Memo From Lenovo to Partners: 3 Ways to Accelerate Business

As we prepare for Accelerate 2013 — the Lenovo Channel Partner Forum — many partners have asked what surprises we have in store for  the conference (April 29-May 1, Las Vegas). I don't want to reveal all of the surprises just yet. But if you join us at the forum you'll hear at least three ways you can further accelerate your business. Here's a sneak peek at the conference, and the implications for Lenovo's partners.

First let me paint the market picture for you. For our third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012, we reported our best quarter ever. Lenovo continued to outgrow the market in all geographies with record sales, pre-tax income and earnings. For 13 consecutive quarters, Lenovo has been the fastest growing major PC company. As a pure channel company, your success fuels our success.

So where do we go from here? I think there are at least three big opportunities ahead for Lenovo and our channel partners. We'll explain this more fully at Accelerate 2013. But here's a preview:

1. Hand-to-Hand Combat Drives Sales

Most partners are familiar with our Protect and Attack strategy — which allowed us to protect our installed base while taking market share from our rivals. Now, it's time for some hand-to-hand combat, where we really take it to the competition.

We're enabling partners to better sell Lenovo solutions — mobile, desktops, workstations, servers and storage. You'll hear about new sales techniques, sales tools, online training, financing and other assets that motivate and empower our partner ecosystem to drive more sales. For some details right now check out our SMB Partner Advantage Program. And don't forget to check out these links as well:

• The main doorway into our partner program: http://www.lenovopartnernetwork.com
• Our various partner programs and discount programs: http://www1.partnerinfo.lenovo.com/partners/us/programs/programs.shtml
• The SMB Partner Advantage SPIFF program: http://www1.partnerinfo.lenovo.com/partners/us/resources/rep.shtml

2. Touch Computing and the Consumerization of IT

Innovation is alive and well in the PC market, thanks to Lenovo. We won more than 50 awards at CES 2013. Partners and customers are still  buzzing about:

• ThinkPad Twist, our convertible Ultrabook;
• ThinkPad Helix, which combines the performance of an Ultrabook with the mobility of a Windows 8 tablet;
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, our ultralight and ultradurable Ultrabook is now ultraresponsive, thanks to a capacitive touch panel;

Always known for our business-grade PCs, we're now blending the best of consumer and corporate technologies into elegant, reliable mobile and desktop designs that customers crave.

3. Expanded Lineup: Workstations, Servers and Storage

Our loyal partners know Lenovo is more than a traditional PC company. Our ThinkStation workstations are designed with specific vertical market use-cases in mind. And our partners are now starting to explore up-sell and cross-sell opportunities in the server and storage markets.

In January 2013 Lenovo and EMC completed the formation of LenovoEMC Ltd, a joint venture that will empower our partners with industry standard servers and networked storage solutions. Incorporating the core assets of EMC’s Iomega business, the new JV will bring co-branded network attached storage (NAS) solutions to distributed enterprise, remote branches, and small and medium businesses.

The Bottom Line: Sales Efficiency

I look forward to seeing you at the conference. 

David Rabin is executive director of marketing for Lenovo, North America. Monthly guest blogs like this one are part of The VAR Guy’s annual platinum sponsorship.