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newely
formed SMB business unit of
which was founded last
year, is currently in the expansion phase, and aiming to increase its
market penetration into the key geographies of India. It is also
planning to drive business volumes in near future.
it
contributes 10 % of Lenovo's overall business in India.
Initially for SMB business unit, the first half was a consolidation
phase with 30 plus odd partners. Later, it increased the partner
strength to 40, covering major geographies like Kolkata, Bihar
amongst others. Also, geographies like UP, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu
are under Lenovo's priority list for exploring the SMB unit.
to
The DQ Week, Rajiv Rao, director, SMB business unit, Lenovo India
said, “Presently, we have a partner strength of 40, who are
redistributors. We increased our presence in the second half of the
last year in certain geographies, where we didn't have partners.
Six months back, we almost had no SMB partner in the East, but now we
have added few large redistributors in Kolkata and Bihar. We will
also come up with new partnerships and ventures in Odisha and
Jharkhand shortly.”
has
added New Wave Computing, Sogo Computers and Vivid in Bengaluru,
and Netcom and Arihant Mercantile in Kolkata, and Siddhi Vinayak in
Bihar among others, as its channel partners for the SMB segment.
company
operates with 3 internal pillars namely, redistribution, VARs
or SIs, and retail. Lenovo is also in talks with LFR players to
introduce its commercial products in the display market, and is also
planning to add ISVs in its portfolio to provide solutions to
end-consumers. The final names and decisions will be announced soon.
in
the last 3.5 months, it has added more than 100 VARs. Rajiv added,
“In VAR or SI segment, we started with our ThinkPad range, and we
also forayed into it with the launch of tablets for some commercial
activities. We are also looking to tie-up with ISVs for providing
solutions to end customers."
space
is one of the growth drivers, and currently, Lenovo has
leveraged the existing consumer retail space. Consumer business unit
has got 840 stores as of now, and in around 250 stores, it has SMB
corners for commercial products, which target SMB customers.
Sogo
Computers is unhappy with the association with Lenovo in the SMB
category. Narayan Rao More, GM, finance and administration, Sogo
Computers said, “We are a box pusher in the SMB products segment,
and also a VAR, but we will discontinue selling SMB products this
quarter. The reason being that the company is not responding to the
back-end claims; it just wants to do numbers. In this situation, we
are losing money. We will see, if Lenovo allows us to continue as a
VAR, else we will discontinue with Lenovo.”
to
the above statement, RK Bacchawat, CEO, Arihant Mecrantiles, said,
“For us, it is completely a new area and the market seems to be
very good. The demand is good in channels for the SMB products, and
we are seeing potential growth in this portfolio.”