Acer's Strategic Adaptation to Remote and Hybrid Work:

Acer is proactively evolving its product lineup to meet the demands of the modern commercial market, especially with the rise of remote and hybrid work environments. The Travelmate series, with MIL-STD-810H certification, ensures durability against environmental and physical damage, making it ideal for varied work settings. Enhanced security features like Acer Pro Shield and User Sense safeguard data and privacy, while AI integrations in the Travelmate P series improve communication quality. Acer's investment in emerging technologies, such as Spatial Labs for a 3D experience, positions it ahead in the competitive market. The company is also committed to sustainability through initiatives like Earthion and Project Humanity, aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050. Acer's focus on superior customer experience, through eco-friendly designs and robust warranty promises, sets it apart from competitors. Recent partnerships, like the one with Kortext, and ongoing investments in non-PC businesses and AI-driven medical and transport solutions, highlight Acer's dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction in the commercial sector.

How is Acer adapting its product line to meet the changing and competitive demands of the commercial market, especially in the context of remote and hybrid work environments?

Laptop usage in non-office work environments such as at home or at a café make the device more prone to accidental damage; this could be dropping the device from the table, spilling coffee onto the keyboard or dropping crumbs onto the PC. Our Travelmate series is MIL-STD-810H certified, which means it has gone through rigorous testing in terms of withstanding extreme temperatures (-32 to 49 degrees), dust (resistance to exposure of concentrated dust) and even damage when dropped (devices are dropped 26 times from a height of 122cm and inspected for damage after each drop). This makes the device more versatile to being used in a hybrid working environment.

Security is also an important concern when working remotely, and Acer Pro Shield, which is embedded into our products, integrates multiple security and management features in a single-client console to fortify business security and better protect data against unauthorized access and threats. Acer User Sense is able to detect when you are not facing your laptop, and automatically locks, minimizing unwanted users being able to use your laptop if left unattended. In addition to security software, the laptops also have a System Health Indicator feature which alerts the user if a laptop may be heading towards failure. This feature helps get a user take proactive action.

What emerging technologies or innovations is Acer investing in, such as AI, to stay ahead in the competitive PC market?

A key technology that we’re investing in is the Spatial Labs technology which provides a unique 3D glasses free stereoscopic experience. It Supports Cura, sketchup, Autodesk, blender , Zbrush and within gaming environment apps like Unreal engine, unity, open XR and SteamVR.  Spatial Labs also brings the user the opportunity to capture life in 3D anywhere they go. This technology is aimed at multiple fields from high-tech workers, designers, content creators to medical professionals. Not only does this 3D technology bring new life to architectural plans and engineering drawings,  it also has significant health advantages as virtual reality glasses are placed very close to the eyes, as opposed to the monitor which has an ample distance.

AI is also integrated into multiple products we have. Our Travelmate P series include AI features such as Acer PurifiedView and Acer PurifiedVoice to improve communication quality, making virtual meetings feel like face to face conversations – helping enhance remote collaboration and productivity.

Can you share some of Acer's key initiatives towards sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of its products?

Acer stands above competition when it comes to sustainability. We have created Earthion (Earth + Mission) which combines our efforts with our suppliers and partners to help pave the way to a brighter future by being conscious of product materials, production, logistics, product packaging and recycling. We also have several eco-commitments which include achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, source 100% renewable electricity by 2035 and lower Acer products consumption by 45% by 2025.

Internally, we have created Project Humanity, which aims to encourage employees and suppliers to make positive changes to our environment. There have been several challenges launched such as a 21-Day Green Challenge, 30 Green Actions which have educated employees on the importance of making eco-choices and inspiring them to take the adequate action.

Acer’s commercial products are also TCO certified, which covers both environmental and social criteria. When an Acer commercial laptop is purchased, you can be sure that there are no conflict minerals used in the device and strict international labour standards have been followed to ensure the safety health and mental wellness of people involved in making the product.

How does Acer ensure a superior customer experience, from product design to post-purchase support, for its commercial clients?

Acer has strengthened its market reputation for corporate clients through innovation, quality and customer care. Our product designs stand out for various reasons, one being they are eco-friendly. All Acer TravelMate laptops are EPEAT-registered and incorporate the use of recycled materials in their design and packaging, meeting the most demanding set of criteria for sustainability leadership in electronics.

Acer commercial products also come with a “Reliability Promise” – a guarantee that if the product fails under warranty, Acer will repair the device and also give you a refund. This is not commonly offered for commercial products, however we are very confident in our product and it’s robustness.

What distinguishes Acer's commercial product offerings from those of your competitors in the market?

Quite simple, WE TRY HARDER.  We can’t afford for our customers not to have a good experience. Acer is 100% channel driven and this works to our advantage as our partners understand the end user business better than any OEM.  They are able to offer us accurate insights as to the pain points individual corporates may be having.  Because we are nimble, we can adjust quickly whilst still having the ability to scale up a project to 10’s of thousands if required.

Are there any recent or upcoming partnerships or collaborations that Acer is particularly excited about, and how do they benefit your commercial clients?

We are excited about our upcoming partnership with Kortext, a higher education digital content company. The aim of this partnership is to improve digital content quality of digital content creator clients. 

What are the biggest challenges Acer faces in the commercial market today, and how is the company addressing them?

A challenge that we commonly face is the perception that we are a consumer company. This has mainly been driven by the success of our gaming brand, Predator, and our Aspire brand that is found all over the region. We are addressing this challenge by expanding our new business range into the Middle East.

How is Acer integrating AI and machine learning into its products and services to enhance functionality and user experience?

First, don’t be afraid of adopting AI. In simple terms it’s currently a large language model (LLM) with natural language understanding, generation and summarisation tools. These are the basic elements in the technology. It is a tool to assist us. They are not human; they are not intelligent, and they are not dangerous.

Our job at Acer is to make sure your PC runs as efficiently and effectively as it possibly can, therefore AI is integrated into our hardware whenever possible. For example, simple tools, like the ability to do a health check on your Acer PC, are using AI to determine whether the PC is functioning optimally.

Acer also has a team that can assist loyal partners with the planning of cloud migration, ETL (extract, transform and load) pipelines to move your data, tool performance tuning (SQL and DB), and infrastructure design for business intelligence and/or AI apps, all of which use AI.

Looking ahead, what are your top priorities and goals for Acer in the next 5 years, particularly in the commercial sector?

Acer continues to innovate and invest into expanding beyond our core business. In Q1 of 2024 29.4% of our revenues came from these non-PC businesses.  

One example is our investment in MPS Energy as we are focused on improving battery storage and power management within our products. This provides a better user experience, plus there’s added benefits such as environmental (by reducing the electricity consumption of the product) and logistical (less reliance on electricity in remote areas). Supplying power enables both learning in remote areas and the ability to supply digital transformation to the classroom in these areas.

Another example is Acer Medical, where we are developing AI medical software to aid in treatments for diabetes, retinopathy, macular degradation and bone mineral density products.

We have also invested in Acer Intelligent Transport Solutions to improve development of ticketing and parking meters.

Another goal is to help improve the air quality within local classrooms and businesses with our AcerPure line. Given the weather conditions in the region, air purifiers will help create an optimal environment to help students learn and for office workers to thrive.

Whilst these are current projects and it is difficult to see what the world will require in five years time, our job is to understand the trends and offer solutions as they are required.  So whilst you can only see projects like the one’s above, we are continually innovating and researching new technologies.