Giovanni Di Filippo is a seasoned executive with a distinguished career in the technology industry for nearly 35 years in some of the world’s most highly diverse and fast-paced markets. He currently serves as the President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Lenovo Data Center Group.
Giovanni started his career at Compaq working his way up through various sales roles including a two-year North America assignment with McKinsey for a global CIO program, then moved to Sun Microsystems where he was leading as Managing Director Central and Eastern Europe. From there he progressed at Cisco steering some of the emerging markets, including the Middle East, during the years of the Financial Crisis back into high profitability.
Giovanni then spent a few years at SAP leading the worldwide SAP/HANA partner go-to-market strategy and at the same time implementing the Sybase acquisition. On top of that, he was chartered to build and lead SAP’s largest GSI program. He then joined Riverbed Technology bought by Private Equity where he led the EMEA partner ecosystem, including the strategy to transform product sales into a profitable subscription business with the outcome of EMEA becoming the geography of the year. Along the way, he has also stepped up as Executive Sponsor for several Fortune 500 companies including an APAC assignment living in Singapore.
Giovanni is known for his innovative approach to sales models, having developed the rapid operational sales model and the partner quadrant model. He is passionate about developing people and creating world-class teams focused on delighting partners and customers. Giovanni’s vision is to leverage technology to make everyday life easier and solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.
Leading at Lenovo
Lenovo lives up to its reputation as a global technology powerhouse with innovative end-to-end-full stack IT solutions available. From dual headquarters, in Beijing and Raleigh NC, it operates in 180 markets, with 18 R&D locations, and over 30 manufacturing facilities globally. The business is broken down into three core business groups – Solutions and Services Group (SSG), Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), and Intelligent Devices Group (IDG) which includes the entire Motorola brand.
What drew Giovanni to Lenovo was the clear intent that they do not develop tech for tech’s sake; they are purposeful in delivering human-centred innovation. In his role as President of the ISG business in EMEA, Giovanni has worked on ensuring Lenovo is the most trusted technology vendor, focused on empowering customers through their intelligent transformations. One way he has done this was by leading a transformative shift in their Sales Go-To-Market strategy from traditional product-focused sales to a solution and outcome-based sales approach. This strategic pivot allowed them to deeply align with customer needs and deliver measurable business outcomes, strengthening client partnerships. As a result, the organization became recognized in the industry as a thought leader, positioning itself at the forefront of solution-driven innovation and creating lasting value for both its clients and the brand.
Challenges Enroute
“I’ve probably seen some of the best and the most challenging times economically in this region over the years, but despite everything the economy has thrown at us, I’ve seen Lenovo EMEA continue to transform from a company known as the #1 PC manufacturer into a technology solutions powerhouse,” says Giovanni.
In a post-pandemic world, he has seen some of the toughest quarters for the technology industry ever, and guiding teams through them has been challenging. But Giovanni likes to lead with the reminder that success doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen in just one quarter, so while there will always be headwinds that they can’t control, he believes that during challenging times, strong vision and leadership can help everybody stay focused with a sense of direction and purpose.
Being able to anticipate and adapt in challenging times is the key to success, and that’s exactly what happened when the industry required a shift from IT costs being CAPEX to OPEX, Lenovo pivoted from traditional product sales to an X-as-a-Service sales model. This meant supporting sales teams across the region to develop their skills beyond product knowledge and adapt to longer and different sales cycles. They now work much more seamlessly with colleagues in the Solutions and Services Group to deliver more consultative selling as one team.
“Lenovo has achieved remarkable success as a leading provider of supercomputers, powering nearly one-third of the systems on the latest TOP500 list. Of these, 39 are located in EMEA, including 8 new systems. Additionally, Lenovo boasts 3 supercomputers ranked in the Green500’s top 10 for energy efficiency, with two of them situated in EMEA. I am incredibly proud that the Lenovo High-Performance Computing (HPC) business in EMEA continues to outperform other vendors, and our team here in EMEA is such an important contributor to this overall success,” shares Giovanni.
Strategic Vision for Growth and Innovation
For a long while Lenovo has worked on being the most trusted partner – empowering customers’ intelligent transformation and helping solve humanity’s greatest challenges. In doing this, it is working towards its vision for the infrastructure business to become the largest end-to-end infrastructure solutions provider in the world, but also be the vendor of choice with the greatest purpose.
Giovanni shares that part of their plan is to drive growth and innovation by continuing to partner with research facilities, universities, and other entities that require innovative HPC solutions to progress in fields that impact humanity the most. For example, in Spain and the UK, Physics Centres and Universities are using Lenovo-based supercomputers to address some of the most complex questions about the universe, and in Italy, the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change runs on Lenovo technology with improved operational efficiency for its important research activities. In Saudi Arabia, Lenovo technology is used by NCM to run weather and climate models to produce predictions that save lives during extreme weather conditions. These projects will always be important to society and are certain growth drivers.
In fact, in EMEA Lenovo’s vision specifically includes building on the momentum it has seen in the Middle East that has been fuelled by an increasing number of large-cap projects and its strong economies. It wants to tap into the robust growth in the region and unlock the transformative potential of digital technologies there, which it plans to do through its recently announced strategic collaboration with Alat and other proposed investments in the region.
Integrating ESG principles into Business Operations
ESG principles are part of the fabric of business at Lenovo and it demonstrates the brand’s commitment, persistence, and ongoing progress in all areas. Based on financial and corporate social responsibility data and community opinion, Lenovo’s supply chain was ranked #10 in the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2024, which is a great reflection of the increased focus it has had on key areas such as security, digital transformation, and environmental sustainability.
“We know it’s important that sustainability in particular permeates every inch of our business too, and as a company, we are on track for our 2030 emission reduction goals, after announcing our commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 in alignment to the Science Based Targets initiative’s Net-Zero Standard,” assures Giovanni.
Fuelled by its own commitments and services-led transformation, Lenovo continues to meet its customers wherever they are on their ESG journey with its sustainability services and partner programs as well. Just to name some of the more recent efforts, Lenovo now offers a new reduced carbon transport service for global logistics, as well as L.I.S.S.A., an AI-powered consultant that can help customers optimize their IT solutions in support of their sustainability goals. For the channel, it launched Lenovo 360 Circle, a community where 438 active partners, 314 based in EMEA, come together to align on ESG objectives and leverage new market trends driven by sustainability.
Leveraging Data to Achieve Business Goals
Even as a Fortune 500 company, Lenovo faces the same challenges as many of its customers, and like them, its success can depend on IT systems and services running reliably. One of the best things about Lenovo is that it doesn’t just talk the talk, it walks the walk. Lenovo draws on its own products and services to unleash the power of its data, improve operations, and achieve its business goals. It showcases how ‘Lenovo Powers Lenovo’ publicly because it is so proud of its solutions and the results.
“For example, we improved our own on-prem and cloud IT operations with a solution called xSpark that combines valuable data with LLM’s and our cloud technology. It allows the teams internally to add a higher level of automation and intelligence to different IT operations processes, and it combines and analyses data from multiple sources to identify the root causes of data centre incidents. On the customer-facing side, Lenovo created Smart Avatar—a first-of-its-kind AI solution that uses data to automatically direct each Lenovo PC customer to the appropriate support resources in real-time. It’s already delivered $10 million in cost-avoidance and a 15.4-point increase in customer satisfaction,” explains Giovanni.
More broadly, to support its Net Zero goals, Lenovo uses an innovative management system called Lenovo ESG Navigator that uses data to monitor key ESG metrics at our factory sites and delivers near-real-time insights on GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and energy use.
Exciting Time Ahead
It’s no surprise that AI is having the biggest impact on technological advancements at the moment. The rapid growth of generative AI is driving a surge in energy demand, which in turn puts pressure on data centres’ cooling abilities as well as the need to reduce their carbon emissions. Energy-intensive GPUs require more advanced cooling methods than traditional air systems, which is prompting a shift to liquid cooling, which (with the right solution) can cut power consumption by up to 40%.
Datacentres need to be re-engineered for these higher thermal densities and in some cases completely redesigned. Giovanni has been excited about the latest generation of Lenovo’s Neptune Water Cooling systems since it launched in October last year. They have reshaped liquid cooling, with innovation that puts the highest accelerated computing available in a compact chassis that any size organization can use. The industry-first design takes liquid cooling vertical and delivers a system that is 100% liquid-cooled, eliminating the need for power-consuming fans.
“It’s a game changer for how data centres are going to look as well as how they operate and manage their environmental footprint,” he says.
Enhancing Customer Experience
Giovanni has always led with a customer-centric and partner-first approach and to ensure the highest satisfaction levels he implores all his teams to engage with customers on a human level. He leads by example meeting with hundreds of customers and partners a year – and in every interaction, he looks at the people not just the company. When it comes to selling, the starting point of a sales cycle is sacred, and the priority should be looking at what exactly your customer needs – not at what your solution is.
Giovanni gets to know what they care about, and the truth is, they care about more than just the solution turning up and doing its job. They care about where it comes from, and how it’s made, and increasingly they care about the impact each purchase has on the environment.
“To do this effectively we have moved manufacturing into EMEA to be closer to our customers. This increases the geographic diversification of Lenovo’s manufacturing footprint and enables us to capitalize on the growth momentum within specific regions of EMEA. We can respond to customer needs more effectively, with greater efficiency and control over product development and supply chain operations, all while continuing our commitment to sustainability and supporting the local community,” he shares.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Excellence
At Lenovo, particularly within the EMEA region, Giovanni and the team are deeply committed to fostering continuous development and supporting a culture of innovation and excellence. They invest significantly in ongoing training, offering weekly Solution Sales Enablement sessions across their entire sales force, including technical sales. These sessions are led by internal subject matter experts and trainers, as well as external coaches, covering everything from solution-focused strategies to advanced sales methodologies and execution practices. Their approach blends practical, hands-on learning to equip the teams to address customer needs, pain points, and desired outcomes through best-in-class solution selling.
Lenovo’s partnerships with industry leaders also play a key role in this development. For instance, it collaborates with NVIDIA to train and accredit its EMEA sales teams as NVIDIA AI Advisors, empowering both the sales and technical teams with cutting-edge AI expertise. Beyond technical skills, it offers a comprehensive portfolio of self-paced soft-skill training in areas such as innovation and design thinking, essential for nurturing adaptable, forward-thinking professionals. Next to that are programs in EMEA that support its ‘high potentials’ in becoming Lenovo’s next-gen leaders, and at the same time, it develops its existing leaders up to the executive level.
“Importantly, this commitment to life-long learning begins with leadership: I, along with my managerial peers, actively engage in these same training programs to stay agile and resilient in our fast-evolving industry. By investing in our people, we’re not only fostering individual growth but also creating a culture where innovation, resilience, and diversity thrive,” says Giovanni.
Trends in the Data Center Industry
Per Giovanni, Artificial Intelligence is probably more of a disruptor than a trend, but either way, it’s certainly shaping the future of data centre infrastructure across every vertical. Lenovo has been building its AI-ready portfolio for the data centre since 2017, so it is more than ready for this evolution.
“Alongside AI, security has become a paramount focus. Enterprises today are acutely aware of growing cyber risks, and as a trusted partner, it’s our role to ensure their data and data centres are protected. Lenovo invests heavily in security innovations throughout our portfolio, embedding layers of protection into our hardware and software to mitigate threats proactively. We work closely with customers, delivering end-to-end solutions that address their unique security challenges, ensuring robust, resilient infrastructure and devices to support their AI ambitions and broader digital transformation,” he says.
Next on the Cards
Lenovo’s ‘Smarter AI for All’ vision will remain Giovanni and his team’s focus over the coming years, and with their hybrid AI strategy, he sees Lenovo paving the way for AI to become accessible to everyone. AI is not new for Lenovo, and they are capitalising on the continual investment in innovation for AI-powered edge computing and hybrid cloud, as well as the expansion of their AI-ready server and storage portfolio.
Beyond the solutions, they are also taking steps to grow their AI Innovators Program which acts as a unique ecosystem of best-in-class software partners who collaborate with them to provide tailored, proven and ready-to-develop AI solutions including computer vision, audio recognition, prediction, security, and virtual assistants for every industry. To date, Lenovo has more than 50 of the industry’s leading software providers, 25 headquartered in EMEA, who have access to its AI Discover Labs where they validate their solutions and launch proof of concepts. There have been over 150 industry turnkey solutions brought to market from the program and they are doing everything required to keep that number rising.
“For Lenovo, the Middle East momentum has never been stronger and we’ve made a big commitment in the region that will pan out over the next 5 years and more. We see the region hailed as a phenomenon in economic performance, breaking the trends and avoiding recessions, specifically the large-scale digital transformations are being seen in Saudi Arabia right now as they drive towards the Vision 2030 plan and position themselves as the platform for AI innovation,” concludes Giovanni.
A Quote to Live By:
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination – Jimmy Dean.”
For me, it’s a reminder that change is a constant in life and business and that people need to adapt, persevere, and learn to endure – and the best way to do that is as a team.
Quote: “Data will remain front and centre of everything we do, and how we innovate for our customers.”
