Kathy Gibson is at Techscape 2022 – Lenovo has grown and prospered over the last years – and the company continues to introduce new products and channel offerings to the local market.
Thibault Dousson, GM of Lenovo South Africa, explains that Lenovo doesn’t simply supply hardware and software, but solution offerings like smart manufacturing, smart retail and smart education.
The results speak for themselves: Lenovo reported record revenues for the most recent quarters. And the company remains firmly as one of the top three PC vendors.
Lenovo is committed to the channel, and 100% of its business goes through partners. Indeed, the company was voted as the number one vendor for channel engagement across EMEA by Canalys.
“But we have make sure we are engaged, so the over the last two years we have put a lot of effort into digital,” Dousson says. “We are using data to determine where more training is needed, and we have become a lot better at training salespeople in the channel.”
There are 1 102 users on the southern African Channel Training and Enablement platform, which provided 1 047 webinars and 15 813 training sessions in 2021.
The Lenovo Partner Hub offers partners a one-stop place for all engagement with the vendor. “We are trying to share as much information as possible.”
On 1 April, the company is launching Lenovo 360, where the devices and server group channels will merge. “So you can talk to one person for whichever product you want to sell. And your rebates operate across both business units.
“We think this will help Lenovo to increase market share, and will be more profitable for partners,” Dousson says.
The desktop as a service (DaaS) trends opens up new opportunities for partners, with a fully-managed model combining hardware, services, software and support in an opex model.
DaaS gives resellers more opportunities to add value in the planning, configuring, deployment, support, management and retirement elements of the product lifecycle.
“So the conversation is not about how much is the product, but how can you make all the pain points go away, and provide a trusted device and service.
“I think it’s a conversation that is important and there is an opportunity to unlock revenue there – and give customers a better service.”
Dousson adds that Lenovo is serious about diversity, sustainability and corporate social investment.
“We try to have a more inclusive future,” he says.
The company is pushing to increase the representation of women and underrepresented ethnic groups at top management.
Sustainability is a big issue around the world, and Lenovo is already number 78 in the list of most sustainable companies. The company uses sustainable packaging and has made strides in responsible recycling.
“In fact, there is a product coming out in May, the Z13, that will be made 100% out of recycled products.”
The Lenovo Foundation is a global organisation that is active in South Africa, with a number of projects supporting women, children and education.