About The Author
Samuel Low loves writing about a variety of topics, including entrepreneurship, tech and legal articles for various companies. When he isn't busy doing that, he pursues his other passion: performing arts!
You know that the best businesses survive by being adaptable. The world changes faster every year and you have to keep up in order to continue to do business.
Consider how ten years ago, no one would suspect that you can do almost everything through a smartphone, that your car could be computerised, and the Internet would play such a big role in your life.
You might wonder if there is a need to take your business online. Here are some reasons why your SME could use a digital platform:
The mobile wallet, which is widely used in urban China and India, is making waves here in Malaysia. Local banks like CIMB, Hong Leong and Maybank are partnering with services like Alipay, WeChat Pay and Samsung Pay to make it more convenient for all consumers with smartphones.Even Axiata has launched Boost e-wallet where consumers can get heavy discounts at different food trucks, pasar malams and food courts in Klang Valley.
So now that I’ve got your interest, you might be wondering about your next step. Maybe you want to launch out into this brave new world or you want to improve your online presence even further. But where to begin?
Exabytes, a local SME providing web-hosting services, contacted us to give us a tour to show what they can do to help.
Who is Exabytes?
Awards won by Exabytes featured at the Penang HQ
Established in 2001, Exabytes is a local award-winning SME. They boast an impressive resume with 75,000 customers from 121 countries and 30% of Malaysia’s web hosting market share. Their vision is to help SMEs grow their business online and achieve their dreams as a trusted digital partner.
They have recently been expanding getting 15% of Singapore’s web-hosting market share with acquisitions like Usonyx and Signetique. They have secure data centres in Menara AIMS, Malaysia as well as Singapore, Denver (United States) and Kuningan (Indonesia).
Exabytes are doing lots for local businesses and the tech community:
Chan Kee Siak and The Exabytes Cockroach Team
Daren Low having a moment with Mr. Chan Kee Siak, CEO of Exabytes, at their Penang HQ
We took some time to meet Mr. Chan Kee Siak, the founder and CEO of Exabytes, at their headquarters in Penang. Born to a family of hawkers, this self-taught entrepreneur built this company since he was 19 years old and is very familiar with the trials and tribulations of starting your own business.
He currently serves as president of the Internet Alliance, Malaysia, a networking platform for different entrepreneurs to share valuable learning and expertise amongst Internet leaders and the local director of Founder Institute, a global idea-stage accelerator and startup launch programme.
He has also co-founded two other service platforms, EasyStore, an online e-commerce platform for those who want to start an online store, and Malaysia’s first integrated transport service EasyParcel.
Exabytes Dedicated Customer Service Team Hard At Work
Our next stop was Exabytes’ 24/7 customer support centre in Penang. Their service team comprises of three different teams for different types of hosting accounts: shared hosting, dedicated servers and reseller accounts. They are also joined by a tech team of engineers from Menara AIMS for any technical issues that may arise.
Result Monitors of Support and Tech Team
They showed us how every resolved ticket comes with a voting system to rate their service. All votes are recorded and consolidated into meaningful numbers and goals to improve customer satisfaction.
Daren touring the Data Centre with manager & system engineer
Finally, we were introduced to the Data Centre in Menara AIMS itself. Exabytes’ site claims that they manage over 1,000 servers with more than 100,000 websites and over 1,000,000 email accounts. We learned that this centre is currently rated as a Tier III centre offering 99.98% availability but is going to be upgraded to the highest level of Tier IV in future.
A look at some of their tech equipment
While we couldn’t get photos of their server racks due to security reasons, we managed to sneak a peek at some of their new, unplugged cloud hosting servers.
Exabyte’s Tech Team keeping a close eye on the servers in the operation room
We had a chance to view their Operation Room where trained engineers watch over the servers in shifts every hour of the day to be ready to immediately tackle any technical issues that may arise.
Daren Low with Chan Kee Siak, CEO (centre), and Vickson Tan, Vice-President of Marketing (left)
At the end of the tour, we were convinced that Exabytes, as a local SME themselves, understand the local culture and their involvement in the local entrepreneur community keeps their finger on the pulse of the Malaysian SME environment.
They also demonstrated that their ready infrastructure equips them to be a leading web hosting company in South East Asia. Links to service companies like EasyStore also give them active presence in other countries like Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Exabytes primarily offers three basic services to the SME owner:
At the end of the day, how you really build an effective online business depends on you.
But build it, you must. Think of the advantages! With your digital platform, you can provide personalised customer service at a more competitive rate with better convenience for your customers. You can also reach customers not just in Malaysia but overseas and all at a fraction of the cost!
One of the cheapest ways to do this is by adopting an effective and focused tool called email marketing. Through carefully crafted newsletters, you can reach everyone in your contact list and immediately keep them in the know and drive sales to your business.
Check out these helpful articles to really leave your mark with your target audience:
If you don’t mind spending a bit extra to let experts handle your online promotion, you can consider Exabytes Digital Marketing Services as well.
Samuel Low loves writing about a variety of topics, including entrepreneurship, tech and legal articles for various companies. When he isn't busy doing that, he pursues his other passion: performing arts!
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