Changing ways of doing business

HAVING worked in a multinational company for many years, Low Cheng Guan understood that the future of business--big or small--can be significantly transformed with the onset of information technology.

It was with this in mind that Low began implementing PC-based management system into his present company, Bintang Car Care Group, a car mechanic shop that provides car grooming services, specialising in Mercedes Benzs.

There are three centres and a head office, all situated in the Klang Valley.

"Our business runs on timeliness and efficiency in customer care services to build loyalty. It was necessary for us to have an up-to-date customer service database accessible by all of our service centres," said Low.

Bintang also wanted to cut costs by encouraging sharing of printers and files and creating business efficiencies by improving internal communications and remote access to the head office.

"We needed a solution to enable us to better manage the activities of staff, clients and suppliers. We wanted to be able to process customers and suppliers, orders, monitor schedules, insurance and tax renewals and call-up inventory updates, online with real-time information," Low said.

Benjamin Foo, business manager at Business Network Solutions had the answer: "We installed a Local Area Network (LAN) by connecting 10 IBM PCs at the various service locations to a central PC server at the head office. The server holds the system's programs and databases, and directs the sharing of printers and fax machines."

Foo also implemented an accounting application to manage Bintang's existing and potential client database, keeping track of stock, spare parts, invoices and purchase orders, staff payrolls, billings, debtors and suppliers.

"Now when a customer calls, he only has to wait a few seconds to find out the last time he had sent his car in for service or which parts have been changed," Low explained.

"The LAN connection also allows us to access each branch's database. Therefore, a customer can take his car to our nearest branch and the staff there will have all the necessary information."

With PCs, less time is spent on administration and more is focused on getting the servicing job done. There is more time for customer relations development--promotional flyers and warning message for tax renewal and spare parts warranty can be distributed by e-mail.

Electrical Marketing Sdn Bhd is a local distribution and marketing company specialising in industrial electrical products, including those related to factory automation, sensors, cable support systems and thermoplastic enclosures.

Set up in Pudu in 1976 in a two-storey shop lot, Electrical Marketing has since expanded to include a branch in Johor Baru.

The company's managing director, Y.K. Foo, had always believed it necessary to tap into new technology to keep abreast with his competitors.

More importantly, he believed in reliability and chose branded computers from the very start.

Yet information technology seemed to be ever-changing. Soon, he was falling behind and before he knew it, his 486 desktops were obsolete.

Another critical factor was that the existing PCs kept breaking down almost immediately after their three-year warranty period.

"My business has come to the point where it runs entirely on computers," explained Foo. "Can you imagine the catastrophe if the server were to crash? Everything would come to a stand-still.

"I wouldn't be able to communicate with my suppliers. My customers wouldn't be able to communicate with me. We wouldn't be able to keep track of our billings and accounts for that period."

The last straw was the Y2K problem--his machines were not compliant.

Help appeared in the form of an IBM Netfinity PC server advertisement, which included a call centre number that handled end-user customers or potentials and try to match them with the right IBM business partner should they need more information.

"At first, I was hesitant. I thought IBM only provided machines for multinational conglomerates and I run a small business with only 25 staff," Foo explained.

"Besides, I had talked with 'larger' vendors before and none of them could recommend a satisfactory solution. Some thought that my business was too small. Others only wanted to sell what they wanted and not what was going to help us."

Nonetheless, Foo called the hotline anyway: "I explained my problems and within five minutes, he sorted out my needs and provided me with the number of one of IBM's business partners."

The next day, Foo spoke to Gerald Toh, a systems engineer with Business Network Solutions.

Electrical Marketing installed a LAN by connecting 14 IBM desktops to a central Netfinity 3000 PC server. Their existing software application was also upgraded, easing their billings, inventory, supplier, client and spare parts tracking.

In addition, the company can now conduct analysis of sales and purchases and customer care.

Business Network Solutions also installed an ISDN dial-up connection to the Internet on an "on-demand" basis.

"With the Internet, we can now have realtime link to our suppliers," Foo said. "We already have a connection to one of our suppliers in Singapore. We are scouting for opportunities to connect to more suppliers once they have compatible systems."

Toh now offers Electrical Marketing ongoing consulting and break/fix services. Consulting was a critical part of the solution for Electrical Marketing.

"Foo was looking for somebody who would listen to him and come up with the necessary solution," Toh explained.

"We can now do in a few minutes what use to take us a week." Foo said, adding that he is now free to concentrate on developing other aspects of the business like building his customer-base and implementing more effective marketing strategies.

It was a different challenge for Malaysian Current Law Journal Sdn Bhd (MCLJ), a joint-venture between the Malaysian Law Journal Sdn Bhd and Peremba Technologies Sdn Bhd.

MCLJ provides the IT infrastructure for CLJ Legal Network (www.cljlaw.com), the first comprehensive and interactive information database on Malaysia's legal system.

Legal Network offers a complete collection of Malaysian Legislation, Case Laws, Tariffs, Procedures, Directories, Law Reports, Commonwealth Cases, Court Articles, Court Notices and even some court forms.

Legal Network offers a powerful search engine that speeds up work, locates necessary information without spending hours at numerous libraries, is readily accessible from any computer and allows for extensive sharing of information, all at a minimal cost.

This service is available through subscription, and to date, has registered over 1,000 individual subscribers and 85 organisations such as the KLSE and Genting Bhd.

When the idea to create such a vast database was mooted, managing director Abdul Latiff realised that MCLJ will have to undertake a strategic policy structure to ensure that all business operations conducted over the Internet were secure and interoperable.

"Initially, I was like any other businessman, looking to save cost in any possible way and was prepared to invest some money in an inferior quality server. However, I began to realised the consequences when I heard horror stories of servers crashing and businesses having difficulties in getting after-sales service from regular clone suppliers."

"My main concern was that once a lawyer gets comfortable with Legal Network, it will be difficult for him to go back to manual research through books."

It was therefore crucial that lawyers were able to access the Legal Network whenever they needed to. A reliable server was essential.

"To run Legal Network effectively, I was going to have to pay for quality without compromise and after careful consideration and consultation, I decided to invest in IBM's hardware.

"In Legal Network, I now use IBM's PC704 servers as the primary server and secondary server. Legal Network has achieved virtually no downtime since we purchased the servers back in 1997.