All along, Lenovo was totally dependent on its channel partners, but now it is planning a new strategy.
While keeping pace with its innovative strategies, Lenovo now wants to reduce its dependence on channel partners. The company is planning to start its own service centers in India this year.
“We have decided to set up our own service centers in India to establish direct touch with customers. We will launch one this quarter. Two centers will be set up in September and October in Bengaluru and Delhi. In all, we will have five such centers at the end of this fiscal. This way, we intend to have direct touch with our customers and also try to offer new personalized experience to customers,” said YU Jie ,Vice President and General Manager, Services, Lenovo Asia Pacific.
In its native country China too, Lenovo follows the hybrid service model. There, the company owned service centers which are around 3,000, outnumber the partner centers.
Why the shift now?
The decision is aligned with the company’s strategy to move from product-centric to customer-centric company.
“After brainstorming on how we can engage with our customers directly, not just for service, but also products; how we can offer personalize service, we arrived at this decision to engage directly with customers,” she says.
She feels direct services will help the company keep pace with the evolving needs of customers and deliver new and tailor-made services.
With new technologies, customer service has become multi-touch. We have been seeing a dramatic shift in customer behavior and expectations. There is a need to evolve our services too, she says.
“Our own service centers are less that 1-2 pc. We want to try this out. If that doesn’t work, we will change. Lenovo has been doing innovative things. That it has become No 1 shows how fast we can change,” she says.
For Lenovo, India is the second biggest market in APAC. “As for the market share, China is No 1 for Lenovo, but for us India is the fastest growing country,” she says.
Partner challenges
Vendors often face the problem of partners not being aligned with their innovative ideas. “That is one of the reasons why we are setting up our own service centers. We need to move really fast. We can’t guarantee that partners catch up with our pace,” she says.
While Lenovo provides partner enablement programs and certification courses, it also follows a strict performance assessment.
“This way, we want to ensure partners are aligned with our growth pace. Those partners catching up with trends, we give them more business. Those not delivering good service, and we take away their business and give it to others,” she says.
Will Lenovo’s lowered dependence on channel partners work in long term? Please share your opinions.