05/07/2006
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/smart50/2006/0,3800012822,39372796,00.htm

Industry Import/ export Company Singapore's most famous ornamental fish supplier, Qian Hu, exports to more than 60 countries worldwide, supplying over 5 percent of the world's aquarium fish market. It ships over 500,000 fish each month from a variety of 500-plus species of ornamental fish. Employees 603 IT staff Outsourced Annual IT Budget Between S$100,000 (US$62,690) and S$200,000 (US$125,380)

Qian Hu, however, came face-to-face with possible closure when a heavy thunderstorm in 1989 wiped out its entire stock of guppies, and again later that year, when its entire stock of 40,000 loaches died because the company knew little about rearing that variety of fish.

It was through sheer determination, and a willingness to learn from its past mistakes, that Qian Hu eventually achieved success importing and exporting ornamental fish.

In its fiscal year 2005, ended Dec. 31 last year, Qian Hu clocked US$40 million in revenues. The company went public in 2000 and is listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

Today, the company ships over 500,000 fish each month from a variety of more than 500 species of ornamental fish. It exports to more than 60 countries worldwide, supplying over 5 percent of the world's aquarium fish market.

Yap attributes some of Qian Hu's success to its use of technology and has no qualms trying out new IT tools, as long as they can help create value and improve customer service.

"We would say that IT has improved our productivity and efficiency, thus helping the company to grow the business," he said.

Yap demonstrated his willingness to seek out innovative IT tools when the company introduced Qian Hu Voice, a multilingual phone service which uses speech recognition.

Based on technologies that include Microsoft .Net and voice XML (voice extensible markup language), the system enables Qian Hu's shareholders to obtain the company's latest stock value based on real-time information from the SGX's Web site.

The system converts text-based data, retrieved from the Web site, to speech so callers will hear the stock value being recited to them over the phone. Callers are also able to give their instructions over the phone via speech, and will be prompted by the system to repeat their commands if the speech is unclear or too soft, or to try the keypad option after repeated failed attempts.

According to Yap, Qian Hu will continue to look at new ways to deploy technology. He noted that the company is currently focusing on deploying a CRM (customer relationship management) system "to improve our business process" and sharpen Qian Hu's competitive edge.

Find out why the Singapore company also received a special mention in the Smart50 Awards for turning a need to meet a global mandate, into an innovative use of IT that helped Qian Hu simplify its supply chain operations and improve customer service.