Hello CEO: Stefan Alariksson, Dell

Dell is one of several good examples of the industry's work to contribute to the goals of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Stefan Alariksson was initially asked why sustainability issues are important to Dell.

- We have a responsibility, both as a player in the global market and as part of our world. Sustainability is a strategically important part of developing and growing our core business. Sustainability is also very broad - it is the key to our inclusive culture and characterizes how we perform for both our customers and our employees in different teams," says Stefan Alariksson and continues:

- More specifically, it is of course about more sustainable PCs, green data centers, recycling programs and of course Dell APEX. But also about designing products that are easy to repair, reuse or recycle, which creates new choices for our customers. We have worked hard to integrate sustainability into everything we do and see it as a prerequisite for being at the forefront of new growth areas, such as AI and security, but also digital inclusion by increasing access to broadband and telecommunications. Our sustainability work is a combination of what we do and who we are. We treat our sustainability performance as at least as strategically important a measure as financial performance.

Where has your focus been in the area of sustainability?

- We have four areas of particular focus: climate action, circular economy, inclusive work culture and digital inclusion. Recently, for example, we have received a lot of attention for our efforts in creating an inclusive workplace with a focus on equality and building trust in teams and creating opportunities for individual impact. Last October, NewsWeek named Dell the most loved workplace, highlighting our commitment to helping team members achieve their career goals, our leadership, how we foster collaboration/innovation, and our flexible work environment.

- I think there's a lot to be said for being happy at work and being given the right opportunities to flourish. It is also a prerequisite for finding creative solutions to challenges large and small. For example, our development team has come up with a concept for the hardware of the future, where we don't just discard used electronics, but instead collect individual components to give them a second, third and even fourth life. It's a completely new basic design with less need for glue, cables and screws. We call it Concept Luna and we are convinced that this concept points the way to the future.

- A modern PC is full of screws, cables and hot-melt glued components and can take more than an hour to disassemble. The latest model of Concept Luna can be disassembled in minutes and with the help of automation, the whole process from disassembly to evaluation of component status and reuse can be so smooth and easy that the risk of things ending up in landfills unnecessarily is minimized.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for the industry in terms of sustainability?

- Our responsibilities, as well as those of others, investments and plans span our business, our value chain and our partners - ultimately delivering value for us as a company, for our customers and for society. That said, there is a lot to do to move business and society forward and it can be overwhelming. That's where focus and prioritization come in. Large parts of the world are not as connected as the West and there is a huge loss of information and inclusion for the people living there. Digital inclusion must be a collective effort and we at Dell Technologies are committed to connecting those groups of people in the world who today do not have the knowledge and resources that technology enables.

- One very important project we are working on is our partnership with Giga. We at Dell Technologies are providing technology, funding and volunteering to support Giga, an initiative launched with UNICEF USA and the International Telecommunication Union, to connect all schools to the internet by 2030, and create stronger infrastructures of hope and opportunity. This is a big and far-reaching challenge to take on, but an extremely important one. As part of a global industry with a wide ecosystem of suppliers and customers, it is natural to engage in this global development.

Do you have any thoughts on how the industry as a whole can become even more sustainable?

- I believe there is much to be gained from working together and jointly continuing to push the boundaries to drive innovation and development. We are committed to doing our part in that effort, for example through projects like Concept Nyx, where we look into the future and how we will collaborate using AI technology. Will we interact as holograms or is the future more like how most of us already communicate digitally today? Virtual worlds and immersive experiences can offer exciting new ways to connect with others and experience what we create. And with people more dispersed and work patterns more individual than before, how we collaborate and get things done has never been more important.

- We must also continue to invest in design, manufacturing, sustainable materials and solutions to drastically reduce global waste and environmental impact on our shared planet and in our society. From infrastructure to devices, Dell, along with many others, is at the center of today's and tomorrow's workplaces and we are focused on developing the tools that will be needed to navigate the future. The productivity tools of the future will be connected and intelligent enough to seamlessly move from experience to experience and task to task, helping to break down barriers and redefine how we collaborate.