CEO CONVERSATIONS
2014
The Business Times | Wednesday, October 8, 2014
| 17| 13
ZONE Telecom goes the extra mile to
customise services for companies big and small
SMEs DESERVE
CARE AND
ATTENTION TOO
Z
ONE Telecom first took
the Singapore market by
storm in May 2000, when
its 1511 IDD service gave
customers big savings on
their long-distance calls.
Now, the firm has set its sights on
becoming the leading one-stop info-communications service provider
to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is even contemplating
whether to apply to become Singapore’s fourth mobile operator.
“That is the missing element in our
service offering today. Mobility is a
very important element for any business,” says Peter Ong, ZONE Telecom’s managing director.
Even without mobile services,
ZONE Telecom is already giving its customers a suite of services from high
speed Internet to cloud infrastructure.
“We’re like a mini-Amazon in Singapore,” Mr Ong says.
“Instead of having to spend thousands of dollars to buy a physical server and maybe a one to two months implementation period, SMEs can immediately get basic essential services
like email, web design and hosting, a
fibre broadband connection, a cloud
business telephone system and a
cloud computer server, all for a low
monthly fee.”
What gives the firm an edge is an
understanding that no two firms are
alike, no matter how small.
“How often do we hear people say,
‘My company is different, don’t offer
me the same service’? We believe no
one SME is the same as the other and it
is important to understand the needs
of each customer," Mr Ong says.
“They may be in the same business
and face the same challenges, but
their operational processes will be different. They may need different variations of the same service.”
For example, SMEs looking at getting a fibre broadband connection
might just subscribe for the highest
speed that their budget allows for.
“But Internet speed alone may not
be the answer for your needs,” Mr
“How often do we
hear people say, ‘My
company is
different, don’t offer
me the same
service’? We believe
no one SME is the
same as the other
and it is important
to understand the
needs of each
customer. They may
be in the same
business and face
the same challenges,
but their operational
processes will be
different.”
Peter Ong
Managing Director
ZONE Telecom
they need, Mr Ong says they still appreciate advice.
“Everybody needs assistance at
some point. We are a service provider
after all... so we keep reminding ourselves that we must provide good customer service.
“It is no surprise that our customer
service department is bigger than our
sales department,” he says.
THE CLOUD
FUTURE
Ong says. “Depending on what you
use the Internet for, there are other
considerations that ultimately affect
user experience.”
THE EXTRA MILE
Case in point is a customer who needed a connection to Germany, Mr Ong
recalls. ZONE Telecom found out that
what the customer wanted was not
simply the highest bandwidth connection, but a stable and low latency link.
ZONE Telecom then customised a
broadband plan for the customer. “It
met their needs,” Mr Ong says.
Another customer faced a connection problem while relocating its office due to a delay in the fibre installation at its building.
“Our team went out of their way to
secure the necessary equipment and
deployed an interim Internet solution
to support their operations at no extra cost,” Mr Ong says.
A request from an IDD customer
who wanted to blacklist overseas destinations to prevent unauthorised or
fraudulent calls also led to ZONE
building an application just for the
customer. “He had approached one of
the telephone companies here but did
not manage to get any assistance,” Mr
Ong says.
The feature ZONE Telecom built for
one customer is now one of its more
popular value-added services that customers value.
SERVING THE
UNDER-SERVED
ZONE Telecom’s customer base today
includes multinational corporations
and government agencies.
But local SMEs have always been
its primary focus, says Mr Ong.
Like any other big firm, SMEs need
new technologies and solutions to
help them to be more efficient, he
says. But facing pressures to keep their
companies lean, SMEs usually channel
resources to revenue-generating activities, instead of IT systems and solutions crucial to business operations.
This is where ZONE Telecom
comes in with its consultative approach, Mr Ong explains.
“Today when you want to set up a
business, you first have to set up your
office space, then have your telephone lines installed, buy a telephone
system, order your Internet line, purchase and install your computers, file
servers and set up your email servers.
“And maybe you might want to
have a website as well? Then you
need to register for a domain name.
You also need to factor in the time for
the delivery of your computer servers. There is just so much administrative work to do before you even start
your office.”
While people can do research on
the Internet to find out what services
A former marketing and product manager at two giant telcos, Mr Ong joined
ZONE Telecom (a subsidiary of Hong
Kong-listed e-Kong Group) in 2000.
Right from the start, ZONE Telecom
was profitable, Mr Ong says.
“We run a very lean organisation
using technology and applications to
ensure productivity and efficiency,”
he says.
Aiming for No 1 in market share is
not as important as offering excellent
customer service, he adds.
“What is important is that our business is stable and growing according
to our expectations. We can then continue innovating. Our customers are
also assured that we are here for the
long haul to serve them and grow
with them.”
Looking ahead, he sees great potential in offering fibre broadband and especially cloud services to businesses.
It is launching ZONE Spectrum, a
hosted sales management tool targeted at SMEs as part of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering.
“Many Fortune 500 companies and
large multinationals have been using
such software to manage their sales
efforts. SMEs here are definitely keen
to manage their sales and ZONE Spectrum offers them this capability at a
fraction of the cost of similar software marketed by more established
international brands,” Mr Ong says.
The cloud segment, as a borderless Internet service, is already diversifying ZONE’s revenues beyond Singapore – about a third of its business
is abroad.
“This is a huge potential market...
our cloud services are already used by
customers in Thailand, Hong Kong,
and the Middle East,” Mr Ong says.