The AGIS Products & Marketing Team recently had the privilege of interviewing our CEO, Mr. Chou Fang Soong who willingly agreed to contribute to The AGIS Blog. The following are the excerpts from that session:-
Q:You possess a wealth of knowledge in the engineering, innovation and business fields. Share with us a few of the lessons you’ve learnt when faced with past challenges.
In my previous organization, I had the privilege of leading a “start-up” operation with a small team and promoting a new technology that had yet to be adopted by the market. As a team, we were able to overcome market resistance and many other challenges to pioneer many world first applications. In time, the company grew to a strength of more than 1,000 staff, with presence across the region. We became a leading player in the Asian market.
There were many lessons learnt and I see the same parallel and opportunities at AGIS. Some key lessons are:
2. Be down to earth and maintain transparency and integrity in business dealings with both partners and customers.
3. A total solution approach with innovative ideas that allow our customers to find new market opportunities or business models.
4. Bringing new ideas/products to the market requires fast execution, understanding of the market, and flexibility in adapting our solution, to gain first mover advantage.
5. In order to overcome challenges like resistance to changes, impact of existing status quo or processes, or simply rejection of new ideas, we need perseverance, patience and commitment to pursue an idea until it bears result.
I hope with my past experiences, we can work together to help AGIS overcome our challenges and succeed in growing the company to the next phase.
Q: If you could sum up your management principles, what would it be?
One key management principle that I subscribe to strongly is to empower a team that is highly motivated and passionate about what they do, sharing a common vision and goal. The effectiveness of such a team is to be able to draw on the strength, ideas and expertise of each individual and facilitate them to work together in unity to achieve an outcome that is many times more than if they were to do it alone.
I place importance on innovation through ideas, participation and contribution of every member of the team. This is particularly important for an SME like AGIS where we can overcome our size with good team spirit where one plus one equals to three. We can thus enable everyone to achieve their fullest potential as individuals, as well as part of the AGIS team. I would liken this to the concept of an “A” Team where everyone has a sense of belonging and wants to be part of the team.
Q: Analysts predict that by 2012, there will be an estimated half a billion users of location-based services (LBS) worldwide.Would you agree to the general optimism regarding the potential of LBS? And how has AGIS positioned itself as the regional market leader in this industry?
I’ve been exposed to LBS business in my previous organization, and understand the challenges and opportunities in this market.
LBS has been around for quite some time, and it has been experiencing slow market adoption in the past due to privacy issues and the readiness of technology like the availability of GPS devices and limitation of location technology like the Cell ID. But the situation has changed in recent years with the increased penetration of smartphones with GPS capabilities among mobile users, and the pervasive use of personal navigation devices among motorists.
With the proliferation of location based service applications on smartphones, consumers are well educated on the benefits of such services without compromising their privacy. Today, the ability to provide specific information or services based on the location of mobile users has become a catalyst for many new applications, including some recent excitement in the industry by location based advertising.
What is unique is that AGIS has developed software only location based technology that is able to provide a location of the mobile user without GPS. As we can embed our technology on handsets or SIM cards, our technology is easily available for the mass market which do not have access to GPS phones.
Our optimism also stems from our recent success in securing five major LBS deals in the last 6 months with major telecom operators and enterprises, both locally and in the region. This is a clear reflection of our solution meeting market needs, with its growing adoption of LBS.
Our priority now is to focus on successfully executing these projects and helping our customers to deploy and grow their services. I believe we are well-positioned to be a leading player in this region.
Q: With regards to the navigation and mapping sector, how has Nokia’s recent offer of free OVI maps as well as Marbella’s free-map-of-the-world promotion changed the playing field?
The recent move by Nokia to provide free navigation and maps bundled with their phones, and the availability of free maps from Google may appear to have shaken the navigation and mapping industries.
However, we believe this has an overall positive impact as it now draws much consumer attention to the use of navigation software and maps. It makes the mobile industry sit up and re-look into whether navigation will become standard on a mobile phone, similar to when the camera function became a standard, must-have feature. We now see an increase in inquiries and opportunities with other mobile players to provide our solution on their handsets.
Global players may be able to provide maps around the world but our strength as a local company is our local knowledge. We pride ourselves for our map quality and our unique local ground knowledge. Together with our partners in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, it allows us to provide competitive and quality maps for our navigation and LBS solution.
Q: Finally, what is your vision for AGIS beyond these present challenges?
AGIS has emerged as a regional provider of Navigation and LBS solution. I must congratulate the team for being able to develop such homegrown navigation & LBS solution that is innovative and on par with international players.
My vision is to help establish AGIS as a leading Navigation and LBS solution provider in the region and to differentiate our products/services by our innovation and intimate knowledge of our market. In the process, we look forward to scaling up our business through successful deployment of our products/services and through strategic partnership with both partners and customers.
Did you know?
On the 27th of July 2005, Mr. Chou Fang Soong was presented with the “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite” medal from the French Government for his contribution and development of Smart Card Technology in Singapore and the Asian Region.
He was also recognized by the industry with the “D’ucoty Business Leader of the Year 2005” award by Frost & Sullivan.
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