A Collaborative Solution to Every Finish Line

At Lenovo, we don’t just sell hardware. 

We enable organizations to harness the full power of technology to drive meaningful business outcomes. 

And it’s clearly working!  SSG delivered its 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-on-year revenue growth, with revenue of US$1.9 billion. I’m proud that at the Solutions and Services Group, we work in tandem with our other business groups at Lenovo to transform our conversation from simply selling products to delivering comprehensive, tailored solutions.

Because when it comes to our customers, we always want to put our best foot forward and deliver outcomes that speak to their needs. 

The Key Mechanics of Solution Selling

We used to lead every conversation with “What hardware do you need?”

But times are changing, and we recognize that in some instances, our customers need strategic guidance to get from A to B. 

So our conversations have gone from “What do you need?” to “What do you want to achieve?”

Like in team sports, this is the perfect strategy for success. We can understand the desired outcome first, then work backward to determine the exact play, movements, or winning strategy needed—be it edge computing, hybrid cloud solutions, or AI-driven analytics. 

This solution-selling approach is core to Lenovo’s strategy, particularly for us at SSG. 

A Winning Solution for our Partnerships 

The transition from product selling to solution selling allows Lenovo to move beyond transactional relationships. 

Solution selling is collaborative, whether you’re a customer, a partner, or we work in partnership with you. We work hard to understand the exact needs and desired outcomes of every business we work with, and this collaboration enables us to proactively recommend solutions that deliver measurable value.

We want to enable the companies we work with to benefit easily from working with us — partnerships like Formula 1. 

I’ll admit, I’m a more recent Formula 1 fan. Like many around the world, I was drawn in by their documentary series, Drive to Survive, and loved the behind-the-scenes action and exposure the series gave viewers like me. 

It’s incredible to see the amount of data, technology, and engineering that goes not just into every race, but every pit stop, every upgrade, every practice session, and more. 

Precision engineering and boundary-breaking technology have always been at the heart of Formula 1. As drivers and their teams constantly improve their vehicles, the broadcasters, IT professionals, event organizers, media managers, and every other cog in the Formula 1 organizational machine, implement the same forward-focused technological ethos.

That’s what makes the Lenovo partnership with Formula 1 so great— because we believe in the same things.

Formula 1 has a lot of data. Every turn, every break, steering angle, and more is measured, for every car in every race. With an average of 22 races per year all over the world, you can imagine the data. And if you can’t — it’s millions of points of data per car across each Grand Prix.

Well, we had to not only imagine that kind of data, but come up with a solution to crunch it and deliver it seamlessly where it needs to be. Our tech infrastructure helps put that data in the hands of the drivers and their teams instantly, through trackside devices that support data collection with its servers. Not only this, but we put it in the hands of the fans too, with Lenovo tech that connects the track to the Media & Technology Centre that displays the data in real-time as on-screen graphics for the fans watching the race.

We also work with Formula 1 with their sustainability efforts too. Through Lenovo’s Asset Recovery Services, we help Formula 1 develop and implement a sustainable disposition strategy for technology hardware that the organization cycles through, and more sustainable solutions for their media broadcasting. 

Lenovo Solutions and Services (SSG), Intelligent Devices (IDG), and Infrastructure Solutions (ISG) all work together to benefit Formula 1. Our team and the Formula 1 team have also worked side-by-side to refine and perfect our strategies and implementation across years of partnership, always striving for more, better, faster. 

I can’t think of a better indicator of success, or a better example of how collaboration truly is the key to the finish line.