Necessity is truly the mother of invention. As part of my ongoing series interviewing SMB IT leaders on the Windows XP migration matter (and the fast-approaching April 8, 2014 deadline), one of the most interesting stories I’ve bumped into concerns my discussion earlier this week with Chris Frey, Lenovo’s SMB czar!
Initially, I anticipated a standard press interview wherein Lenovo would trumpet its recent earnings (record revenue, market leadership over HP and Dell, 16-straight quarters of profitability, etc.). And we were supposed to talk about a mobility kit. However, the conversation got much more exciting very quickly when Frey hooked the “Lenovo Mobility Kits for Business Partners” to the end-of-life for Windows XP. More on that in a moment.
First let’s talk about the mobility kits. As you can see in the pic, Lenovo is providing its SMB IT partners with a mobile device kit that it can use to display devices (including laptops, touch and tablets) as it sells into customers. For example, take the 10-person law firm that my wife works for on Bainbridge Island, WA. The MSP serving this two-office law firm would order the Lenovo Mobility Kit for my wife and the barristers to use and abuse for up to 15 days. “The mobility kit, in the customer’s hands, shortens the SMB sales cycle.” Frey commented. “Two weeks later, the mobility kit is returned to me, re-imaged and sent out again. By the way – the Windows 8 image we burn on has four custom tiles to tell the Lenovo “four screens” story.” When asked how Frey secures his “interest” in the mobility kits to ensure they are properly returned, the distributor or the business partner (SMB IT Pro) has to take the ultimate responsibility in guaranteeing the return of the mobility kit to Lenovo. Fair enough.
The mobility kit was announced at Lenovo’s Accelerate conference this past May. It took a couple of months to produce the kits and currently the kits are now being shipped to Lenovo’s business partners and distributors.
Two final items of interest to MSPs are the there is NO CHARGE for using this 15-day mobility kit to business partners or customers. The hardware/software/shipping costs are being absorbed by Lenovo. Second – one of the “resources” included in the kit concerns “How do you do IMAGE MIGRATION from XP to Win7/Win8?”
Frey added that the mobility kit is available in North America but other geographies are considering it as well.
So back to the XP migration hook. Frey emphasized that the genesis of the mobility kit was the Windows XP migration opportunity. With April 8, 2014 and the end of Windows XP life fast-approaching, the truth revealed itself that a much faster sales cycle was needed for Lenovo’s business partners. Enter the mobility kit loaner program that excites the customer’s tactile senses and results in rapid and richer economic engagement. That is, the business partner can close the XP migration “gig” with the customer much faster than traditional “speeds and feeds” monologues! Look for Lenovo to make “moves” over the next year with this and other innovative approaches to solving the Windows XP migration challenge.
During the interview, we also asked Frey if the kits were part of a larger-scale companywide strategy, or were they developed because of something business partners were asking for? Frey said that the kits were developed in the beginning as part of Lenovo’s PC Plus strategy. However, as he and his team thought more about Windows XP migrations and the opportunities for VARs, he thought: “Why not put together a touch kit and let users do for themselves, rather than have to go out and train 250,000 VARs,” he said. “We thought that this (the kits) was the best way to go out and make it happen.”
The new Mobility Kits will undoubtedly help to further propel Lenovo as the top PC maker. Recently, IDC announced that the manufacturer had booted HP out of the top position on a worldwide level. We asked Frey if this was cause for celebration, and that maybe Lenovo can enjoy the fruits of its labor. He said that while he and his team are very excited about the designation, their work is still far from over in this realm. “We are very happy to have been named number one in the PC/client world,” he said. “However, our marketing is constantly evolving, and our aspirations are to be number one not just in the PC world, but within devices as well. We are, of course, excited to have met our goal, but we still believe that our work is not done, and we are far from celebrating for too long.”
With additional reporting by Regina Ciardiello
