Leaders today need to have a keen understanding and the ability to see the market forces affecting their industry. They should adapt to changes in the business world in order to provide a great experience for their consumers. One such leader who is building a great team, putting an emphasis on customer care and driving towards success is Ian Watson, the CEO of Cellcard. Ian hopes to transform the company into the best and Cambodia’s fastest internet service network provider. The dynamic leader is recognized within the telecommunications community as one of the leading figures in relation to 5G and digital transformation has built a 30-year career in the industry across global markets. He is a respected leader, lauded by past and present colleagues for his unshakable drive to succeed. He is a sharp businessman, forward-thinker and known to many as a powerful negotiator.
Due to his sharp businessman skills and forward-thinking strategies, he has recently been recognized as the 5G Asia People’s Choice Award for Operator CXO of the Year. In the past few years, he has gained significant exposure as the driving force behind the most aggressive 4G roll-outs. Consequently, for three years, he has been the proud winner of both the Ookla and Open signal Awards. In addition to his role as CEO of Cellcard (CamGSM), he holds a number of key executive positions within the Royal Group of Companies, the largest conglomerate in the Kingdom of Cambodia, reporting directly to the Chairman.
In an interesting chat with Business APAC, he illuminates his journey as CEO of the company.
The Journey From Commercial Leader To Entrepreneur
Please tell us something about yourself and your journey so far?
I am an MBA graduate and currently reside both in Cambodia and the UK. I began my career as a commercial leader at JCB for six years. Following this, I have worked with numerous organizations and held several key positions, delivering stellar customer experience. Every experience, both positive and negative, has given me the opportunity to see the world differently and helped me to be a better manager of people. In July 2012, I was appointed as the CEO of Cellcard following my successful turnaround of Wing Cambodia. Prior to leading Wing, I had moved to Cambodia to set up Refresh Mobile, the first provider of virtual commerce platforms in Cambodia. Now, my focus is firmly set on driving the digitalization of Cambodia with early adoption of pre5G and the introduction of 5G across the key segments of Consumer, Government, and Corporate.
Solution-Oriented Vision
Please enlighten us about your company?
I am proud to say that Cellcard is Cambodia’s longest-serving mobile telecommunications company with more than 22 years of operation and a customer base in excess of three million. As one of Cambodia’s top three brands, we have built our reputation on trust and reliability and are known as the steadfast operator with Cambodian family values at its core. We offer a comprehensive range of services that include voice, data plans, tourist and roaming packages and a full range of enterprise and business solutions. We have led the Cambodian market through 2G, 3G, 4G offering the widest and most affordable mobile data offers tied with the biggest and most reliable network. Now, we are leading the introduction of digital services around the introduction of 5G with a range of new and exciting products and services in key locations. We are focused on delivering around how we use digitization, 5G, and other data networks to improve people’s lives.
Diverse Offering
Tell us about your company’s offerings and its present and future focus areas?
The ethos reflected by Cellcard’s taglines, ‘Proudly Khmer’ and ‘Cellcard is for Everyone Everywhere’, has been a crucial part of the company’s success story to date. This reinforces our mission to put Cambodia at the forefront of the mobile network excellence and to provide access and affordability to every single Cambodian. Our service not only is reliable and affordable but also addresses the needs of everybody. Currently, flagship services provided by us are:
The Flexi product Osja Xchange gives customers the ability to consume $100 of value in either voice or data for just $1 for 14 days.
The Big Love data offer increases the data allowance to 10GB for just $1 per week.
We have developed these products that come with a full family of different price-points along with additional benefits such as data sharing, free voice allowances, and short-term bonus promotions. Apart from this, we are moving more aggressively into the youth segment, launching new digital content services and providing in-home data solutions for residential and commercial use.
Guiding Through Shared Vision
Tell us about your team’s strength and how you ensure their continuous development?
I believe it is vital for management to be visible and approachable. Thus, I run the company with an open-door policy and spend time talking to my team members and customers. In order to facilitate our continuous development, it is important for us to have weekly meetings to ensure every team member is on the same page. These meetings have proven to be a cornerstone of our success as a team and make sure we share one common vision and goal for the company.
We work towards building a strong, committed, and diverse team, which will subsequently control and guide the transformative effects of the core team. Also, as the Captain of the ship, I bear the burden of taking tough decisions regarding the abilities of the workforce, gauging whether an individual has the motivation to make the journey. We foster female empowerment in our culture and ensure that everyone has the chance to share their ideas.
Preparing for Future
Enlist the key milestones that you have set for Cellcard over the next 5 years?
I see myself continuing to build what I believe to be one of the best and biggest telecommunications companies in the global marketplace. There is no end in sight for what we can achieve in the future. We are planning to introduce the best services across the world at affordable prices. We are preparing a huge number of new innovative products and services ready for the digital world. Our focus will soon shift to 5G services to deliver superfast broadband, premium, and priority broadband products for the full range of Consumer and Enterprise segments.
Words of wisdom
“Business is not a rat race, it’s a healthy challenging environment, whereas a leader of a team you need to be constantly building, adapting and evolving into this really exciting digital future. It’s not the biggest who will survive, it’s those who can adapt the quickest.”
