38 | INSIGHT LACROIX Sofrel Business Development Manager Eric Woo (second from left) with his colleagues at the new office in Singapore <strong>Water</strong> & <strong>Wastewater</strong> <strong>Asia</strong> • <strong>May</strong> / <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>
INSIGHT | 39 With the opening of the French group’s new subsidiary in Singapore, customers may expect faster, more efficient service. LACROIX Sofrel is a familiar name in the European market, known as the French market leader in telemetry and SCADA. Reaching out across the globe, the opening of its new Singaporean subsidiary is seen as a bid to strengthen its position in the ASEAN region. WHY SINGAPORE? According to business development manager Eric Woo, the move to Singapore was a strategic one, meant to improve relations with customers in the region. “With this, we are close to the customer. We understand their needs; we can react to the market to capture business opportunities. When you react fast, you have the advantage. We close the time difference gap between here and Europe. That’s why we set up this subsidiary – to be close to the customer, and provide almost-immediate responses to our partners and customers.” Besides allowing for faster reaction times to customers’ queries, Woo shared that the subsidiary’s location also allows him to monitor trends in the ASEAN market, talk to regional customers to find out what they need in a product to solve their problems – and then share all this information with headquarters back in France. “This is the reason why I’m here, to listen to what the market needs, study it, and then feedback if we should develop or drop it. All these things need a central hub to collect all this information. We would never be able to get the information if we were sitting in France; it has to be someone here close to the market, understanding the customer.” ASIAN VS EUROPEAN MARKETS When it comes to the <strong>Asia</strong>n market, needs and wants for product features may differ as compared to European markets, but Woo explained that it’s not enough to simply finetune products to meet regional demands. “Competition is tougher here; we have more players. For example, in Thailand there are also local-made products competing with international brands. Price wise, we are definitely at a disadvantage, but some customers look for reliability and quality, and don’t mind paying a bit more compared to the locally-made products.” ASEAN TRENDS Compared to its European counterparts, the ASEAN market is a lot more diverse than many might think, especially when it comes to levels of understanding for newer technology. According to Woo, some companies are still struggling to evolve, modernise, and keep up with the competition. LACROIX Sofrel’s answer to companies lagging behind their competitors? Training courses, held at the Singapore subsidiary. Explained Woo: “We’re basically talking about solutions, we’re selling solutions. What the customers want is ‘What can you provide to benefit me after I have selected your solution?’. This is something we want to build up, we want to train all our partners and customers. In fact, we already have trained some of our partners from Malaysia – in the coming months, our partners from the Philippines will be here too. LOOKING FORWARD The new office is just about ready, and so is Woo, sharing that he expects great successes from the subsidiary with him at its helm, and hints at the possibility of tapping into other markets when the time is right. “The whole of the ASEAN region is a very different climate as compared to Europe. I want to be self-sufficient, to provide first-hand support to all our partners in the region; and to support projects in the ASEAN region when necessary and appropriate, when partners come into our office. We expect our business here to grow. Not rapidly, but at least we will have consistent growth, looking at how the <strong>Asia</strong>n side of business is booming. For our kind of business in water and wastewater, there’s a lot to do so we know that the potential is here, and we want to capture that. Of course, we won’t just target the ASEAN region – China is one of the countries we’re looking at to develop our business. Later on, New Zealand, Australia – gradually, we’ll expand the business.” WWA Image credit to LACROIX Sofrel. <strong>Water</strong> & <strong>Wastewater</strong> <strong>Asia</strong> • <strong>May</strong> / <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>