Lenovo has cut about 1,000 employees worldwide in recent weeks as the hardware giant continues to struggle across the PC, smartphone and data center markets.
The Lenovo staff cuts, confirmed by WRAL TechWire, arrive amid major changes to Lenovo's partner program as well. The company dumped certification requirements and now emphasizes revenue-driven rewards for channel partners. The more product you sell, the higher the rewards, the company has said.
At first glance, that's potentially good news for partners that don't have the time or budget to pursue Lenovo-centric technology certifications. But take a closer look and the changes could be especially painful.
Indeed, Lenovo is "slashing back-end payments, spiffs and program discounts in its $30 billion PC business in a series of moves that partners say will dramatically cut profit margins and ultimately result in them shifting business to competitors like HP Inc. and Dell Technologies," CRN reported earlier this month.
Both HP and Dell, meanwhile, have each expressed optimism about recent business performance and potential 2018 growth opportunities.
Lenovo's challenges surfaced in August 2017, when the company issued a surprisingly bad earnings report. Now comes word that the company has cut about 2 percent of its workforce -- or about 1,000 of its estimated 52,000 team members. Despite the cuts, the company has said that it's long-term strategy across mobile, PC, data center and big data technologies is sound.
