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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stock bull who wrote (173690)	12/26/2003 8:23:36 PM
From: OLDTRADER	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

RE:Stock Bull-Good work-maybe MSD has just gotten way too rich-wbm

To: stock bull who wrote (173690)	12/27/2003 12:45:45 PM
From: hdl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

IOM?

To: stock bull who wrote (173690)	12/27/2003 11:53:59 PM
From: hdl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

IOM, Dell is headed for real trouble. It takes "zero" time to lose one's reputation, and it takes "forever" to get it back. Dell is headed down one long and slippery slope. IOM?

To: stock bull who wrote (173690)	12/29/2003 2:37:32 PM
From: William F. Wager, Jr.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Dell Upbeat on 2004 IT Spending By K.C. Swanson Staff Reporter 12/29/2003 11:01 AM EST Click here for more stories by K.C. Swanson Computer hardware giant Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - commentary - research) expects corporate spending to start finally picking up in 2004. "It looks as if the large companies will slowly return to spending on new IT equipment," CEO Michael Dell said Monday in comments made to a German business newspaper. "This could bring the breakthrough we hope for because companies have been very reluctant." He also said that in general, big companies are using computers as long as four or five years before replacing them, according to wire service reports. In a similar vein, Intel (INTC:Nasdaq - commentary - research) CEO Craig Barrett said at at a Nov. 20 analyst meeting that the chipmaker hopes to benefit from an uptick in spending by U.S.-based big companies next year. "We could start to see enterprise investment in [2004] ," he said, though he added that a "major, major upgrade" doesn't seem likely. In the short term, Dell cautioned Monday that PC sales could see a drop-off in the first quarter, as they typically do in the wake of the holiday season. Dell's business should do well in the period, however. Back in November, the company guided for unit sales to rise 25% from the prior quarter, vs. likely unit growth in the mid-teens for the overall industry. Helped by surging consumer demand for notebook computers, PC sales in 2003 have risen much more than expected early in the year. In mid-December, research group IDC raised its annual growth forecast for unit sales to 11.4% growth to 152 million units, up from 8.4% growth earlier. Such growth would mark a new record for sales, surpassing by 9% the levels reached in 2000. At about 10:45 a.m. EST, Dell shares were up 41 cents, or 1.2%, to $34.17 while Intel shares were up 51 cents, or 1.6%, to $31.87. thestreet.com *********************************************************** FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The world's largest personal computer maker, Dell Inc., expects large companies to resume spending on information technology in 2004, Chief Executive Michael Dell was quoted as saying on Monday. In a joint interview in German business daily Handelsblatt, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Rollins added that Dell's Christmas business had been going very well. "It looks as if the large companies will slowly return to spending on new IT equipment," Dell was quoted as saying in the interview. "This could bring the breakthrough we hope for because companies have been very reluctant." Rollins cautioned that corporate customers were waiting longer to replace computers. "We see that corporate customers aren't replacing their computers after three years, as they used to, but that they are using them one or two more years," Rollins said. Market researchers have said personal computers in this quarter were shipping out at a rate last seen during the tech bubble, as notebook computers were at the top of many Christmas shoppers' gift lists. Rollins said that spike in demand could fall during the first quarter. "Nobody knows if there isn't going to be a slump in the next weeks. Especially the consumer business is prone to such a decline in the first quarter," Rollins said. Last month, Dell said it expected to post revenues of $11.5 billion in the quarter to January, and earnings of 28 cents per share. Rollins reiterated he was optimistic that annual revenues would grow to $60 billion by 2005. story.news.yahoo.com

To: stock bull who wrote (173690)	1/2/2004 9:50:55 AM
From: William F. Wager, Jr.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

India's Call-Center Industry Struggles to Stem Attrition By JOANNA SLATER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BOMBAY, India -- This country's burgeoning call-center industry is struggling with some unintended consequences of its own success. Every day, more Western firms announce that they are moving customer-service, accounting and human-resources-related work to places like India. But as competition for workers heats up and the monotony of the job sinks in, India's call-center business is battling increasing staff-turnover rates. That's driving up costs, and in some cases, salaries, too. Attrition is "the single biggest issue" in the industry, says Ananda Mukherjee, chief executive of ICICI OneSource, a call-center and back-office firm with operations in Bombay and Bangalore. "At the end of the day, attrition costs a lot of money." In less than five years, the $3 billion industry has grown from next to nothing to an employer of 200,000 people. Almost all are young, ambitious and, once trained, in high demand. Attrition is already running at 35% to 45% a year for typical call-center work. That's far lower than call-center turnover rates in the U.S. Nonetheless, Indian companies say it is a growing source of concern. Call centers say attrition eats into their profit margins by forcing them to hire more staff in anticipation of dropouts. They also have to invest more in repeated training and recruitment, and manage dips in productivity and efficiency as new staff begin working. Attrition is highest in traditional customer-service jobs, where young people find themselves having to spend all night on the phone, often with irate callers. In other areas such as claims-processing or accounting, the turnover rate is much lower. More worrying for many companies is the merry-go-round in supervisory and management jobs, as new centers pay higher salaries to poach experienced staff. Calls From Recruiters Swapnil Coelho, 23 years old, a supervisor at a customer-service center in Bombay, says he gets calls every day from recruiters trying to lure him to other call centers. His wife, Ruchi, who also works in the industry, has changed call centers three times in the past three years, pulling a higher salary each time. "You're constantly evaluating the prospects and growth potential of your company," Mr. Coelho says. To keep employees, companies are trying a variety of measures. Some have resorted to gentlemen's agreements not to poach staff. Vikram Talwar, CEO of Exl Service outside New Delhi, says he has such an agreement with the call center next door. Employees used to walk back and forth between the offices toting competing salary offers. No longer. "It's probably not fair to employees," he concedes, "but employees are not fair either." Out-of-Town Hires Mr. Talwar says his company has also started hiring recruits from outside the Indian capital, and giving them accommodation or a housing subsidy. People without a network in the city are less likely to switch jobs, he says, and tend to be more committed to their employer. "Today we hire more people per month than we ever did, but we have to do more than we envisaged to retain them," he adds. Others are adopting different techniques to discourage workers flitting from place to place. U.S.-based eFunds, which has more than 2,400 employees in Bombay, says it only hires staff from competitors if the newcomers have stayed with their previous employer for at least six months. The industry "can't afford to have people leaving after 30, 60, or 90 days," says Atul Kunwar, eFunds' managing director of global outsourcing. "That's just adding to cost for no reason." Other companies are rolling out a battery of strategies to keep workers happy, from organizing bashes at local discos to offering training seminars. Many graduates work in the field, and "it's a challenge to keep intelligent people," says Vivek Kulkarni, chief executive of technical-support company B2K Corp. in Bangalore. "You need to invent different types of work for them to do." Call-center executives say that, for now, they can find enough fresh recruits to replace those who leave. But with the industry expected to employ one million people in five years, the current abundance of young English speakers may not last. "For the next 18 to 24 months, there's no issue" of supply, says Mr. Kunwar of eFunds. "Beyond that, the question will be how to handle growth." Mr. Kunwar's company is offering part-time work to attract workers who don't fit the typical call-center profile -- for example, older homemakers who have English-language skills. "We are tapping deeper and deeper into the talent pool," says Noshir Kaka, a principal at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in Bombay. So far, India's existing English-education system has been sufficient, he says. But for the business to expand to the forecast one million people, companies will have to explore new territory beyond big cities such as Bombay, New Delhi and Bangalore. In addition, he says, "you've got to have a bit more initiative from the government." Indeed, the Indian government is planning a campaign to promote careers in call-center and back-office work, says an official from the Information Technology Ministry. But some who have tried call-center work are happy to be out of the business. Vikrant Ghate, 24, joined a call center in Bombay two years ago after he couldn't find a job as a commercial pilot. He quit last summer to pursue his dream of flying, happy to leave the stream of angry customers behind him. Now, he says with relief, "I'm back with the human beings." Write to Joanna Slater at joanna.slater@wsj.com Updated January 2, 2004