Keeping up with the Joneses: Tech trends and product management

In my new role overseeing Lenovo’s commercial notebook portfolio, it often feels like I’m the captain on the bridge of a starship, boldly setting course for the unknown. ??(Spoiler alert – I’m a die hard Trekkie ??).

Undoubtedly, the ability to keep up with evolving tech and business trends is crucial for organizations today. My role involves a delicate balancing act to ensure that we deliver cutting-edge technology without leaving vital innovations behind, and this balancing act has to happen at racing speed.

But at Lenovo, we don’t just seek to keep up with the Joneses (or the Klingons). We want to — we need to — stay ahead and lead.

Working in product management and development, I often find myself planning 24-48 months into the future to ensure that our products meet the needs of our customers when they hit the market. Beyond the next two years, we also maintain a good five-year horizon of blue sky research and development, discussing and creating what might be coming next.

In my house, there’s a running joke that I can’t be trusted to sign and date checks properly, because I’ll get the year wrong. That’s how much I’m operating already in 2026 and 2027 - I have to stop and think when I’m required to be back here in 2024! It’s a blessing and a curse… and thankfully we don’t have to hand-write the date too often anymore.

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Understanding the customer comes first

A significant part of my job is engaging with customers to understand their challenges and aspirations — and our Customer Advisory Forums (CAFs) are critical to this process. Recently, in Budapest, we gathered top European commercial customers to discuss their needs and the trends shaping their industries. Shortly after I was back to the airport to do the same thing in Asia-Pacific and next up is North America. I’m deeply grateful to have the opportunity to attend these events, and I’ll never get tired of the variety of conversations we get to have during them.

And we're not just listening to customers at events like our CAFs, we're fostering conversations among them, encouraging a collaborative exchange. All kinds of customer forums, in person and online, talking to us and to each other, provide invaluable insights that shape our product roadmaps. When we get to hear the customers talk about their challenges and how they’re overcoming them, about what they’re working on and trying to drive for their businesses using our technology, we learn a wealth of information and insights that help shape and drive our roadmaps.? It’s truly my absolute favorite part of my role.

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Today’s biggest tech trend: the AI Revolution

Think for a moment about the move into the AI PC era and how fast it’s happening.

I know this might date me, but I haven’t seen such a rapid evolution of the computing market since the dot com era, or maybe the smartphone adoption era. Effectively, when the planet became aware of the benefits of a .com address or a smartphone, everybody said, I’ve gotta have that… even if I don’t fully know the possibilities yet.

AI PCs are happening the same way but faster, seen nowhere more clearly than the public launch of ChatGPT4. ?It became a pivotal moment for the planet – showcasing the power of Generative AI and signaled the beginning of an era that will see fundamental changes to how we interact with computers and technology moving forward.

It’s super exciting and super scary at the same time. As with the dot com bubble burst, it’s possible that many companies will falter with the adoption of new technologies. I’m not predicting this will happen, but it’s a possibility, as organizations work to figure out new technologies and their places in the market. The organic nature of this explosive drive to AI is as chaotic and messy as any system in nature, but eventually it will become the new norm, and, generally speaking, technology will be more intelligent and more capable.

Lenovo started to make major company investments in AI back in 2017. For years, much of the AI focus was on back-end operations and exploratory innovations, and on commercial solutions rather than consumer. It feels like forever ago… but when you think about it, it’s seven years. What did I say about our roadmaps? The next two years are in development, and then we have a five-year long-term horizon in our sights! Funny how that works out.

What we’ve learned from the AI trend: you can’t plan for chaos and disruption, but you can ensure you embrace it, rather than run from it.

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No less important: hybrid work, privacy, security, and ESG

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a rapid shift to remote work and eventually hybrid work environments, transforming 'nice to haves' into 'must haves' in technological product development. Video conferencing became essential — the means by which you’re presenting yourself to your colleagues, to your boss, to your customers — so we had to redesign our laptop bezels for better quality cameras. But that wasn’t enough for us; our focus has since expanded to many areas concerning our customers, including speakers, microphones, battery life, and screens with blue-light filters and electronic privacy solutions.

What we learned from the hybrid work trend: initially reactive, our approach to helping our customers conquer hybrid work environments is now proactive, as we search out opportunities to help and improve.

As hybrid work blurs the lines between home and office, privacy and security have also become paramount. Our ThinkPads have always come with enterprise-grade security features (why do I love the term enterprise so much?!?), but the pandemic highlighted the increasing need for robust remote security. We have integrated biometric authentication, NFC for multi-factor authentication, and as I mentioned, electronic privacy screens and alerts to protect users working in public spaces.

What we learned from the privacy & security trend: Ensuring that devices are secure and private is a continuous effort — you can never rest on your laurels in security.?

Another global trend is ESG, and it happens to be one of my favorite topics. At Lenovo, our journey towards better sustainability began with overhauling our packaging to replace plastics with more sustainable materials. I literally audited every one of our production projects taking apart packaging! The protective cover on plugs, the twist ties on cables, the tamper-proof labeling, and more; these were all opportunities to introduce more sustainable options. We're not satisfied with only packaging, though; as our ESG Report highlights, we’re introducing post-consumer and oceanbound plastics into more devices, and more parts of devices, each year.

Here’s something else I’m really proud of. Due to the unique nature of our end-to-end ownership from manufacturing all the way through device we are able to drive innovations throughout the supply chain.? A great example is low-temperature solder, which reduces heat and power consumption.? We developed this and then freely shared with the industry to demonstrate our commitment to minimizing our environmental impact. Our Product Diversity Office works every day to improve the accessibility of our products, making technology more inclusive for all users, resulting in innovations like new tactile touchpoints for our beloved keyboards to make them more accessible to users with vision differences. Both these kinds of innovations are competitive advantages, but we’re working with the rest of the technology industry to make them industry standards, releasing the knowledge and research behind them to all.

What we learned from the ESG trend: Developing better, smarter technology is everybody’s business, and everybody can work together on achieving it.

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Looking ahead — a spoiler for a future trend

I keep saying I work months and years ahead. While I can’t reveal everything I can see, I’m really excited by the trends we’re embracing and planning for next. If you’re the type of person who loves spoilers, I’ve got you covered.

One of the most exciting future trends we’re developing for next: interaction.

For the last 30+ years, we’ve interacted with computers the same way we do an upright piano. It’s a simple model of keyboard and screen or keyboard and sheet music.? We’ve used this style of interface for the creativity and productivity for decades.? But the way we’re going to interact with devices is going to change — in fact, we think it’s getting ready to radically change. Innovations in voice recognition, gesture control, and other intuitive interfaces will redefine our relationship with technology. At Lenovo, we're excited to pioneer these changes, creating devices that are more intelligent and capable, and ultimately, more in tune with how users want to engage with their computing tools.

So here I am, the captain on the bridge of a starship, boldly setting course for parts unknown, beyond the edge of the map. ThinkPad: The Next Generation! (too much?)? Directionally, we know where we’re headed, but who knows what we’ll encounter along the way, or once we get there, or where we’ll head next.

There’s one thing I know for sure: we’ll work together with our customers and our industry partners to choose the best course, and we’ll take all that we’ve learned from past trends — like adaptability, proactivity, relentlessness, and collaboration — with us as we dive into what comes next.