David Jurusik and Brent Lantz, two Volcom sales executives, head out to surf at T-Street Beach in San Clemente, California
David Jurusik (left) and Brent Lantz (right), two Volcom sales executives, head out to surf at T-Street Beach in San Clemente, California
  • Brent Lantz and David Jurusik are sales executives at Volcom.
  • Dell provided both Lantz and Jurusik with a Latitude 9330 2-in-1 laptop: a lightweight, Intel vPro®-powered device with incredible speed, superior connectivity, and long battery life.
  • The challenge: Attempt a surf, skate, and snowboard "trifecta" in the middle of a busy work day.

Over the past few years, remote work has become a routine part of our lives. We've adapted to distributed teams and virtual collaboration, alongside a wave of new complementary tools and technologies. For some, however, remote work is not such a new concept.

This is the case for the sales teams at Volcom, a global lifestyle apparel brand based in Costa Mesa, California. Volcom was founded in 1991 as "America's First Boarding Company" and as a cultural intersection for skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, music, and art.

Two Volcom sales executives, Brent Lantz and David Jurusik (or BL and Nook, respectively), embrace this — whether it's taking a call on a ski slope or discussing inventory with retailers on the road. 

Dell Technologies and Intel teamed up with Volcom to see if they could improve and optimize their on-the-go sales efforts and work connectivity. Dell provided both Lantz and Jurusik with a Latitude 9330 2-in-1 laptop: a lightweight, Intel vPro®-powered device with incredible speed, superior connectivity, and long battery life.

The challenge: Attempt a southern California "trifecta" — surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding within a 12-hour period — all while completing a full day of work. 

The following is transcribed dialogue from the day of the challenge.

5:30 a.m. - Loading the truck at BL's house

BL: OK, first to-do: surfing. Nook just showed up to pick me up, grab a little coffee, and load boards, wetsuits, and gear into the truck. Going to answer some emails and check the live surf cams on the way over. We're heading over to T-Street in San Clemente, and that's likely where we're going to end up surfing based on the wind, the tide, and the ability to get it done quickly.

Brent Lantz checks surf cameras on Dell laptop

Nook: I'm also working through some scheduling on our way to T-Street. The strong 5G connection is already a major help while we're making quick moves this morning. 

6:30 a.m. - Surfing

Nook: Realizing I didn't charge the laptop last night, so I've got a little adapter in my truck to get it juiced up while we catch some waves.

David Jurusik plugs in Dell laptop to use ExpressCharge
David Jurusik plugs in Dell laptop to use ExpressCharge

BL: Waves are a bit sloppy out there. We'll get the best that we can in the short amount of time we have. 

9 a.m. - Heading to a partner retail shop

Nook: Now we're off to Surfside Sports, which is one of Volcom's longest-standing partners and a great retailer. We love checking in and seeing what the shop's got going on, and we have some business to discuss with them as well, so we're going to poke in. 

Brent Lantz and David Jurusik use ExpressSign-in to review retail placements
Brent Lantz and David Jurusik use ExpressSign-in to review retail placements

Nook: We're using this ExpressSign-in feature to quickly pull up our screens. Definitely frees up my time instead of fumbling with a password, so we can get right into discussing assets for the retail section. 

11 a.m. - Heading to a meeting at Volcom headquarters

BL: Retail meeting complete. Now we're leaving Surfside Sports to head to Volcom HQ. The goal is to discuss an upcoming content creation shoot at Baldface Valhalla in Canada, and then hit a skate session in our skatepark to knock out that part of the trifecta. 

Brent Lantz and team use ExpressConnect to facilitate a meeting
Brent Lantz and team use ExpressConnect to facilitate a meeting

BL: The Latitude is a night-and-day difference compared to prior machines, and it's really helping facilitate these meetings. Normally, if I was having to download files or video content, we'd be spending a lot of time prior to the meeting to prep. 

12:30 p.m. - Skateboarding

Nook: Agreed, glad we could crank through that meeting. Time to knock out the skate leg of this trifecta challenge. One thing that's rad and unique to the Volcom HQ is we have our own private skatepark, so that makes this part pretty easy. The hallways are littered with team designs and employee artwork. There's a band room as well. It all taps into what we're rooted in, which is our culture of board sports, art, and music. 

David Jurusik skateboards at the Volcom headquarters
David Jurusik skateboards at the Volcom headquarters

1 p.m. - Driving to Bear Mountain

Nook: So we left HQ and now we're now en route to Bear Mountain. Excited to get up to the hill on boards and knock out the last part of this challenge. 

BL: The weather is looking a little suspect, but we're going to have fun no matter what. We've got a call with our sales director up in Canada. We've got a very large outerwear buy that we need to place today, so it's crucial that we can get on video. We'll share files and walk through the financials, and just make sure we're making the right decisions.

David Jurusik uses Intelligent Audio to take a meeting at Big Bear Mountain
David Jurusik uses Intelligent Audio to take a meeting at Big Bear Mountain

BL: Big Bear is well known for being tough to maintain a signal, so the fact that the Latitude's connection and intelligent noise canceling is working well makes our jobs that much easier. We're wrapped up so we can move right into snowboarding. 

3 p.m. - Snowboarding

Nook: Been looking forward to this all morning. Good weather, bad weather — I have a good time regardless on the mountain. So if I can combo that with a workday, I'm pretty much winning.

David Jurusik and Brent Lantz recap their day after a snowboard run at Bear Mountain
David Jurusik and Brent Lantz recap their day after a snowboard run at Bear Mountain

5 p.m. - Trifecta recap

BL: We are so stoked that we pulled this off. It definitely had its challenges and one of the things that made it so much easier was that we spent zero time having to worry about connectivity or certain things not working. Plus, we enjoyed ourselves. 

Nook: For me, it was just nice that the Dell Latitude enabled us to avoid any kind of outside issues. No need to hit a coffee shop and pull over, which would've bogged down our time. All of the attributes that this machine is packed with just enables us to get our job done so much more efficiently. We were able to get in a couple more laps. We were able to do a couple more tricks and a couple more turns in the water. Trifecta challenge complete. Thanks, Dell. Hope we get to keep these things.

Watch the video below to see how BL and Nook achieved the California trifecta. 

Find out more about how Dell Latitude laptops, powered by Intel vPro®, can elevate your team 

 

1ExpressCharge can recharge system battery from 0% up to 80% within 40 minutes. After charging has reached 80% capacity, charging speed will return to normal speed. Recommended for use with the provided Dell power adapter; not recommended with a smaller capacity power adapter. Charging time may vary +/-10% due to system tolerance. ExpressCharge Boost can recharge system battery from 0% up to 35% within 20 minutes when system is powered-on and battery temperature is between 16-45 degrees C.
2ExpressConnect available with Dell Optimizer software version 2.0 and onwards. Download the latest at https://www.dell.com/support/home. Simultaneous multi-network connection (or Connection based teaming) is a new connectivity feature under ExpressConnect. It simultaneously sends and receives data and video traffic using two or more wired or wireless connections. Based on Dell internal analysis. WiFi 6E connectivity only available in select countries. Check availability with your service provider.


This post was created by Insider Studios with Dell Technologies and Intel.

Read the original article on Business Insider