By Lyon Poh

BIGData is increasinglybecomingthe

next big thing for enterprises and

firms thinking strategically about

how they can get ahead of their com-

petitors. From hiking productivity to

better understanding customers’

needs,SMEsareapplyingdataandan-

alytics (D&A) technology intelligently

in enhancing their business deci-

sions.

An avalanche of data, however,

can lead to an information overload,

especially if the data is presented in a

rawand inaccessible format. Such da-

ta will be of little benefit to business-

es if it is not translated into meaning-

ful interpretationsthatcanleadto im-

proved performance.

For data to flourish and be put to

good use, a holistic D&A technology

implementation approach should be

adopted. Aside from just having the

facts and figures, companies should

also include their business know-

ledge and data management experi-

ence in the process.

Here, we look at some of the ways

to make it easier to deploy Big Data,

using it as a stepping stone to in-

crease your market share as you out-

manoeuvre the competition.

Balancing the act ofanalytics integrationByassessing the usefulnessof analyt-

ics and understanding how to apply

them, SMEs can achieve real-time in-

sight.Theycanthenmakebetterdeci-

sions and capitalise on new opportu-

nities without any business disrup-

tion or waste of time.

Instead of only reacting to a prob-

lem that has occurred or after it has

caused damage to the business, SMEs

can proactively respond to potential

issues, avoiding business losses,

time wastage and reputational risk.

Having speedy and easy access to

relevant insight isalsovital forBigDa-

ta to be effective. There should be

minimal barriers so as to reduce con-

fusion.One example is the healthcare

sector, which sees hospitals working

towards an integrated care model

that reduces the incidence ofpatients

having overlapping or contradictory

treatments.

Timing is essential

Knowing when there is a need for Big

Data for your business is also impor-

tant. Often, some businesses might

baulk at the idea of Big Data adoption

due to concerns about the size of

their company.

SMEs will need to master the abili-

ty to present their data in a clear and

practical way such that it helps them

withtheirbusinessdecisions.As they

have a grip on identifying trends and

forecasting demand, this will help

them trust the reliability of their da-

ta-driven decisions.

Timing is also essential when it

comes to mining the information

from social media. Through open

source Big Data technologies, SMEs

can quickly gain Big Data’s benefits

by detecting new opportunities,

measuring the success of an online

marketing campaign and evaluating

customer needs.

Being versatile andeasily accessibleWith better data points, SMEs would

notbe limitedbyoptionsthatare inef-

fective and generic. SMEs can en-

hance their customer experience

through knowing the preferences of

each client to personalise their suite

of goods or services. They should al-

so improve their connectivity and

touch points to make it convenient

for consumers to respond to busi-

ness information, anytime, any-

where.

By improving the productivity of

their workforce as a result, SMEs can

witness richer customer engagement

andhigher ratesofcustomersatisfac-

tion. For example, a British utilities

companyhasbeenable toprocessda-

ta in real time to better anticipate

equipment failures and respond

quicker to leaks andadverseweather.

Juggling data wellwhen in action

A data and analytics strategy that is

implementedhastily could faceprob-

lems such as high costs, low accept-

anceandslowadoption.Withouthav-

ing the appropriate data entrypoints,

it can be tough to have solid and sus-

tainable models that are capable of

drawing on real business cases. This

is due to having too many variables

that make it complex or having mod-

els that managers find difficult to de-

ploy.

Hence, caution and discretion

have to be applied when fleshing out

the plans. Potential business pitfalls

such as an organisation’s vulnerabili-

ty to leaked information and risks

that are easy to miss have to be fac-

tored in and dealt with effectively

when it comes to integrating da-

ta-driven business decisions.

Integrating D&A intobusiness strategyA problem that enterprises may run

into is how to integrate data across

operations, transactions and custom-

er interactions. Making the optimal

choice is critical as swift and steady

decisions are required to integrate

volumes of information that can pro-

vide powerful insights. This may in-

volve a new type of data architecture,

developing a series of possible mod-

elsandtoolsoraggregatingcustomer

data to expand loyalty programmes

and tailoring services to their needs.

Management and executives also

play a pivotal role in communicating

the relevance of data and analytics to

thestaff.Theycanapply it indailyop-

erations and encourage their teams

to adopt it.

Building a data-drivenculture

People have talked about data-driven

culturesforsometime,butwhat isre-

quired to create one effectively is fast

changing due to the variety of new

tools available. Developing competi-

tionsthat rewardemployeesfor inno-

vative insights, training boot camps

whereend-users can learnhow to use

self-service tools and having a com-

munity of end-users to validate find-

ings and support users in their analy-

ses are all good ways of employee en-

gagement.

Creative interactions and adapta-

tions will push companies to move

beyond blindly adopting the latest

fads and instead root their cultural

change in well-defined, distinct ac-

tion.

The way aheadIn Asia, the call for business leaders

to integrate data into their leadership

will become more visible. This rise in

importance occurs as Asian leaders

will rely on data insights to scale up

their businesses and compete global-

ly.

Business leaders will need to

move beyond becoming analytic spe-

cialists or data scientists and show

the capability to apply data to re-

al-life and real-time situations en-

countered daily and globally.

Indeed, as Asia continues to

change and grow rapidly, a huge cul-

tural shift and celebration of innova-

tion will allow Big Data to meet eco-

nomicchallenges.These include fore-

casting growing industries, identify-

ing consumer niches and bottlenecks

in thesupplychain, testingnewprod-

ucts and services and solving chal-

lengesofgrowingcities in theregion.

SMEs should ride this wave of Big

Data if they do not want to be left be-

hind.

❚ The writer is head of digital and

innovation at KPMG in Singapore

❚ This article first appeared in the

March/April issue of The SME

Magazine

IMAGINE having the ability to con-trol your different home electro-nics with a touch of your phone.Or, being able to let in visitors toyour home and monitor themwithout being physically present.

It may sound like a fantasyfrom an Iron Man movie, but such

smart homes are increasingly becomingmore common here, thanks to the govern-ment’s Smart Nation push.

This rising interest in smart homes wasnot lost on Tony Tan, founder and managingdirector of home solutions provider Titantt.

Aveteran withmore than 20years ofexpe-rience in the interior design and home fur-nishings industry, he took a leap of faith twoyears ago and started Titantt. He was joinedby director Tasso Chan shortly after thecompany was set up.

Titantt aims to fill a gap in the market forhigh-quality but affordable home automationsystems, kitchens and feature walls that caterto Singapore’s climate and lifestyle.

Making the switch

As an interior designer previously, Mr Tanoften met clients who wanted smart homeswith features such as security gates and mo-tion sensors. But a decade ago, such systemswere exorbitant and uncommon.

As he was pondering over how to offersuch gadgets at an affordable price, hechanced upon what he was looking for over-seas. All in the span of the last two years, Ti-tantt managed to get exclusive deals withoverseas suppliers to bring in their products.

It was also only six months ago that thecompany managed to secure and move intoits current premises strategically located atTai Seng. The area is about 5,000 square feetwith the luxury of space to feature multipleshowrooms for customers to see and feeltheir products.

“Before this, the company operated out ofan office cum warehouse in Balestier of lessthan 2,000 square feet. Our meeting roomwas also our showroom,” says marketing di-rector Chia TY.

Changing the atmosphere

Within their new premises, there is an arealocated at the back which the company infor-mally calls the “community centre”. Thespace has tables, chairs, shelves, books andsamples for interior designers to bring theircustomers down to make use of their venue

and resources for free, says Mr Chia.He explains that this is based on the

company’s philosophy to build synergy, andnot walls.

“In this trade, the atmosphere is quitenegative as people don’t want to share infor-mation and keep trying to undercut eachother, so the founder aims to change thebusiness mood. What we want to do is inviteinterior designers to use our resources, withno obligations or commissions,” he says.

He says that interior design firms general-ly have small offices and it might be challeng-ing to invite customers in for meetings last-ing more than two hours.

MrChiasaysthat theironlyrequest to inte-rior designers who use their place is to take alook at their products and showrooms. “If

they can integrate our products into their

home designs, great. If not, just use the place

and the free air-con,” he quips.

Another way that the company is aiming

to change people’s minds about the industry

is by paying attention to quality and service

standards.

Mr Chia says that in the interior design in-

dustry, there’re a lotof “blacksheep”and“ser-

vice standards are a mixed bag”.

“It is often a price war and quality control

is a nightmare . . . there’s often no one to

grade us and it’s all by word of mouth,” he

says.

So, whether customers like it or not, Mr

Chia says the company makes it a priority tosit down with them to make sure they under-

stand all the details.Their products are protected with two

years’ warranty for products and installation

on manufacturing defects, with life-timewarranty for kitchen hardware. As a means ofquality control, the company does not even

rely on third-party installations as they wantto be responsible for the full process.

“Wewant tobuildtrust,which is important

for both interior designers and home own-ers,” explains Mr Chia.

Automation systems

One of their biggest draws is the home auto-mation systems. Electronics such as lighting,air conditioner, television and even curtain

blinds can now be integrated into one centraldevice or smartphone.

Such smart homes are becoming a trend,

says Mr Chia. This can be attributed to thegovernment’sdriveto introducesuchtechnol-

ogies inpublichousing.TheHousing&Devel-opment Board’s first smart housing district inPunggol was launched for sale last year and it

is likely that such technologies will continueto be rolled out in future housing estates.

However, smart-home systems are not

just a feel-good, high-tech device for theyoung and rich to play with, explains Mr Chia.With an ageing population, such technology

can be very helpful for those with mobilityissues.

For example, opening a curtain may be a

difficult task for an elderly person with arth-

ritis or a young child, but with an automatedsystem it can be done with a touch of a

button.Aside from aiding aged dependants, such

technologycanalsobeusedforsecurity.With

a smart home, people can install digital locksfor hourly helpers or technicians to enter thehome and this can be viewed from mobile.

“If you go overseas and forget yourswitch-es, you can do it from your mobile instead ofcausing security issues by getting someone

to go in and switching them off as well,” saysMr Chia.

He says the company’s automated home

systems are one of the more affordable onesin the market because they do not rely on anypatented technology.

MrChiaexplains that their aimis toensuretheir system is as “tech-friendly as possible”by making use of existing technology such as

Wi-Fi, infraredand Bluetooth, and eliminatingtheneedtospendadditionalmoneyfor licens-

ing or patents.

Standing out

Titantt also takes care to carefully curate its

products to ensure that they are suitable forthe Singapore market.

First, their kitchens are modern, European

style, which is in line with Singapore’s prefer-ence for minimalist and contemporary de-sign.

However, instead of using particle boardswhichare the normfor Europeankitchens, Ti-tantt customises their kitchens by using

moisture-resistant plywood which is moresuitable for Singapore’s humid, tropicalweather.

Mr Chia adds that the 11-ply plywood thatthey use is much thicker and stronger thanthe local three-ply plywood. He says that thelatter is susceptible to warping and may notprovide adequate structural strength. It alsomay not provide resistance to termite at-tacks, which is a common issue faced bylanded home owners.

In addition, he says that 90 per cent oflocal kitchens use a laminated finish, but thecompany uses spray finish, which he says isbetter quality.

Mr Chia adds that even though the compa-ny is fairly new, the company has garneredthe support of strong partners. One of themis local building material supplier Hafary,which provides the premium kitchens’ solidgranite counter tops.

“Working with these local big boys hasgiven us a lot of confidence,” he says.

While he says that getting brand recogni-tion and local manpower are some of theirbugbears as a fledgling small and mediumenterprise, the company will continue to ag-gressively market its brand within Singapore.

“We foresee that competitors will under-cut us in the future as right now we are flyingunder the radar, but we hope to improve ourservice and quality and continue to bringhigh end products to the masses,” concludesMr Chia.

vshiao@sph.com.sg@VivienShiaoBT

Helping smarthome dreamsbecome realityin Singapore

Riding the waves of Big Data

Rising interest in smart homes led Mr Tan (left), a veteran with over 20 years’ experience in the interior design and home furnishingsindustry, to start Titantt two years ago. He was joined by Mr Chan (right) shortly after the company was set up. PHOTO: ARTHUR LEE

Titantt aims to provide high-quality but affordable homeautomation systems, kitchens and feature walls thatcater to the country’s climate and lifestyle. BY VIVIEN SHIAO

“In this trade, theatmosphere is quitenegative as people don’twant to share informationand keep trying to undercuteach other, so the founderaims to change the businessmood. What we want to dois invite interior designersto use our resources, withno obligations orcommissions.”Titantt marketing director Chia TY

As Asia continues to change and grow, a huge culturalshift will allow Big Data to meet economic challenges

24 |SME

The Business Times | Tuesday, May 3, 2016