A Field Trip to Dell, Inc. Website

This is one business in the United States where IT is the center of commerce, and people are in constant interaction with technology.

Background & Purpose

The writer has made a field trip to Dell, Inc.’s business website early at around 6 am on the 7th day of August 2007.  I chose this site because Dell, Inc. has basically been one of my favorite brands when it comes to computer hardware products like personal computers, servers, software, data storage devices, and personal digital assistants.  Dell manufactures even my PC, so instead of going to Round Rock, Texas where its headquarters are presently located, I used IT and the media to connect to the company and make a ‘virtual’ field trip.

My purpose here is to evaluate five things: first, the purpose of the website; second, the assumed user profile; third, the psychological and social human habits that are reflected in their website design; fourth, the advanced technology or technologies that they use; fifth, the way media visitors interact with technology; sixth and last, whether the technology affects cultural and social interactions.  What I should be careful to observe are the physical and human environments that are good precursors of interpersonal relationship.

Findings

From my virtual field trip on Dell, Inc., my findings can be described as follows:

1.      The purpose of the website is multi-faceted, although the overall function of the site is to inform people about their company, their business, their products, the events that they have, and the benefits of choosing them as a computer manufacturing company.

2.      The assumed user profile revolves around high-tech visitors of big suburban cities around the world (the Western, most especially).  It appears from its website design that the major group of people that are being invited to enter are those that are from the middle age, middle class society mainly because of the simplicity of design, some picturesque views, and a group of middle-aged, middle class people that are shown interacting.  Business investors are also included in this virtual user profile.

3.      The psychological and social human habits that are reflected in their website design constitute the concepts of simplicity, brotherhood, purity or creed (The Soul of Dell), being environmentally friendly, and the magnitude of technology.

4.      The advanced technologies that the company use can be subdivided into the following categories: first, the high-tech marketing information systems; second, the ultra-modern system of computer product manufacturing; third, the use of digital equipment for customer and human resource management; fourth, the use of ‘virtual integration’ and ‘fast-cycle segmentation’;[1] fifth and final, the ongoing use, innovation and improvement of Dell computer and its digital technology.

5.      Media visitors of the Dell, Inc. website interact with technology from the start of the virtual tour up to the end.  Each buttons that they use in their personal computers bring them to a different tab or window in their screens, and all these can be labeled as interactions with technology.

6.     Based on my virtual tour at Dell, Inc. website, it is very obvious that technology affects cultural and social interactions.  Companies have the power to reflect cultural, social, and psychological views in the designing of their websites, in the laying out of fundamental ideas and codes, and in the types of information that are being shown.

Conclusions

Beforehand, it was my preconception that Dell, Inc.’s physical and human environments would only revolve around the higher-class society of the Western world.

However, based on the front picture on their website, the city that is shown does not necessarily pertain to the Western world but any city around the globe that is high-tech and virtual.  From brown hairs to black, the only thing that is similar among the people that were shown in the web pictures was that they were all high-class and contemporary.  Human habits depict one that is globally interconnecting, with a concern for earth and brotherhood.

This visit changed my views by revealing that IT does not simply interact with people as a whole but that it connects with every viewer by reflecting significant psychological and social human habits that are most appealing for a given time and environment.  As of now, the environment covers the global spectrum because we are in the digital age, and the only American emblem that we see is the small flag of the USA.  Technology has the power to affect cultural and social interactions by affecting interpersonal relationship at best.

Speculation

It is my speculation that cultural and political wars do not help virtual companies like Dell, Inc..  This is because the overall concept that is readily seen in their website is one on concord and brotherhood.  The company has to ignite a very positive aura in the media, yet with all these they should also be true to their country as well.  To be a virtual company is to be clever both in social and interpersonal relationships inside and outside the country.

References

Dell, Inc.  (2007).  Company: about Dell.  Retrieved August 7, 2007, from http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/en/home?c=us&l=en&s=corp&~ck=mn.

Magretta, J.  (1998).  The power of virtual integration: an interview with Dell Computer’s Michael Dell.  Harvard Business Review, March-April, 73-84.

[1] This makes use of the most sensible timesaving devices, such as customer focus, supplier partnerships, mass customization, and just-in-time manufacturing.