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Dell Technologies appoints Richard McLaughlin as Apac president
MUMBAI: Dell Technologies has appointed Richard McLaughlin as president for Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, placing one of its most battle-tested sales leaders at the helm of a region that is both complex and full of promise.
McLaughlin steps into the role after more than two decades at Dell, where he has built a reputation for scaling global teams, sharpening margins and turning big-picture strategy into measurable growth. Most recently, he served as senior vice president for global sales at Dell Technologies Select and the Global Transformation Office, overseeing businesses that together generate more than $10 billion in annual revenue.
Based in the US, McLaughlin led worldwide teams spanning sales, pre-sales, enterprise architects and client principals, with a strong focus on fast-evolving areas such as AI, edge computing, multi-cloud, security and modern infrastructure. Along the way, he delivered year-on-year revenue growth, improved customer satisfaction scores and helped shape product roadmaps through close collaboration with engineering teams.
Before that, McLaughlin ran Dell Technologies Select across the Americas, first as vice president and later as senior vice president. In these roles, he was responsible for multi-billion-dollar portfolios and led large, distributed teams supporting enterprise clients through digital, workforce and IT transformations.
Earlier in his career, as senior director for global accounts in the Americas East, he managed relationships with some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. During this period, his teams generated more than $2 billion in revenue and delivered standout bookings growth, earning repeated Chairman’s Club and President’s Club honours.
Beyond the numbers, McLaughlin is known inside Dell for his people-first leadership style. He has been recognised internally for strong employee engagement and is an executive sponsor of the company’s Women In Action initiative.
As Dell looks to deepen its presence across Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, McLaughlin’s mix of commercial discipline and collaborative leadership signals a steady hand on the tiller for a region where technology ambition is moving at full speed.
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MakeMyTrip partners with OpenAI to boost AI-powered travel planning
Conversational AI now guides travellers from inspiration straight to booking
GURUGRAM: MakeMyTrip, India’s leading online travel company, has teamed up with OpenAI to bring a fresh twist to AI-driven travel planning. The collaboration integrates OpenAI’s APIs into MakeMyTrip’s app, making it easier than ever for travellers to move from chatting about dream trips to booking them.
The move centres around MakeMyTrip’s Myra interface, a GenAI trip planning assistant that now handles over 50,000 conversations a day in languages ranging from English and Hindi to Tamil, Telugu and Bengali. Myra helps travellers explore options, create itineraries and book flights, hotels and extras without the usual hassle of searching and filtering.
MakeMyTrip co-founder and group CEO Rajesh Magow said, “With OpenAI, we turn curiosity into confident decisions. When travellers start their journey through conversation, MakeMyTrip becomes a seamless extension of that discovery process. AI combined with our travel data makes it possible to deliver personalised, bookable options at scale.”
OpenAI managing director- international Oliver Jay added, “MakeMyTrip is showing how AI can make travel planning feel more like a conversation than a chore. Advanced AI isn’t just about back-end efficiencies, it’s about transforming the way travellers experience and engage with the platform.”
MakeMyTrip has long invested in AI across the travel lifecycle, from inspiration and discovery to booking and post-sales support. Nearly half of Myra’s queries now come from tier-2 and smaller cities, and voice interactions are booming outside metros, making AI travel assistance more accessible than ever.
With this partnership, MakeMyTrip is not just keeping up with AI trends, it’s aiming to lead the way, turning every traveller’s whim into a smooth, bookable adventure.
