Dicky LiwanagDicky U. Liwanag, SKYBIZ Enterprise and MSME head since 2011, counts 20 years as a telecommunications professional doing sales and marketing with stints in Bayan Telecommunications Inc., Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. and Broadband Philippines. A licensed electronics and communications engineer (ECE), he once served as a faculty member of the De La Salle University College of Engineering, his alma mater. He is also currently a member of the board of directors of the Philippine Cable TV Association.

The SKYBIZ Enterprise team handles top companies under the BPO (business process outsourcing)/ICT (information and communications technology), banking, manufacturing, retail and hospitality industries, as well as government. Meanwhile MSME stands for micro, small and medium enterprises.

Starting off as a team of four, the team is now close to 60-strong operating as a full business unit with Sales, Marketing, Technical, and Sales Operations Support covering Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo and Baguio. The team’s business portfolio has grown from P100 million a year in mostly cable service subscription revenues to P1 billion a year with broadband internet and data services having a 60% share.

To slice into duopoly

The goal then was for SKYBIZ to slice into the duopoly in the telecommunications industry. The unit wanted to “at least be able to compete in the wired broadband and data service space by providing customers with the option of an alternative provider geared toward giving better service.”

His main challenge now is to make sure that the company’s support structure and processes can adapt to the business demands of its customers from various industries.

“We need to ensure that we are able to meet our guaranteed service level availability and provide excellent customer servicing. To cope with this demand, we implemented IT support systems on CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and NMS (Network Monitoring Systems), equipping us with the necessary tools to support our customers better,” says Liwanag.

Kapamilya culture

He notes that the team is a “very young group” with majority of account managers falling under the millennial category, “so we are able to develop them to embody the ‘kapamilya’ culture treating each of our customers as their own.”

To continue the business’s momentum, Liwanag says: “Leveraging on our people and systems, we will continue to enhance our digital capability where our customer experience programs will be anchored. Our goal is to make sure we are accessible, and that critical information and feedback needed by our customers pertaining to the services we offer is provided, equipping them to operate their business in a more productive and cost-effective manner.” 

The goal is to be a major player in the Enterprise and MSME market, that is, to be “known as the best alternative provider of broadband and data over the traditional telco services” and, in the process, hopefully to double annual revenues to P2 billion in the next three years.

Ideal state

Liwanag says: “Our ideal state is that our growth is just an effect of the help we are able to extend to our customers in growing their respective businesses.”

The Lopez Value of a pioneering entrepreneurial spirit is most applied by Liwanag’s team.

“You need to always be at the top of your game, competing against the telco giants. You need to be creative in acquiring new customers and in ensuring that your existing ones are well-serviced.”

Asked about life goals and how he is working on them while being at SKYBIZ, he reflects on the book “Find Your Why” by Simon Sinek (with David Mead and Peter Docker, Portfolio/Penguin, 2017), “which speaks about letting your ‘WHY’ be the center of what you do and how you do things.” He says it allowed him to come up with his own “WHY,” which is “to encourage one to be extraordinary so that one can also have a positive and life-changing effect on others.”

Growing with the customer

He says: “Being given the opportunity to lead SKYBIZ allows me to exhibit this. I focus on the development of each new member of the team and align our growth to that of the customers we service. Each SKYBIZ team member grows as the customers we service also grow.”

His message to “LopezLink” readers: “We have received great support from our sister companies availing of our services and I’m very confident that each of you has experienced or used our cable and internet services in your workplace. It would be a great pleasure if we can also be of service to our kapamilya outside the Lopez Group community. We want to show them that SKYBIZ can build their business better. Visit www.skybiz.com.ph to know more about our products and services.” (Story/Photos by: Carla Paras-Sison)