Lee Boon Huat
Mark Braithwaite interviews
Lee Boon Huat, ex-Asia Pacific Vice President - Crystal Decisions
Crystal Decisions was acquired by competitor Business Objects at the end of 2003. Their Asia Pacific story has many lessons for the new market entrant. Singaporean Lee Boon Huat was the first Crystal employee in Asia. This was in 1997. When Business Objects acquired Crystal six years later, Boon Huat had built the business from zero to US$25m of revenue with an operating profit of 40%. He had also built a team of 120 employees. Asia Pacific was seen as a great success story within Crystal.
MB: “Starting from scratch, how did you go to market?”
BH: “We started with a purely indirect model to maximize leverage. Then, over the years, we built a direct team going after the enterprise market while we continued to grow the indirect channel focused on the mid-market.”
MB: “You are Singaporean and you have managed many diverse cultures across the region. What have been the leadership challenges you have learned from?”
BH: “The key is to recognize that you can be different and at the same time be the same. You need to recognize that in different markets, business is done in a different way. People conduct themselves differently. There are also different priorities and lifestyles in different cultures and races. How they view life may be different. In recognizing this, we do not have to put up with anything that diverts us away from the culture of the company. So as a company with a high performance culture, we had to know how to capitalise on the diverse nature of all of these cultures.”
MB: “What do you think was the biggest challenge you had to overcome with Crystal?”
BH: “The biggest challenge was really around the people. The ability to attract, maintain and develop good people. It’s not just about employees, it’s about partners too. Once we achieved the right level of talent and attitude inside the company, we worked on spreading this to our partners too. People buy from people and creating the best environment for ourselves, partners and customers was the biggest challenge.”
MB: “When you see US companies coming to Asia for the first time, do you see some common mistakes?”
BH: “Now that’s a big question. There is a lot to talk about. Ha ha…Firstly, it is important to recognize that this is a very different market to the US. It’s a very diverse market. Just look at the flying time between Japan, India and Australia. It’s geographically a very large market. There is also a need to understand the various countries so you can adapt how you go-to market in each country and how you service the customers there. This can be done fairly easily by working through partners and keeping a good listening ear to learn from them.
Secondly, you need to know how to separate the hype from reality in Asia. Especially when we talk about the boom in China. I see a lot of companies having expectations that are too high when going into China. It’s certainly a big market, but it is important to make sure profitability is in line with revenue. I have seen a lot of companies invest so much in China, that the revenue never seems to catch up with the losses made during the investment period. It’s about having a realistic expectation of what they can draw out of each market in Asia.
Thirdly, have a very clear view of how to work within the local business models and rules, while still complying with SOX. This will continue to be a key challenge for the IT industry in Asia. A hands-off approach will not work. In some countries, people get confused between relationship selling, versus under the table deals. For a US public company compliance is key, and the only way to ensure this is through employee and partner education. Many companies have made big mistakes here.”
This interview was conducted by Mark Braithwaite, an Asia based Director of Mosaic Global Executive Search, in Singapore on 30 January 2007.
