Data is rocket fuel for the supply chain: Jennifer Felch, Dell

US technology giant Dell has adopted a cultural shift in how it works to streamline its product development lifecycle. Earlier this month, the company appointed Jennifer Felch, Dell’s first-ever chief digital officer. 

At her new role, Felch is tasked with driving the digital transformation of Dell internally, putting DevOps in the driver’s seat and creating more accountability for how solutions are designed.

The Dell Digital Way

Felch plans to move forward with Dell’s product-oriented approach, which would, in turn, drive direct accountability for the design and operation of solutions. Her focus will be on four critical “cross-functional” journeys; the product journey, customer journey, the journey of the team members and the product group enablement journey.

In a recent conversation with TechCircle, Felch spoke about the Dell Digital Way ⁠— an internal cultural shift at Dell that has helped the company address the pain points in the supply chain management. 

The Dell Digital Way, according to Felch, has enabled the organisation quickly design, develop and iterate and deliver new products.

Felch also spoke extensively on how the Dell supply chain has evolved, and how newer technologies and strategies are being implemented to stay on top of the game. 

Felch is a veteran at the Round Rock, Texas-based technology giant. At her previous role, Felch was responsible for the supply chain, strategy and business as the senior vice president SVP under the Dell Office of the chief information officer CIO.

With close to three decades of experience in data management and product management, Felch has worked with companies such as Cisco, Boeing, PTC and a host of startups where she held leadership and engineering roles.

Felch holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is also an alumnus of the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, where she earned her MBA and an MS in Computer Science, in the late 80s.