Unparallel Customer Services - another feather added to Lenovo’s Cap

Sudipto Ghosh,
Executive Director, Services,
Lenovo India, in conversation with VARINDIA about the company’s seamless transition of customer services from IBM to Lenovo and the winning of the coveted “Golden Peacock Award”

Lenovo believes in going the extra mile, to help raise the bar in creating long-lasting customer relationships. Ever since 2005, customer service as a function was handled by IBM globally. However, the recent transition of these services from IBM to Lenovo which resulted in the significant increase in customer satisfaction and delight has fetched the latter the prestigious “Golden Peacock Award”. In fact, Lenovo India is one of the first few regions to have taken this step and showcased desired results.

“The coveted ‘Golden Peacock Award’ for innovation in customer services is a testimony to our growing number of delighted customers across India. Lenovo India bagged this award owing to its seamless transition of customer services from IBM to Lenovo,” says a jubilant Sudipto Ghosh, Executive Director, Services, Lenovo India.

Transition of Services from IBM to Lenovo…
It was a smooth and seamless transition from an IT standpoint, owing to enablement of switch level call routing, which was a strong positive as it had a minimum impact on its customers. However, there were a few teething issues in terms of predicting the additional surge in customer complaints due to the monsoon season, which affects the performance of PCs and other form-factors. This seasonal impact brings a huge number of issues stemming from water logging, electrical fluctuations, moisture and dust which directly impacts the internal components within a PC. “Despite the odds, we were able to rebound within four months of transition and gain the confidence of our customers and business partners,” replies Ghosh.  

100 per cent of customers, barring IBM’s captive accounts, have shifted completely to Lenovo customer services. Lenovo caters to over 2.8 million of the installed base across the commercial and consumer segments. “More than a lakh customers contact us every month and we resolve more than 92 per cent of their queries. In the Enterprise space, we cater to key global accounts, large enterprises, education and government organizations. We have industry standard SLAs defined for each of these segments, which helps us resolve customer queries in quick turnaround time,” Ghosh explains.

Going forward…
Lenovo Services platform has now set a standard in end-to-end lifecycle tracking from a Services delivery standpoint. This model has been implemented in other Asia-Pacific countries. “Our current delivery model and infrastructure is scalable to support new business aligning with our PC+ strategy in terms of growing our presence in the tablets and smartphones market. We have launched Lenovo’s Premium Service and Support for mission-critical customers. We will also launch a Depot service in India, which is a collect and return service where customers can drop a device at specific collection points or carry-in centres. The same will be shipped to a central repair factory where the unit will be repaired and returned to the collection point. These processes and systems will reduce the backlog and ensure that our customer complaints are quickly resolved,” asserts Ghosh.

As Lenovo exited the fiscal year 2013-14, Lenovo service delivery was above the standards that had been set by IBM. The turnaround time was reduced as well as increased efficiencies within various verticals in the Services team. Ever since the transition from IBM to Lenovo, customer and partner feedback has been very positive and encouraging.  Lenovo also has been engaging with our partners through regular meets for their feedback and we continuously improvise to set new standards in this industry.