Competitive Strengths
The Board believes that the Group is well positioned to capture future growth opportunities in view of its following principal strengths:-
1) Ease of Use
The key feature of the software is the ability for the user to 'self-service' themselves. This is designed from the initial set-up to the administration and operation of the computerised employee competency assessments.
2) Early Mover Advantage
The SMRT Group who has already proven itself as a market leader in competency management solutions and services and has an early mover advantage as its core competence is difficult to imitate or duplicate as it has been worked and refined in the market place and it is combined with an astute management which knows how to do things right with the ability to identify what works and what does not work. The SMRT Group took its early mover advantage as a window for learning and building a right mix of users from different industries.
3) Niche Product
The SMRT Group is creating a niche product for a market that is at the very beginning of its life cycle which is essentially concerned with the productivity and competency of the employee and the effect on the company's bottom line, rather than operational HR matters such as payroll and time keeping. Although as reported in the IDC Report that there has been a consolidation trend in the worldwide market for HR applications, the SMRT Group with its differentiation strategy and product niche will be able to compete effectively as unlike other large HR players who are focused on operational HR functions such as payroll, the SMRT Group focuses on competency management.
4) Abreast of the Latest Technology / Market Trends
The SMRT Group researches the needs of the customer extensively and works towards delivering cutting edge solutions that exceed customer expectations. The SMRT Group has always managed to be proactive by studying the needs of the customer base and addressing their needs in developing and managing the human capital. The Group has always remained very close to technological innovations and being a leader and an early adopter in its area of niche rather than a mere follower. The "click and mortar" philosophy of organisations today requires a great understanding of their needs. The SMRT Group has always responded to this need by paying attention to trends in the customer's industry, technology and changes in the business world. This has allowed the SMRT Group to offer themselves as a preferred partner of choice for their human capital development and management needs. The HRDPower™ software system is based on current technologies such as VB6 (Visual Basic Version 6), VB.net and ASP.net. It provides for high-level security features using customised licensing. In addition, it has multi-lingual capabilities. All of these are achieved by optimising the code rather than rewriting the code. The product can interface with any database (Oracle, SQL server, DBII, mySQL) and with any device such as desktop and mobile devices. It is also developed to enable rapid implementation and deployment of human resources within weeks rather than months or years. The HRDPower™ software system provides for value based HR by being enterprise driven rather than being transactional through the web-enabled facilities.
In addition, the presence of a management team in SMRT under the guidance of the Board and its professional panel of HR experts in various fields, including an International Think Tank led by Professor Emeritus Donald Kirkpatrick, an internationally renowned expert who created the 4 level evaluation framework. He is the principal academic advisor behind SMRT.
Ms. Donna Webster - a veteran in the HR industry having served as Director of People & Innovation at the Pan Pacific Group of Hotels as well as corporations in Australia and Japan. She provides the practitioner viewpoint to make the product user-friendly that has kept the SMRT Group abreast with the trend of technological development taking place in this sector, as well as knowing the business, the market, the customers, and the ability to have a well-conceived implementation plan thus having an influence on the design and functionality of HRDPower™ in a positive manner. As the Group's products are developed by HR professionals and not purely by software houses or normal programmers, the Group understands and could adapt this technology to suit the needs of the HRM users.
5) SMRT and Dr. Palan Brand
SMRT Group is recognised worldwide through Dr. Palan for its know-how in human capital development through the books published and key notes delivered at HR conferences worldwide. Dr. Palan himself is a powerful marketing tool for the promotion of the products and services of the SMRT Group. Dr. Palan has also created a network of professional HR practitioners specialising in competency and performance management.
In addition, the branding is value added through SMR, the substantially owned company of Dr. Palan, through its ownership and organisation of the annual Asia HRD Congress for the last twenty-seven (27) years which have created a HR community of HR practitioners and professionals. The Group has outstanding products and services that are functionally and technically outstanding in today's market place.
The Group has demonstrated by using their product and processes, on how a competency development initiative and performance management system can be implemented according to the needs of the customer within a few weeks or months rather than years. The product is clearly differentiated from the others due to its brand - SMRT Group and Dr. Palan - brands that have made a positive impact on the HR community and the decision makers when purchasing a HRD system.
6) Effective Revenue Model
The SMRT Group's success in the HRD and competency software development sector of the HRM stems from its highly effective revenue model. The SMRT Group's revenue model is based on multiple streams of revenue for the Group including:-
sales of the software;
lease of the software;
annual maintenance contracts of software;
customisation of software;
implementation of software;
training on effective usage of software; and
outsourcing services to organisations for the automation of transactional HR
aspects.
The Group's revenue model is based on multiple streams of revenue for the Group. The revenue model was built upon the experience of the management of the SMRT Group as HR professionals and the potential income foreseen in the market.
The SMRT Group's unique approach allows the Group to maximise revenue from the multiple streams to make this business into a viable and cash flow positive business. With uninterrupted profit for the last three (3) years, the revenue model has proven to be effective and viable.
7) Cost Effective
Cost effective marketing campaigns have been adopted to expose both the products and services via active participation in HR congresses around the world and via presentations (i.e. through distribution of CD-ROMs, books, among others) to capture the attention of targeted and potential users.
As SMRHRT is an MSC status company, it has been able to attract talent from outside Malaysia to work on specific projects. SMRHRT has been able to keep costs down too due to its effective management processes and project tools used in software management and has also been able to leverage on the recognition bestowed upon it as a MSC company.
8) Dedicated Competent Staff
The competitive edge of a company largely comes from people and the product that they create and market to the world. The SMRT Group has a balanced team of talented developers, sales and marketers, researchers, managers and leaders. Internally, the Group has effective strategies, talent, processes and management to grow the Group. A proposed plan to retain key personnel with a share option scheme and the ability to recruit skilled manpower will ensure the continued successful implementation of strategies of the Group to maintain the competitive edge of the SMRT Group over its competitors.
9) Good and Wide Customer Base
The HRDPower™ software system, has already an international customer base in thirty-one (31) countries, with customers in South, East and West Asia, Australia, USA, Europe, Africa and ASEAN countries, ranging from multinationals to public listed companies, all across various industries.
The SMRT Group is also strong in industries that are considered high potential and high value such as the oil and gas industry, the healthcare industry, the hospitality industry, the heavy manufacturing industry, the consumer electronics industry and the aviation industry. The experience gained with a customer within the industry is captured in the internal knowledge management system. This allows for future customisation and implementation to be made scalable. With the knowledge management system and the retention of key staff, the lead times for customisation and implementation have been drastically shorted. These add value to the customer who in today's context is always pressured for time and want things done immediately.
10) Multi-Language Capabilities
The SMRT Group understands the underlying Asian culture of the medium to large enterprises as a vast majority of them can only communicate in their own language rather than in English. The Group has a good mix of workforce with the ability to cater to the needs of these medium to large enterprises. The SMRT Group is in a unique position with its products to offer its services to link these medium to large enterprises to the global staff force due to its multi language capabilities. Countries in the Middle East and Japan require Arabic and Japanese language versions which are available on HRDPower™.
