Speaker 1: 0:00

From an ecosystem perspective, the collaboration that is happening in the channel is nothing like I've ever seen before, and so we have partners that are banding together and understanding the unique values that each of them bring to the table and in supporting customers in really unique ways really unique ways.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Welcome to Sell Me this Podcast, where we explore the strategy, innovation and leadership shaping the world of business and technology. Today, we're joined by Cassie Jepsen, director of Channel Programs and Operations Strategy at Lenovo. From hobby farming in Tennessee to leading one of North America's largest channel teams, cassie brings dynamic perspectives on tech leadership and the evolving tech ecosystem. We'll dive into her journey across roles in marketing sales and enablement explore how channel partners are embracing specialization and unpack the massive impact that AI is having on both SMBs and enterprises. Cassie also shares a candid look at work-life balance, scaling with tech and how Lenovo is helping organizations navigate a rapidly shifting digital landscape. If you're in tech sales or trying to do more with less, this episode is packed with insights. Let's get into it. Cassie, welcome to another exciting episode of Sell Me this Podcast. We are super grateful to have you today. Where am I finding you? I know that you're across the country here, so where are you calling me from today?

Speaker 1: 1:31

Yeah, keith, super excited to be here and I'm happy to report that I'm actually at home today. So I live about an hour outside of Nashville, tennessee, a little town called Dixon. It's nice to be here and enjoying the warm weather.

Speaker 2: 1:42

I love it and I remember so. When you and I first met, we immediately connected over something that you leapt into that I feel like I have incredible admiration for. So you are a hobby farmer as well as an executive at Lenovo.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Yeah, we have more animals than I can count at the moment and quickly growing, so it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Very cool, very cool. I'm going to jump right into things. Do you want to share a little bit about your journey in the technology space and how do you find yourself in your role at Lenovo today?

Speaker 1: 2:11

It has been a journey, that's for sure. Over the years then I've held positions in marketing, in channel management, direct sales, operations, programs, enablement, you name it. I've done it and my journey has taken me. Before Lenovo, I worked for a company called MarketStar, and they support Fortune 500s and getting started in the channel and building their business with some outsourced support. I worked with Citrix, so they're a software platforms provider, and I actually worked at Office Depot as well on helping them to get their channel started several years back, and then I've been an end user sales rep as well.

Speaker 1: 2:47

So just a little bit of everything and the power of relationships is really what brought me to Lenovo. I was a series of connections and relationships and I was able to meet the notorious Jeff Taylor I'm sure you know him as well and so Jeff and I really hit it off and he had an opportunity running channel programs at Lenovo. So I started about five and a half years ago and my role has evolved and changed many times over the last five and a half years. So now I'm responsible for programs, operations, enablement and channel strategy for the North America team at Lenovo.

Speaker 2: 3:20

So that is an incredibly impressive portfolio and you're a channel veteran. I know that you know your way around the channel from a bunch of different angles. Can you tell me a little bit more about what that role and what you're doing on a daily basis entails?

Speaker 1: 3:33

There is no daily basis. It definitely is a different adventure every day, but the best days I get to engage with a lot of partners and to gather their feedback as to what they need in the market and what they're expecting of their vendors. And then I have the privilege of turning that feedback into action and creating things like channel incentive programs, revamping, enhancing our operations to really focus on ease of doing business and making sure that we're simple and that we're consistent in the way that we do things. And then, from an enablement perspective, that's all about the tools, the information and the resources and making sure that the partners have what they need when they need it.

Speaker 1: 4:12

I look at it as the I'm the choose your own adventure book. That is Lenovo, right, and my team is supporting all of that and they're incredible. So we operate extremely agile and almost 100% based on partner request and feedback. So I don't want to put something out there that isn't used or isn't beneficial in the market. We don't want to just launch things for the sake of checking a box and launching something. It needs to be valuable, meaningful and applicable and, of course, relevant to the partner's business. So that's what we're about If a partner needs something or has feedback, then I'm all ears and love to hear it.

Speaker 2: 4:45

I love it, and so are you mainly focused on the programs and the kind of mechanisms that allow you to go to market on that front, or do you deal with the product side at all, or a combination of both, in terms of that feedback?

Speaker 1: 4:56

So I'm not creating products but we're certainly creating the support, the operations, the enablement and making sure that our partners are well positioned and comfortable taking those things to market with and for us. Now, certainly, if there's feedback about different product features or hey, I would like to see X, y, z then I do connect with the right people to be able to bubble that feedback up and make sure that those voices are heard and or get those people directly involved with the partners. I'm like that. Our team is kind of like that switchboard they call in and we connect you with the right people, the right places, the right tools and the right things to be able to support your business. So you can consider me the non-sale support for anything that the partners need.

Speaker 2: 5:36

And so you're really the conduit for all of that information, all of that insight that's coming from across North America, from what the face of Lenovo, which is a lot of the channel partners, are really saying. That must be an incredible amount of information and insight that you receive.

Speaker 1: 5:51

I don't know how you handle that.

Speaker 2: 5:52

But are there trends that are popping up? Are there things that you're seeing that are happening across the channel right now that really come to mind and express what's going on in the, we'll say, the end user and technology channel side of things?

Speaker 1: 6:06

Yeah gosh, it's such an exciting time to be in technology right now. So Lenovo covers the whole gamut of technology. For the most part, we say that we have everything from the pocket to the cloud, but there's a lot of components in there within that realm. If we start from the cell phone Motorola is part of the Lenovo family and then we have the PC client devices. We have the infrastructure, the servers, the storage and the software and services that kind of bring the glue together, and then there's the accessories, the visuals and all of the fun stuff that goes in as well. So with that, we do get a ton of feedback from all types of partners. Get a ton of feedback from all types of partners.

Speaker 1: 6:48

I would say that there's definitely the micro macro trends that are happening, and some of that is political and market trends. There's different purchasing patterns that are happening with the customers. But there's really two really big trends and buzzwords, if you will. Ai is definitely one of those. You can't get through a conversation without hearing 10 different definitions of AI. And then the other one is ecosystem orchestration and that's a really powerful but both of those are really powerful words. So from an AI perspective, the customers are really figuring out what does AI mean for them and starting to put together their plans for what do I want AI to do for me. Is it an efficiency play? Is it a automation play? Is it a monetization element for the business? And there's so many different facets of AI that there's kind of something for everyone. Ai spans the I am leveraging Copilot to write my emails for me today all the way up to like a cyborg right that we remember from our childhood I think all of my childhood Star.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Trek fantasies are coming to life right now.

Speaker 2: 7:57

The T-9000.

Speaker 1: 7:59

That's right. That's right. And then, from an ecosystem perspective, the collaboration that is happening in the channel is nothing like I've ever seen before, and so we have partners that are banding together and understanding the unique values that each of them bring to the table and supporting customers in really unique ways. We see some opportunities where there's upwards of seven individual partners that are servicing one customer need, and so they're bringing together their expertise in infrastructure and security and networking and client devices and automation and efficiencies and being that holistic consultant for their customer, and so that brings just a ton of opportunity for us to build and collaborate and find different ways to build those relationships with our partners and with and for the customer. So it's exciting.

Speaker 2: 8:58

So I want to dive into both of those things, but I'm going to start with the ecosystem side of things, because what you said is something that I've also been sharing as maybe a provocative opinion for a while, which is, I think the generalist is slowly starting to fade away, especially in technology, and there's a role for the generalist, but with the speed that everything's moving, you need some of that key expertise, the person that knows what they're doing, the person that knows how to navigate some of the unseen waters, and that role of specialization in the channel is becoming so important. How are you seeing partners buckle down in specific areas and how is that really benefiting them?

Speaker 1: 9:35

That's a loaded question. We are seeing it in so many different ways. I think there for a while, especially just right after the pandemic, then you saw this, this I need to be all things to all people. And now, as we're evolving in solutions and services and specialty solutions, then we're saying, oh, do you know how to do this? What is your expertise, what's your background in this? What have you learned about this particular topic?

Speaker 1: 9:59

and the conversations are more organic and they're more authentic and pure I don't really know the right terminology to say there, but in the past you would walk into a room and you would have 20 partners in the room and it was. I can't share that with them. That's my secret sauce, and now it's oh my gosh, I got to share this with you and have you seen this? Let me tell you what I learned about that. And so the camaraderie and the community that is happening in the channel it's amazing and there's so much passion behind it that it's really infectious.

Speaker 1: 10:31

So ecosystems have been this trend I guess micro trends that even before the pandemic. That's really when it started. And then we saw an acceleration through the pandemic and then afterwards then it's what do we do now? And then there was the AI boom. That is happening and it's all right. We figured out what we need to do now with ecosystems. This is where it's going and this is how we can capitalize on all of those relationships that we forged during and after the pandemic, and this is the evolution of that. So it's a really exciting thing.

Speaker 2: 11:05

I love it and I feel like the power of that togetherness is super important, especially as everyone tries to figure out what these next chapters are like, because I don't think anyone has that crystal ball that says, okay, next year this is going to happen, and then the year after. I feel like things are evolving so rapidly that no one quite knows exactly what's happening.

Speaker 1: 11:21

We're just trying to figure it out together 100% and everything that you do in life, you as you, as I get older I find that it definitely takes a village and I think that's what's happening in the channel as well is that we're finding that as things become more complex and as we mature, then it does. It takes a village and we need to rely on those tight relationships and the expertise and skill sets of others to be able to have that holistic solution and be able to better serve our customers together.

Speaker 2: 11:54

And so from your perspective and I'm not sure if you have line of sight directly into the end customer side of things but how is that impacting how customers are actually buying those solutions and even bringing together those nine partners that you mentioned? So I think that it's really powerful to say here are the nine people that can do X, y and Z. But if I'm a customer, how do I even start to pick those nine people? Because I feel like buying all of a sudden becomes way more challenging than that. Front two.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Yeah, buying becomes more challenging. Both customers and partners are really slimming down their vendor lists and so they're finding those vendors that one are easy to do business with, that are there to build a relationship and that they have that established trust but they're there during the moments that matter and that they're leaning in and helping the partner to make a difference during that customer experience. And so it's through that relationship and through that networking that they're building their close knit.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Seven if you will, of who they're going to market with, and so it's a lot of referral, it's a lot of relationship, and it's a customer saying hey, mr Partner, we've had a relationship for some time. I'm interested in XYZ, do you have expertise in that? No, but I got a guy, and everybody's bringing in their guy to the relationship and to the conversation, and that is how things are starting to evolve. So partners are looking to their vendors, they're looking to their communities and forums and peers to be able to establish their squad, if you will, and then the customers are looking to that relationship with their partner as well.

Speaker 1: 13:27

There's some staggering statistics out there, though.

Speaker 1: 13:29

I read recently that 36% of SMB customers are seeking a new partner, and not because of anyone's fault, just because they think maybe the grass is greener, and so they're starting to do some exploration.

Speaker 1: 13:43

But what we're finding is that, through some of this networking and relationship build and that exploration, then obviously one of two things are happening. One, they decide that the grass isn't greener and I've got the best of the best right here, or they're finding hey, there's some different thought over there and I want to explore some of that innovation that I might not be getting from my existing partner and to that I would say make sure you're networking, make sure that you are bringing some of those innovative ideas to the table and that you have that foresight into being able to visualize proactively what your customers needs and asks may be. It could be something as simple as hey, I read the statistic, how does this affect your business? And asking some of those questions. Or introducing hey, I have a couple of customers like you and this solution has been beneficial to them. I have a guy he specializes in this solution. We do this together and so start engaging in those types of conversations to educate and grab a hand and bring them forward with you, and that's the power of relationships.

Speaker 2: 14:48

And it sounds like a lot of these customers are looking for the guide to help take them through these waters. That one in three or that 36% stat is super alarming, but also not super surprising. The analogy that I've used before is the barbecue. Where you're, you don't want to be the one person at the barbecue, especially in SMB. That kind of looks around and everyone's talking about the cool things they're doing with AI or with agents or whatever it may be, and you're still focused on X, Y and Z over here and you feel like you're stuck behind.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Yeah, and I would say that is happening more and more in the SMB space, the enterprise guys.

Speaker 1: 15:21

That's like steering the Titanic right it takes a lot of people to get on board and to make sure that you're steering the ship in the right way. But the SMB and mid-market space is just a little bit more agile and able to lean in and try different technologies, and oftentimes they're the early adopters of the new things and new trends. And oftentimes they're the early adopters of the new things and new trends and we find that in things like Internet of Things and smaller AI devices, then the SMBs have really capitalized on that to be able to find different areas of efficiency and automation and new ways to be able to service their customers. If you think of an SMB owner, then, man, he's wearing 15 different hats. I know that we have a small business on our farm and my husband and I wear 15 hats each to be able to get it done.

Speaker 1: 16:06

And if I could and I do leverage some technology to work for me, whether that is agents to be able to build my website, or automating some of my social media posts, or leveraging my 13 year old- daughter to make videos for me, you got to find the ways to be able to get through all of those tasks and keep up with the market and customer demand, and creating content is a huge part of that to be able to get your message out and share your expertise. So finding those efficiencies, finding some of those easy buttons to be able to cut down on the mundane tasks and to focus more on the strategic and servicing your customers is definitely important for SMBs and that's where some of the AI devices, ai solutions really comes into play for them.

Speaker 2: 16:53

And so I think that's really interesting, because the exact scenario that you talked about with the farm I even have with our business. Right, we're a small, growing business and I work in technology and the choices sometimes are almost overwhelming. Right, there's so many options and things you can choose, so many paths you can take, and it seems every week something new comes out. How is Lenovo playing a role in helping some of the SMBs either make those decisions or make it really intuitive with the platforms and services you provide to help them along that journey?

Speaker 1: 17:23

So the list is long.

Speaker 1: 17:24

I would say that the first thing is to make sure that, if you are a customer, that you're connecting with your preferred partner and they can help to walk you through the different solutions that are out there.

Speaker 1: 17:34

But we do have dedicated SMB teams that they go through some pretty rigorous training to understand the trends that are happening in the SMB market and to be able to be that consultant or guide for technology that is really built for the SMB.

Speaker 1: 17:49

And we do have different components that are different devices and solutions that are tailored for different segments of the market, whether it's SMB, mid-market commercial enterprise or specific verticals as well. When you get into privacy practices or design fields, then you need different things based on what you're doing, and so we've done a lot of research on the individual personas and have crafted different solutions that fit for the majority and are also able to be customized, because it's not a one size fits all, but it's a one size fits most of the needs, and so they're able to be tailored and customized to be able to meet the needs of the individual business owner or user within that business, and so some of my favorite new solutions that do leverage AI I'm responsible for a lot of the business modeling and financial elements and I have a team that can help me with modeling. And after a couple of glasses of wine then I get really good with those.

Speaker 1: 18:46

Excel spreadsheets, but on a regular I'm a little bit slower when it comes to some of the building the models myself, and so I can leverage Copilot to be able to build some of those entry-level models for me. And so if we have an idea of man, should we invest in this? Then I can build a quick model. I can get the just of yes, it makes sense, or no, it doesn't, and if it does then I can engage my team to do a deeper analysis. But I can save some of their time in doing that initial leveraging Copilot by myself, and so that's been a big time saver.

Speaker 1: 19:20

I travel a lot, and I think you're aware of that, and we share some travel woes there. But as I am jumping off of a plane and sprinting through Atlanta airport, it seems every time then I'm trying to answer emails also, and so I was really notorious for three or four line bulleted emails to answer, and now I can click on that copilot button and it has learned my voice and can generate a really nice email from those four bullets that I put in, and so it's helping me to be more efficient and also more professional in the way that I come across in some of those responses PowerPoint same thing. There's lots of ways to be able to leverage the technology to work for you, and I love that it summarizes my emails.

Speaker 2: 20:03

The email summarization is the greatest thing in the world, I feel. Yes, yeah. And meeting summaries I feel like without those two things, I feel like I would be completely lost. It would be like going back to the stoned ages right now.

Speaker 1: 20:14

I'm sure that you're like me and sometimes you are booked on three or four different meetings at the same time, and so I can juggle some of those a little bit better. Now, where it's all right, this 30 minutes I'm going to spend in this one and then I'm going to jump into this one and I can do that co-pilot summary when I jump into the meeting and I can catch right up and not miss a beat with those summaries or get that readout after the fact. And so those things have made my life a lot easier because I don't always have to listen to the recording. Instead of taking an hour to listen to a recording, I'm a little bit of a speed reader, so I can take that five or 10 minutes and flip through the transcript. And so just finding those ways to be able to check all the boxes that we have on a daily basis and to be able to be a better contributor as a result of leveraging technology to just help me out and I know a lot of small business owners out there are looking for ways to be able to streamline and to find those efficiency areas, and so whether you are a handyman construction business and you need to quickly be able to identify who are my, where are my jobs today? Did I do my invoices? Did I check all of the boxes? There's a solution for that.

Speaker 1: 21:25

If you are a small bakery, then there's some IoT devices that can really help you to preheat your oven when you're on your way home from your first job or schedule pickups with your customers way home from your first job, or schedule pickups with your customers, do the remote door locks to be able to let them into your space for those pickups, and also to do invoicing and document management on the back end. So there's all types of businesses and no two businesses are the same, but many times we share the same woes and so if we are leveraging some of the solutions out there to overcome some of those woes so that we can spend the time doing what we love and I haven't come across too many people that love the paperwork behind it but if we can leverage technology for some of those small things, then we can spend more time with our customers and we can spend more time building and growing the business that we love and doing things that bring us joy.

Speaker 2: 22:20

I love it. I love that perspective as well, which it's not replacing something. It's just allowing people to focus differently. And I don't know about you, but I have the opportunity to talk to a ton of executives and everyone I talk to is busy. Everyone I talk to has more on their plate than they know what to do with and they're juggling 400 different things and the ability to add scale and simplicity to their lives seems like a little bit of a no-brainer.

Speaker 1: 22:45

Yes, it's a scary thing, though, because you feel like you're losing a little bit of control. In the beginning and this is totally speaking from personal experience I've been in the technology industry for more years than I care to admit, and I really liked writing things down in my notebook and checking off that to-do list, and as I embrace technology more and more, then I'm able to reduce the amount of things that are on my to-do list, which is now digital, and to be able to feel that I've accomplished more at the end of the day, and so by letting go, I was able to grow both personally and professionally, and that by looking at what are those mundane tasks, where can I prioritize differently and what's going to make a difference then it allowed me to really capitalize on impactful items and spend more time building relationships that really matter more than checking off my to-do list, and so it allowed me to find more joy in my role, as well as to help more people to achieve their goals as well.

Speaker 2: 23:49

Yeah, and I totally get what you're saying as well. You can almost get addicted to being busy and I think there's a lot of people that start to say you know what? I have these 10, 12, 14, 24-hour days. We'll put it at the max just to keep the exaggerations in check here. But there's people that do enormous amounts of work, but trying to start to detangle that and prioritize is actually harder than it sounds, but can be super unlocking if you start to do that. Are you seeing your team go through that same process as well? Are you leading through example on that, or are they the ones pushing you? I'm trying really hard.

Speaker 1: 24:25

I grew up in a workaholic family, and so my dad is. He's still one of those guys that he sleeps four hours a night, and that's great for him, and he is just always on the go, always doing something, and so that was the norm for me, and I struggle to sit still for very long. I've always got to be doing something, but more and more I'm unplugging. I'm finding the areas in my life that bring me more joy and finding ways to be more productive in fewer hours during the day, so that I'm not opening up the laptop after the kids go to bed or feeling like I need to pull it out when I'm on vacation or things like that. So the turning point for me was several years ago.

Speaker 1: 25:05

My youngest daughter was creating avatars for everyone in the family, and the avatar that she created for me was a laptop, and you could just see the eyes on top of it. You can just see a little head sticking out, and that's what she created for me was a laptop, and you could just see the eyes on top of it. You can just see a little head sticking out, and that's what she created for me, and so that was very eyeopening that maybe I'm spending a little bit too much time and maybe I've become that workaholic that I didn't want to be, and it's taken me years to be able to have her change my avatar, and now it's a little bit different. There's no computer in the avatar, but just being able to set real boundaries for myself, and so it's more of self-governance rather than the company.

Speaker 1: 25:43

Lenovo is fantastic about the work-life balance, but I needed to govern myself, and so, by finding different ways to be more effective and efficient, realizing that it's not possible for me to check off every box every day and that it's okay to let a few things go it's not what are the big balls that you're juggling, and it's okay to let some of the small ones go, to deprioritize. And then also making sure that I was leaning on the team in the appropriate ways, and I realized that the example that I was setting by being that avatar was not healthy and that I needed to make some changes so that I could lead by a healthier example. And so, over the past several years, then, I've made significant changes and I'm holding myself and my team accountable to more self-care and more better prioritization and time management.

Speaker 2: 26:35

And I feel like going through that as well and I share probably a similar DNA as what you're talking about and I feel like I have a similar story of trying to find some of that balance and trying to find a way to not lose the momentum and lose the excitement, but also really focus on the things that are going to drive the impact, and I think AI and some of the tools do an incredible job of that. But being through that probably allows you to coach your team through some of those same challenges, which I think are becoming more and more prevalent way, differently. The other thing that I get excited is the flip side of that, which is and we'll focus on the SMB a little bit as well still the opportunity to do way more with less, and so I think that some of these tools allow for competition, for scale, for innovation on a completely different level and pace than before, and are you seeing that across the board as well, or what's your perspective on that?

Speaker 1: 27:25

Yeah, I totally agree.

Speaker 1: 27:26

I think that those companies that have embraced some of the technology to do the work for them then they are seeing hyper growth as they're doing that and they are able to find more work-life balance and they have happier employees.

Speaker 1: 27:44

Just in general and there's several different surveys and studies that are out there related to that I think that the most impactful one for me as I was going through my journey was if you are working more than 45 hours a week, then every hour above that, then the percentage of productivity drop that you actually have by spending more hours behind the desk was extremely significant.

Speaker 1: 28:07

I can't remember the exact statistics, but once you got to a 60-hour workweek, then you were losing more than 20% in productivity, and so you should have just been working the 40 hours in the first place, and 40-hour workweek isn't necessarily realistic for all of us, but it's interesting to take a look at the statistics that are out there and being able to just listen to your body and listen to your mental your own mental health and be mindful of those things, but also be mindful of those around you and the impact that your behavior is having on them, and that's the biggest thing for me with running a few different teams at Lenovo, and they're at all different stages within their career journey, and so I feel like if I can help them to create positive behaviors early on, then how much more successful and joy will they find within their career once they're at my age than I had as I was growing and developing myself.

Speaker 2: 29:02

Well, I think that there's a superpower to constraints as well, and I'm sure that when you think about even how you're leading your teams, how you're allocating headcount or investment, mdl, whatever it may be, there's power in saying here's the box, you have to kind of live with it.

Speaker 2: 29:14

And I think that even if you look at your work week in that same way of saying, okay, here's the 40 hours what are the things that are most important that I have to fit in this box, because if you have infinity resources, you can do everything all at once and there's no prioritization, and so I think that's a really interesting perspective you're sharing on just creating some of those constraints and helping it actually allow people to thrive in those scenarios.

Speaker 1: 29:38

Yeah, a hundred percent. Putting things in a box is tough, right, because I feel like I need to sit on the box and squish it down a little bit more and see what else I can fit in there, but that's more of a personal problem. So I mean, it's the power of prioritization, but the power of saying no is definitely important, and especially now that there is so much. There are so many great ideas, there are so many things that could impact the business or innovative projects that we could be working on, but if we do them all, then they're not all impactful, and so we have to take that step back and really identify what's going to have the biggest impact, short-term and long-term, and where should we be prioritizing, because we can't be all things to all people and we can't do every single project that's out there.

Speaker 2: 30:26

There's a really interesting prompt actually and this probably won't age, because in six months if someone listens to this, it'll be old news but there's a really interesting prompt on ChatGPT right now which allows you to essentially say, now that you have memory, allow me to see my blind spots around prioritization et cetera, and it was alarming Like it essentially went through all of the things that I'm working on and the things that I've put into ChatGPT and stack ranked. It's like you're wasting your time on these things. You actually need to deprioritize and cut these activities.

Speaker 1: 30:59

It is a little bit of a science. It's very interesting, that's really interesting. So I haven't done that on top GPT, but in Outlook there is a feature where it will do an analysis of where you're spending your meeting time and with whom, and so you can see what people you're spending the majority of your time with. And then you can look at your business priorities and are you spending your time with the right people doing the right things is a way that I've looked at prioritization as well. And then there are some cool time management features on Outlook as well, where you can have the system automatically schedule your focus time and so if there's a 30 minute slot on Sundays, then it'll block all of those 30 minute slots for the week and it'll block it as focus time so that if somebody doesn't schedule over it, then you actually have time in there to be able to pop in some work time or project time or maybe it's meditation time.

Speaker 2: 31:49

Very cool. I want to dive into the channel a tiny bit. So I know we talked about the channel in terms of the ecosystem side of things. I think that there's a little bit of a black box around the channel still from some end customers and some companies the SMBs it seems like this far away thing. Maybe they know their local partner. But could you describe a little bit about, like, how Lenovo works through the channel and what that ecosystem looks like for you? Sure?

Speaker 1: 32:14

So Lenovo is kind of we have multiple levels of sales teams at Lenovo and so we have what we call our end user sales team and they're there to represent the customer and so they're that relationship between the customer and Lenovo.

Speaker 1: 32:28

And then we have our channel partners and and we see every partner in our membership as an extension of the Lenovo team, part of the Lenovo family, and their role is with Lenovo and with that end user or sales rep, then bringing their expertise to the table and helping us to jointly service that customer.

Speaker 1: 32:47

And so that partner typically has that longstanding relationship with many of their customers. They understand their technology needs more intrinsically and most of the time they're that local face for the customers to engage with and they are aggregating multiple technologies to be able to serve that customer. Whereas I shared the portfolio that Lenovo has, which is very extensive, but we are just a small sliver of that pie of technology solutions that are out there. So, where we have several different alliances that collaborate and integrate really well with Lenovo technology, there's a ton out there and there's new ones popping up every day, and so the partners are much better positioned to be able to service that customer needs based on that historical relationship, and then they will either have that niche expertise or some type of a unique value that they're bringing to the table as well, whether it's managing the outsourced IT or providing special services or bringing that unique niche knowledge to the table as well.

Speaker 2: 33:53

That makes sense. You receive a lot of feedback from these channel organizations. Are there mistakes that you see businesses make when they are working through the channel or working through various channel partners? If you were to give some advice to, I'll say, like a mid-size engineering firm that is going to market for a set of services, are there mistakes you see them often make that end up shooting themselves in the foot?

Speaker 1: 34:15

I wouldn't necessarily call it a mistake, but with the amount of information that is available to us today on the web, then I think that customers make some of the same decisions that I do when I go to the doctor, right when.

Speaker 1: 34:31

I go down.

Speaker 1: 34:32

As soon as the doctor says, hey, it might be this, then I go down that route hole like really quickly, and so I immediately pull up Google and read every article I can about anything that the doctors have said.

Speaker 1: 34:43

And so I think and as a consumer I do the same thing, but I think most consumers are whether you're the direct consumer or the business customer then we are relying on the things that we read online to be able to drive and dictate some of the decisions that we make, and while there's a lot of really good information, it's not always the right information or the right interpretation of the information, and so my biggest advice would be let's have an open mind and let's think outside the box a little bit to be able to get to the right solution for your business and what your buddy told you was the solution for his business may not be the exact same one that you need.

Speaker 1: 35:24

And so just having that open mind and being willing to take a look at the different technological solutions that are out there, then I think that makes the engagement with a partner and with a vendor more meaningful, and that's where the partners can really differentiate themselves in being that coach, guide, consultant with and for the customer to be able to identify and craft the best solution for that customer at the end of the day and actually go to the doctor and talk to them, identify your symptoms, share what's going on and let them diagnose, versus jumping right to 11 in terms of the severity matrix, as I think we have all done before, and I love that coach, guide, consultant analogy as well.

Speaker 2: 36:11

Are there relationships that you see work really well, or are there going to be a DNA of specific partners that make them stand out above the rest?

Speaker 1: 36:19

Yeah, I mean, they're doing exactly that. First and foremost, any business relationship is a relationship built on trust, right, and you have to find the partner that you trust with your business, and so the relationship aspect of it is more important than it has ever been in the past, in my opinion. And so find the one that you're comfortable with and then ask the questions. Getting a second opinion or a different perspective is a great thing that a partner can provide. I know that in our business. Then I think this is exactly the way that we need to do it. This is the technology that I need. These are the processes that are going to work for us.

Speaker 1: 36:53

My husband has a different opinion sometimes, and that's okay.

Speaker 1: 36:57

Or if I ask a friend then, or a consultant, then they're going to give me a different perspective, and so a lot of times then I may take that consultant advice, or we may meet in the middle with oh, I really like this piece of what you're suggesting, but this has worked for me in the past.

Speaker 1: 37:13

So can we meet in the middle and can we figure it out this way?

Speaker 1: 37:15

So there's a lot of, there are a lot of partners that can help with operational efficiency and workflow and applying technology to be able to support the outcomes that the customers are looking for. And the benefit of the partner versus Google or WebMD for my technology solutions is that the partner has so much experience and they're working with multiple customers that have maybe not exactly the same but similar challenges that they have helped to overcome. So the perspective and the experience and the skills that they have around those particular challenges can really be life-changing once a business is able to tap into that resource, that coaching, that guidance and advice and be able to apply that to their business. So I think transparency is really key. Be very vocal about what the challenges and problems are that you're trying to overcome so that the partners and the vendors can work together to be able to help you find the best outcomes for your business and the best solutions that are going to help you to accelerate and reach your goals.

Speaker 2: 38:21

I love it. Is there one final question for you here? Is there a myth about the work that you do that you wish people would let go of, whether it be on the hardware side of things or the services or just the vast portfolio? Are there certain preconceptions that you wish would just go away from the work that you're doing every day?

Speaker 1: 38:40

There's not always a lower price, no, and I think that's a valid one.

Speaker 2: 38:44

That's a very valid one.

Speaker 1: 38:45

I think that we get caught up in price sometimes, but I think we really need to look at the value, and sometimes we'll see something that is posted on a marketplace that may be listed for one price, and then you get a quote from your vendor or from the partner and it's different from what you've seen on a marketplace. There's probably a reason for that. No two offerings are really created equal. There could be some additional services or capability, there could be refurbished products that we're talking about that are posted on a marketplace, or it could be older technology, but it's not necessarily disclosed in that way. Not everything on the surface is the reality, and so I would say just have an open mind as far as really understanding the value of what you're receiving, and make sure that you're also being transparent in the conversations to make sure that we can help to find the best solution for your business and the experience that you want to provide, both for yourself and for your employees.

Speaker 2: 39:45

I love that you brought it up and I intentionally kind of stayed away from the price conversation for most of our episode at least. But there's so many people that think, if I can take one SKU and I can shop it around as quickly as possible, I'm going to find a way to save $10 or $100 or whatever it may be. And my argument usually is people end up spending more of their time trying to find that $10 than they save on the actual devices. But I think the channel doesn't quite work that way and I think you're right. Finding those trusted partners that can guide you through, versus trying to just leverage a commodity mindset, is going to get you way further ahead on that front.

Speaker 1: 40:18

Yeah, and I think that's an important aspect, because technology is seen more of a commodity, but it's really not.

Speaker 1: 40:24

A laptop is much more than a device.

Speaker 1: 40:26

There's so many things that go into it, aside from the box itself that you're getting when you purchase a laptop, and especially if you're purchasing that with services around it and services means a lot of things but there are value-added services that make that much more than a device, and whether you're purchasing directly from a vendor or through a trusted partner, then they're available. And so I would say, just really understand what you're purchasing, making sure that you have the right support, the right warranties and the right trust and confidence in the purchase that you're making. We typically use laptops for three to five years that's not changing anytime soon and so it's definitely an investment and it's important to make sure that you're comfortable with the investment that you're making. To make sure that you're comfortable with the investment that you're making, and oftentimes, if you're doing that through more let's call it reliable channels, experts, let's call it experts. If you're doing that through experts, then they're more able to guide you to make sure that you're getting the value for the investment that you're making for the long term.

Speaker 2: 41:34

Amazing Cassie. Thank you so much for joining us. For people that want to learn more about Lenovo, they want to learn more about you, they want to connect with you. Where should they go? Where can they find you?

Speaker 1: 41:44

Not physically, but so I'm always available. Connect with me on LinkedIn or reach out directly. It's cjebsen at lenovocom or any member of my team can assist you at supporthub at lenovocom and we can answer any question that you have. I'm an open book, so please keep the feedback coming and let us know how we can be more relevant for you.

Speaker 2: 42:02

Amazing. This has been an absolute pleasure and I really appreciate you joining us today.

Speaker 1: 42:07

I really appreciate you having me. This was a fun one.

Speaker 2: 42:08

Cool, thanks so much.