I want less.
Humans are pretty weird if you haven’t noticed yet. We evolve and we adapt to our environments. Whose theory was right? Jean-Baptiste Lamarck theorized that giraffe had long neck because of its constant effort to reach the higher leaves. Darwin kicked Lamarck’s arse by introducing the theory of evolution where giraffe that reached the better leaves (higher leaves) survived and multiplied. Darwin went a bit further with his theory, saying that men originated from apes, which I refuse to be a part of; I stay with my human descendants. The fact is, humans adapt. We (humans) always go one way and then reverse, and then we start again following the pattern, to adapt to our surroundings. Take for example, mobile phones. Back in the 80s, the hugest the better. After a while those who hadn’t changed their phones pretended that the ringing phone in the handbag was not hers. Everybody rooted for the smallest Nokia where humans with thumbs exceeding 1 inch in diameter would not be able to use. When PDA phone was introduced, we went big again. The bigger the better and those with PDA phones had smirk in their faces when looking at those having mere talking phones.
Talking about FingerTec, I was with the company since the AC600 model (For the uninitiated (mostly all of you), it’s the-futuristic-protruding weird-looking fingerprint machine which we thought cool at that time and some judges thought the same things as we won several awards for AC600). Now, occasionally we use it to crack a joke. “Whoever gets the highest sales will receive a one-kind award-winning phone.” It’s pretty lame but we rolled on the floor laughing when the AC600 was introduced.
Then we got slimmer with AC900. So slim that many were envious and produced the same thing. One thing they didn’t notice, our AC900 has two strips of silver on the sides. It’s just an illusion to make us look slimmer like most women do. After the introduction of AC900, we shifted our focus to give more; more features, more capacity, more memory, more this, more that which in the end means more money for us and for our clients. While many welcomed our enthusiasm in producing more, one thing we failed to realize at that time was there were people who prefer less. Minimalists do exist, people!
As humans, we adapt and we produce the machines for the minimalist. The simpler, the better they say. And we obliged. Thus, soon we will be introducing TA100 DIY. No software, easy-to-use time attendance reader, easy on your mind and easy on your wallet. My question is, do you think the TA100 DIY will stay small? By now, you get the drift already that we always go one-way and reverse to start again. Check out the latest TA100 DIY to go back to simplicity.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
FingerTec in Iran: Perceived Sensitivity
Tehran, Mt. Damavand in background
You won’t find urinal in any gent toilets in Tehran; but it doesn’t really matter, you carry out your business like usual. What really matter is, you have to use cash to pay your hotel, your meals, your shopping, practically everything. No merchants take credit card here. This should be part of the outcome after the US imposed a blanket trade embargo on Iran in the aftermath of the Islam Revolution back in 1979. And most of the active importers have to make Dubai their financial hub to deal with suppliers.
Once strong and fascinating ancient Persian culture slowly receding after the Islam revolution, left Persian carpet, still attracted buyers for its whiff of mystique. No alcohols, no western entertainments and the TV channels could doze you off in a matter of seconds.
What is well perceived by all foreigners: Women have to put on scarf to cover their hair, and enough cloth to cover their body before stepping onto the Iranian’s soil. What’s not so sensitively perceived by me: My exhibition booth’s backdrop showing a model lies on her belly exposing her arms, although considered quite conservative in other places, create some uneasiness here.
The controversy backdrop and the conservative Ms Mehri Molaee
Being the world’s fourth-largest exporter of oil, the petrol price here is extremely low and enviable, USD0.10 per liter. Tour the city with a cab, you won’t feel the pain.
Back to business: FingerTec is Farsi language-ready for hardware and software; hence the inquiries were overwhelmed in the Trade Show. But without the assistance from my interpreter, Ms Mehri Molaee, the communication would most probably be a halt.
Always strike hard and hope for the best; FingerTec in Iran, and in everywhere.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Eid Mubarak to All!
Eid Fitr is such a wonderful and meaningful celebration to me and my family and I'm taking this opportunity to wish all my Muslim customers, Eid Mubarak. I'm taking a long break for Eid and please accept my sincerest apology if I couldn't be reached during this time of the year. I'll be back by Wednesday next week, a couple of pounds heavier. :-) by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
If you got it right, it sticks in your mind
This reminiscence is rather local thus my apology to my international readers. But you can always connect this story to your own experience. Anybody can recall this jingle? "Kiki, rasa buah-buahan baru, kunyah dan tiup oh seronoknya, kiki bubble gum". It's in my mind since I was about 5 years old, I think. The kiki cartoon character with red overall and yellow t-shirt floating in the sky after he made a balloon out of his Kiki chewing gum. That was awesome! The word "kunyah" (chew) was very vivid in my memory because it's pronounced "kuniyah" by a Chinese singer. What about recent Perkeso very jubilant song about how you should get protected in the workplace? I couldn't recall the exact tune but I remember that I rolled on the floor laughing to the lyrics. How clever, NOT! But it reminded me of Perkeso and I check my payroll slip monthly to make sure I am protected. There was another one that never leaves me. "Amanah Saham Nasional sedia menjaga pelaburan, setiap ketika... melaburlah segera...segera labur segera!", anybody remember this one? I love this jingle. It's almost like a pop song. We danced to it, we sang it in the bathroom, we even hope that Amanah Saham Nasional would do one more round of this jingle for its A&P.
The thing about jingle, if you got it right, it sticks in your mind like nobody's business. And, it's good for business! Literally!
This reminiscence does not come randomly. FingerTec is on its way to having our own jingle! By November, this (jingle) will be our in our iPod, in our jukebox, in our list of the most favorite song of all times. I have my confidence in the team that's producing the track. We will not stop at that, this song/jingle would be localized to other languages as well. So, watch out world! We are going to hypnotize you to get more stock of FingerTec.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
Thursday, 25 September 2008
The thing about jingle, if you got it right, it sticks in your mind like nobody's business. And, it's good for business! Literally!
This reminiscence does not come randomly. FingerTec is on its way to having our own jingle! By November, this (jingle) will be our in our iPod, in our jukebox, in our list of the most favorite song of all times. I have my confidence in the team that's producing the track. We will not stop at that, this song/jingle would be localized to other languages as well. So, watch out world! We are going to hypnotize you to get more stock of FingerTec.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
I have never thought that this is possible
The outside world is changing rapidly, yet I remain fixated in my office accessing the world from my laptop. Who would have thought that it is possible to do international business sitting down? When people heard about my job, the usual respond would be, you must be busy traveling the world. While the comment might not be totally untrue, I handle international deals mostly from the comfort of my own room, and most of my clients have never seen me face-to-face. I was indeed approached by a few local companies with stories about their success in handling overseas markets and that they have the good “cable” size which could connect us to the right “power”. We don’t deny their success but at the end of the day, FingerTec is much more comfortable dealing with local people who have Internet connection and know how to connect to their local buyers effectively.
Once my boss entered the sales department and made a good observation, “You are the leader of the United Nation,” he said. I couldn’t agree more looking at the team of sales personnel we have. To connect to the world, the importance of language can’t be overlooked. English could have done half of the job I supposed but how about Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Russian, Iraq, Iran to say the least? I said hello, and they say hola and started speaking Spanish. I ended up Googling what they said and they laughed at my reply, which obviously I cut and pasted from the Google free translation service. I took no offense because I shouldn’t be talking gibberish to the potential customers.
There’s when Regielou would come to the rescue and hola them back. Customers from the Middle East are not as hard but once in while I would receive an email, which I couldn’t figure out the meaning. They thought they had written in English like I thought I had spoken in Spanish. Months ago I would stare at the email trying to make sense of it but now we have Benacer who would reply in Arabic, writing from right to left to find out what they want. Do I understand what Ben wrote? Couldn’t understand a word but for as long as he’s bringing sales and the customer is happy, I know that he’s doing a good job. Because if not, we would definitely get an email with a subject COMPLAINT, regardless of the language they use in the emails. We are planning to hire a couple more different language experts to complete our mini UN office.
I learn from my years of “sitting down” with customers that their priority are fast services and having choices. Who would have wanted to pay and wait for long to get the orders? And it’s human to prefer choices and FingerTec provides choices. I stress to my team to not deny clients choices. If the clients need the goods fast, do it for them but make sure the payment is in first. J How do you want to ship your goods? We have choices of ready packages, loose items, bubble wrapping, no boxes, fold the boxes and put them under the carton, etc. You want us to source for accessories for you; we try. You prefer to use your brother to pick up your goods; we have no problem. You want us to quote for the lowest shipping; we find that info for you. The only choice we aren’t providing at this moment is payment term. And we are sorry about that but we are not going against the company’s no. 1 policy.
5 years back, I have never thought that I would have a client in Sudan who orders a few times per month, demand their choices to be taken care of in a matter of hours, venting their anger when we disappoint them once in a while and at the same time we maintain a very respectful and fruitful relationship with each other through emails. Our distributor in South Africa was screaming with joy in the email when we told them that we have the goods they wish for; a lot of exclamation marks were used, I can tell you that. All that happened virtually but very real. FingerTec will continue to serve our clients all over the world with all our humility we could offer. We believe that relationship is built based on trust and commitment. No matter that we have never met most of our clients, what matter is our clients taken care of FingerTec® brand name in places where we would never thought we could reach by ourselves.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
Once my boss entered the sales department and made a good observation, “You are the leader of the United Nation,” he said. I couldn’t agree more looking at the team of sales personnel we have. To connect to the world, the importance of language can’t be overlooked. English could have done half of the job I supposed but how about Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Russian, Iraq, Iran to say the least? I said hello, and they say hola and started speaking Spanish. I ended up Googling what they said and they laughed at my reply, which obviously I cut and pasted from the Google free translation service. I took no offense because I shouldn’t be talking gibberish to the potential customers.There’s when Regielou would come to the rescue and hola them back. Customers from the Middle East are not as hard but once in while I would receive an email, which I couldn’t figure out the meaning. They thought they had written in English like I thought I had spoken in Spanish. Months ago I would stare at the email trying to make sense of it but now we have Benacer who would reply in Arabic, writing from right to left to find out what they want. Do I understand what Ben wrote? Couldn’t understand a word but for as long as he’s bringing sales and the customer is happy, I know that he’s doing a good job. Because if not, we would definitely get an email with a subject COMPLAINT, regardless of the language they use in the emails. We are planning to hire a couple more different language experts to complete our mini UN office.
I learn from my years of “sitting down” with customers that their priority are fast services and having choices. Who would have wanted to pay and wait for long to get the orders? And it’s human to prefer choices and FingerTec provides choices. I stress to my team to not deny clients choices. If the clients need the goods fast, do it for them but make sure the payment is in first. J How do you want to ship your goods? We have choices of ready packages, loose items, bubble wrapping, no boxes, fold the boxes and put them under the carton, etc. You want us to source for accessories for you; we try. You prefer to use your brother to pick up your goods; we have no problem. You want us to quote for the lowest shipping; we find that info for you. The only choice we aren’t providing at this moment is payment term. And we are sorry about that but we are not going against the company’s no. 1 policy.
5 years back, I have never thought that I would have a client in Sudan who orders a few times per month, demand their choices to be taken care of in a matter of hours, venting their anger when we disappoint them once in a while and at the same time we maintain a very respectful and fruitful relationship with each other through emails. Our distributor in South Africa was screaming with joy in the email when we told them that we have the goods they wish for; a lot of exclamation marks were used, I can tell you that. All that happened virtually but very real. FingerTec will continue to serve our clients all over the world with all our humility we could offer. We believe that relationship is built based on trust and commitment. No matter that we have never met most of our clients, what matter is our clients taken care of FingerTec® brand name in places where we would never thought we could reach by ourselves.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
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