As AI agents increasingly automate work once done by people, Dell Technologies has found that maintaining company-specific knowledge and adapting operating models are essential to unlock AI’s true potential and sustain competitive edge.
- AI adoption demands changes in operating models, not just tech upgrades
- Dell encodes specialized company knowledge to customize AI agent behavior
- Protecting proprietary knowledge in-house is crucial to maintain differentiation
What happened
Dell Technologies has integrated fully autonomous AI agents across its operations over the past two years. Through this experience, the company has identified a critical gap between AI adoption ambitions and real-world outcomes, which it addresses by focusing on organizational shifts rather than mere technology deployment. John Roese, Dell's global CTO and chief AI officer, explains that simply adding AI tools without changing the way work is organized results in minimal improvements and suboptimal AI performance.
Dell’s internal AI initiative emphasizes a structured knowledge capture process where subject matter experts convert key business practices into machine-readable formats. These knowledge files personalize agent capabilities, embedding company-specific rules and expertise to influence tasks such as coding, pricing, and customer service. This approach allows agents to function with unique, proprietary context rather than generic AI behavior.
Why it matters
This approach underscores a pivotal lesson for enterprises embracing AI: technology alone does not guarantee competitive advantage. Instead, the specialized knowledge that differentiates a company must be retained and integrated carefully within AI systems. Dell warns against outsourcing or sharing this knowledge with third-party models, as it represents the true 'moat' in AI-driven differentiation rather than the models or tools used.
By redefining the operating model to blend human expertise and AI capabilities, companies can redistribute tasks effectively between employees and intelligent agents. This reshaping can lead to continuous improvement in AI performance, preserving and enhancing corporate strengths that generic AI models cannot replicate.
What to watch next
Enterprises should track how AI operating model transformations evolve beyond simple technology investments to encompass organizational and knowledge management strategies. Firms that embed and protect their proprietary knowledge in AI agents are likely to pull ahead in competitive markets as AI adoption matures.
Dell and other early adopters will continue providing insights into best practices for AI governance, knowledge capture, and agent deployment. Observers should watch for tools and frameworks that help bridge human expertise to AI execution while safeguarding unique business knowledge from dilution or exposure.