Q&A: Natalie Noor, UK&I channel and SME director, Lenovo

What does the programme refresh involve and what are the main benefits for partners?

The refreshed Lenovo 360 Expert Achievers Programme (LEAP) strengthens our commitment to channel partners through enhanced incentives, learning opportunities and instant rewards. The programme rewards sales and support staff for selling eligible Lenovo products and completing Lenovo 360 training courses, helping them to build expertise and confidence to support customers’ digital transformation.

Partners can earn instant rewards such as gift cards and prepaid Mastercards through the LEAP portal, with the new Score BIG Incentive offering chances to win prizes including FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets, luxury breaks and experience days.

By combining education, motivation and reward, LEAP makes it easier for partners to engage with Lenovo 360, helping their teams learn, sell and grow while driving shared success and delivering greater value to customers.

Where are you with the channel now and how have partners performed so far in 2025? 

This year has been a fantastic one with our partners so far. Our Lenovo 360 transformation strategy has continued to resonate with partners and customers. We’re growing our business across both clients and the datacentre, and we’re working more closely with our existing partners while bringing new ones on board. As a channel-led organisation, the trust we’ve built with our partners allows for true collaboration, new ideas and innovative customer solutions, which drive outstanding results in the market.

Lenovo’s strong SSG results further reinforce our partners’ service offerings, supporting the delivery of tailored, high-value solutions for customers.

How has the market been this year for you and your channel? 

Thanks to a strong pull from the Windows 11 migration, increased demand in the later part of the year and ongoing Covid-era refresh cycles, the PC market has been performing well. It’s been great to finally see that surge of demand we were all expecting.

On the other hand, the server market was much slower earlier in the year but has now picked up. Our pipeline is strengthening across our partners, and we are exceptionally well-positioned with a portfolio that spans hybrid cloud, AI, edge computers, and core servers and storage. A strong end to the year is in sight, with a positive outlook as we head into a new year.

What are the priorities going into 2026 and where are you looking to work with partners?

In 2026, partners will need to keep pace with the rapid evolution of AI by building strong service capabilities and investing in skills to support emerging technologies. Lenovo will collaborate with partners to map capabilities, co-create customer pathways and accelerate growth through the Lenovo 360 framework.

Our priority is to enhance sales enablement, helping partners move from transactional to outcome-based selling that captures AI-driven opportunities. We’re also encouraging investment in AI fluency, managed and professional services, and sustainability-led differentiation to drive long-term value and recurring revenue.

Through focused enablement, training and innovation pathways, Lenovo will empower partners to lead responsibly and profitably in the next phase of intelligent transformation.

How much is AI driving sales and refreshes? 

A lot of the current discussions with customers focus on the benefits AI can bring to their organisations. On the PC side, AI has not yet had a significant impact on sales. Customers are still trying to understand how it will affect productivity, user experience, security and cost savings. So, while AI is the topic everyone is talking about right now, it is not yet a major driver of sales or refresh cycles.

On infrastructure side, the channel has already benefitted in several ways with AI, particularly through public cloud sales and some of the large neocloud opportunities. While the enterprise AI opportunity has taken longer than expected to materialise, we are currently seeing it gain significant traction. Our hybrid AI strategy is enabling our partners drive exciting new client conversations as they explore the business advantages of AI. We are helping our partners with technical and sales enablement along with access to equipment like our industry-leading Neptune water-cooling systems, which can reduce energy consumption by up to 40%.

Another area of focus with AI is the ecosystem of partners and software suppliers. Our market-leading AI Innovators programme gives our partners access to more than 200 ethically approved AI solutions to bring to market. At Lenovo, we are deeply engaged in this transformation alongside our partners, moving from hardware to innovative solutions that integrate AI, security and sustainable services. We’re really excited about what’s ahead.