Exploring the secrets of digital transformation driving business growth with Jerry Wee

In this episode of Payments Powerhouses, we will talk to Jerry Wee, Director of Digital Goods at 2C2P, a subsidiary of Antom, to explore the unique charm of digital goods and services and the transformative impact of digitalization on business development.

Jerry Wee is currently the Director of Digital Business at 2C2P. He has been deeply involved in financial technology, payment, e-commerce, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), supply chain and human resources for more than 15 years. He is an expert in innovation, strategic planning, business management, new projects, business and product development, talent management and consulting. Jerry has led several important projects and helped Lazada successfully launch key products. He is currently responsible for leading and managing 2C2P's regional expansion in the field of digital goods.

Jerry, welcome to Payments Powerhouses. You have been an entrepreneur and have held important positions in leading e-commerce platforms. Now you join 2C2P to lead the work in the digital goods and services vertical market. What opportunity drove you to this path?

Jerry: I started my career in the logistics industry, which was a relatively late industry to enter the digital transformation. Even today, the digitalization process in the logistics and shipping industries is still relatively slow. After switching from the logistics industry, I started my own entrepreneurial journey and founded my own recruitment agency. This was also my first foray into the field of technology and e-commerce. In the process of providing services to many startups and technology companies, I deeply felt the power of digitalization, which is the key to driving companies to improve efficiency and expand their customer base.

At 2C2P, I am responsible for the whole process management from business strategy conception to operation implementation and even strategic planning. In mature large enterprises, technology development and business operations are often two independent units. But in the current position, we attach great importance to the high integration of all links, because this field is always in rapid development. We need to pay full attention to continuous innovation, constantly explore the optimization and upgrading path of products, and provide better services to the market.

Who are your target customer groups?

Our customer base is wide, including large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises and end consumers. As a solution provider, 2C2P helps all kinds of enterprises expand their market coverage boundaries. In the future, we will focus more on providing product innovation solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises to help them control costs while achieving stable business expansion.

When it comes to product innovation for small and medium-sized enterprises, can you share some specific cases with us?

Imagine that you are the owner of a mom-and-pop store in Indonesia. Under the traditional business model, you may need to invest in advertising, provide a variety of goods and promotions to attract customers to shop, which usually means a larger business site and higher operating costs. 2C2P can effectively solve the above problems through a digital inventory management system. No additional hardware upgrades or store expansion are required. You can easily access more than 350 different bill payment services with just a mobile device with Internet access.

In this way, mom-and-pop stores can be transformed into one-stop bill payment centers. Consumers can complete bill payments and purchase daily necessities at their doorsteps, greatly improving the convenience of people's lives, while merchants can increase profits through commission income and effectively expand their customer base. In addition, we also provide a series of products and services such as invoice management platforms to help small and medium-sized enterprises improve management and collection efficiency.

Although the digital goods and services technology we have launched in Southeast Asia is relatively new, it has already achieved initial results in some places. For example, in Myanmar, in just three years, we have successfully covered more than 60,000 retail outlets, most of which are small individual retailers in the form of mom-and-pop stores, with a number of more than 30,000. We saw the potential for merchant growth, and this insight in turn drove the rapid growth of 2C2P itself.

We noticed that markets such as the Philippines are gaining more and more attention. We plan to focus on Indonesia and Vietnam in the next phase. Given the similarities between the two markets, we intend to adopt the same model and hope to help more SME customers achieve business growth.

Why is the digitization of bill payment important for SMEs?

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, people often spent hours queuing at post offices or bank counters to pay bills. The digitization of bill payment has completely changed our lifestyle. Today, bills can be processed centrally online and we can pay them quickly with just a tap on our mobile banking app. I think this is a great change.

How can we further help SMEs achieve digital transformation in bill payment? We recently developed a new product to support SMEs, especially sole proprietors. Imagine if you need to transfer money through PayNow after completing a TV repair but forget to provide the corresponding reference number, the store owner will have difficulty verifying the specific source of the money and may even have trouble tracking the outstanding bills. As a result, time that could have been spent expanding the repair business and increasing revenue is instead taken up by mundane tasks such as collecting payments and issuing invoices.

Consumers today prefer a variety of payment methods, and products that help SMEs manage the entire payment process effectively can allow business operators to focus their valuable time and energy on business development rather than being bogged down by mundane administrative tasks.

Which markets or industries have been successful in the transition to digital goods and services?

Singapore is a good example, and we have been actively promoting the aging population to embrace emerging technologies in Singapore. Although Singapore is one of the most digital economies in Southeast Asia, this trend is not unique to Singapore. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated the digitalization of the economy.

I think the most important digital development in the past three years may be the popularization of QR code scanning technology, which is now widely used in restaurants to scan mobile phones to order food. Four years ago, it was uncommon for customers to place orders by themselves, but now people prefer to scan codes to order food instead of ordering from paper menus. Payment methods have also been simplified, and customers no longer have to wait in line at the cashier, which undoubtedly improves the overall user experience.

What are the main challenges faced by companies in adopting digital goods solutions? How can we help companies overcome these challenges?

The biggest obstacles companies face on the road to digital transformation are insufficient technical skills and a shortage of technical talent. About a decade ago, major economies began to enter the digital torrent, while the government's emphasis on science and technology education gradually increased around 2015. This time difference has resulted in small and medium-sized enterprises often struggling to compete with large organizations in terms of talent recruitment and technical infrastructure construction.

It is against this backdrop that our digital solutions came into being, designed to help these companies quickly build technical capabilities and simplify the onboarding process, so that business owners only need to learn how to use these tools effectively. When it comes to product innovation or system function development, we ensure that the product design is simple and easy to use, making it easy for small businesses and individuals to get started. At the same time, we will continue to provide more complex and sophisticated solutions for large companies, always adhering to strict security standards and focusing on the protection of personal data.

Have you encountered any challenges in advising companies to consider and adopt such solutions?

There is indeed some resistance, but most companies are generally willing to explore and try. For many companies, the larger the business, the more their sales team can usually reach a wider range of market opportunities.

In the process of working with SMEs, we have adopted a differentiated strategy: the smaller the enterprise, the more frequently we interact with it. The idea behind this is that we are committed to becoming the enlightenment and support force of emerging business fields or emerging industries. By deploying a professional sales team to support the growth path of SMEs, we can not only promote their prosperity, but also bring us valuable learning opportunities, because the feedback from these enterprises is the source of our continuous progress.

With the widespread application of NFT and blockchain technology, the digital goods and services industry is opening a new chapter. How will the digital goods and services industry develop in the future?

The prospects of the industry are exciting, but also full of variables.

In theory, as long as there is enough data processing power, technology can almost break through the limitations of physical space, and any digitizable goods and services can become the object of transaction, which indicates that the market value and growth potential are almost unlimited.

However, in reality, the road ahead for the industry is not a smooth one, and it faces many challenges such as government supervision, industry acceptance and rapid changes in consumer behavior. Whether it is government agencies, enterprises or consumers, all parties shoulder the heavy responsibility of promoting the development of the industry, which requires all participants in the entire ecosystem to work together to promote the continuous evolution of the industry.

Finally, what advice do you have for people who want to enter the fintech industry or change career paths?

No matter what industry you are in, perseverance and a strong sense of responsibility are the indispensable cornerstones of success. This is especially true in the field of fintech, where every day will be accompanied by endless challenges and problems. When selecting talents, I pay special attention to the candidate's resilience because in this industry, stability and comfort are rare.

Mutual trust within the team is the cornerstone of steady business growth. Once trust is earned, it is easy to go all out, even if the results may not be immediate.

"Payments Powerhouses" is a monthly feature series focusing on interviewing leaders in the payment and fintech fields in Southeast Asia and around the world.