By Aloysius Choong
26/07/2004
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/smb/0,,39187654,00.htm

Jocelyn Chng, Managing director, Sin Hwa Dee,

Jocelyn Chng is often regaling fellow entrepreneurs with her tales of successful IT implementations. But she's encountered her fair share of duds, too.

The managing director of Sin Hwa Dee Foodstuff Industries, a manufacturer of bottled sauces, has been the postergirl of IT vendors. In recent years, the company has been avidly making use of enterprise software to good effect, multiplying revenue while keeping its workforce to a lean and manageable number.

The company recently made the leap into wireless, cutting down paperwork and shortening the invoicing cycle by equipping its sales force with handhelds. It is also in the final stages of launching its customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Sin Hwa Dee's story is all the more instructional because it shows that you don't have to be a tech guru to make good use of IT. Chng readily admits that she's no tech-savant, and that she's no stranger to horror stories.

But her interest in growing her business--in reaching that "ultimate goal"--keeps her interested in IT.

Q. You straddle two generations of business owners. You grew up when your father was running the business, but you've taken Sin Hwa Dee to new heights since you took over. How did IT figure in this transformation?
As an entrepreneur, my main goals and aims are to grow the business. So to me, I look at things in the broader sense. I like to think out of the box.

IT is one of the tools contributing to where we want to be--to the ultimate aim, the ultimate goal. I learnt from my dad how he ran the business. But I also know that if I had continued to run the business like him, we would have stayed where we were, which at that time was a cottage industry, a very small business.

So I learnt, I looked at how the bigger guys ran their operations. I saw that IT can help the operation become more organized. That's how I began using technology to help to run operations more smoothly.

Many of the business owners who have aggressively adopted IT have a very strong personal interest in technology. Is that the case for you as well?
I don't think so. For me, personally, I'm not that tech-savvy. A lot of things are done by my staff, so I don't have the privilege of being hands-on all the time.

But in a more holistic view, I want to drive the business to another level. For example, if my dad was still around, I feel that he will not see branding as essential for a product because you need a lot of investment. But I see things in the broader sense. Branding can help the business as a whole, although you have to put in a lot of money and effort. To me, it will achieve the ultimate goal you want for the business.

"IT is one of the tools contributing to where we want to be--to the ultimate aim, the ultimate goal."

For me, if a phone can serve my business purposes, I'm very happy with it. I won't say that if there's a new phone coming out tomorrow, I have to get it. Of course if it has more features, it's a better phone, and my friends have been using it, then I will think about it. But it's not really something that I'll go for as a personal interest.

Is being less tech-savvy a disadvantage or advantage?
For myself, because I'm looking at things more from a layman view, I'm able to see what the problems are for the layman.

For example, I want to check how many invoices this customer still owes the company. The IT person says: It's very difficult because if you want to control this thing, everything has to be controlled. Because they know so much about the programming problems, they will tell me that it's not quite possible. But I'll tell them: "No, no, no. I don't care. I want this to be done." So in a way, it makes them think better.

That's why my vendor was saying that I really gave them a lot of headaches. Before that, when they wrote the program for other customers, there were really no such requirements.

The disadvantage is that if the vendor wants to lie to me about certain things, I may not know whether what they say is true or false. So a lot of times, I read if I need to find out certain things; I'll go to the Internet.

I feel that IT is just like how you talk about money. You need to know how to make money work for us, not us working for money. It's exactly the same with IT. You need to know how to use IT to work for us, and not us working for IT. If you want to implement something, you must make sure that works. There's no point investing in a white elephant.

Whenever you have a problem, do you instinctively think that maybe technology can help you, or do you see it as a human resource problem?
Whenever there are such problems, the immediate thing is IT. It's just a matter of where to get a good solution. It's the sourcing part that is difficult, because then I will have to go around, of course, with the help of some people.

To me, whatever limitation we have with human resource, I always source for machines--both IT and production. We need to reach a point where we say: Look, there's a limitation when it comes to human resource. Plus, dealing with humans is even more difficult than machines.

Why do I say that? Even if we have many staff to handle certain work, sometimes they will feel frustrated if they don't have adequate or sufficient tools to help them. Imagine everything has to be done manually and is so routine. They don't have the challenge or the morale to stay in the company.

People love to move forward, whether they are production operators or administrative staff. There's something in a person that loves to move forward, that loves to learn new things. So with all these IT implementations, I'm able to maintain the staff turnover. Because to them, they are always learning, they get to see new things, they get a chance to upgrade themselves.

You recently implemented wireless technology and equipped your salespeople with connected handhelds. How has it benefited you?
It has benefited me a lot. Previously, everything was done in a semi-automatic way. When the staff brought invoices back, we still needed to key the data in. Now it's online, a lot of work can be reduced, especially when they want to check certain things.

For example, my salesmen are on site, they can check for information without coming back, especially on outstanding invoices. So a lot of unnecessary time is cut.

Also, I'm able to get the most updated reports, like whether the customers' buying patterns have changed. I'm able to see the performance of each customer, each salesman and each product. I'm able to see things more clearly.

"You need to know how to use IT to work for us, and not us working for IT. "

You are also on the verge of launching a CRM solution. Tell us a bit about that.
We already know our customers' buying patterns, but the interaction is only one way. We are able to track that, but they are not able to know us. With CRM, they will know us better. We will send out newsletters to tell them when we have new items. When they order from us, they can gain points to exchange for some free food. Or maybe, if we are launching a new product next month, we will want to get our customers to try them.

In a way, we are interacting with the customer in a better way.

You have been very aggressive when it comes to adopting IT. Have you experienced any horror stories?
Many. (Sighs.) Many, many.

And you're not put off by them?
I am, but it makes me more careful the next time. I even have vendors that I have to take to court. Sad to say, but I feel that there are many conmen out there. When they paint a story, they paint a very nice story. So I get smarter each time. But there're really many, many.

Once you say you want an IT solution, everyone tells you they are able to do something. And sometimes it's very dangerous because you tell them your requirements, and they tell you: Oh, I can do everything.

I learn to be smarter. I ask them: What can you do for me? What have you done for other companies?

I rather get someone with a proven track record.

Sometimes they say: Hey, why don't you get a freelancer, it's cheaper. But I feel that it's not worth the while. The money that you invest, you may not get a single cent out of it. It's worse.

Is that one reason why you've stated that you prefer to go for more established brands, even if they cost more?
Yes. Someone recommended and said I could pay $1500 for a good PC. And then when it came to problems, when I called them, they said it wasn't their problem.

So I got very put off, because I expected to have warranty for certain items. I felt cheated. Although I got a cheaper one, I ended up with more problems.

So I told myself, I've got so many things to handle--this should be the last thing for me to handle. So I'd rather go for one that is more reliable.

It's not that I'm a very brand-conscious person. It's not that it's a HP or whatever, but it's the quality. Whatever we want to get, it's better to get a better-quality product. At the end of the day, you don't have so many headaches in worrying about the product.

For me, I have to worry about how to grow the business, about how to bring the sales in. I don't want to worry about something that is really not my core expertise. I don't want to worry about the PC everyday.

We only have eight hours a day to work. We are supposed to get the machines to help us and not to hinder us in moving forward. To me it's not about buying high-end branded because we want to show it to our competitors. I think it's more about helping us run our operations.

I feel that the branded product has got certain reliability and their product is of a certain quality, so in a way, it gives me a peace of mind. Sometimes I may pay a couple of hundreds more, but it's buying that security, like buying insurance.