SHKP Quarterly

Grasp the present, look to the future – Anna Yip 既爭朝夕 放眼未來 ─ 葉安娜 SmarTone 行政總裁 SmarTone Chief Executive Officer Anna Yip 葉安娜 The price competition in the local mobile telecommunications industry is leading to perpetual price wars. With the dawn of the 5G era, there will soon be radical changes to the industry’s overall eco-system. Anna Yip, Chief Executive Officer of SmarTone, believes price wars are merely short-term, stopgap strategies among competitors and that only a superior network with thoughtful and flexible services can truly stand out in the market, which she says “is exactly the competition edge of SmarTone”. Knowing the market and customer base As Anna mentioned on a number of occasions, taking part in price wars is by no means a long-term or sustainable way to maintain a company’s competitiveness. She points out that reducing prices is easy, however, what customers really value is service quality. One single strategy cannot cater for all customers, therefore, SmarTone continues to conduct market researches and focus groups in order to tailor-made service plans for customers with different needs. These include the SuperCare Family Plan with several SIM cards for families and mobile phone workshops for elderlies; monthly plans especially designed for tertiary students; multi-destination with free data- sharing service plans for frequent travellers, travellers can even choose different service day plans to meet their own needs; the recently launched all-digital self-service brand, Birdie, provides millennials with an online-only sales and customer service platform with service plans that are even more flexible. Customers can download and use the Birdie mobile app to share their user experiences. She adds, “The key is still remaining relevant to the actual market conditions and needs because price is not the only factor customers consider.” SmarTone conducts market researches and collects customer feedback from different channels on a regular basis, and recognizes what customers value most is a good network experience. However, there is a general misunderstanding in the market that theoretical network speeds equal network performance. In fact, as many have already experienced, even when a network speed test result is satisfactory, online browsing is not necessarily smooth. Anna says that this is because online browsing experience will be affected by many other factors in addition to network speed. For this reason, actual network quality and user experience cannot be assured when you only tout network speed. In view of this, SmarTone redefined a new standard of telecommunications services with a “5S” designation last year. 5S stands for Speed, Stability, Seamlessness, Security and Service. “People think the higher the network speed, the better the online experience. In fact, many factors, including network stability, seamlessness and even customer service, can directly influence the overall user experience of customers. That’s why ‘5S’ is the new standard that focuses squarely on the overall customer experience.” Opportunities despite fierce competition Anna thinks fierce market competition also brings about positive impact to business development. “During last year’s price wars, 14 人物 Vol 88 • Q2 2018 • SHKP Quarterly