There are many tales in the Canadian IT industry of a hot-shot executive doing amazingly well in Canada and then getting promoted to a large U.S. role only to come back.
One executive who has transitioned from a prominent Canadian role to a global one is Lenovo’s Global Channel Director, managed services providers, and global partners Christopher Fabes. Earlier this year, Fabes left the role of Canadian Channel Chief for Lenovo, which he held for four years, to take on the new global role for the company.
But while his role was global, Fabes’ approach to the new challenge was similar.
“In the Canadian role, it was unique because our partners were sometimes separated by large geographies, cultures, specialties, and even languages. Being the small country within the larger business reminds you that agility is important, and that entering your relationships with a humble and consistent approach generates long-lasting trust. It wasn’t always easy, but I believe that same approach allows me to enter this global role with a focus on collaboration and understanding so that our teams can adapt and respond to each market in the way they need.” Fabes said, during the Jolera Interview Series.
To that end, Fabes set his sights on developing a plan to address the large shifts in the market with “born-in-the-cloud” channel partners. He found the trend to be similar in many other geographies and that group was also interested in developing new business ventures around high-value services.
Lenovo, itself, was also transforming as an organization too, because of worldwide trends such as digital transformation. The pandemic also brought on new ways of working such as hybrid workforces that Lenovo had to build upon.
In Fabes’ new role, he worked to create a border-free approach to servicing all types of channel partners. Fabes instituted a two-pronged plan that would focus on MSPs and a new global channel framework in Lenovo 360.
“By focusing on removing friction, we can emphasize outcomes that include all three of our business groups.” he said.
With MSPs, the new plan will fit what matters most to this group, whether they are local or international.
“For global MSPs or those serving customers across regions, we are focusing on simple access, always on, where diverse thinkers from across the globe, speaking different languages and different expertise can come together. For local MSPs, the global and local teams are working hand-in-hand to be ultra-focused within this space, by creating offerings that focus on recurrency, programs that shine a brighter light on outcomes, and making sure we have the right people that understand the MSP operating model.” Fabes added.
Underpinning all this is the new Lenovo 360 program, a first-of-its-kind global channel partner framework intended to make things easier for solution providers and MSPs to access the entire Lenovo portfolio across devices, infrastructure, and services and solutions. This would see Lenovo offering value along with a broader portfolio to those in the channel who want to expand. It improves the ease of doing business for those who want to specialize also.
Tune into the Jolera Interview Series to find out more about Fabes and his new role as Global Director of Lenovo’s MPS and global channel partners.
By Paolo Del Nibletto
