Systech Technology & Trading

PurposeCORE has transformed Systech from a product distributor to become a quality-assured solution provider for manufacturing and support industries in Vietnam.

Đọc bản Tiếng Việt Incorporated in 2007, Systech Technology & Trading (previously known as: Systech Trading) has years of experience in distributing cleanroom and ESD products to FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) enterprises in manufacturing and support industries in Vietnam. However, by 2013, the management realised that if they continue with the business model of a trading company , the organisation will not be able to grow and move up the value-chain.

FDI enterprises tend to trust and prefer to work with foreign service providers rather local firms in Vietnam. Therefore, the challenge for Systech Technology & Trading as well as other local companies is to build trust and improve their technical support capabilities. In order for the company to gain a competitive edge in the market, the management appointed Consulus to review and transform their business model and organisational structure, so as to enable the company to offer value-added services similar to global competitors instead of competing mainly on price with local competitors.

Consulus has enabled Systech to define one clear direction for the company, developing a concrete roadmap for changes and communication throughout to the organisation. What we have learned and developed during the time working with Consulus is valuable and greatly appreciated. A big thank to Consulus team.

Ms Nguyen Lan Anh

Director, Systech Technology & Trading

Business Design

Reviewing the Business Model

In order to identify a relevant and sustainable business model, Consulus conducted an organisational, customer and supplier value study at the start of the exercise. This fact-based approach enabled management to gain a holistic view of the current state of the organisation, uncovering new areas of opportunity and shaped the development of the strategic roadmap.

With the roadmap in place, the organisation was reorganised: staff were aligned in terms of business direction using the company’s core values as guiding principles, while processes were redesigned to secure more business opportunities.

Insight into challenges

An initial study with internal and external stakeholders by Consulus provided key insights about the values, processes and beliefs within Systech Technology & Trading, as well as its current relationships with customers and partners. The findings highlighted a few things:

Although the top management realised the need to change, the biggest challenge was how to unify different approaches of founding members and gain support of the middle management while defining the strategic direction for the organisation. The lack of consistency in approach led to the situation where employees may or may not be aware of the changes implemented because they were unsure of the priorities of the company. In addition, the core values which were published did not reflect the beliefs which staff hold. Thus, even though the company had a positive work environment, there has been no breakthrough in terms of value-creation and effectiveness.

In the eyes of customers, Systech Technology & Trading was perceived as a provider with sufficient product knowledge yet is often short of technical knowledge and processes for scalability. The research showed that customers were looking for a partner who understands their needs and can scale with them through a strategic alliance network. Customers also desire that product & service suppliers can ensure the consistency of high product and service support quality.

However, the relationship between Systech Technology & Trading and its suppliers was at basic level and no strategic partnership has been established yet.

Overall, in the market, Systech Technology & Trading did not distinguished itself from the rest, thus it was stuck in the “price war zone” with other local competitors.

Organisational Purpose Identification

During the two-day Strategy Workshop for Systech Technology & Trading, Consulus worked closely with the founding members and the middle management to discuss and agree on the new Purpose Model with the following statement: “Elevate Vietnam to a world-class level through better solutions & systems for the manufacturing and support industry and better livelihood for our people.”

The Purpose Model served as a strategic compass for Systech Technology & Trading to go beyond being a contractor and move towards being an enabler, so as to elevate itself through providing better solutions and systems for the manufacturing and support industries.

Purpose	Elevate Vietnam to a world-class level through better solutions & systems for the manufacturing and support industry and better livelihood for our people.
State of Ability	Provider of cost-effective and quality-assured solutions for production with a scalable sales network system.
State of Influence	Enhance production effectiveness with cross-industry knowledge.
State of Differentiation	Advocate of quality assurance standards

(Founding members and middle management at Day Two of Strategy Workshop)

Organisational Restructuring

To build a sustainable and scalable business model, one of the top priorities was to restructure the organisation. Before embarking on the project with Consulus, the organisational structure was unclear, which affected the management and the company’s ability to maximise business opportunities and ensure the consistency of customer service standards.

The new structure developed by Consulus defined clearly the position and relationship between departments based on their functions. To help the company become a solution provider, a research and development (R&D) department was established. The new unit is in charge of developing new products and cost-effective and quality-assured technical solutions.

Nurturing leaders through a process

For the Purpose model to be effective, there must be a new generation of leaders who understand and are able to lead the company based on that model. Recognising the importance of this, Consulus worked closely with the management to conduct Leadership workshops known as Alchemy and developed Systech Technology & Trading Leadership Manifesto. This manifesto then served as a guide in terms of framework and evaluation to shape desired behaviours of leaders in Systech Trading, especially for staff at managerial positions.

“The common issue with the middle management is that they only care about their own job scope without looking at the big picture and their relationship with their colleagues. The Leadership Workshop, Alchemy by Consulus has helped middle management understand what are the desired knowledge, working attitude and behaviours needed to become Systech’s leaders“, said Accounting Manager, Ms Phan Chau Hue.

Designing a unique B2B service experience for Systech Technology & Trading

To move up the global value chain and transform the relationship with customers, it is critical to change the service experience of Systech Technology & Trading, from being a product distributor towards a solution provider. Therefore, a Business-to-business(B2B) Service Experience Strategy was developed and implemented using the Consulus 4-FramesTM methodology.

Key staff of Systech Technology & Trading were selected and formed into a Special Project Team, in charge of overseeing the implementation of the organisational changes, report issues and propose solutions to the management.

Through a Service Experience Workshop session with staff from different customer touch points, the new service experience was explained and discussed through interactive exercises and sharing sessions in order to develop customer services tools and processes based on Systech Technology & Trading’s unique way.

Organisational Development

Building the “Systech Technology & Trading Way of life”

The research findings also showed that the published corporate core values didn’t reflect the inherent beliefs of the organisation. During the 2-day Strategy Workshop facilitated by Consulus, top management and middle management teams had in-depth brainstorming sessions to select and define a relevant set of core values to drive the company forward. This selected set of core values included self-motivation and development, collaboration and professionalism are meant to guide daily behavior of every member of the company. Through practicing these values, they will be aligned to add value to the company and help drive business value. Change is only possible with the active participation of everyone in the company. In order to make sure that every staff understand thoroughly about the company’s purpose and its future direction, a group of senior staff was selected and trained to be trainers to train the rest of the company. A Culture Committee was also formed to lead the organizational change journey and facilitate all corporate practices and rituals.

Corporate rituals and practices, including the monthly training activity, were introduced and implemented across the company to align all company members to enhance collaboration and work effectiveness.

Brand Experience

Codify Brand Communication

In order to convey the change in business model towards research and consulting on technical solutions which have been implemented for over a year, it was time to change the brand name from Systech “Trading” to Systech “Technology & Trading”.

To enhance the business value of Systech Technology & Trading, the brand experience was organised and codified, including corporate stationery and its marketing collaterals.

For Systech Technology & Trading, their success over the past 8 years was due to its people. The art direction for visuals and photography highlighted the “people” element by featuring the team at work.