LENOVO

"Lenovo is transforming itself from a PC company to an IT company"

Lenovo's history may have started in personal computers, winning wings by acquiring the IBM PC business and the ThinkPad brand, but the company has been developing an integration strategy, transforming itself into an IT Company through internal betting and of new business acquisitions, as happened with the purchase of Motorola and IBM servers. François Bournibus argues that this strategy is to solidify Lenovo and achieve gains in economies of scale in various areas, but also to prepare the company for new challenges."The integration [of Motorola and IBM servers] always takes time. The first two to three years were for the company to understand the business, integrate it and find the right organization [...] We were the first to integrate the business and now begins to "surrender", explains in an interview with SAPO at IFA. The various business areas are growing, with a profitability of 19%, servers gaining 68% in the EMEA, and Motorola growing, justifies.To be a great actor in information technology, Lenovo knows that it has to be present in 3 areas: the equipment, infrastructures and cloud, where it can be an enabler of applications, and this is the line that François Bournibus stands for. "Lenovo is unique in that it is in these three areas," he told reporters at the IFA presentation, "We are in a very strong moment in the various products and in the various segments."The company's strategy is to defend its leadership position in PCs, where it is number one worldwide and has focused on the ThinkPad and Yoga brands, consolidate the mobility business of Motorola and Servers it acquired two years ago from IBM, and invest in smart devices, cloud and IOT. This covers all segments, from consumption to large companies and the public sector, without neglecting SMEs.In the server area Lenovo has achieved very good results, as well as in datacenters, where business is accelerating. "There has been a major change in the market in the last five years. Our business was to sell servers to large companies and now the market is dominated by some giants who buy most of the equipment, "says the president of EMEA, explaining that traditional manufacturers are suffering from this change but that Lenovo is getting capitalize on their capital gains to exploit the new market. In this area the company had 67% revenue growth and profitability increased by 11 points, and is getting the top spot in the supercomputer top.The company has a facility in Barcelona, ​​which SAPO has already visited, and is building what will be Europe's largest datacenter in Munich, said the EMEA official, who estimates it will be ready to start operating next year.What about new business? François Bournibus(in the photo below) guarantees that in five years' time, it will be important for Lenovo to be in the three main areas of technology - equipment, servers and the cloud. But he says that the area of ​​equipment is very comprehensive, and goes far beyond computers, through intelligent devices for the home and also through the equipment of augmented reality and virtual reality."This is a small area but we are also working on software and content," he said, noting that Lenovo last year announced the Mirage AR glasses and that this year at the IFA launched a new Star Wars experience and the possibility of playing the "dark side of the force" in the skin of Kylo Ren. And Lenovo believes that the potential is not limited to entertainment and that it is also in business with business applications.

SapoThe IOT area, and smart things, is also part of Lenovo's strategic alignment that already has some devices to showcase, such as the Lenovo Smart Display, but marketed only in a few markets, the western side of which is limited to the United States and the United Kingdom , where some products will arrive before Christmas. "IOT needs an integration platform. We are developing one in China that will connect all the devices and when it is ready we will make deploy to the whole world ", justifies. "The idea is to create an ecosystem of Digital Smart Home," he said, saying that the strategy will also be to make the solutions available to companies.For now Lenovo has announced a number of new equipment at IFA, some of which have innovative technology and differentiating design, as SAPO has already, and company executives promise to continue working on new products where customer design is always on the center of concerns, which do not leave behind the performance and usability.And can there be new acquisitions in the near future? François Bournibus says he can not comment on acquisitions but does not rule out this possibility. "We are always evaluating new opportunities," says the EMEA president to SAPO, noting that Lenovo has an organization in China especially focused on finding new ideas and financing emerging projects.


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