Singapore Business Awards 2020

12 APAC / 2020 Singapore Business Awards 13 APAC / 2020 Singapore Business Awards , , SHATEC Institutes Pte Ltd Founded in 1983, SHATEC was created before structured education in hotel management came to Singapore. The organisation had to collaborate with the world-class Swiss École hôtelière de Lausanne to develop the first of its top-drawer courses. This was the step that made it the region’s first dedicated hotel school, committed to training new entrants and developing professionals to the next level. Now a highly respected institution, SHATEC has always worked to achieve the clear aims of training fresh school leavers and career switchers for the hotel and F&B sectors, sustaining a continuous pipeline of talents for its hotel members and the hospitality industry and up-skilling and upgrade existing talents in the hospitality industry. The team at SHATEC believe that anyone can succeed, given the right stimuli and a caring environment in which to discover their talents. Cultivating the right attitude and proficiency in new areas allows SHATEC to produce graduates with strong employment outcomes that are ready for the workplace. As the progenitor of hospitality education, SHATEC holds a unique position within the landscape. Nearly four decades of operation has seen over 30,000 alumni spread all over the world, contributing to the hospitality and culinary sectors. The success of the institute’s approach to education is evident, with the building of deep Dec19348 Best in Culinary & Hospitality Talent Development 2020 The hospitality sector thrives on upholding the highest of standards for its employees, with this approach ensuring that customers and clients always get the best possible treatment. Key tomaintaining these standards is SHATEC Institutes Pte Ltd, a teaching facility designed with the specific purpose of training the next generation for a life in the hospitality industry. We profiled the company to discover more about the services it provides. technical competencies, the development of leadership potential in the sector, not to mention a focus on character building and personal betterment for our trainees. Adapting to modern trends is, of course, essential to educating the next generation of hospitality staff, and is heavily shaped by the needs and expectations of consumers. Often, this involves adopting new technologies to elevate guest experiences, such as the introduction of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The need to ensure a personalized and seamless service remains paramount, and ever more challenging as standards continue to rise. The Singapore hotel industry is an excellent example of this, with intuitive design making services more appealing from pre-booking through to feedback and follow-up. The country has gained a reputation as a “smart nation” destination, perfectly suited to the modern traveller of a highly connected era. Local hotel industries need to provide differentiated experiences in a one-stop-shop solution which provides work, play and relaxation for visitors. The staff at SHATEC make a point not only of monitoring these changes, but including what they have learned in the teaching programs that they devise. Learning and development programs for new entrants and Contact Details Company: SHATEC Institutes Pte Ltd Contact: Tan Yu Yu Website: www.shatec.sg mid-career professionals alike allow the workforce to better prepare and more successfully adapt to the transformation. In the future, SHATEC will play a key role alongside the Singapore Hotel Association supporting the hospitality industry in necessary transformations including productivity initiatives, leadership development, human resource strategies and job-redesign. In the spirit of collaboration, SHATEC is also an active partner of the South West Community Development Council. Its longest running community involvement programme, “Love in a Bento”, runs in collaboration with welfare organizations where special meals are prepared and delivered to homes of the less privileged during festive seasons each year. Similarly, SHATEC is also a member of the Asia Pacific Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (APacCHRIE) and currently serves as the Country Representative in the promotion of institutional advancement for hospitality and tourism education. In all, the success of SHATEC comes down to its innovative and future-thinking vision. Not content to teach the next generation the best that has been, it tries to teach them the best it could be. This aspirational approach, one which invites everyone to contribute, is the secret of this institute’s amazing achievements. APAC Insider: Let’s start from the top –What is 2Stallions? What services do you offer? Razy Shah: 2Stallions is an independent full-service digital agency headquartered in Singapore. We specialize in providing UI / UX design, website development, marketing strategy, and digital services like content marketing, social media management, search engine marketing / PPC, search engine optimization (SEO) and programmatic advertising. Our clients are from a diverse range of industries and include brands like AXA, HL Bank and Stanley Black & Decker. APAC: Tell us about your mission and the steps your firm takes to achieve this. RS: Our mission is to be recognized by our clients, employees and our stakeholders as a leading strategic partner for digital services in Asia. The steps we take to achieve this are three pronged. The first is our client-first approach. We are diligent in providing innovative marketing solutions across multiple digital platforms. We always put our client-first, listening to their needs and providing strategies that meet their objectives. The second way to achieve this is by ensuring we have a great work environment that is based on continuous learning. This is to ensure that we are up to date with the latest developments in digital marketing. Finally we always make sure that our actions are in alignment with our values that spell out D.I.G.I.T.A.L. (Diligence, Integrity, Great work environment, Innovation, Trust & transparency, Always client first, Learn continuously). APAC:What differentiates 2Stallions from your competitors? RS: Our team has been navigating the changes in the digital marketing space with our clients and we pride ourselves on always being abreast of the changes in the digital space. Our full-service approach enables us to provide holistic solutions to clients, which they are unable to get from agencies that are focused on specific services. We have a diverse team which bring both Asian insights and international expertise. With over 8 nationalities in our team, we constantly bring new ideas and perspectives to client campaigns. We run our own signature event, #SPEAKEASYASIA, multiple times a year. This is a sharing/networking event aimed at marketers and tech professionals. We invite influencers from the business and tech scene to share their experiences and insights. Best Rising Independent Digital Agency 2020 The digital agency space is constantly evolvingwith regular updates to algorithms and rise of new platforms. Amidst all of this, 2Stallions has beenhelping clients leverage on these changes for their marketing success. The agencyhas built a reputation as a performance-based agency that delivers results.We caught upwithChief CustomerOfficer, Razy Shah, to discover the secret to their success. Jan20019 APAC: Are there any key developments specific to Singapore and how has your firm adapted around these? RS: One key trend is the rise of e-commerce in Southeast Asia. As more consumers get online and shop from smartphones, e-commerce in the region could jump to US$88 billion by 2025. We are responding to this development by growing our e-commerce offering. As a result, we were recently a finalist in 2019’s Asia eCommerce Awards for Best Use of UI / UX Design. The second key trend is in the growth of programmatic advertising. It is estimated that 69% of digital media advertising is going to be programmatic by 2020. This is going to be a whopping US$127 billion in 2020. 2Stallions is building our programmatic advertising arm with the hiring of Pieter Dijkgraaf to lead the Performance Marketing division of our business. He brings deep experience in the space, having run advertising campaigns for large brands like Nike. APAC: In your opinion, what are the main benefits to being based in Singapore? RS: Singapore is a thriving business hub with accolades such as the #1 business environment in the Asia Pacific, #1 in human capital and the #2 most competitive economy. It is also home to the global / regional headquarters of multinational companies. These factors and more make Singapore the right base to grow a business from. APAC: How would you describe the internal culture of 2Stallions? RS: We have a culture of transparency and inclusivity. We have monthly fun activities to bring as well as regular celebrations. Activities include things like mini golf and escape room games to allow our teams to bond outside of work. We believe this helps them deliver better results at work together. It also makes them more comfortable giving and receiving feedback. We also foster cross-team collaboration and accountability. Our teams work collaboratively, and everyone’s successes and failures are interlinked. This increases incentive to work together. APAC: Finally, what does the future have in store for 2Stallions? RS: Growth – this is what the future has in store for 2Stallions. We are looking to grow our regional footprint to have a better pulse of the ASEAN market. We want to grow our team with top talent to ensure the continued success of our client campaigns. Lastly we are preparing to ride the e-commerce and programmatic wave by enhancing our capabilities in these areas. 2Stallions “Always putting our clients first is an attribute that has contributed to our success. We set realistic KPIs for our client campaigns and achieve them. This quality of delivery has led to appreciative clients who recognize our work and have stayed with us for 3 years or more.”