By Kevin Drayne

This morning Vittorio Calao, Vodafone’s Group CEO, announced the company’s results for the first half of the fiscal year along with a strategy update that laid out their future plans. As anticipated by the financial markets, results exceeded expectations with revenue increasing 3.9% over the same period last year. Continuing a familiar trend, data revenue increased by 25.9% and now delivers 11.7% of revenue, or £1,243M. This is up significantly from 9.5% of revenue in the same quarter last year. Growth on a geographical basis continues to come from Africa and Central Europe (20.1%) and Asia & Middle East (22.2%).

This growth has been fuelled by the increased usage of smart phones and other mobile data devices. Vodafone has also seen increased interest in broader data-based services like payments via handsets and an initial wave of mobile devices for homes and cars. In emerging economies revenue growth is still driven by increasing penetration of mobile devices. Data take up is low, but demand for basic Internet access is high, and to a large extent can only be satisfied by mobile networks.

With quarter-over-quarter mobile data growth of over 20% it is no surprise that this area features heavily in Vodafone’s future strategy. In fact it is Number 1 on the company’s 5-point growth strategy and consists of four elements:

• Continuing to invest in network expansion, not only in Europe but also in India and Africa.
• Moving to tiered data pricing plans and differentiated service levels, thereby giving customers more control and encouraging adoption.
• Enhancing customer care, retail presence, online services and support, to ensure that customers get the best data experience.
• Carrying a balanced portfolio of smart phones and connected devices to accelerate further smartphone penetration.

Like most large companies, Vodafone relies on a number of partners in order to achieve their strategic objectives. For these partners it is imperative that they have a firm grasp of the issues facing Vodafone. And for Vodafone, the customer experience and growing data usage are paramount.

By Philip Stanfield

Published in the Belfast Newsletter as part of the East meets West series

With an open mind and a keen eye you can learn a lot about a country, its culture and its business from a brief visit to its airports. Working for an export-focused firm, SLA Mobile, I’ve become more than familiar with departure gates and single servings of coffee, milk and sugar.

From Qatar’s Doha International or New Zealand’s Auckland Airport to our very own Belfast City and International Airports – there is a unique atmosphere and experience which speaks clearly of the people, place and culture.

Located some 30 miles from Malaysia’s capital city, the state-of-the-art Kuala Lumpur International Airport is a welcoming and regular sight for me as I commute to our Asian centre of excellence.

With a capacity for up to 35 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo a year, it is a business-focused hub that’s worked hard to claim a place amongst the top 15 busiest airports in the world and the seventh busiest in Asia. It’s about to get a lot busier too with Malaysian Airlines announcing five extra routes this month bolstering it’s connections with India.

It’s a universal truth that connected businesses are better businesses and, just like the island of Ireland, Malaysia relies on fast and reliable air access to underpin trade and investment.

Costing US $3.5billion the world-class airport it is recognised as one of the nation’s key economic strengths, providing vital connections to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia, highly industrialised areas like Shah Alam, and the Multimedia Super Corridor – where SLA Mobile’s Asian operation is based.

The strength and quality of KL’s travel links was an important factor in our decision to set up in the city and it has formed a core element of our blended proposition enabling us to combine our UK and KL expertise into one seamless offering.

Our success in Mobile Internet has been built on innovation, speed of delivery – regardless of timezones – a firm understanding of client needs and clear value for money. In the four years since we opened the KL site, we’ve used it to our advantage to reach into important existing and emerging markets in the Middle East, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

By blending the very best of the UK and KL, we’ve been able to increase our competitiveness and take advantage of the opportunities to develop and market innovative new products, such as mobile video streaming.

The strong social similarities between the two regions have also worked strongly in our favour, and with English as the first language, you could be forgiven for thinking that the conversations between sites are metres apart not thousands of miles!

Crucially for our understanding of the region, our colleagues in KL are able to share greater insights into the traditions and cultural norms of the markets we are working in, like Ramadan for example.

During the fasting month, the evening becomes a times when people join their families and friends for the breaking of the fast, or “Berbuka Puasa” in Malay. During this month it’s common to find yourself invited to the houses of many Muslim friends and colleagues to break fast with them and their families. Many work places also hold at least one Berbuka Puasa during the fasting month and SLA Mobile held its one last month at one of the local restaurants.

Unique to Malaysia is the concept of the “Open House”, which follows major religious events such as Ramadan and Chinese New Year and encourages people to throw open their house to all guests that want to attend.

The largest period of Open House follows Ramadan in which most Muslims, and most Muslim companies, will announce that anyone is free to come to their placed and enjoy their hospitality, which generally means lots of food as the open house season lasts for a month following Ramadan.

Mind you when I bring friends back to NI they always remark on how well we look after our visitors. On one occasion a colleague excited told me how the manager at her hotel had brought her a compass to give her the right direction for praying and also brought her breakfast at 3.30am before Ramadan started.

While the mobile sector, might be revolutionising everyday communications with technologies like Skype and FaceTime, it’s still a people-focused business and there’s no substitute for client understanding or and face-to-face meetings.

For exporters, we rely on the ease and frequency of air travel to make business connections possible and fill in the gaps that technology cannot bridge. Unfortunately the growth of air traffic in KL is thrown into sharp contrast with the recent announcement that Belfast is to lose one of its biggest operators. The race is on to ensure that the routes it operated are picked up by another carrier and the business sector will be watching more closely than most.

You can learn a lot about a country from its airports. Northern Ireland’s departure and arrival lounges are populated with business travellers eager to take advantage of global trade routes and explore potentially lucrative new markets.

Like KL learned, it’s imperative that we create the opportunities for investment here and for our very best to be exported to the global stage.

There are plenty more passports to be stamped and boarding cards to be checked as Northern Ireland’s economy grows.

SLA Mobile KL win the Malaysian Lego Mindstorms Battlebots and Boomz competition!
By Philip Stanfield

SLA Mobile’s team in Kuala Lumpur are extremely innovative and competitive. Led by software guru Amin Mohd and Badlishah, on the 27th April SLA Mobile won the Malaysian Lego Mindstorms Battlebots and Boomz competition held at the Technology Park Malaysia, up against competition including Accenture. The event was sponsored by Oracle, the Malaysian Development Economic Corporation (MDeC) and the International Association of Software Architects (IASA) http://malaysia.iasapacific.org/content/itarc-malaysia-2010.

The competition was held for Java architects to encourage the development of next generation user interfaces and web applications. Each team was given Lego Mindstorm Nxt 2.0 parts including motorised wheels and touch sensors, plus a laptop. The challenge was to write clever software to outwit your opponent and push their robot out of the arena… or flip it over. SLA Mobile’s ‘Fugobot’ emerged victorious against all contenders whether they were from local specialist companies or a multinational System Integration.

An interesting reflection of real life where SLA usually finds itself competing worldwide against both the local experts and the big global SI. The reasons we win are the same – technology innovation, fantastic professional people, a passion for winning and of course yet again it highlights the quality of software development in Malaysia.

The competition was great fun but we took it seriously too and it was great to be recognised by sponsors including The International Association of Software Architects (IASA) who, with 70,000 members in over 50 countries, are the premier association focused on the architecture profession through the advancement of best practices and education while delivering programs and services to IT architects of all levels around the world.

By Philip Stanfield

I’m rather impressed with Sony Ericsson’s social media intensive press room. They’ve embraced the whole ecosystem of ‘customers’ who want to engage with them.

Jeff Peel (Quadriga Consulting) interviewed Merran Wrigley their Head of External Comms. Well worth a listen!

By Philip Stanfield

Published in the Belfast Newsletter as part of a series, part two of five.

Nestled in the heard of South East Asia, 6,500 miles from Belfast and a 12 hour flight, Kuala Lumpur is a noted gateway to the surging economies in South East Asia. A short commute from Singapore and within easy reach of Hong Kong and Indonesia, the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is Malaysia’s fastest-growing city in terms of both population and economic growth.

This month (April) marks the third anniversary of SLA Mobile’s decision to locate in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and our presence here continues to grow month by month. We are now staffed with a team of more than 50 professionals, combining international experience from locations such as Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the brightest and best local talent in KL.

With a population of more than 20 million, Malaysia is underpinned by an outstanding education system that produces an enviable pool of graduates. Combined with competitive economic positioning and strong regional trade links, Malaysia presents a compelling case for investment – particularly for the telecoms industry with the Asia Pacific region widely recognised as the fastest-growing market for the mobile internet.

Looking out onto the tallest twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers, our Centre of excellence in KL was established in 2007 after we gained Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status. A government initiative to encourage overseas ICT companies to set up operations, MSC status brings a range of advantages including access to a world-class physical and communications infrastructure and zero corporation tax for up to 10 years.

Served by two airports, Kuala Lumpur is an easily accessible destination for businesses willing to settle into the frenetic pace of Malaysia. Taxis are the only way to tackle commutes through KL, but be warned, there is a well reported cavalier attitude to road safety and haggling is valuable skill as cab drivers rarely use meters. That said a couple of pounds takes you anywhere in KL in a taxi. And the monorail is only 20p per journey.

Our office in KL is within a short walking distance from the main shopping centres and residential areas. Being part of the fabric of the city is important and the convenience of the movement has helped our entire overseas staff settle quickly into their surrounds. This has been greatly helped by the open and friendly nature of the locals who offer a great welcome and share the hidden treasures in the city. No matter where you are in KL you can always find a bargain restaurant with great characters and the potential to become your brand new home from home.

There is a certain ‘Malaysian way’ to getting things done and the differences in working culture can often be a source of some frustration for our managers who are ingrained in tackling tasks in a particular and structured way.

Take Jo Fisher, our Operations Director, for example. Originally from Wales, she found her way here via London and Australia after gaining considerable experience as a senior manager in the retail sector. Jo is currently heading up a major project to establish a new billing system for VHA, a joint-venture mobile carrier that operates the Vodafone and ‘3’ brands in Australia.

Heading up our HR team, Jo is quick to point out that the management culture here tends to require much more ‘hands on’ direction and says that time-keeping is generally more casual than we are used to in Belfast or London. There is a very similar work ethic though and it’s common to see colleagues working from early in the morning until late at night.

The willingness of staff to pitch-in is an important advantage for us as many of our clients operate across a wide range of time zones from Australia and New Zealand to Indonesia. We’ve also recently made inroads in Qatar helping a global mobile carrier set up a new operation by providing Programme Management and Quality Assurance services.

The ease of travel from KL is a definite bonus when working with overseas clients, but it also offers a rare opportunity to explore parts of the world I’d only ever hoped to see on television. Thailand for example is a mere £50 return flight while Singapore can be reached by bus (and boat?) for less than £20.

Although the humid, tropical climate can be overpowering, the opportunity to visit Malaysia’s tropical beaches is well worth the effort. The golden, picturesque swaths of sand make for a perfect weekend getaway and the sailing and water sports rank with the best in the world.

By Philip Stanfield

Published in the Belfast Newsletter as part of a series, part one of five.

In 2006 SLA invested in Malaysia as part of our growth strategy. We identified Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur or KL as the ideal location in Asia for us to penetrate the exploding demand of Mobile Internet services in Asia. We are a privately owned high tech company HQ’d in Belfast but our clients are all round the world. We write the software that is powering the Mobile Internet enabling people to watch TV on the iPhones and buy music on their phone or check Facebook from the train.

Malaysia has a population of 28 million and is near Thailand. KL does have a semi-chaotic feel and is metaphorically somewhere between the traditionally Asian town of Bangkok and the Swisswatch-like order of Singapore. Malaysia has a well developed technology infrastructure. Logistically it is well placed to reach growing markets such as Hong Kong, Thailand, China and Indonesia. And it has good air connections direct to the UK and Australia and New Zealand and the Middle East. It’s really important for us to have first rate communications links to be able to visit clients and run projects.

Politically Malaysia is a pretty stable country. It does have it’s quirks such as a recent initiative to ban yoga but then Northern Ireland politics has more than it’s own share of bizarreness. . It has an Islamic constitutional elected Monarchy. The King is elected every 5 years from one of nine hereditary Sultans. Government is based on the UK Parliamentary democracy model with a voting age of 21 and elections every 5 years. Ethnically the country is distinctly divided. Indigenous Malays called Bumiputera ‘sons of the soil’ make up just over half of the population. Chinese Malaysians make up about a quarter of the population and those of India descent just under ten per cent. There is a strong British influence and history due to Malaysia once being part of the empire. This is seen in civil services practices and a fantacism for football.

There is a strong European ex-pat community in KL and a vibrant social scene. You can spend 7 nights a week at social events from Rugby matches, black tie dinners to watching the Premiership football live in your local Irish bar!

The food in KL is unforgettable. It’s not just because Craig our Australian Director from Asia is an avid foodie – but every time I go all we seem to do is eat. And it’s so cheap. Breakfast for 20p from a roadside Mamak stall is Roti Chenai .. a curried pancake with a hot tea or Teh Tarik ; for lunch it’s off to have a banana leaf curry for a pound ; and in the evening the world is your oyster – my favourite is Tamarind Springs which is in the jungle near KL where you have a glorious feast of Thai/Laos and Vietnamese food. You can even go for ‘fish and chips’ an authentic delicacy prepared by a guy from Hull. On my first evening we went to the bustling Bukit Bintang market for dinner. What an experience. You sit down almost anywhere in the market and order whatever you want and it miraculously arrives within a few minutes. The secret is that each restaurant owner has a deal with all the others that they can order food from them! That’s where I first tasted chicken fish with marmite! The secret of course is to go in with a local friend and avoid looking like a tourist.You can have a great night out for a fiver with absolutely no tummy trouble. And at the weekend you can fly Air Asia for Ryanair prices off to a beach resort such as Phuket.

Whilst Malaysia is a Muslim country I’ve found that in practice it is very tolerant of other faiths. Last Christmas when I was in the KL equivalent of Victoria Square, Belfast (except it’s 10 times bigger) there was a huge Christmas tree with lots of school children singing Christmas carols. It was like being at home except that it was 30C outside! Mind you I think another aid to social harmony is that in Malaysia you get public holidays to celebrate the special times of all the major religions ..Christmas, Hari Raya Aidilfitriat the end of Ramadan, Diwali ! In January, we had the Tamil festival of Thaipusam; which is partially banned in India itself due to some of the devotee’s practises such as sticking horrendous numbers of pins and hooks through their own cheeks & flesh. February was all dragon dancing, red lanterns and Chinese New Year, and KL came to a stop as all many of the Chinese went back to their family kampung.

In addition to the high level of education, strong work ethic and good technology infrastructure and political stability the clincher for us in choosing Malaysia as Asia HQ was the Malaysian MDEC – their equivalent of Invest NI – and it’s MSC FDI programme. Malaysia has attracted many large global companies to set up there including Dell, Cisco and IBM (http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/Company+Directory#). MDEC provided us with real practical support in setting up in KL the offer of 10 years 0% Corporation Tax helped too!

We have grown our KL office to around 40 staff and are based on floor 33a of the Menara Standard Chartered building – really floor 34 but that’s bad luck in Chinese culture. It is a prestigious and awe inspiring place to go to work in. And has fantastic views of the Petronas Towers. Our team works really hard but everyone takes time out for a big lunch. We have installed a recreation room with TV and XBox and free soft drinks to build the camaraderie. Our KL office has not just locals but also people from Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, UK and South Africa. Currently the biggest bicycle race in Asia, the Tour de Langkawi, is happening in Malaysia right now. And the South African team is leading at the moment cheered on by the ex-Pats in the office – including avid cyclist and South African Barney.

Malaysia has strong links with UK and Ireland. My first experience of this was as an Electronic Engineering student at Queen’s University. In my class the top students were the Malaysians sitting in the front row of class – with most getting first class honours degrees. The tremendous work ethic of the Malaysian people is something we can all learn from. And that’s what always impresses me when I walk into our KL office – The people are top class and really friendly too. Recently our KL team delivered a major software project for one of the biggest companies in the world. We have all come to almost expect bugs or ‘unannounced features’ in software today. However the customer told us that our KL delivery was ‘zero defect’ – This incredible achievement was down to the close teamwork of the KL team and our Belfast project management team.

Downtown KL has a fantastic Monorail built by Bombardier and sky scrapers galore. It is easy to be seduced into thinking it’s just like Europe. But you do need to remember this is an Asian country with Asian ways of doing business. Old fashioned respect and courtesy are the norm and relationships are extremely important. It can be more challenging doing things day to day than in Belfast and you need patience to deal both with bureaucracy and also a tendency for people to always say yes to every request – but whether they actually do anything is another matter! Who you know matters as much as what you know. And you need to go at the pace of the local buying cycle.I can assure you from experience the negotiating skills of the Chinese businessman are impressive even compared with those of a Ballymena farmer. They do enjoy getting their value for money!

We saw the impact of the global recession in Asia before the UK with budgets being slashed and projects put on hold. But we are also seeing a resurgent market in South East Asia with a lot of growth potential. And we have have recently won major projects in Australia, Qatar and Indonesia. Just as Europe is not one country it’s important to recognise that across Asia the cultures, economic models and business practices will vary country by country. Get all the advice you can from the consulate, INI, UK T&I, trade associations etc.

KL is a great place to work, live and do business. And a good base to reach out across Asia too. We’re delighted that we chose Malaysia. Like Belfast it seems to rain every day but the temperature is always in the 30′s.

SLA Mobile CEO Nic Stirk Profiled in Business Magazine

Nic Stirk, SLA Mobile’s CEO, has been profile in a Northern Ireland business magazine, Ulster Business…

“After racking up a growth rate of more than 4,000% in the last five years, SLA Mobile’s innovative enterprise has been successful in beating larger competitors to win a raft of lucrative contracts with global mobile giants including Vodafone, Fox Mobile Distribution and Volubill.

“In addition to establishing ‘right fit’ partnerships which enable the firm to explore new sectors, Nic Stirk says strong relationships built on an in-depth understanding of its customers’ culture and DNA lies at the core of the SLA Mobile’s success.”

Read more…