Atradius prides itself on a close working relationship and high customer satisfaction.
As a global technology company with an account receipt level around the US$3-4 billion mark, Lenovo relies on credit insurance as a vital part of their day-to-day business. Atradius has been working with Lenovo since 2007, helping them insure their sizable account risk and ensure that at least 85% of their account receivables are secure. “Atradius allows us to feel more comfortable providing open terms… credit insurance has definitely helped Lenovo increase its revenue and profitability.”
Objectives
As a major player in a highly competitive industry, Lenovo relies on trade credit to secure bids and win new business. Me Lei D. Chen, Director and Chief Credit Officer for Lenovo, explains:
“In the PC industry, trade credit is very important – 95% of Lenovo revenue is sold with open credit. So our account risk level is quite high, around US$3-4 billion where our customers, who may have strong businesses, might have distributors whose finances are not quite as strong. For some retailers that have now come under pressure from e-commerce, trade volume with Lenovo can be quite high. Should anything happen to these retailers or to the industry in general, only credit insurance can help Lenovo to avoid or mitigate potentially catastrophic losses.”
Partnering with Atradius has allowed Lenovo the confidence to expand in new markets. In addition to the protection and peace of mind Atradius’ trade credit insurance has provided, Lenovo are able to use Atradius’ market knowledge and subsequent credit limits to gauge any potential new customers.
“At an industrial level of losses, Atradius and trade credit insurance are the most effective way for Lenovo to recover that debt, which is a major benefit for us,” says Mr Lei D.Chen. “Another benefit is that we are able to use Atradius to assessour customers as a risk reference, because we also do credit evaluation on our customers and distributors. We use Atradius’ credit limit and their opinion as a reference, so if the insurer is uncomfortable in providing credit to certain parties, we might bemore careful about doing business with them.”
Our Role
Atradius and Lenovo have enjoyed a close working relationship since 2007. “Frankly speaking, our relationship with Atradius has been like a honeymoon. We started working together in 2007… Now we have contact with Atradius in the Netherlands and within the region, including Hong Kong, Singapore and in China,” says Mr Lei D. Chen. “So we have relationships with Atradius at a headquarters as well as a country level, and our relationship is quite good across the board.”
Atradius understands that a global player such as Lenovo needs the freedom and confidence to explore new and often highrisk markets in order to succeed. Our goal is to make a positive impact, not only in securing existing business relationships but helping to forge new ones. “One example is in Turkmenistan, where every year we supply computers to primary school students, which amounts to US$30 million. We have been doing this since 2011. For the first two years, we did not have any insurance coverage so we were quite uncomfortable about the whole deal because the country risk can be quite high,” says Mr Lei D. Chen.
By providing suitable credit limits and arming Lenovo with market and customer knowledge, Atradius has been able to assist the company in expanding their customer base and feeling more comfortable in markets that may have previously been considered very high-risk. “We have been much more comfortable with this deal since we chose Atradius to provide this insurance,” continues Mr Lei D. Chen. “Now this is the fifth year we have won the bidding for this deal where Atradius has approved the limits and has helped us ensure that our account receivables have been collected. This is a typical example of how Atradius helps us win bids in high-risk countries such as Turkmenistan.”
Results
Any advantage can be a significant one in outperforming competitors. With Lenovo, Atradius is able to help keep the wheels turning in markets where many of their competitors are no longer comfortable working. One such example is Argentina.
“Currently they are experiencing issues with foreign currency exchange and their economy is struggling with a high inflation rate,” explains Mr Lei D. Chen. “With Atradius’ coverage, Lenovo feels more comfortable doing business in Argentina so currently we are still conducting business in a country where our competitors are no longer trading. I believe that one of the reasons for this is that we have good insurance coverage.”
Atradius prides itself on a close working relationship and high customer satisfaction, something that is reflected in Lenovo’s decision to choose Atradius as their worldwide partner since 2007.
“Since we started working with them, we have found Atradius to be very good, not just price-wise but also in terms of service. We have invited bids every three years and we have always ended up choosing Atradius as our partner. We are also satisfied with the limits they offer and their pricing, so I am very happy with Atradius,” concludes Mr Lei D. Chen.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese multinational computer technology company headquartered in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, USA, and its shares are listed in Hong Kong.
It designs, develops, manufactures and sells personal computers, tablets, smartphones and IT management software.
It acquired IBM’s PC division in 2005 and is now the world’s largest PC vendor. It operates in more than 60 countries with products selling in over 160 countries.