Information technology equipment company Lenovo reports good results for its strategy to use its channel partners to garner feedback from clients on the solutions and products they need, thereby honing the company’s solutions and offerings, says Lenovo Southern African territory channel and midmarket lead Abrie van Staden.

This strategy is aimed at improving customer experience and aligns its development with customer needs, especially in the evolving connected-enterprise and economic environment in which businesses are increasingly operating.

“Our enterprise customers require solutions that can interface with a myriad of on-premise and external processes over multiple territories. Similarly, small businesses increasingly need devices and on-demand solutions that enable them to provide services for customers and larger companies in this milieu,” he says.

Additionally, Lenovo focuses on providing its channel, service and retail partners with the skills to serve clients and provide them with the support required to use connected-enterprise and cloud systems.

Small and medium-sized enterprises provide 47% of the job opportunities in South Africa and contribute 20% of gross domestic product. Their needs, including mobile devices with good battery lives and connected services, are directly linked to customer demands and new employees who expect these systems and facilities to be in place to do their jobs.

“Our aim is to support our customers – whether large or small enterprises – with the devices that they need, as well as to provide them with access to systems that enable them to interface and integrate with the increasingly converged world that they operate in.”

The company also monitors developments in telecommunications and infrastructure, such as the roll-out of fifth generation technology in countries to ensure that its channel partners have equipment in stock once demands from clients are received – prompted by better ser- vices and infrastructure – for devices and sys- tems capable of using these new technologies.

Additionally, Lenovo has built data centres for clients that incorporate hyperconverged technologies and performance technologies, such as software-defined networking to provide cloud computing capabilities in-house.

“Demands from clients are to improve and streamline computing and storage performance and reduce costs. We have to enable our clients to not only use their existing infrastructure as long as feasibly possible but also adopt new technologies dictated by demand,” says Van Staden.

This is facilitated by providing skills and support for its channel partners, as well as ensuring that it leverages these direct links to its clients to garner feedback and thereby guide its strategy.