Intervju: Dennis Chiu, ASUS

Filip Majkić

Intervju: Dennis Chiu, ASUS

Benchmark: Čestitke na velikom uspehu u Srbiji, kao i na celom tržištu Zapadnog Balkana. Čemu pripisujete svoj uspeh na ovim prostorima?

Dennis Chiu: Smatram da je za ASUS najbitnija stvar inovacija. Mi isporučujemo proizvode i takođe isporučujemo dobru uslugu našem kupcu. Na to se stalno fokusiramo. Neki se fokusiraju isključivo na pristupačna rešenja,  čak i po cenu ignorisanja kupčevih želja i potreba – mi to nikada ne bismo učinili. Upravo zato je ASUS, po mom čvrstom uverenju, doživeo veliki uspeh u regionu Zapadnog Balkana.

Ukoliko vidite da rastemo, da naš udeo raste, znajte – i znajte da smo i mi toga svesni – da je to zahvaljujući našim istraživanjima i razvoju, našoj kontroli kvaliteta i našoj filozofiji, koja se bazira na tome da korisnicima ponudimo najbolju moguću uslugu. Ništa drugo. To je najbitnije za ASUS. Mi smo tu da bismo ponudili proizvode vrhunskog kvaliteta u različitim kategorijama  – matičnim pločama, laptopovima, video kartama, tabletima. Mi smo izmislili netbook, mi smo nedavno izmislili i padfon. I nikada nećemo prestati.

Nakon što prodamo proizvod, tu se ne zadržavamo, već smo tu da obezbedimo najbolji mogući softver, koji će zauzvrat kupcima omogućiti da iskoriste što više potencijala od svakog kupljenog proizvoda, na što lakši način. Prihodi onda dolaze sami od sebe kada to ostvarite. Vodimo se svojom željom da nudimo još bolje proizvode korisnicima.

Benchmark: ASUS je sada veliki brend, ne samo na ovim prostorima, već i na svetskom nivou. Kako nameravate da kapitalizujete takvu poziciju, ovde i globalno?

Dennis Chiu: Smatram da će to doći kroz resurse i inovaciju. Puno investiramo u kontrolu kvaliteta, bolje proizvode, i trudimo se da u proizvodima kupcima donesemo dodatnu vrednost. Smatramo da smo veoma prepoznati zbog toga, i da smo u određenom smislu zbog toga sposobni da još više resursa usmerimo ka novim inovacijama. Tačno je da je u pitanju beskrajni ciklus, ali to je jedini put kako da budemo prepoznati na način na koji želimo da to budemo. Stoga, nastavićemo da radimo što smo i do sada radili. Naša filozofija je puno koristila nama samima, a verujem i korisnicima.

Benchmark: Vi dolazite iz dosta drugačijeg dela sveta. Koliko su vaša iskustva iz drugih zemalja primenjiva u ovom regionu? Koliko se biznis kod nas razlikuje u odnosu na vođenje biznisa u svetu?

Dennis Chiu: Kako bih u potpunosti odgovorio na pitanje, dozvolite mi da kažem nešto o sebi. Rođen sam na Tajvanu, odrastao sam na Tajvanu, tamo sam stekao obrazovanje – moglo bi se reći da sam bio običan dečak sa svoje ostrvske zemlje. Totalni Azijat. Informacije o drugim delovima sveta sam sticao putem televizije i putem interneta. Potom sam se pridružio kompaniji ASUS i radio u njoj nekoliko godina. Poslat sam u Evropu, gde sam bio zadužen za region Beneluksa (Belgija, Holandija, Luksemburg) nekoliko godina. Potom sam godinu i po dana bio zadužen za Švajcarsku. Sada sam zadužen za region Zapadnog Balkana.

Takođe, svake godine imamo redovno okupljanje na Tajvanu, gde se 200-300 biznis menadžera iz kompanije iz svih delova sveta okuplja i deli svoja iskustva. Svi smo vrlo upoznati sa situacijama na različitim tržištima i izučavamo nove situacije konstantno. Svi imamo velike koristi od toga, i mi lično, i sama kompanija.

No, da se vratim na inicijalno pitanje – situacija ovde je totalno drugačija u odnosu na druge regione. Mogao bih reći da se unutar regiona situacija potpuno razlikuje od zemlje do zemlje. Kako porediti Srbiju sa Albanijom, Srbiju sa Slovenijom, Albaniju sa Slovenijom i tako dalje. Pronalazimo, primera radi, za svaku zemlju analogiju sa drugim zemljama van regiona. Slovenija je veoma slična Švajcarskoj po ponašanju tržišta, Hrvatska je slična Belgiji, Srbija je jednim delom takođe slična Belgiji i Holandiji, ali jednim delom i Ukrajini. Ovde je brzina veoma važna.

Za svako tržište izrađujemo nešto što nazivamo “poslovna piramida”, koja opisuje strukturu i karakteristike tržišta. Ta piramida je slična Ukrajini u slučaju Srbije, ili možda čak Indiji – naravno, radi se značajno drugačijim proporcijama, ali oblik indijske piramide je gotovo identičan obliku srpske piramide. Postoje velike sličnosti.

Benchmark: Kratka digresija – da li je tačno da u Švajcarskoj korisnici kupuju skoro isključivo high-end proizvode?

Dennis Chiu: Da, tačno je. Ali to je deo njihove filozofije kupovine. Ljudi iz Švajcarske smatraju da je svest o tome šta dobijaju kupovinom ključni faktor, a ne cena. Ako im objasnite šta plaćaju i zbog čega, koji su benefiti određenog proizvoda, uvek će rado platiti više za kvalitetan proizvod. Sa druge strane, ukoliko im ne objasnite lepo šta dobijaju, cena im je nebitna – neće kupiti proizvod, čak i da se radi o najjeftinijim modelima. Kod njih ne samo da je high-end zastupljeniji – oni bukvalno imaju samo high end. Ne postoji entry segment. Niko ne nudi više od dva proizvoda bilo čega ispod high-end kategorije.

Benchmark: Dakle, potpuno obrnuto u odnosu na Srbiju gde korisnici kupuju skoro isključivo najpristupačniji hardver, i nisu raspoloženi da plate naprednije osobine, bolju podršku ili veći kvalitet čak i kada znaju za njih…
 
Dennis Chiu: Moglo bi se tako reći. Na primer, u Švajcarskoj nema Intel G41 matičnih ploča. Nijedna. U Srbiji je to i dalje najzastupljenija klasa proizvoda u kategoriji matičnih ploča čak i danas. Sa tačke gledišta švajcarskog tržišta, to je nezamislivo.

Benchmark: Kako ocenjujete potencijal srpskog tržišta?

Dennis Chiu: Srbija ima veliki potencijal. Postoje brojne kategorije tržišta do kojih još niko nije došao, neke kategorije će puno rasti u narednom periodu. Primera radi, odnos prodatih desktop i laptop računara je bio 70-30 u korist desktopova pre samo dve godine, danas će laptopovi biti više od 40% tržišta. Trend rasta je vrlo izrazit.

Veoma nam je drago i srećni smo da su naši napori i posvećenost veoma dobro prepoznati od strane srpskog tržišta. Takođe, mislimo da najbolja vremena tek dolaze.

Benchmark: Kojim delom svog portfolija ste najzadovoljniji, a za koji deo svog portfolija smatrate da ima najviše prostora za napredak?

Dennis Chiu: Uvek kažem da sami sebe procenjujmo po tome koliko pružamo. Ako me pitate za najuspešnije proizvode 2011. godine, ako bih morao da odaberem jedan, to bi verovatno bio Transformer tablet. Takođe, naše linije matičnih ploča baziranih na P67 i Z68 čipsetovima, te nova linija rutera, naročito N56. Ove tri grupe proizvoda su veoma inspirišuće, investirali smo puno vremena i energije da omogućimo da ti proizvodi donesu nove stvari, nove tehnologije i novu vrednost kupcima, i smatram da se to isplatilo.

Primera radi, imamo Transformer koji korisniku donosi novu vrednost sa svojom tastaturom, tako da ne samo da sada može da upravlja dodirom na način kao što se to radi sa drugim tabletima što se uglavnom svodi na konzumiranje sadržaja, već možete da dodate tastaturu koja nije samo još jedno parče hardvera – omogućava vam da pretvorite tablet u alatku, odnosno da uređaj za konzumiranje sadržaja pretvorite u uređaj za kreiranje sadržaja. Takođe, nešto slično dobijate sa Slider tabletom. Radi se o proizvodima za uživanje, koji mogu podjednako biti korišćeni i da uvećaju efikasnost u poslovanju. To je put kojim ASUS ide i kojim će nastaviti da ide. Takođe, lično smatram da su tableti naša najuspešnija kategorija u 2011. godini.

Učinili smo nešto slično sa našim matičnim pločama. Ugradili smo nove tehnologije, ne samo one koje “po difoltu” dolaze sa novim čipsetovima, već naše tehnologije. Minimizovali smo šumove na signalima, načinili mnogo malih pomaka unapred, koje menjaju doživljaj i način rada sa matičnom pločom. Dajemo softver za auto-tjuning, koji omogućava dostizanje sledećeg nivoa performansi prostim klikom kojim se npr. CPU overklokuje sa 3,1 na 4,1 GHz. I to sve klikom na jedno dugme, tako da ga bilo ko može koristiti, bez ikakvog predznanja o overklokingu. Bez previše mozganja i truda.

Kategorija koja je najmanje zadovoljila je ona gde smo i dalje značajan deo priče, ali se vidi da se tržište smanjuje. Ne našom krivicom, već prosto nema više prostora za rast. To su nettop i netbook računari. Imamo mnogo modela, uspešne proizvode, ali trend celog tržišta je takav da je u opadanju. Ukoliko niko nije u stanju da napravi diferencijaciju, priča o svojim proizvodima i boljim, naprednim karakteristikama – a već neko vreme je tako – to je indikator da je tržište prošlo tačku mogućeg oporavka. Zanimljivo je da smo svi u industriji gledali u prognoze koje su pre samo koju godinu proricali gotovo nikada viđeni bum u PC industriji za ovo tržište. Ipak, ispostavilo se da nisu bili u pravu.

Benchmark: Hoće li ekonomska kriza koja se očekuje u narednoj godini uticati na ASUS poslovanje, kako ovde, tako i globalno?

Dennis Chiu: Ekonomska kriza je potresla sve kompanije i imala veliki uticaj na čitav svet. ali moram da kažem da je ASUS bio najmanje pogođen prethodnom ekonomskom krizom. Da bih potkrepio tu tvrdnju, malo ću se pomoći statistikom. Počeli smo 1996. godine i od tada nikada nismo imali godinu, čak ni kvartal u kome nismo beležili rast. Jedini izuzetak je bio jedan kvartal u 2009. godini, kada smo imali jedan kvartal bez rasta, ali smo i te godine bili pozitivni na kraju. 2010. u odnosu na 2009. godinu su nam prihodi porasli za 30%. Očekujemo da se isto desi i ove godine.

Benchmark: Dakle, idete do samog kraja? Broj 1, uskoro?

Dennis Chiu: Kao što sam rekao, naša filozofija je da procenjujemo sebe na osnovu toga koliko dobro uslužujemo korisnika. Ukoliko se naš udeo bude uvećavao ili naša pozicija bude bila bolja, to je samo zbog toga što korisnici prepoznaju i cene tu filozofiju. I veoma smo uvereni da ćemo nastaviti da budemo prepoznati na taj način.

Benchmark: Gospodine Chiu, kvala vam puno na vremenu, intervjuu i svim uvidima!

Dennis Chiu: Hvala vama!

Filip Majkić

Interview: Dennis Chiu, ASUS

Benchmark: Congragulations on a big success here in Serbia and overall in Western Balkans market. What do you attribute that success to?

Dennis Chiu: I think, with ASUS, the most important thing is innovation. We are about delievering a quality product and providing good service to our customer. These are the things that we are constantly focusing on. Some are focusing mostly or solely on providing cheap solutions, sometimes even ignoring customer’s wishes and needs – we would never do this. This is why, in my firm belief, ASUS has had big success in the Western Balkans.

If you see our share growing, please know and know that we know it comes from our research, our quality control and from our philosophy, which is to provide best service for our customer. Nothing else. This is the most important thing for ASUS. We are here to provide quality products in different cattegories – motherboards, video cards, laptops, tablets, we invented netbooks, and we will never stop. We invented padphone.

Then after selling you a product, we are there to provide you with the best software possible to enable you to use much potential from each of the products you buy, as easy as possible. Revenues will then come by themselves if such is the case. And we are always driven by our wish to have even better products.

Benchmark: ASUS is a big brand now, not only here but on the big world stage; how do you plan to capitalize on such position, both here and globally?

Dennis Chiu: I think it’s about resources and innovation. We invest heavily in quality control, better products, and endeavor to bring value to your investments in those types of products. I believe that we are very recognized for doing so, and in a sense, we are thus enabled to use more resources and deliever more innovation. An endless cycle, surely, but it is the only way to be recognized in a way that we want everyone to recognize us. So, we are going to keep doing what we were doing until now. That philosophy was very beneficial to us, and I believe, to users, too.

Benchmark: You are coming from a very different place in the world, so to speak. Are your experiences from other parts of the world very or barely applicable in this region? Or, to put in other words, is doing business in our region different then other regions, especially Europe, and how?

Dennis Chiu: In order to answer that, let me just start with my background. I was born in Taiwan, I grew in Taiwan, I was educated in Taiwan – I guess you could say I was a normal kid from my island country. Totaly Asian. I was getting information about other parts of the world through television, and then through internet. Then I joined ASUS and I worked for several years there. I was then sent to Europe, and was in charge for Benelux region (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) for several years. Then I was sent to Switzerland and was in charge for that market for one and a half year. I am in Western Balkans region now.

Also, every year we have an annual meeting in Taiwan, where 200-300 business managers from our company gather and share their experiences. We are very familiar with situations in different markets, and are learning about different situations constantly. It is very beneficial, for both us, and the company itself.

Getting back to your initial question – the situation here is totally different to other regions. I would say that within Western Balkans each country is totally different. How do you compare Serbia to Albania, Serbia to Slovenia, Albania to Slovenia, and so on…I found that, for example, each country has similar patterns to another country out of the region. Slovenia has similar patterns to Switzerland, Croatia is very similar to Belgium, whereas Serbia has patterns similar to Ukraine, but also to Belgium and Netherlands. Speed is very important.

For each market, we build something called business pyramid. And that pyramid is very similar to Ukraine, or a little bit like India – they are much different in proportions, for example, but the shape of the indian pyramid is almost exactly the same  as the shape of the serbian pyramid, and there are similar patterns.

Benchmark: A brief digression – iIs it true that in Switzerland people buy almost exclusively high-end products?

Dennis Chiu: Yes, it is true. But it is a part of their buying philosophy. People from Switzerland consider knowing what they are paying for the most important factor, not the cost. If you can explain to them what they are paying for, what are the benefits and advantages to products, they will always pay more and they are prepared to pay more for quality products. On the other hand, if you don’t explain them what are they getting for their money, the price won’t matter – they wouldn’t buy it, even if it is the cheapest thing. They don’t just have a bigger share in high end – they only have high end, and no entry segment at all. Nobody has more than 2 SKUs of anything below high end, if that even.

Benchmark: So, in a sense, a complete reverse of the situation in Serbia where people buy almost exclusively the cheapest hardware, and don’t pay for better features, better support or better quality even if they know about those…

Dennis Chiu: You could say that. For example, there are no Intel G41-based motherboards in Switzerland. None. Here in Serbia, it is the biggest group of products in motherboard category even today. Almost unimaginable from their (Swiss) point of view.

Benchmark: How do you rate the potential of serbian and regional markets?

Dennis Chiu: Serbia has great potential. There are many cattegories on the market that are still untapped, or at least that will grow so much in the coming period. For example, there was 70-30 ratio between desktops and laptops just a couple of years ago, and now it’s gonna be around or more than 40% laptop share in PC market. And growing trend is very, very fast.

We are very happy that our efforts and our dedications are very well recognized by the serbian market. Also, we think the best is yet to come.

Benchmark: With what part of your portfolio are you very sattisfied with, and what part of your portfolio do you think leaves big room for improvements?

Dennis Chiu: I always say we evaluate ourselves only by how good we provide. So, if you ask me about most successful products in 2011, and if I had to pick one, I would say it’s Transformer tablet. Also, both our P67 and Z68 lines of motherboards, and our new routers line, especially N56. These three product lines were so inspiring, we invested a lot of time and energy in bringing new features and new values to those products and I think it pays off.

For example, we have Transformer which gives you a new value with its keyboard, so now not only you can touch and do some stuff that is mostly consuming, but also you can add keyboard which isn’t just some another piece of hardware – it actually enables you to work on tablet and turn a content consumption device into content creation device. Also, you get something similar with Slider tablet. They are enjoyable, and also they can be used for business, with improved efficiency. That’s the way ASUS was always going, and will continue to go. And personally, I consider tablets our 2011 most successful category.

We did something similar with our mainboards. We incorporated new technologies, not only those that come by default with new chipset, but our own, we minimized EFM interference, we did a lot of small things that changed the way of working with a motherboard. We provide software for auto-tuning that enables you to go to the next performance level with a simple click that overclocks CPU, for example, from 3,1 GHz to 4,1 GHz. And all that with one simple click on the button, so anyone can use it, even if he has absolutely no pre-knowledge of overclocking and so on. No brainer.

The least sattisfying line of products is the one that we still are a big part of, but it’s noticable it is shrinking. Not our own fault, but the whole market goes down. Its nettops and netbooks. We have many different models, and successful products, but unfortunately the trend for the whole market is down. If noone can make differentiation and speak about better things and better features, and it’s been like that for a time now, I think that means the market is beyond point of return. Funny thing, all of us in the industry were looking at the charts just a couple of years ago, illustrating an almost never before seen boom in PC market. Well, they turned out to be wrong.

Benchmark: Will the economic crysis impact ASUS’ business, both here and abroad in a year to come?

Dennis Chiu: Economic crysis hit every company and influenced the whole world, but I have to say that ASUS was least hit by it. To illustrate those claims, I will mention some stats. We started in 1996. and we have never had a year, not even a quarter where we didn’t have growth, except in 2009. when we had only 1 quarter where we had no growth. All other quarters, and also that year as a whole, we had growth and were very positive. From 2009 to 2010 we grew 30% in revenue. And we expect the same thing this year.

Benchmark: So, you are going in all the way? No. 1 soon?

Dennis Chiu: As I said, our philosophy is to evaluate ourselves by how good we provide. If you see our branding revenue increase, it is only because that philosophy is being recognized more and more. And we are very confident it will continue to be so recognized.

Benchmark: Dear Mr. Chiu, thank you very much, for both time, interview and insights!

Dennis Chiu: Thank you!