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Some
Emerging Business Issues & Trends
By Michael Alan Hamlin
July 7, 2003
Last week, I had the opportunity
to moderate three different panels composed of technology and business
executives in conjunction with a series of meetings sponsored by
Canon Philippines. The meetings were organized around the launch
of a new Canon product, a cross between an image and file server
and a super-efficient full-color laser copy machine (Full Disclosure:
Canon is a client of my firm, and we organized these meetings.).
The panels weren't designed to provide
a transparent plug for the imageRunner C3200. Instead, their purpose
was to bring participants up-to-date on the latest technology and
business trends and issues here and regionally. Among the trends
and issues which received the most interest were wireless networking
and Internet connectivity, the business community's willingness
to invest in technology, and making technology both affordable and
attractive to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Before I discuss those trends, however,
let me say something about this incredible device that Canon has
developed. Canon has been an interesting company for me for many
years. The first real camera I ever owned was a Canon, for one thing,
and I have remained a devotee for 30 years. However, there are more
interesting reasons than that to spend some time thinking about
Canon. For instance, it is one of the relatively few Japanese companies
that have bucked a decade of recessionary gloom in Japan to recreate
itself, improving products and services, business processes, and
profitability. The company was the third most-improved among hundreds
in Fortune magazine's latest global survey of most admired companies.
Here's another reason closer to home.
Like a number of other major Japanese technology firms, such as
NEC and Fujitsu, Canon has made the Philippines an important software
development center. During his short visit here last week, regional
marketing manager Roger Blacker told me he considers the Philippines'
programming group the best of the best. "They are just incredible,"
he said.
What makes them incredible is first
off their extraordinary talent, according to Blacker. But beyond
raw talent, these Filipino developers have demonstrated an unrelenting
determination to deliver exceptional innovation and quality in the
work they do. "Whatever we get from our Philippine center we
know is going to be absolutely bug free," Blacker said. "It
works perfectly the first time." The output from this office
according to Canon Philippines president Satoshi Yahata is used
in products and other support functions all over the world.
One of the latest of those products
is the imageRunner. The machine was built, it seems, with a number
of objectives in mind aside from fast, low-cost color printing.
First, it's a fast, low-cost way to manage images and documents.
The machine functions as a network server and features a built-in
40 Mb hard disk drive for temporary storage. Second, it also serves
as a network hub, integrating fax and e-mail communications. Faxes
received by the machine can be routed automatically to specified
e-mail addresses, assuring that recipients, and intended recipients
only, receive their messages quickly. Third, it's built for collaboration.
Far-flung design teams can use the machine to quickly scan drawings
and fling them around the world via e-mail.
But about those trends I mentioned.
Participants were hugely interested in what Intel Microelectronics
country manager Ricky Banaag had to say about WiFi connectivity.
WiFi is short for wireless fidelity, but actually has to do with
wireless access to the Internet, recently launched by GlobeQuest
and other telecom providers. Access points - called hot spots -
are located at restaurants, coffee shops, malls, airports, business
centers and the like. It's a huge leap in making mobile professionals
even more productive.
Banaag showed off a new ultra-thin
laptop with built-in WiFi, a DVD drive, and a witheringly fast Pentium
IV processor on the Centrino wireless platform. My wife took one
look at it and said, "I've got to have one of those."
Participants must have felt the same, because we were deluged with
questions about connectivity, speed, and cost. I've recently tried
out GlobeQuest's service, and the enthusiasm is very understandable.
The wireless Internet puts executives in all-the-time close contact
with customers and colleagues.
When the discussion focused on whether
companies were willing to invest in the technologies our panel discussed,
the answer seemed to be a strong but qualified "Yes. Companies
are investing in technology, but they are much more strategic in
their purchasing decisions," said Jojo Ayson, project manager
for Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 operating system. "Major
technology decisions almost always involve top management,"
Blacker said, "and investments are intended to enable attainment
of business strategy, not just demonstrate buy-in for a new technology."
I asked participants who was buying
the technology, and got an interesting answer. "SMEs have been
enthusiastic investors in the Philippines," Raul Ocampo, who
builds corporate networks, told me. Ocampo is technical manager
for Infobahn communications. One important hurdle for SMEs looking
to invest in technology, however, is convincing family-owned corporation
founders that technology isn't a luxury, but a business tool. "Please
help us resolve this conflict," one participant asked.
We came away from the panels feeling
good. It seems technology really has been rehabilitated, that investment
criteria have matured, and technology's contribution to leveling
the playing field acknowledged, and embraced.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001), and he is
currently at work on High Visibility: The Making and Marketing
of Asian Professionals into Celebrities. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2003 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
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