In 1999, Thomas Friedman came out with a book entitled “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” where he postulated that the world is currently undergoing two struggles:

• The drive for prosperity and development, and
• The desire to retain identity and traditions.

In the same book, he came up with a famous theory, the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, where it stated: “No two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s.”

Though some small businesses (in the Philippines) try to mimic the western world in its style and manner of selling globally, it fails to consider one of the important postulates of Friedman: retaining one’s identity and traditions. That cultural difference makes the business stand above the rest, especially coming from a developing country. Even as you find the fastest and most cost-effective route to market and sell your products and services, who you are make a huge difference.

The micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines employ 70 percent of the country’s workforce, with a large concentration in the domestic sector, i.e. wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and hotels and restaurants, with 50 percent alone in the wholesale and retail trade. Of 1,000 firms currently exporting abroad, 70 percent are SMEs. The entire MSME community accounts for 25 percent of the country’s total export revenue, mainly through subcontracting arrangements with larger firms or as suppliers to export companies. (1)

But why is it that many MSMEs feel a huge challenge to exporting their products and services? The Global Facilitation Partnership for Trade and Transport (2005) lists fourteen barriers to internationalizing small and medium-sized business:

1. Lack of entrepreneurial, managerial and marketing skills;
2. Bureaucracy;
3. Difficulty in accessing information and knowledge;
4. Difficulty in accessing financial resources / a lack of capital;
5. Lack of access to investment (technology, equipment and knowhow);
6. Nonconformity in standardization, a lack of quality awareness and a lack of mutual recognition schemes;
7. Product and service range, and usage differences;
8. Language barriers and cultural differences;
9. Risks in selling abroad;
10. Competition from indigenous SMEs in foreign markets;
11. Unfair behavior of multinational companies against domestic SMEs / a lack of government supply-support programs;
12. Complexity of trade documentation;
13. A lack of government incentives for internationalization of SMEs; and
14. Inadequate intellectual property protection.

The CEO and COO of KUNNECT recently visited the Philippines to launch its call center technology solutions to the Philippine BPO market. Fred Cote, co-founder and CEO, spoke at the October 12 meeting of the members of the Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) in Shangri-La Hotel Makati. Mr. Cote presented KUNNECT as a viable, inexpensive call center solution for immediate operations without the need for costly and time-consuming setup, calling it the “best in its class” of a full suite of call center features and functionality. Together with Mr. Cote were Chris Persaud, COO of KUNNECT, and Raffy Pekson II, the Country Representative of KUNNECT in the Philippines.

In Mr. Cote’s talk, he presented two new subscription plans, specially created for the Philippines, at half-the-price rates: Plan 100 for $100 per month, per seat, with unlimited calls within North America at a 1-year commitment contract, and Plan 125 for $125 per month, per seat, unlimited calls and a 6-month commitment contract. KUNNECT has two regular monthly plans with no commitment contract (start and stop anytime): the Basic Plan of $50 per month, per seat, plus toll charges, and the Unlimited Plan of $199 per month, per seat, with unlimited calls within North America. “Someone has yet to beat our $100 plan.  We are setting a new standard.” adds Mr. Cote of KUNNECT’S web-based SAAS call center offering.

During their two-week stay in the Philippines, Messieurs Cote and Persaud personally presented KUNNECT and met with the management teams of several call centers, and also non-call center companies that want to set up small, internally-controlled call centers for their sales, marketing, service and support business requirements. Mr. Pekson said that some prospective clients remarked that the main enticing feature of KUNNECT’S offer, besides the price, is one’s ability to start immediately without the high setup and maintenance costs.

KUNNECT is a global Tier-2 class telecommunications carrier with offices in the U.S., Canada, France and Germany, and does about 6 billion calls a year through its network, according to Mr. Cote.  “The amazing thing about the Philippine’s business and commercial broadband internet service is that all the telecommunications companies in the country first land their internet pop in One Wilshire, Los Angeles, which is where KUNNECT is co-located.   This helps eliminate any downtime due to latency problems, as well as ensure the shortest possible route to a business.” (Latency is defined as the round-trip time it takes to access an IP address or a website, measured in milliseconds).

Aside from its popular hosted call center solution, KUNNECT also sells a premise-based, enterprise version for call centers that want to host their own solution. For details about KUNNECT’S solutions, get in touch with Raffy Pekson, KUNNECT’S Country Representative in Manila, at 501-3025 and 0927-726-9949, or e-mail him at raffy@kunnect.com. You can also visit their website at www.kunnect.ph for more information.