Lenovo: Change Management to Drive Results

As part of its strategy to grow revenue and improve margins, computer technology company Lenovo decided to offer expanded after-sales services, including equipment setup and repair, and troubleshooting. A new, companywide enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was critical to managing delivery of the services.

If the new system succeeded, Lenovo’s customer service expense to revenue ratio would decline dramatically, leading to savings of hundreds of millions of dollars over several years. But as with most systems implementations, the technology itself was only part of the equation. The key to capturing that value required effectively leading and managing a massive change for the company.

Pete Bartolotta, Lenovo’s SVP of worldwide services, sought Scott’s help. Scott provided a framework to guide the change, involving services organization leaders from around the world. Focused on driving results, they formulated a strategy, anticipated obstacles, and created an implementation plan. Pete told Scott his “design and delivery hit the mark for a global organization going through a significant transformation.” Scott also provided additional support and guidance to individual executives facing significant challenges.

Country by country, the new system was implemented. The project produced over $150 million in savings for Lenovo, which passed HP as the world’s No. 1 PC manufacturer. The customer service expense to revenue ratio declined by 17 percent.