Shashank Sharma, Executive Director & General Manager, META, Lenovo Intelligent Device Group spoke to Mark Forker, Editor at CNME, concerning their LEAP 2024 portfolio, new AI offerings and how they plan to maintain their momentum as a provider within the Middle East region.
Could you give our readers an overview of Lenovo’s PC business, in terms of your product portfolio and some of the solutions you are showcasing at LEAP?
Our PC business is, currently, about 60% of our overall business worldwide and it has allowed us to service many customers around the world. We started in the Middle East and Africa in 2005, which was a bit later than other brands but as of 2023 we have become the number one PC brand in the region. This success has allowed us to focus our efforts through the channel on the consumer and commercial needs of our customers. For us, LEAP is about giving the consumer the best solution to their computing requirements, which is an ever-changing factor. We can think of no better example that the recent surge of growth within the trend of Artificial Intelligence. The AI evolution within the last 12-18 months has meant that the customers first priority, on both client and infrastructure sides, is to have computing capability to use either generative AI or predictive AI. Our job as a PC provider is to give them the correct solutions that match their computing environment.
In terms of that AI offering, what is it about Lenovo that really differentiates you from your market rivals?
When you set out to make an AI-capable offering, you must first invest heavily in AI. Over the next three years Lenovo is investing over $1 billion in AI capabilities from Edge to the Cloud, its all about getting these capabilities in the hands of our customers. Secondly, AI capabilities will keep increasing over the coming years both on the front end, which is on the client PC side, and on the backend which is the server side. Lenovo is committed to making sure our AI growth is in-line with the software requirements as they continue to change and evolve.
Could you give us an overview of the growth you’ve enjoyed within the last 12 months and how you plan to maintain that status as the number one PC provider across the region?
Our journey to becoming number one has been all about understanding the needs of our customers. We also needed the right partnerships in the local markets across the Middle East and Africa. If you get these two things right, it then becomes about remaining invested in the technology you are providing, this has yielded solid results for us in the past and we believe this will remain true for the upcoming quarters.
How important is the channel ecosystem to you and what do you look for when selecting a partner to help deliver on your vision?
Channel is everything to us when it comes to getting our products, services and general message to our partners. We fundamentally see the channel as a partner instead of an extrinsic cost to the business. What we look for in a channel partner is an equal in understanding and commitment towards our products and services. We want to see partners that are as passionate about our customers requirements as we are, once we have that the sky is the limit.
