18 minute read
A Letter From Rob Cato And Vlad Rozanovich
ROB CATO
VLAD ROZANOVICH
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At Lenovo, we are so grateful for the ways our partners have stepped up and quicky adapted to serving our mutual customers to deliver the infrastructure, devices, and services needed to support learn-from-home and remote workforces over these last two years.
We know remote and hybrid work are here to stay, and now, more than ever, we are committed to bringing customers the integrated solutions and services— from their pocket to their cloud—that they need.
With Lenovo’s continued transformation to a solutions and services company, alongside our R&D investments focused on the “New IT” full stack architecture of client-edge-cloud-network-intelligence, we’ve remained focused to deliver on our 3S strategy (Smart Devices/IoT, Smart Infrastructure, Smart Verticals). All of this, along with our partners’ tremendous support, contributed to Lenovo’s record-breaking performance this past year.
In this special issue, you’ll see Lenovo’s plan to offer everything from devices to servers, combined with complementary services, so our partners have new ways to expand their business. We call this framework “Lenovo 360,” designed to put the full power of Lenovo’s people, programs and tools into our partners’ hands. Our concierge service approach unites our Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), and Solutions and Services Group (SSG) organizations. Lenovo 360 creates a single provider and allows us to better support partners to deliver the business outcomes desired by customers. Together we will work to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this ever-changing market.
As we enter a post-pandemic era, our commitment to lead as a channel-first organization is unwavering. We strive to support you with trust and integrity, invest in end-to-end solutions that better serve you and provide greater value to our mutual customers.
Exciting opportunities are in front of us. We thank our valued partners for their commitment to powering through the challenges of current times with Lenovo, and we are committed to accelerating your business with smarter technology for all.
All our best,
Rob Cato
Vice President, North America Channel
Vlad Rozanovich
SVP & President, North America
THE FUTURE OF THE CHANNEL
VLAD ROZANOVICH
SVP & President, North America
The Future Is Service-Led And SolutionsFocused
The vision of the One Lenovo global channel framework drew me to join Lenovo,” says Vlad Rozanovich, senior vice president & president of North America at Lenovo. A year ago, Rozanovich, a 24-year veteran of AMD, joined Lenovo to head up North “ America for the newly reorganized global sales organization. Rozanovich’s well-rounded experience and proven leadership is critical as Lenovo accelerates its transformation from a company known for its iconic ThinkPad devices and Motorola phones to a leader in data center infrastructure and everything-asa-service. The company integrated its Intelligent Devices Group, which encompasses PCs, mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, with its Infrastructure Solutions Group, which comprises servers, storage and networking, and established the Solutions and Services Group, which coalesced its services and solutions teams.
As Lenovo views a services-led, outcome-focused approach as critical to fuel its next decade of growth, it also created Lenovo 360, a global channel partner framework to make it easier for partners to do business with the company.
Unifi ed Partner Framework
Lenovo 360 is designed to provide partners—and ultimately their customers—with easier access to Lenovo’s device, infrastructure, and services and solutions portfolios. Having a unifi ed framework allows partners to capitalize on the services-led and solutions-based opportunity and drive additional revenue streams more effi ciently.
“One Lenovo unleashes the entire portfolio of Lenovo to address customers’ needs from PCs and accessories to the data center to solutions and services,” says Rozanovich. “The vision is Lenovo as a single entity that can handle partners’ and customers’ IT needs from pocket to cloud.”
Designed in collaboration with Lenovo channel partners, Lenovo 360 brings together the core elements of people, programs and tools to drive mutual success. A unifi ed global structure simplifi es go-to-market activities. Channel-ready solutions to address customers’ needs for workforce productivity and collaboration, greater infrastructure fl exibility, sustainability improvements and industry-specifi c solutions help partners accelerate the sales cycle.
Lenovo helps partners drive profi table revenue, too. Rebate accelerators like Better Together and TruScale Accelerator o er partners the opportunity to increase earnings up to 30 percent or more on sales across Lenovo’s portfolio of products and solutions, and as-a-service sales.
Executing The Vision Of One Lenovo
Rozanovich is focused on making the One Lenovo framework a broad success, and like any organizational transformation, the initiative starts with people.
“First and foremost, it’s about building a team that can approach the market with a consolidated product o ering, with the thread of services and solutions woven through, so we can deliver close-to-box solutions and service, managed services and complex IT solutions through our partners to our customers,” he says.
Before the change, partners had to deal separately with Lenovo’s di erent business units. Buying desktop PCs, monitors and accessories was handled through one group, while servers, storage, networking and other data center infrastructure was handled by another. Motorola phones were handled separately.
“We’ve changed so that Lenovo is one organization from a partner and customer viewpoint,” Rozanovich says.
Lenovo’s partners have experienced the value of Lenovo 360.
“Lenovo has done a great job of telling partners that, no matter whether you’re selling PCs or infrastructure services, you’re going to win,” says Shelliy Cymbalsky, chief marketing o cer of iT1 Source, a full-service IT solutions provider based in Arizona. “Nothing is a siloed opportunity with customers, and Lenovo’s new approach helps us take that strategic approach with them.”
Lenovo By The Numbers
Lenovo’s business transformation strategy and continued investments are paying o , as the company continues to drive sustainable and profi table growth.
In February 2022, Lenovo announced record results for its third quarter and achieved its fi rst $20 billion quarter. Innovation, coupled with operational excellence, is delivering measurable growth and profi tability across its key business groups and geographies.
The company reported that net income grew more than 50 percent for the sixth consecutive quarter, with net income growing 62 percent year-on-year to a record $640 million.
Lenovo continues to invest in innovation that’s aligned to the company’s transformation into a solutions and services company as part of its commitment to double R&D investment over three years.
Overall, Lenovo says it is on track to double net margin by the end of its fi scal year 2023/2024.
Under Lenovo 360, channel partners have a single point of contact for the entire portfolio, whether they’re purchasing desktops, laptops, servers, storage, adding on warranties or delivering managed services to their customers. Lenovo brings in the specialized sales and technical resources as needed to meet the specific need, whether it’s a small business, enterprise or public sector sale.
Brad Svoboda, director of technology alliances at Arrow Electronics, is pleased with the change.
“At Arrow, we have always represented Lenovo as a single entity and strived to create a seamless experience for our customers, but it did create extra work for us internally managing separate processes,” he says. “Bringing the two business groups together and the Lenovo 360 motion has been fantastic for growing our business with Lenovo.”
That unified approach also makes it easier for partners to go to market with Lenovo solutions. Lenovo is investing in sales, marketing and training enablement tools so partners can spend more time having customer conversations than creating marketing campaigns from scratch. Lenovo’s strategic marketing investments are driving brand awareness and purchase familiarity both on the global stage and in regional markets with innovative partnerships from Formula 1 to local organizations helping underserved communities.
Lenovo 360 is designed as a global framework, giving partners visibility and access to Lenovo people, programs and tools across geographies.
“We have heard from our channel partners that they wanted our help expanding outside the U.S.,” says Rozanovich. With metrics and status earned on a global basis, it’s easier for a U.S.-based partner to meet the needs of customers that operate in multiple countries.
The future is bright for Lenovo as it works closely with its channel partners to deliver the services and solutions that are in high demand as organizations accelerate their use of innovative technology to deliver new experiences to their customers and workforces, streamline operations and shine in an unpredictable world.
Going Green Is Good For Everyone
E-waste has a huge impact on our global environment, and it’s getting worse every year.
Lenovo is doing something about sustainability. By embracing the circular economy, Lenovo and its ecosystem of partners can better leverage existing resources and put them back into the supply chain instead of using them once and throwing them away. The potential impact is enormous, not only for our environment but by reducing costs for businesses and consumers.
Lenovo’s asset recovery and device-asa-service offerings are just the beginning.
Lenovo aims to have an impact on the greater good. The company recently created the Lenovo 360 Circle, comprised of 17 of its biggest partners and distributors, which are focused on achieving common goals by 2025, including supporting the circular economy, expanding the use of renewable energy, fostering female talents and executives, and supporting more charitable works.
“We have started by identifying simple things we can achieve together, like reducing packaging for products and providing a carbon offset when customers buy PCs,” says Pascal Bourguet, global channel chief & COO, International Markets, at Lenovo. “We are at the very beginning of what we can do together to address environmental, sustainability and governance issues.”
THE FUTURE OF THE CHANNEL
“Over the last several years, we’ve been listening to our partners and acting on their feedback. We continue to be agile, and evaluate our programs and support each quarter, so that we can fl ex and pivot.
ROB CATO
Vice President, North America Channel
We Are Better Together. Join Us.
Change has made us stronger,” says Rob Cato, vice president, North America Channel, at Lenovo.
“The pandemic created a new environment for everyone,” says Cato. “There’s greater demand for technology with all of the solutions and services that wrap around. We believe Lenovo is uniquely positioned to be a leader going forward, with solutions from the pocket to the cloud to solve customers’ needs.”
The Lenovo 360 framework is key to accelerating this growth with and through the channel.
Strategic Growth Initiatives
Lenovo is growing from a position of strength, with channel-ready solutions designed to meet customers’ needs. The company is investing heavily in research and development to maintain its technology leadership
“and bring next-generation solutions to market. “Our priority is to protect and grow our core business,” says Cato. “We off er world-class devices, PCs, tablets and smartphones, and we plan to accelerate growth for our data center business. We see a big opportunity to work with our partners to grow.” One keen focus for Lenovo in the coming year is small and medium businesses. A service-led and solutions-focused approach is particularly important to support this customer segment, and Lenovo sees huge upside in working through the channel. This growth is even more pointed in Canada, where the vast majority of businesses are smaller. “More than 78 percent of SMBs rely on managed service providers because they don’t have infrastructure expertise in house,” says Cato. Lenovo also sees growth potential for its OEM business, in which its devices and data center
infrastructure technologies are embedded into solutions for healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other verticals.
Simplifying The Process
Lenovo wants to make it easy for channel partners to do business with the company.
“We’re focused on everything from having the right tools to providing full-service support for our partners,” says Cato. “We are investing in technical and sales resources and will differentiate ourselves with a concierge approach with partners.”
Lenovo 360, at its foundation, is designed to deliver the people, programs and tools that partners need to accelerate success. New partners can benefit from incentives, and for partners that expand their business with Lenovo, additional incentives and rebates kick in.
“Lenovo 360 is a layered program approach to building profitability,” he says. “The Lenovo 360 framework allows us to bring unique, channel-ready solutions to the market where partners can layer on additional services to deliver the right business outcomes for customers.”
Lenovo partners who have taken a solutions-selling approach, like iT1 Source, are thriving.
“When people return to the office, they come with a fresh set of eyes,” says Shelliy Cymbalski, chief marketing officer of iT1 Source, a full-service IT solutions provider based in Arizona.
That fresh perspective can kick off a technology refresh as organizations adapt to the reality of hybrid work. “We had a collaboration opportunity with a large client a few months ago, and Lenovo went above and beyond to help us bring the solution to market, even with supply chain constraints,” she says.
Solution providers can expect that level of whiteglove attention to continue—and with a clear understanding of the needs of different segments of the channel, including solution providers, telcos, global systems integrators, managed service providers (MSPs) and distributors.
“Over the last several years, we’ve been listening to our partners and acting on their feedback,” says Cato. “We continue to be agile, and evaluate our programs and support each quarter so that we can flex and pivot.”
Now Is The Time For As-A-Service
Lenovo believes the inflection point for everythingas-a-service is now, as the pandemic accelerated the need for business agility.
“As a service will continue to grow as customers look to change their balance sheets from Capex to Opex,” says Cato. “The other factor is the pace of technology change, as employees expect to have the latest and greatest technologies, and they don’t want to wait for three years for their technology to depreciate.”
Lenovo’s TruScale infrastructure services fit with the renewed focus on environmental sustainability, by supporting customers’ objectives to get the most out of their IT investments while also minimizing the environmental impact.
Device- and infrastructure-as-a-service options give organizations that flexibility and sustainability, and Lenovo plans to differentiate its TruScale offering in the market as channel-friendly.
“We are channel-first with our TruScale infrastructure services,” says Cato.
A Bright Future Ahead
“With the pandemic and the supply chain challenges, it’s been a roller-coaster ride,” says Cato. “Our partners have stood by us, even when we couldn’t see them in person, to drive mutual success.”
Whether the next opportunity lies in helping customers realize their vision for hybrid work, scalable data center infrastructure, creating a truly flexible hybrid cloud, making the metaverse a reality or mind-bending mobile devices, Lenovo is committed to partnering with the channel.
“I’m bullish as we go into this year and we deliver channel-ready solutions,” he says. “There’s an opportunity for customers and partners to experience Lenovo in a different way.”
PRODUCTIVITY AMPLIFIED
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THE POWER OF LENOVO 360
Organizations face relentless challenges even as the pandemic begins to ebb. Digital transformation milestones have been achieved and surpassed at unprecedented speed. As workforces continue as remote or hybrid, organizations must support personnel wherever they choose to live. IT straddles a hybrid world of on-premises and cloud. Customers have unyielding expectations for digital services and fl awless interactions.
Amid these dynamics, Lenovo made a move to maximize synergies among its business groups to better serve its customers’ changing needs.
Lenovo has said it would look to have its di erent groups work more consistently together. As such, the company reorganized into three business: Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) and its Solutions and Services Group (SSG). A global sales organization was created to serve international markets and unleash the power of the Lenovo portfolio worldwide.
As a channel-fi rst organization, Lenovo prioritizes helping partners drive more value for their customers while also growing their own businesses. As customer needs evolve in an unpredictable world, Lenovo is taking the lead to help partners grow their businesses by becoming more service-led and solutions-based.
A Unifi ed Framework
“We looked at our channel approach with fresh eyes,” says Pascal Bourguet, global channel chief & COO, International Markets, at Lenovo. “We created the Lenovo 360 global channel framework as businesses continue to evolve to an everything-as-a-service consumption model.”
In January 2022, Lenovo introduced Lenovo 360, a unified global framework aimed at transforming the channel partner experience. Designed in close collaboration with partners, Lenovo 360 empowers partners to grow their business through expanded access to Lenovo solutions and services.
“We are seeing transformation happen with our global partners,” says Je Taylor, Executive Director, Worldwide Channel Marketing and Programs, at Lenovo. “Our customers are changing, which means partners are changing. With Lenovo 360, we can serve our partners who are evolving as they serve our mutual customers.”
Through Lenovo 360, partners can harness the power of Lenovo’s full portfolio, from “pocket to cloud,” tapping into the biggest opportunities with market-ready solutions and a service-led approach, all at partners’ own pace.
Expand And Diversify
“Partners are welcoming the opportunity to engage
“with Lenovo in new ways and to drive more business with us,” says Bourguet. Partners traditionally focused on desktop PCs and mobile devices can more easily expand into data center infrastructure solutions. Partners historically focused on data center can expand their reach into the client side. Partners of all kinds can unlock the massive as-a-service opportunity. The approach is decidedly non-disruptive. Partners can maintain their current go-to-market strategies, while gaining access to opportunities to deliver new solutions and diversify revenue streams. Simplifi ed access to the full power of the Lenovo portfolio makes it easier for partners to do business with Lenovo.
The Power Of Three
Lenovo 360 brings together the power of people, programs and tools to help partners expand and extend their businesses. People: Channel account managers (CAMs) are a single point of contact for partners, providing access to deep expertise for co-selling, solution design and support to help partners leverage the full Lenovo portfolio. Programs: A robust incentive program opens the door to incremental fi nancial rewards. Rebate accelerators and initiatives enable partners to boost earnings by up to 30 percent. Tools: New tools help partners do business more easily, including improved pricing and quoting capabilities, solution builders, and marketing and technical enablement.
Market-Ready Solutions Deliver More Value
A growing set of market-ready solutions within the Lenovo 360 framework helps partners drive more customer value, faster. “The solutions are made to address customer problems with an end-to-end value proposition made of di erent components of the Lenovo portfolio,” says Bourguet. “Solutions that support new models such as work-from-anywhere and hybrid working models will be available to the channel under one structure now.”
Partners are welcoming the opportunity to engage with Lenovo in new ways and to drive more business with us.
PASCAL BOURGUET
Global Channel Chief & COO, International Markets Beyond remote work, market-ready solutions include collaboration and conference rooms, virtual desktop, immersive design and engineering, immersive education, hybrid cloud infrastructure, backup and recovery, asset recovery services and more.
Crafted For The Spectrum Of Partners
Lenovo’s vision is to expand the Lenovo 360 framework beyond solution providers to address the unique needs of telcos, global systems integrators and managed service providers (MSPs). It is also working with distribution partners to activate new channel partners. “We are channel-fi rst at our core,” says Bourguet. “The way we are considering the di erent segments of the channel gives credit to how much we nurture and cherish the channel.” Lenovo will adjust and adapt its partner framework for the spectrum of partner needs. “With the largest portfolio in the industry, we’re uniquely positioned to help activate the full potential of 60,000 partners to do more with their customers and grow together with us in the market,” says Bourguet. Bourguet sees much opportunity to grow with MSPs. “We think Lenovo TruScale, our new portfoliospanning everything-as-a-service o ering, will be very appealing to this segment.” He also notes that Lenovo continues to listen to and learn from the needs of these new channel partners. “What the partner wants depends on their particular segment,” he says. “We continue to take the feedback from our partners to deliver on their expectations.” “It’s an exciting time to partner with Lenovo,” concludes Lenovo’s Taylor. LENOVO CUSTOM ISSUE 13
Lenovo 360 Global Channel Framework
As businesses continue to migrate toward an everything-as-a-service consumption model, Lenovo 360 enables partners to grow their business through expanded access to endto-end solutions and services.
