'Insane'

During my college days, I would visit my Mom, Marita at the Social Security Service main office and I always passed by a mini poster on the wall that said:

“You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps.”

That poster served as my daily dose of encouragement that it was ok to think differently, to approach things beyond the norm or tradition, and to be slightly crazy, if you will. Through the years, I slowly but surely developed an attitude of thinking outside the box.

So, it’s no surprise that I look up to people who are different, “crazy”, odds beater or unconventional.

Last Tuesday, I realized that the CEO I was speaking with was a kindred spirit or like-minded individual. In spite of being the head of a global telecoms corporation, this man was not boxed or encumbered by title or formality.

In fact he went about as casual as his attire, he was amiable, yet the corporate vision that he promotes, flows out of him like water from a spring. He may love the business but he is never all business. What separates businessmen from business leaders are ideas. Vision we can talk about all day, but ideas, you need to do them to prove them.

This CEO had lots of ideas, so I threw in one wild card, which people in the industry would probably balk at. I was testing if the CEO would simply dismiss it as impractical or logistically impossible. But instead he expressed curiosity and willingness to listen to the idea. That’s when I realized that he was the man who could pull such an audacious “stunt” and I told him he could, because I considered him “insane”.

Among the elderly, calling a CEO “insane” would be rude and disrespectful, but in the land of renegades, competitive free spirits and young business visionaries, being called “insane” is the equivalent of being called “radical” by your teenager!

The CEO was rather amused by the title and the challenge but I could see that he fits the bill. Who else would dare invest $790 million in the Philippines in its present economy? Who else would dare undertake a massive technological and systems upgrade in a stretched and extremely competitive market where they fight down to nickel and dimes?

Who else but Globe Telecoms and their CEO Ernest Cu.

With a wall-to-wall video screen as his backdrop, Ernest Cu wore a casual blazer and started his presentation that reminded me of the way Steve Jobs did his major launches. First he told us about consumer behavior and how SMS or texting has gone down as the preferred activity among subscribers.

I guess that explains why fewer people sent out SMS greetings in the past holidays. Then he told us about how users are now making more voice calls than ever before. Then he shared technical and product developments that have greatly affected the system and its services like android phones, iPads and Tablets.

Consumer products and demands have gone into warp speed that Globe once again finds itself with a “good” problem. Consumer demands has pushed the Globe system almost to a peak, which now requires the “radical” solution of bringing the system to the next level.

Loyal Globe users might remember a time when Globe switched from analog to digital technology while all other competitors stayed behind to squeeze more profits from their analog technology. Globe also went from GSM to 3G and undertook a massive expansion program of its facilities and services sometime in the ’90s.

Under the $790 million expansion, Globe has targeted to transform its 12,000 base stations and 6,500 cell sites to full 3G capability. As I understood the presentation, work is actually underway and key business centers will be full 3G by 2014 and by 2016 their goal is for the entire system to be 3G and “future proof”, meaning prepared to accept and service all the emerging technologies such as LTE or 4G.

Of the $790 million, $90 million has been set aside as an investment to create a “seamless” IT system for Globe that will give faster response to customer request for bill data, convergent billing system and put an end to “bill shock”. With the new IT system, customers can get targeted information regarding usage, promos, etc.

Not only is Globe investing on the business of things, they are also putting money and engineering into having a “disaster-ready” network that will stay up and operational in spite of typhoons, floods or disaster.

This “insane” move will certainly make an overall improvement in the quality experience of Globe subscribers who can look forward to reduced drop calls, less delays in the delivery and receipt of SMS/text messages, ease of making calls even during peak hours, and faster browsing with minimal to no buffering of multi media content streaming.

I’m sorry I can’t tell our readers what my radical suggestion was to the insane CEO, but if the man does it, I am 1000 percent sure that all loyal Globe customers especially those constantly using the internet will be deliriously delighted.

So here’s to Ernest Cu, one seriously insane CEO and to Globe for their radical decision to pay attention to customers first, before bottom lines.