When Lenovo gobbled up IBMs PC division a couple of years
back, many in the industry outside of China did not know much about the company.
The decision of the company to acquire ailing IBMs PC business was indeed a
defining moment in the history of Lenovo. Many analysts were skeptical at that
time and pondered over whether this deal will work in favor of Lenovo. But two
year after the mega deal, Lenovo has defied critics and is raring to go. This
was clearly evident at the companys first ever Apac partner/reseller/media
meetLenovo Connections 2007.
Spread across two days, Lenovo executives evangelized on how
Lenovo is taking the legendary Think brand to a whole new next level at
the same time grooming its own Lenovo branded PCs. According to William J Amelio,
president and CEO of the Group, "We acquired what many would call an
unprofitable business and turned it into a profitable one in a very short span
of time, thanks to the restructuring we did in terms of reaching the end users
better. We took a series of key initiatives like rolling out the transaction
model, improving on our supply chain and enhancing the brand to contain costs
and improve on efficiencies."
Innovations to Impress
Lenovo is bullish about the fact that more innovation will impress the
customers, and to that end, the company is aggressively value adding its
notebooks with host of features. Take the case of the heat fac generated in
notebooks: to mitigate the heat in its new range of ThinkPads, Lenovo engineers
modeled the notebook fan blades based on owl wings. And this design, according
to Lenovo engineers, has significantly brought down the heat factor.
Lenovo called its offerings as the best engineered PC,
since every PC that comes out of a Lenovo factory undergoes a slew of tests
aimed at bringing out rugged and user friendly products. The roll cage design is
one of the innovations. An exclusive from Lenovo that reduces systems board flex
and enhances thermal protection.
Mathew Kohut, global competitive leader, Lenovo Group says,
"Lenovo engineers focus on how the users work and live. This leads us in
bringing highly productive PCs that are highly user friendly. Thus, users were
able to arrive at peak RoI as they spent less on repairs and spares."
Lenovo with its tag line: New World New Thinking is going
all out to become a global brand. Its not just tying up with industry vendors
but also with sports associations like Williams and NBA for building the brand.
Obviously the biggest brand building deal it bagged is sponsoring the 2008
Beijing Olympics, following its success of its 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
With a focused partnership approach powered by its key models, Lenovo is bullish
that it will taste the same kind of roaring success outside China also for its
PC products.
Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in
The author was hosted in Beijing