In the last couple of years, JG Summit Holdings, the conglomerate to which Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) belongs, has aimed to become the leading digital conglomerate in the Philippines. The push toward “digital transformation” is meant to meet the evolving needs and lifestyle not only of its customers but also of its employees. In what is dubbed the “New Culture of Work,” employees are envisioned to benefit from tools that offer better communication, collaboration, and sharing of information within the JG Summit group of companies.
RLC, led by President and CEO Frederick D. Go, has pioneered a few digitalization initiatives— named as the “lighthouse projects” of the conglomerate—all geared toward improving the customer experience. “We’re dubbed ‘Lighthouse’ because we’re the first ones to embark on this digitalization initiative,” Go explains. “As defined, a lighthouse lights the way to guide ships. The theory is, if we do it right, we could guide the rest of the other JG Summit business units, show them the way it is done. We are quite happy, I hope we did it right.”
The success of RLC’s digitalization projects, which we will get to shortly, showed what can be achieved with clearly defined goals, forming the right implementation team, iteration (development, tweaking, and improvement), and feedback. “The goals must come from top management,” says Go. “It’s a transformation, and often, people resist change. People must know that the mandate comes from the top, otherwise it won’t be taken seriously.”
As Go explains, one of the main goals of the digitalization project was to find the pain points or problems that a customer experiences and use technology to find solutions. To light the way for the conglomerate’s successful adoption of an agile framework and driving a customer-obsessed culture, RLC developed four such projects.
One of the first tools developed was for Robinsons Malls. “One pain point of customers when they enter a mall is when they can’t find a store. So, we made an interactive directory that helps shoppers navigate our malls, finding shops, finding restaurants, mall products, and services.” After successful tests in select malls, the interactive directories are now being rolled out nationwide.
For RLC’s residential division, two projects promise to simplify things for both the sales agents and their clients. “The Buyers Portal helps automate our buyers’ most common interactions with us. We will make it easy for them to know when their next payments are due and monitor their receipts. The Buyers Portal allows them to view and update their account information, manage their payments, view and download the latest statement of accounts, and log requests and inquiries directly.”
While in the past, customers would have to log a call for any requests or inquiries and wait for an answer to their queries, that’s all been done away with. Through the Buyers Portal, “You can electronically log your question, and somebody will reply. Because you’re registered in the Buyers Portal, we know who you are and we know how to answer your concerns.”
On the opposite side of the fence, sales agents’ lives have gotten simpler with the Sellers Portal. “For our 1,000-plus agents, when they are out in the field and trying to sell a unit, their biggest issue is that they cannot memorize all the details of the 4,000 condo units we are selling. They have to carry a lot of brochures, papers, price lists, payment terms. Now, it’s all available through the Sellers Portal.” Aside from providing accurate information at the touch of a button, the Sellers Portal enables sales team members to see which units are available, in real time. “If someone sells a particular unit, another seller won’t make the mistake of selling it also, because the portal immediately updates if a unit has been sold,” says Go.
Robinsons Land was recently recognized for its nation-building efforts at the Eight Meralco Luminaries Awards Night. This video was shown at the event. Video courtesy RLC & Meralco
The fourth project developed by RLC is a Hotel Property Management System (PMS), another tool meant to give hotel guests a perfect customer experience, “it’s an end-to-end solution - from the time a customer books to the time he checks out,” explains Go. The PMS is designed to help staff provide a seamless experience for guests while managing the hotel business effectively. “For our returning guests, our front desk team will know who the guest is and his preferences. Before it was more manual. It’s supposed to make work easier for our hotel staff,” says Go, explaining some of the system’s most practical uses.
RLC’s digital transformation doesn’t stop with these four projects, and Go’s management style suggests he’s the perfect man to continue the push forward. “The key thing now is that we’re looking for more ways to solve more pain points for our customers and employees, with the help of technology, to make life easier. I have this thing in the office that we talk about all the time, which is to make life easier for a customer and for your fellow employee,” he says. “I always focus on areas of improvement. A lot of people know how to focus on the good stuff, so I just try to focus on how to improve.”
Go’s attitude is never to rest on one’s laurels, so he admits he may not always pat employees on the back to celebrate their achievements, such as the recent news that RLC boosted its net profit for 2018 by 40 percent to PHP8.23 billion. The surge came from robust demand for its residential developments and the strong performance of the malls and offices divisions. “I tell my people, that when they meet with me, I’m always harping on how we can make a product better, improving things—but in short, all the other things that I didn’t notice, if I don’t mention it, you’re doing a good job!”
As he’s seen the company grow over the years, Go has striven to keep the business run efficiently, finding ways to eliminate bureaucracy and red tape in the organization. “Every time I hear those things, I get upset, because for me, our goal is to make life easier for the customer and ourselves. So why are we making things more difficult?” he asks.
These efforts to better serve the public did not go unnoticed. Recently, Go was named as one of Meralco’s Luminaries at the Luminary Awards, which recognizes organizations for their outstanding initiatives in nation-building through a partnership with the electric company. In recognizing Go, Meralco pointed to the following: his leading of RLC’s push for solar energy panels, upgrading RLC’s equipment for more efficient use of electric power, exciting integrated comunity developments such as Bridgetowne, and the public-service initiatives in Robinsons Malls, such as hosting Point-to-Point bus terminals and the Lingkod Pinoy centers, the Filipinos’ one-stop shop for government transactions.
As RLC president and CEO, Go says one of his main responsibilities is to be the key innovator, the big decisions maker, the one who takes the big leap. While being customer-obsessed leads RLC to create products that the customer needs, part of the challenge of being an innovator, Go says, is “sometimes the customer doesn’t know what they want until you show it to them,” a business philosophy he picked up from Steve Jobs. Inspiration comes in many forms, such as from successful ideas from abroad that Go tweaks and adapts to suit the local market, from observing and listening to what his customers most need and want, and also from other business models used in the conglomerate. In the case of the latter, he used the low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific as the inspiration for creating the pocket-friendly Go Hotels chain. And more recently, he pushed for the work.able flexible co-working space when others were skeptical about the business model. “Now everyone wants us to build more of them,” he laughs.
If it makes customers happy, why not?
For more information on Robinsons Land, contact (632) 397-1888 or visit www.robinsonsland.com
