It is no longer enough for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to work hard these days - it is now imperative to work smart. M
ore companies are now seeing the advantage of leveraging on technology to quicken and improve business processes, giving them an advantage in today's competitive market.
While the importance of technology solutions is undeniable, not many SMEs have the knowledge or capacity to address their specific needs.
Enter Bee Advantage, which aims to address critical issues in the through-line of business processes in SMEs by using workflow and process automation, as well as data analytics.
"Our goal is to move decision-makers from instinct to insight by analysing, automating and accelerating business processes to improve company performance," says Joseph Kalaivanar, founder and managing director of Bee Advantage.
The technology solutions that Bee Advantage provides come either in productised versions or are completely customisable to specific business environments, catering to the unique needs of SMEs.
Meaning business
At the age of 39, Mr Kalaivanar decided to set up his business in January 2014 after over 20 years of work experience in various industries.
In that time, he observed common issues faced by SMEs and MNCs alike and purposed to offer solutions which span a variety of process-related challenges across domains and sectors.
"From a personal engagement perspective, I was in a unique position to appraise my own skillsets and aptitudes given by my multi-industry faceted experience. Therefore, starting my own firm was the way to go," Mr Kalaivanar explains.
He adds that simultaneously working and pursuing his MBA at MDIS Business School previously was a turnkey experience for him, giving the foundation and inspiration to start his business.
The name "Bee Advantage"reflects the model and approach of the company, he points out.
"Bees live in a colony, which is not just a collection of individuals but a super-organism possessing the 'brain' or 'hive mind' where the intelligence of an individual worker bee is shared.
"I also like the concept of cross-pollination of ideas and the bee's multi-skills as a forager, pollinator and warrior," he says.
Mr Kalaivanar says that his firm differentiates from competitors in two main aspects: an emphasis on trust building and a consultative-based approach.
"As a firm believer in trust-based selling, I know that potential customers would like to engage with someone whom they can trust to do a good job.
"While this may sound like a generic quality, in reality, these have tangible action points in terms of how I relate to my customers and deliver on projects," he says.
Secondly, Bee Advantage's consultative and hands-on approach in dealing with clients' specific challenges is unique as most other firms use a one-size-fits-all style.
"All of the solutions I offer come from a position of understanding the use environment and specific pain-points. I discover where gaps exist in the clients' productivity drive and propose solutions accordingly.
"Just being there to meet sales quotas is not a sustainable model for repeated business," he says.
Using data for greater insight
According to Mr Kalaivanar, what sets successful companies apart today is the effective use of data.
"Our company unlocks insights on any data for increased sales, faster monthly closing, improve collections, reduce inventories, ensure profitable projects, control purchases and greater customer satisfaction," he says.
To this end, the company has a partnership with a Gold Certified Data Analytics Microsoft partner in India to build market presence in Singapore.
"They have been developing customised solutions using Microsoft Business Intelligence for seven years.
"In Singapore, there are only a handful of companies which have been certified to that level of competence.
"There is clearly a market opportunity here - especially since most companies still use Excel as a 'last-mile' reporting tool in areas such as profitability analysis, consolidation, accounts receivable, inventory management, purchasing analysis and so on," he explains.
Mr Kalaivanar believes that this is a painless method for SMEs to get into data analytics as it uses their existing data.
"We work with customers to understand their analytics and reporting needs, analyse their current transactional data systems, then develop the templates for self-service business intelligence.
"Again, since the actual development is done offshore while supported locally, our customers enjoy immense savings when compared to competitive products. This is critical value for SMEs," he says.
Milestones
Although the company is young, at least two of Bee Advantage's advanced level prospects are against bigger established companies in the US and Europe, says Mr Kalaivanar.
"The fact that we offer similar solutions but go the extra mile in terms of customisation and local support is getting us closer to winning projects we have never dreamed of securing before.
"Another plus is being able to apply for government grants as a local entity, so that our customers can underwrite their investment," he says.
The company is currently working with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in two areas.
Bee Advantage has productised a low-cost workflow automation solution called "V-Office" for air-conditioning industry SMEs, which have traditionally been reliant on manual operations.
The technology-based approach caters to the specific needs of manufacturers, parts distributors and stockists, as well as project commissioning companies.
The same solution is being utilised in inventory management with an automated carousal retrieval system developed by an India-based industrial automation company with various commercial and government clients - including the Indian Navy.
"Together, we are offering this carousal system at affordable cost to SMEs. This has the potential to transform inventory management, space utilisation, logistics fulfilment in several domains, but at a fraction of the cost of current offerings in the marketplace," he says.
Bee Advantage is now in the process of obtaining the necessary Letter of Intent from various companies to present to IDA, after which they will fund up to 80 per cent of the cost and look for scale-up opportunities.
"Moving forward, we are also developing an Internet-of-Things prototype for machine-to-web interaction and will engage IDA and Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives," Mr Kalaivanar adds.
The journey ahead
Despite its significant achievements, setting up a business is not without its challenges. Mr Kalaivanar says that competition from more established and larger organisations is certainly one of them.
"Larger companies have the marketing muscle and reach which SMEs tend not to have. At the same time, they have far different overhead structures which inevitably go into the pricing.
"Being an SME means being more cost efficient and nimble to adaptation. We are more flexible and able to customise to requirements without charging an arm and a leg," he explains.
Mr Kalaivanar also points out that a smaller outfit means there is less red-tape and bureaucracy to deal with.
"There is no distance between the client-facing side and development side unlike in a large organisation there are many layers," he says.
As for what lies ahead, Mr Kalaivanar says that the firm needs to remain nimble enough to recognise and respond to future market needs and opportunities.
While he recognises the need for greater revenue growth, there are other targets he is striving to reach.
"I certainly have goals for the company in terms of revenue growth but more importantly, I see Bee Advantage as a preferred partner to work with in its areas of focus - data analytics, sector focused workflow automation platforms and a Smart Nation enabler," he says.
This article was first published on March 3, 2015.
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