Vicky Agorilla, country general manager of Lenovo Philippines said Lenovo’s local office is specifically keeping an eye on the SME space, which she said would be the site of the fierce battle among PC vendors.

With signs of recovery now within sight, the local subsidiary of computer maker Lenovo is also busy ramping up efforts to seize opportunities that may crop up, particularly in the SME sector.

Vicky Agorrilla, country general manager of Lenovo Philippines, said in a recent interview that the stimulus programs of various countries, including Lenovo’s homebase China, seemed to have produced its desired results and are now being felt by countries like the Philippines.

The official said one factor that has allowed Lenovo to ride out the crisis is the IBM customers who have stuck with the Thinkpad brand and have, in fact, replenished their units with new models.

Though she did not give actual figures, Agorrilla said the company’s performance fared well in the second quarter of this year, buoyed by recent client wins, including from the government sector.

The executive said Lenovo’s local office is specifically keeping an eye on the SME space, which she said would be the site of the fierce battle among PC vendors. The company, she said, is keen on signing up customers from the BPO sector, banks, the academe, and marketing firms.

To prepare for this assault, the company has positioned its product lines in two distinct SME segments -- Thinkpad for the commercial side and the IdeaPad for the consumer part.

Agorrilla said it has also reinforced its relationship with its distributors for these products — Technopaq and MSI-ECS — as a way of assuring customers of the technical support they can get for their units.

The quality engineering and durability of the products, she stressed, is the reason why Lenovo is priced much higher compared with other brands.

Lenovo, she added, also offers customers additional options for extraordinary warranty that covers repairs and replacement even at the owner’s fault, online data back-up, among others.

Agorrilla also said she’s hoping that Windows 7 and WiMax (which is now integrated in some Lenovo notebooks) would help spur demand for its mobile products.