AI is no longer coming – it is here.
This is the word from Yugen Naidoo, GM: Lenovo Southern Africa, who says IT must be about innovation with a purpose.
“In southern Africa, Lenovo has made real progress, bring smarter technology to customers, supporting the channel, and delivering solutions to grow the customer base.”
As the world’s leader in PC and notebook market share, at 24%, Lenovo is also the top preferred brand in South Africa and SADC (Southern African Development Community). In addition, it holds the top spot for consumer PCs and notebooks in South Africa.
When it comes to servers, Lenovo is currently a strong number two in market share and will focus its efforts over the coming months on improving its position to number one.
And the future is looking even more promising, he adds, “The PC landscape in 2025 promises to be dynamic. By embracing future trends, we are committed to delivering innovative products and solutions to help customers navigate the ever changing.”
“And the AI PC will be 80% of this market,” Naidoo says. “Lenovo is ready to help you navigate the journey, putting AI front and centre of the conversation.”
The company aims to help customers to be future-ready, he adds.
Lenovo is a in a good position to do this: as it celebrates 20 years of globalisation, one in four of its close to 70 000 employees works in R&D (research and development) – and 10 000 of these employees have been added in the last financial year alone.
“This company is all about innovation and continues to build for our customers,” Naidoo says.
Lenovo’s strong engineering focus gives it the ability to craft individual solutions for its customers.
“So, if a South African customer comes to us with a particular challenge, we would engage one of our global innovation hubs with the problem statement. The innovation and R&D teams would then build a solution from the ground up.”
Customers are encouraged to share their experiences, while feedback from focus groups, forums and surveys is also fed back to the innovation centres. “We ask our customers to speak, and we listen to what they say,” Naidoo says.
Lenovo’s three-year growth strategy is built on three pillars.
The first is smart devices that understand the user, enable them to expand their abilities, proactively serve them, and protect their data.
Smart infrastructure simplifies the AI experience while improving the employee experience, bringing expertise to the AI solution.
Smart verticals, developed using deep industry know-how, is about delivering AI computing anywhere, unlocking powerful insights, simplifying the AI journey, and accelerating AI innovation.
“Our solutions are not just about hardware,” Naidoo says. “They are about solving real challenges and problems.”
Wrapping the systems up into solutions is Lenovo’s services business. “We are laser focused, tracking performance with strict KPIs to deliver the best customer experience,” Naidoo says.
“At Lenovo, we are AI-ready, AI-enabled and AI-optimised.”
All about the customer
Lenovo has a customer-centric go-to-market model and – importantly – it is 100% channel-focused.
“We are the only ICT company in South Africa that truly works only through the channel,” Naidoo claims.
When it comes to customer-centricity, he explains that Lenovo views everyone in its supply chain as a customer. “So, distributors, resellers, consumers, or enterprises are all customers. And our value is that we serve our customers.”
Lenovo works with a number of distributors to ensure its products get to the widest possible market quickly and efficiently. Alviva Group distributors, along with the Mustek Group and DCC Technologies distribute the PC products.
Axiz, Rectron and Mustek have recently been appointed as full distributors, including the server business. They join First Distribution, which also distributes the server line-up.
First Distribution, Mustek and Rectron all operate throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and Axiz serves the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) market.
“We have a solid, steady distribution channel that services our more than 2 000 resellers,” Naidoo explains. “They are also able to add value, going beyond simply selling products, but offering solutions.”
And the opportunity to provide full solutions is there: Lenovo’s aim of supplying everything from the pocket to the cloud is enabled through a full range of products that runs from mobile phones to tablets, from PCs and notebooks to edge devices, and from cloud to on-premises and hybrid cloud.
“We offer the entire ecosystem,” says Naidoo.