• Creation of promotional content in seconds with over 90% time savings
• Improved user engagement by 25%, attributed to enhanced user interface and integration of AI tools
• Cost savings of more than $500,000 annually through optimization of backend infrastructure and automation of repetitive tasks
• A 30% increase in platform efficiency, measured by faster data processing times and reduced system downtime

Lenovo's sales team needed dynamic, highly-customized promotional content, but their existing tool lacked the nuanced understanding required for effective customer engagement. Relying on marketing agencies and translation vendors, each brochure cost around $13,500 and took up to eight weeks to produce.

Annually, the content team dedicated nearly 26,000 hours to this labor-intensive process, serving both the sales teams and customers.

Recognizing the opportunity for improvement, Lenovo’s Director of Global Digital Marketing turned to OTAKOYI for expertise in building a custom generative AI tool. Key challenges included translating bold client ideas into practical features, maintaining a fast development pace, and adapting to shifting priorities.

• A request for a custom, secure generative AI tool trained on Lenovo’s data to enhance context understanding
• The need to integrate the new solution into Lenovo’s existing monolithic software
• The need for fast validation of numerous client ideas, bypassing a traditional Discovery Phase due to tight deadlines
• A large international team on Lenovo’s side contributing to the product vision and functionality

This project evolved gradually — from enhancing the existing Lenovo tool to creating the ambitious Studio AI, a new sales material generation tool designed to leverage AI to its fullest potential. The ultimate goal was to develop an AI-powered platform capable of fully understanding user-specific context, with access to Lenovo’s historical data.

To tackle this large project, we broke it down into several sub-goals:

• Create the new AI-driven Studio

  and integrate it into the existing tool, with plans to transition all functionality to the new solution.

• Migrate the existing monolithic tool to microservices,

  adding necessary updates and features for the team while they continue using the current tool.

• Develop an internal, customized AI assistant,

  with long-term plans to integrate it into Lenovo’s broader business ecosystem, beyond just Studio AI.

Our main goal is to leverage AI to its fullest potential, turning Lenovo’s ideas and needs into practical features," says Maryna, Project Manager. To achieve this, we maintain a highly dynamic workflow, avoiding traditional, rigid processes with a fixed backlog. Both the client and our team must stay ahead of the competition, delivering results 10 times faster than others while adapting quickly to seize new opportunities.

The project demands versatility, with roles not strictly defined — everyone contributes to both idea generation and execution.

Studio AI is a powerful tool designed for Lenovo’s marketers, sales teams, and partners, enabling them to quickly create customized marketing materials for end customers. Key features include:

• AI-Powered Content Generation:

  Users can easily create a variety of marketing materials—such as brochures, flyers, presentations, and battle cards—using AI to generate content and a library of branded elements.

• Seamless Email Distribution:

  Once materials are created, they can be instantly sent to clients via email, directly from within the Studio AI platform.

• Link Tracking:

  Users can track email engagement by monitoring click-through rates on links embedded in the materials.

Studio AI streamlines the creation, distribution, and tracking of marketing content, making it easier and faster for Lenovo teams to engage with clients effectively.

Studio AI ensures that users always have access to the latest product information, aligned with ship support dates, so the content remains accurate and relevant.

Additionally, the tool pulls from an extensive Lenovo product catalog, enabling the creation of comprehensive, solution-focused proposals.

Our skilled design team crafted a set of customizable templates for Studio AI, enabling the generation of sales materials that are both on-brand and visually compelling. Each template adheres strictly to Lenovo’s brand guidelines while incorporating a modern, creative touch that ensures every asset is unique and tailored to the client’s needs. In the future, Studio AI will be able to create AI-generated designs based on existing materials.

The AI is fully customized for Lenovo’s needs. It’s designed with specific guidelines for tone of voice and how to handle tricky questions. This involves additional prompts and indexing, as well as integration with Lenovo’s internal databases. Unlike a standard web scraping approach, we rely on internal Lenovo data sources, including chat logs, to ensure more accurate responses.

If the AI doesn’t have an answer from the internal resources, it will then pull from general information—similar to what a typical chatbot like GPT might provide about Lenovo products. However, internal data always takes priority over external, publicly available information to ensure the response is as relevant and accurate as possible.

Studio AI and its internal assistant are tailored to meet the needs of different user groups within the company. By integrating segmentation and indexing rules, it ensures that each user receives relevant, role-specific information based on their department, permissions, and other criteria.

• User Segmentation and Filtering:

  The AI customizes content for different user segments, including sales, marketing, and other departments, using up to seven filtering criteria (e.g., partner level, geography) to ensure the most relevant information is displayed.

• Role-Based Content Delivery:

  Depending on the user’s role — whether in sales, marketing, or another department — the AI prioritizes and delivers specific, actionable content that supports their objectives and tasks.

To ensure a seamless transition between Lenovo’s old Studio and the new StudioAI, our team developed an authorization system that allowed users to move between the two applications without having to reauthenticate. We kept the user experience simple by using the same domain for both applications. Once users logged in on the old Studio, an authorization token was issued and stored in cookies, making it accessible to both the old and new apps.
 

The core technical challenge was to ensure smooth user redirection. We reserved a specific URL on the old Studio domain that would trigger the new StudioAI application. By leveraging server-side settings, users are seamlessly redirected to the new app, without noticing a switch between different services. This solution was built on the shared domain and cookies, enabling a frictionless experience while keeping the backend architecture separate and secure.