Acer has made some headlines as of late by acquiring cloud-services company iGware. Some in the industry are a little confused by Acer’s move, since the company has long focused most, if not all, of its efforts in the computing space. But Acer’s decision to acquire iGware speaks to its desire to crawl out from the rut it currently finds itself in and reestablish itself as a formidable brand in today’s hotly contested technology industry. Of course, the road back to prosperity in the tech space will be a long and hard one for Acer. The PC maker has lost market share at a dramatic rate over the last year, and it’s now the fourth-largest company in that space behind HP, Dell, and Lenovo. To say that Acer is facing troubled times, and more issues could be afoot, would be an understatement. Even so, there are ways to fix Acer. It won’t be easy and there may be some missteps along the way. But here’s how Acer can right the ship.
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Get Serious About Acer Cloud After buying iGware, Acer will turn the service into Acer Cloud. The company says that the offering will be made available in a host of its services. That’s a good thing. But Acer Cloud can’t be the only way the company doubles down on cloud computing. The future of the marketplace is in the cloud, and Acer must do everything it can to be there. If it’s not, it will fall short.
Look At Lenovo One of the best companies for Acer to examine is Lenovo. That firm seemed like it was losing its way in the marketplace, but as of late, it has seen a significant resurgence in corporate and even consumer appeal. And now, it’s beating Acer in PC shipments. Acer needs to think about Lenovo and what it has done to determine how it can fix its own PC business.. Look At LenovoOne of the best companies for Acer to examine is Lenovo. That firm seemed like it was losing its way in the marketplace, but as of late, it has seen a significant resurgence in corporate and even consumer appeal. And now, it’s beating Acer in PC shipments. Acer needs to think about Lenovo and what it has done to determine how it can fix its own PC business.
Find the Balance Between Innovation And Value One of the biggest issues for Acer over the years has been its inability to find a nice balance between innovation and value. The company has delivered some great-looking PCs, but for customers, they’ve fallen short on value. If Acer wants to be a success in today’s PC world, it can still deliver flashy products, but do so at a price point and value perspective that makes consumers think twice about HP or Dell machines.
Stay Focused Acer has made the mistake of trying to do too much. The company sells everything from PCs to Chromebooks to projectors. And along the way, it has failed to focus its efforts on any one area to bolster that business before it expands to new markets. If its competition has done anything, it’s focus. Acer needs to determine what it’s all about and focus its own efforts.
Find A Way to Win On Price One of the biggest issues for Acer right now is that finding an advantage to get ahead is extremely difficult. One of the best ways for the company to gain the upperhand is to lead the way on price. Admittedly, that might be difficult, considering the companies it’s competing with, but at this point, it doesn’t have a choice. Winning on price could be its ticket to a much better future.
Acquisitions Are Fine When Acer acquired Gateway, some wondered if the company had made the right choice. Now years later, it’s clear, based on its market share that it has. But perhaps more acquisitions should follow its most recent purchase of iGware. Acer needs a jolt of innovation and fresh business ideas, and the best way for the company to get that is through buying another firm. If Acer wants to fix things, it needs to think seriously about spending some cash.
Find A Way to the Enterprise Although Acer sometimes touts its enterprise division, the reality is, the company is not doing well at all in that space. Over the next several years Acer must focus its efforts (and cash) on making inroads in the enterprise PC business. To do that, Acer must think about what enterprise users are really looking for in PCs. The company’s TravelMate TimelineX, for example, while nicely designed, is no Lenovo or HP enterprise-focused computer. Until Acer can turn that tide, it will be in for trouble.
Invest In Enterprise Solutions Part of HP’s success in the enterprise PC space has been its willingness to invest in other areas across the corporate world. The company delivers everything from servers to routers and much more to appeal to IT decision-makers. For its part, Acer sells servers and storage solutions, but once again, they fall short for many CIOs. If Acer wants to spend cash, it should do so on enterprise solutions outside of computers. The investment could pay off over the long term.
Develop Relationships When Mark Hurd was CEO at HP, he was always involved in the sales process. He formed strong relationships with channel partners to help his company gain greater market share in the corporate world. Acer, so far, hasn’t done the same. And its relationships with U.S. channel partners and enterprise users in general has been sub-par. That needs to change.
Repair the Brand When it’s all said and done, Acer’s ultimate goal must be to improve its brand. The company is not well-trusted among consumers or enterprise users, and its market share declines are only further proof of that. In the next several months, Acer should spend time trying to repair its ailing brand and reassure supporters that it has the right strategy and mindset to compete in today’s overwhelmingly competitive marketplace.
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