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Lenovo embraces technology change, innovation

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Cape Town, 18 Aug 2017
Marc Godin, Lenovo VP and GM for MEA.
Marc Godin, Lenovo VP and GM for MEA.

Global technology company Lenovo will focus on how it can redefine the categories it already has stakes in to drive business profitability.

To achieve this, the company will incorporate the slogan "different thinks better" in all areas of its business.

Marc Godin, Lenovo VP and GM for Middle East and Africa (MEA), says the company's current vision can be defined as: "In this smart Internet era, Lenovo will provide smart devices that integrate applications, services and the best user experience, as well as robust cloud infrastructure to make life easier and better, and work more productive and efficient."

Godin spoke at the Lenovo MEA Innovation Summit in Cape Town this week.

In the PC space, Lenovo was recently named top personal computing device by Laptop magazine, replacing Apple at the top for the first time in a few years. It hopes to continue this trend and outgrow the global PC market.

To maintain PC leadership and profitability, its key priorities are to better understand its customers, raise the bar in capabilities and efficiency, invest in high-growth segments and capitalise on industry consolidation opportunities.

With its multimode PCs (devices that act as both a laptop and tablet), a form factor the company claims to have created with the Yoga notebook, it plans to continue defining the experience. It recently launched the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, which it claims is the world's thinnest two-in-one business laptop.

The company saw 6.3% market share growth in Q4 last year after it released the Yoga Book in the tablet category. The Yoga Book, released at IFA 2016, comprises two thin conjoined touch-screens that fold together like a book. One screen can be used as a keyboard or a second screen. Lenovo hopes these and other innovations will help it redefine the struggling tablet category.

In Lenovo's data centre business, it will grow its offerings and connect with more global partners. The company currently has partnerships with Nutanix, Red Hat, SAP and Juniper Networks.

Lenovo got into the smartphone business when it acquired Motorola's mobile division. Last year, it launched the Moto Z, a modular device that magnetically attaches extras, such as a speaker or projector, to the phone. Four million devices have been sold since. It aims to disrupt the premium category by focusing on creating these smartphones with 'Mods' that act as extensions of the phone's features.

Lenovo currently does $43 billion in sales, has 52 000 employees across the world and customers in over 160 countries. Nearly 30% of its revenue comes from the EMEA region.

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