ARMONK, N.Y., April 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will support the customer experience of Lenovo's Data Center Group with Cognitive and Blockchain-powered field service solutions in over 200 countries worldwide.

The multi-year agreement continues to build on the IBM-Lenovo relationship that began in 2005.

Today's customer service demands have evolved to a current standard that is expected to seamlessly integrate various networks and deliver 24x7 connection with a high level of speed and accessibility. In fact, according to IBM's research, more than $1 trillion is spent on 265 billion customer service calls each year industry-wide, with 50% of those calls going unresolved. That data, compounded by a recent report, revealed that poor customer service is costing businesses more than $75 billion a year –up $13 billion since 2016.

This collaboration can help take customer care to the next level for Lenovo. When a customer connects with an agent for Lenovo's server, storage, or networking services, IBM's Virtual Assistant for Technical Support uses its natural language capabilities and contextual recognition to personalize the conversation. It is designed to ask targeted questions about service issues and obtain solution advice. It will also access key customer information, aligning to Lenovo's focus on driving a fast, effortless, and proactive customer support experience.

"The enterprise today is equipped with a host of new technology solutions built to offer customers unprecedented support and deliver a world-class customer experience," said Laura Laltrello, Vice President and General Manager, Lenovo Data Center Group. "We are looking forward to working with IBM to take the next step with our customers to deliver a personalized and seamless experience that ensures we continue to deliver industry leading customer satisfaction in data center support."

These IBM services are designed to improve the customer experience for Lenovo's end users by integrating the global coverage and capacity of IBM's Customer Engagement Centers'(CEC) field service solutions, and parts and logistics services around the world, with the help of:

• Blockchain to help create a more secure and transparent environment to process and monitor the purchase and distribution of critical hardware and software equipment for Lenovo's data centers.
• Virtual Assistant for Technical Support to use customer history and preferences, product manuals, technical documentation, and any other available information including FAQs, all within fingertip reach for call center agents.
• Client Insight Portal to provide data analytics and trend analysis with enhanced personalization, on screen alerting to identify troubled areas, and automated root cause logic.
• Augmented Reality to enable more than 19,000 field agents to help deliver a consistent client experience around the globe by allowing customers and technicians to share real-time video of machines requiring repair with fellow IBM professionals to help diagnose problems and illustrate the best practices to solve them.

"Data can have an unprecedented impact on the enterprise, and artificial intelligence can take customer service to a whole new level of personalization," said IBM General Manager of Technology Support and Services, Vivek Mahajan. "This global collaboration with Lenovo further strengthens our long-standing relationship and will help to empower technicians in every corner of the globe to help deliver service excellence using the power of Blockchain and Cognitive Computing."

IBM Technology Support Services receives more than 50 million service requests per year in over 200 countries worldwide, and provides proactive, reactive, on-site, and remote support for over 30,000 IBM and non-IBM products.

LENOVO is a trademark of Lenovo

The agreement between IBM and Lenovo was signed in IBM's Q1, 2019.

For more information on IBM Services, visit https://www.ibm.com/services 
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Media Contacts
Scott Cook
IBM External Communications
+1.312.669.4743
scotty@us.ibm.com

Ashley Kusowski
Lenovo Data Center Group
+1 919.339.2819
Akusowski@lenovo.com

David Hamilton
+1 864.979.0024
Lenovo Data Center Group
Dhamilton1@lenovo.com

SOURCE IBM