Author: Sun Yan Source: IT Times
At the time of the spread of the "cold winter" mood in the big factory and the turmoil of the epidemic, Lenovo Yang Yuanqing said that in the next five years, it will invest more than 100 billion yuan in research and development, continue to recruit hard-core scientific and technological talents on a large scale, and reward front-line grassroots employees with 80 million yuan from its own pocket, giving employees and the market a shot in the arm.
On April 6, Lenovo Group announced at the 2022/23 fiscal year oath ceremony that in the past year, the total turnover of the first three quarters increased by 22% year-on-year, the net profit increased by 76%, and the revenue of the whole fiscal year is expected to cross the 450 billion yuan mark.
The troika travels through a new cycle
In the new fiscal year, the first issue facing Lenovo Group is how to cross the cycle and complete the spiral in one cycle after another. The confidence comes from the steady development of each business line, after Lenovo proposed the 3S strategy, and the three main businesses achieved double-digit growth this year.
The newly formed Solutions Services Business Group (SSG) saw nearly 30% year-over-year year-on-year revenue growth, with double-digit growth in all three major services (support, operations and solution services) (25%, 56%, and 34%, respectively); Infrastructure Solutions Business Group (ISG) achieved double-digit growth above-market for four consecutive quarters and eight consecutive quarters of above-market growth, and server revenue growth set a record, achieving the most successful year, and storage business shipments jumped from sixth to second The Intelligent Devices Business Group (IDG) set another record in turnover, with overall turnover growth of 16%, personal computers continuing to remain the world's first, consumer and commercial categories, the world's four regions accounted for the first place, and the service and software business increased by 35% year-on-year.
The profitability of the three major businesses is also eye-catching, and it is steadily moving towards the goal of doubling the net profit margin within three years. Among them, the operating margin of the solution services business increased by 3 percentage points in the previous fiscal year, and the profitability of the three major services increased; the infrastructure solutions business achieved its first profit since the acquisition of IBM's server business in 2014; and the smart device business recorded a record profit margin in the past fiscal year, with operating profit growth of 21%.
In the next five years, it plans to invest 100 billion yuan in research and development
Technological innovation is the first pillar, and by the end of the 23/24 fiscal year, Lenovo Group's R&D investment will double on the basis of the 20/21 fiscal year, and the total R&D investment will exceed 100 billion yuan in the next five years.
Lenovo Group established the Lenovo Technical Committee, which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the overall technology strategy and R&D planning of Lenovo Group. Focusing on the technical framework of "end-side-cloud-network-intelligence", strengthen basic research and breakthrough technology, focus on the short-term, medium-term and long-term, and invest resources in three tracks:
In the next 1-2 years, we will innovate around existing products, applications and business models, including the innovation of equipment, key components, applications and "everything is service" business model within the framework of each business; in the next 2-3 years, we will incubate new services driven by technology, in addition to data intelligence and cloud-network fusion services, the innovation achievements in the three fields of AR/VR technology, edge computing, and cloud service business based on meta-universe applications will enter the incubation stage; in the next 3 years or even longer, around the new generation of artificial intelligence, Breakthrough technologies in the field of ICT, such as next-generation communication protocols, are being tackled. Continue to explore new computing scenarios such as in-vehicle computing and metacosm, and accumulate core technologies. Based on the field of large computing, we began to explore basic research on computing power sharing and data circulation, such as privacy computing and multi-heterogeneous advanced technology architecture.
In terms of innovative talent reserve, on the basis of the 5,000 hard-core scientific and technological talents that have been recruited in the previous fiscal year, Lenovo will continue to recruit about 3,600 R&D talents in the new fiscal year, and increase the number of campus recruits, achieving the goal of adding 12,000 R&D personnel in 3 years.
Organizational Structure Re-Adjustment Three years of doubling and then moving forward
By 2025, the global IT services market will exceed $1 trillion. Lenovo adheres to service-oriented transformation, "although the transformation is led by SSG, it is the task of the whole Lenovo Group." Yang Yuanqing said.
Last fiscal year, Lenovo established the SSG Solution Services Business Group and launched the TruScale "Everything is service" brand. On this basis, Lenovo Group has further rationalized its organizational structure in accordance with the three types of services of support services, operation and maintenance services, project services and solutions, clarified the leadership responsibilities, and integrated sales resources in accordance with the two lines of China and the world, so as to better achieve economies of scale.
To steadily double in three years, Lenovo has positioned three emerging businesses: edge computing, cloud services, and AR/VR technology based on meta-universe applications, and the new organizational structure also reflects lenovo's focus on these three areas in the next 2-3 years.
SSG set up a cloud service team to increase investment in cloud-native, intelligent O&M, and multi-cloud/hybrid cloud management platforms. ISG established the Edge Business Unit, which integrates the edge computing services that were scattered in various departments into a complete business, and will continue to invest in the construction of full-stack capabilities. IDG created the Global Product Center for Business (CPC), which will centrally manage commercial product design and development, enhancing collaboration between SME business and commercial products. In addition, the newly established Global Innovation Center (GIC, formerly the Leading Innovation Center) will cover R&D and technology innovation platforms, software, device ecosystem platforms, tablet and mobile games, monitors, desktops and all-in-ones, and Chromebooks.
In the new fiscal year, Lenovo China will implement the Dragon and Tiger Plan 2022. Dragon Plan 2022 will open the 3.0 phase of "customer-centric" transformation, focusing on the 3S needs of customers and proposing solutions through intelligent means such as Martech and Sales Tech. The Tiger Plan 2022 will focus on driving 3S development through innovation. Lenovo China's goal in the new fiscal year is to achieve rapid growth of 3S business on the basis of the steady growth of PC market share, accounting for more than 30%.
Three pillars Two cornerstones
At the oath-taking meeting in the new fiscal year, Yang Yuanqing repeatedly emphasized Lenovo's "three pillars and two cornerstones".
In addition to the two pillars of technological innovation and service-oriented transformation, social value is the third pillar of Lenovo. In order to practice the domestic and international dual cycle, Lenovo on the one hand launched a 100 billion yuan R & D investment plan for the next five years, on the other hand, to bring China's supply chain advantages and China's "creation" and "intelligent manufacturing" products to the world.
Under the tide of high-quality development, Lenovo adheres to green development and achieves net zero emissions by the end of 2050. Lenovo Group Tianjin Smart Innovation Service Industrial Park is stepping up construction in accordance with the goal of "zero carbon factory", and through green manufacturing and green supply chain system, guide and drive the upstream and downstream of the entire industrial chain to jointly achieve low-carbon transformation.
At the same time, Lenovo uses practical actions to help common prosperity. Lenovo Group's more than 200 suppliers and 60,000 channel partners are small and medium-sized enterprises. More than half of these channel partners have infiltrated areas below the county level, contributing to rural revitalization throughout the country.
Among the enterprises invested by Lenovo Venture Capital, specialized special new is its most important component, and 39 of the invested enterprises have been rated as national, provincial and municipal specialized special new enterprises, covering ten fields such as core components, AR/VR, robotics, and industrial software. He Zhiqiang, senior vice president of Lenovo Group and president of Lenovo Venture Capital Group, said: When investing in these enterprises, they are not "outlets", and face problems and challenges, after identifying the core values of these enterprises, Lenovo Venture Capital actively does "charcoal in the snow" type of investment to help them solve problems together and enter the next stage of high-speed development.
The two cornerstones of "the same Association" and digitalization will lay a new foundation for Lenovo Group's development.
"One Lenovo" gives Lenovo Group a "pocket-to-cloud" portfolio that enables large-scale, efficient collaboration and local delivery of global resources.
The cornerstone of digitalization will run through the entire value chain of "R&D, production, supply and marketing services", supporting the transformation of Lenovo Group from an equipment supplier to a service and solution provider, and achieving "endogenous externalization".
All strategic directions are inseparable from people. Finally, Yang Yuanqing also responded to the incident of giving a special reward of 80 million yuan to frontline grassroots employees at his own expense. In the past two years, the new crown epidemic has raged, the vast majority of production, logistics, service front-line employees can not work remotely, in order to ensure on-time delivery, front-line employees must race against the clock, overcome difficulties. Last month, when the epidemic broke out in Shenzhen, Lenovo's local factory was in a closed area, and more than 2,000 front-line employees lived in collective dormitories, making Lenovo the first batch of enterprises to resume work in Shenzhen. "This special bonus is not only my gratitude, but also my respect." Yang Yuanqing said.