Union Petrochemical with B2B business direction in the digital age

There used to be a metaphor of business competition in those waters ‘big fish eat small fish’ , but the incoming technology also adds new truths. What is evident in this era is ‘fast fish can eat slow fish’ too, because as the wind changes and consumer behavior changes. Leading to competition in the business field the digital age is driven by ‘Data’ and ‘Speed’, regardless of business in any industry. Whether small, medium or large businesses, every organization must take into account agility and agility to adapt to suddenly changing situations. If you don’t want to be disturbed!

‘Union Petrochemical’ (UPC or Set:UKEM), one of the businesses swimming with the wave of technology and Digital transformation trends. But a large organization that started as a family business that has grown to be large and has been in business for more than 40 years like this change is not easy and can not be done quickly. But if it does not start moving, it may soon be replaced.

As an importer and distributor of chemicals, solvents are the main products. which is a commercially available product (solvent commodity) for use as a solution in various industries. When expanding the lens to explore more closely you will find that UPC products are unique products. That’s why we made an appointment with ‘ Dr. Harkhun Thanatavikorn’, a young man holding the position of Business Development Manager, one of the people behind the UPC drive along with the trend of digital competition.

Tuesday afternoon will turn into summer. We take our doubts to talk to progressive people like ‘ Dr. Harkhun ‘ for the business of buying and selling. Solvent business and flammable goods whose mass density varies with temperature changes like this. What kind of ideas arise from the developers of this business and prepare issues to bring the organization to new achievements?

The line that changes with the direction of B2B business in the digital age

Teman bicara menggambarkan ruang lingkup pekerjaannya sebagai Beliau membawahi bagian pengembangan bisnis UPC, terutama terkait dengan Pertumbuhan Bisnis (New Business, New Product, New Customer, serta Operation and Service Excellence).

In the 40th year of UPC, it seems that external change factors are accelerating the pace of adaptation for all businesses. Both on Digital transformation including the spread of Covid-19, UPC is also adapting to face increasingly fierce business competition every day and in the midst of transition in this field. Businesses need to find new solutions, including digital tools, to help manage sales systems. Creating good service standards was the start of a collaboration between UPC and wisible , a software that gives UPC businesses an overview of their sales operations in real-time.

When the business world is driven by ‘Data’ and ‘sensitivity’, how does UPC adapt to move faster?

To illustrate the same, the young man recalls that UPC initially managed sales by the founding owners. But over time the business has grown with a huge increase in customer base. And the number of thousands is the current number of subscribers. Therefore, details about each customer need to be changed to be stored in the form of a database (Database), and the information will be used to meet the needs of each customer in order to receive good service. same in the same standard

‘It’s about improvement. When the business should progress according to the growth structure and according to the number of customer base. Therefore, there should be more departments to meet the growth and demand of customers.He said the current competition is quite tight and must compete at high speed. Therefore, businesses need to adapt and must always evaluate themselves. Because in the end these things will improve service efficiency. And good service will help create a good experience for customers. ‘This is a strategy of expanding the customer base and a good handicap for repeat customers,’ he said.

Because UPC is a service business that sells. Service work is divided into 2 parts: credit and delivery. and the other part is to record customer information to meet the needs thoroughly and promptly.

‘In the case of logistics or fulfillment services, it will be carried out in conjunction with the provision of financial services or also providing credit terms to customers. This service is a big challenge for companies. Because customers want the longest credit. At the same time, UPC must also assess the financial health of customers,’ explains the business developer, who provides services that require a database to connect.

‘Although the context of doing business has changed. But business development must still be done along with building relationships with customers. He said this remains the core of doing business. By the day the business should grow and its customer base expand. from the system memory associated with the ordering behavior of each customer it must be converted to a database.” He added, when trading activity is completed. The information in the database will also help with risk management and service delivery.

Even after the end of the sale, the work of these other departments will continue in the after-sales process. As well as billing credit tracking these final payment and resale arrangements require a CSR department (Customer Service Representative) to take care of and provide after sales service, and wisible is another piece of the puzzle that comes together to shape the UPC sales process to be more efficient and complete.

View sales overview through Wisible Pipeline

‘When the event begins to grow many times larger. The organization began to have several departments and subdivisions. Those who need more communication need real-time information for effective collaboration where executives in the organization begin to think about the overall picture of the work. including ‘predict sales plan the system and order the stock’’ he said, are gaps that the wisible software can fill. wisible software is flexible enough and can be customized to suit UPC’s unique business and products, he comes to our aid with customized solutions such as our state-of-the-art delivery system as well as our digital release quotation. evaporated during shipping. This includes changing the quantity units to ensure document synchronization between UPC and customers, to ensure transparency in inspections and excise duties,’ he explains the complexity of the workflow that wisible has helped to implement in the new software.

Technology has become effective. must understand the user

These business developers define technology development as compromise’. ‘it has to be tuned to each other meaning, each party has to step back half from each other to be able to walk together, in the sense of wisible agreeing to adjust, it is considered to benefit our side because UPC is a big organization. This is an organization that has had this kind of work culture for a long time. We want this change to happen gradually, because the transition is quick and decisive. May cause organizational shock or rejection. Normal work will be disrupted and cause damage to the organization. We want the transition to run smoothly (smooth transition) or happen at the right speed,’ he recalls of the challenges in directing organizations towards Digital transformation. which allows executives to see an overview of the operation of the sales system, see new opportunities and closely monitor problems <em>‘even if the original system worked well, But we want to improve even more because we know we can do better. and this more systematic work is a shift from a system of exporting knowledge to a systematic process. What happens at each step of the process? So what needs to be fixed?’ said the young man.

Today’s Digital transformation is a challenge that many organizations are facing. A young business developer told us that ‘before solving a problem, you must first admit that there is a problem.’When you see a problem, you will know where to start to solve it. As with Union Petrochemical’s changes today, the transition comes with new challenges that technology has the power to change. But if it is not adjusted, interference can occur.