such as supply chain and general and administrative positions, as well as some marketing jobs, the report asserted.

Having suffered a layoff myself more than a decade ago, I'm sensitive to the issue of job loss. But overall, the alleged Dell Technologies layoffs and job cuts aren't very deep considering the new company has about 140,000 employees. EMC and VMware each had some targeted layoffs several months ago ahead of Dell finalizing the EMC buyout.

Michael Dell's Vision

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell

Michael Dell yesterday explained the company's overall business strategy to media and analysts.

Some participants in the call questioned whether the company can become larger and remain nimble, while others wondered how Dell Technologies will effectively compete and grow as more customer workloads float off into the cloud. The CEO's response involved IoT and big data opportunities, predicting that storage and analytics systems -- linked to billions of sensors -- will provide ample business opportunities.

It's safe to expect additional messaging around that theme during Dell World 2016, which is set for October in Austin, Texas.

Amid the shift to cloud and subscription services, many of the IT industry's largest hardware providers have announced layoffs this year. Indeed, Cisco Systems (5,500 positions), HP Inc. (3,000) and IBM (actual figures undisclosed) have each confirmed job cuts in 2016. ChannelE2E doesn't know if Oracle, another major enterprise hardware vendor, has also made cuts.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.