Dell is in the right business for 2020, Sam Burd, president of the company's PC hardware and software business, told Cheddar.
"One thing that we've seen in 2020 is technology has become really important to how people get things done," he said. "Getting that technology in the hands of our customers has been really important to keeping the world operating."
The computer giant pulled $23.5 billion in revenue in the third quarter, beating analyst's expectations of $21.9 billion, largely through increased demand for laptops and PCs.
Burd explained that we've quickly gone from a world where maybe one PC was sufficient for a single household to one where multiple are needed, as students and employees alike work remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This trend also applied to the public sector, which increased its spend on technology to offer remote education options.
On the back-end, Burd added, this has increased the need for cybersecurity.
"The world we're in today, we have a very distributed set of how people are doing work, so that attack surface has gotten a lot bigger for companies or for even people in their household," he said.
He noted that a Dell study found that 44 percent of businesses have had a hardware-based breach in the past year, and that the number is likely much higher.
Dell's success in 2020 also shows that earlier predictions that the PC was dead — in light of competition from products like tablets and smartphones — missed the mark, Burd noted.
"We're kind of hitting the 10-year anniversary where some of the press started to say that the PC was dead," he said. "Since that point in time, as an industry we have shipped over two billion systems. Customers had had demand for $3 trillion of PCs. So the death of the PC was highly overhyped."
Big Business This Week is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street. This week we highlight Paramount, Maersk, Starbucks, Uber, Lyft and Beyond Meat.
With Donald Trump due on the witness stand next week, testimony from his adult sons in his civil business fraud trial wrapped up Friday with Eric Trump saying he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to assure the accuracy of financial documents key to the case.
DraftKings reported better-than-expected revenue in the third quarter.
Wallet Hub released a list of the 10 states with the highest median monthly student loan payments.
Oil and gas giant BP will purchase electric vehicle chargers from Tesla for $100 million.
Reports say olive oil prices have jumped 75% since January of 2021.
The big three car companies for GM and Stellantis have agreed to pay striking workers as they spend time on the picket line, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Elon Musk is making a big prediction about artificial intelligence and the jobs market.
Open enrollment season is here and the stress of picking the right plan for you could sometimes get overwhelming. Rosalyn Glenn, financial advisor with Prudential, joined Cheddar News to discuss what to know and understand about selecting your benefits to cover your medical needs and conditions, if any.
Learning about money is a skill that should be learned at an early age. OneMain Financial is now offering a financial course called 'Credit Worthy' across several high schools across the country, along with some scholarships. Doug Shulman, CEO of OneMain Financial, joined Cheddar News to discuss the importance of learning and understanding credit. "Over half of high school students graduate without knowing the basics about credit," Schulman said. "It really helps establish a great foundation to being an independent adult, to have a healthy and happy life, and some financial security is part of that."
