Dell’s ambitious bid to overhaul its internal systems for the AI era — a secretive, multi-year effort codenamed “Project Maverick” — has run into delays.
Project Maverick’s mission is to simplify and modernize the company’s complex IT sprawl, a step that’s seen as “critical” for Dell’s AI strategy and future success, according to internal documents first seen by Business Insider in September.
Dell’s plan was to decommission most backend systems in one of its two main divisions on February 1, with the second main division to follow in May.
Those plans have been pushed back to May and August, according to an internal memo sent by Jeff Clarke, Dell’s vice chairman and chief operating officer, last Thursday.
“After reviewing our readiness assessment, we’ve made the decision to launch 1.0 in May and 1.1 and 1.2 in August,” Clarke said in the memo, which was addressed to all execs, people leaders, and key people working on the project.
Of Dell’s two divisions, the client solutions group, which handles hardware like PCs and monitors, will get the new systems first, the memo shows. Three months later, the infrastructure solutions group — which provides servers, storage solutions, and other IT infrastructure — will see the changes.
Clarke, who took on a more active role in the day-to-day leadership of Dell’s slowing CSG division in July, said in the memo that a readiness assessment showed that the new system works, but was “not yet ready to scale to Dell’s global business.”
When asked about the delay, a Dell spokesperson told Business Insider: “While we’re not going to discuss the specifics of our internal processes, we prioritize innovation and service to support our team members, customers, and partners.”
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In the memo, Clarke said the company needed “more time to test and confirm the system performs consistently under the kind of load Dell will put on it every day.”
One Dell employee working on Project Maverick told Business Insider that it was “slightly disappointing” the launch had been pushed back, but that it would be impossible to go ahead with numerous core functions not operating properly.
“We are replacing like two plus decades of tools and processes in about two years. I have no reference for how long this would take in another similarly sized company, but even when pushing the launch back a quarter, it seems like we are doing pretty well,” the person said.
What is Project Maverick?
According to a Project Maverick onboarding presentation, Dell’s existing operations are supported by approximately 4,700 applications, 70,000 servers, and over 10,000 databases. That environment that is “holding us back,” Dell said in the presentation, because it is so complex and expensive to maintain.
In November 2024, the company began work on Project Maverick to replace its complex system architecture with a standardized, modern system.
The project was a tightly kept secret — staff working on it have signed NDAs warning them not to mention it by name — and a team of Deloitte consultants was brought in to advise.
These kinds of transformations are “inevitable” as companies implement AI, Joe Depa, the global chief innovation officer at the Big Four professional services firm EY, previously told Business Insider.
“Implementing AI isn’t about dropping a tool into old workflows — it requires rethinking processes, systems, and even business models through an ‘AI-first’ lens,” he said.
As the launch delays show, for legacy giants like Dell, which has over 100,000 employees and a four-decade history as a company, modernizing for the AI future is a challenging feat.
Committing to launch in May
“We won’t shift this timeline again,” Clarke said in the memo, encouraging teams to continue working at the “unprecedented velocity” they have achieved so far.
“We need one set of books by the end of FY27, which means we need six months between the 1.0 launch and December. Compressing that window isn’t an option. And losing momentum between now and May isn’t either,” the chief operating officer said.
Tasks that teams working on Project Maverick still need to tackle before the May launch date include wrapping up development, testing of new systems, scaling them up, and training staff on their use, Clarke wrote.
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