Malaysian company MyBiz breaks into Gartner’s Magic Quadrant: Page 2 of 2

The epiphany
 
It was around this time that MyBiz applied and was accepted for the Coach and Grow Programme (CGP) spearheaded by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, an agency under the Ministry of Finance that was conceptualised and implemented by Proficeo Consultants.
 
“I applied because I wanted to see my business from an outsider’s perspective. I was too close and too tired to build from scratch again outside Malaysia,” sighs Cheong (pic).
 
“At one of the coaching sessions, my coach, Doc Siva [Proficeo ‘chief evangelist’ Dr Sivapalan Vivekarajah] asked me, ‘Who is your customer?’ I rattled off all the industries we were targeting. But he persisted and asked me again, ‘Who do you SELL to?’
 
“I realised he was asking me which department within an organisation I target when I go in to sell my solution, and my response was that I sell to the CEO or the CFO (chief executive or financial officer) but never the CTO or the CIO (chief technology or information officer).
 
“To which Doc Siva then asked, ‘Why?’ As I thought about how to frame my response, I realised that I seldom pitched to the CIO because every time my product was sent to the IT department for evaluation. it got thrown out since CIOs rely on brands and technology they know. I never stood a chance.
 
“Whereas when I pitched to the CEO or better the CFO, and demonstrated how I could give them better spending efficiency, I usually got the job,” says Cheong.
 
[Disclosure: The writer is the CEO of Proficeo]
 
“The next question Doc Siva asked was ‘So what would it take for you to successfully sell to a CIO?’ I remember thinking to myself, ‘I just told you that I don’t want to sell to a CIO, didn’t I?, but because the question was asked, I spent the next couple of days seriously thinking about it and I realised that CIOs generally looked to analyst reports when making decisions on IT Spending.
 
“So I went back to Doc Siva and gave him my response which was, ‘If we were in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, we would be noticed by the CIO and have a fair shot’,” Cheong says.
 
“With the encouragement of the coaches and the unwavering support from Microsoft and Maybank, we embarked on getting ourselves out there, talking to the right people and doing what was necessary to get Gartner’s attention,” he adds.
 
MyBiz’s technology is now ranked No 1 or No 2 for most of the criteria for which it was assessed, and it was described as one of the Top 5 companies globally for spend analysis in the July 2013 Gartner Report.
 
“After more than a decade of proving ourselves and 12 to 15 months of time invested to demonstrate our value proposition to get into the Magic Quadrant, today, I can sell to a CIO,” says Cheong.
 
“The Gartner Report was published on July 1 and by the last week of July, I had received an RFI (Request for Information) from an oil and gas company in Australia.  Soon after, I received an RFP (Request for Proposal) from a mid-sized Insurance company in the United States.
 
“The invitations are now coming in unsolicited and purely as a result of inclusion in the MQ,” he adds.
 
Inspired entrepreneurs – the true magic
 
When asked what drives him as an entrepreneur, Cheong relates a story of how at the age of 18, he came across the term the ‘butterfly effect,’ or how a very small change or disturbance can have enormous impact in the course of events.
 
He thought about it and realised that decisions he made and actions that he took could have more impact than he could ever fathom.  This became a true life-changing moment for the entrepreneur who says that what drives him is the chance to create history, to make a difference and to change the world.
 
If you were to Google the term ‘Magic Quadrant Strategic Sourcing Application Suite 2013,’ you would notice that practically every company in that quadrant has a press release about it and is playing up the bragging rights.
 
The results that come up for Mybiz revolve around the fact that it has been recognised as a ‘Cool Vendor’ for 2013 for Business Process Services, and Gartner sees MyBiz as an innovative emerging player that is helping to frame the landscape.
 
So in a way, Cheong has made good on the promise to himself to create history. Perhaps MyBiz’s example will create its own butterfly effect and motivate other Malaysian entrepreneurs to make their mark on the world and create history.
 
This article was originally published on http://www.foundersasia.com/ and is reprinted here with its kind permission. FoundersAsia.com is a platform for tech entrepreneurs and works with ecosystem partners around Asia. Proficeo coaches high-potential tech companies to scale and expand into regional or global players.
 
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