Creative use of Microsoft devices and services bring customer delight leading to efficiency, productivity and business growth
KUALA LUMPUR, 27 September 2013
– JAC Photography, which specializes in events and portraitures, was
thinking about how they could wow their clients with enhanced event
experiences when they decided on Microsoft’s family of devices and
services to take them there. With several Windows 8 PCs, Surface RT
devices, Skype, and Microsoft’s free cloud hosting service SkyDrive,
they launched an initiative to improve their product offerings and give
themselves a leading edge in an ultra-competitive industry. What
resulted from it was more than just happier clients – as a bonus, they
managed to derive a new source of revenue while also improving workflow
efficiency.
Established
in 2004, JAC Photography was faced with highly competitive industry
landscape which saw many new businesses mushrooming as
professional-level camera technology became more easily accessible to
everyone. Wannabes and weekend hobbyists began charging for their
services, even as potential clients started turning to their friends
with “expensive cameras” to do them favors. “The advances in camera
technology have given rise to a new generation of photographers who can
more readily monetize their work. Today, many pick up a DSLR camera and
start envisioning their own photography studio – which, of course,
provides a challenge for traditional studios such as us. We needed to
come up with a new and unique service proposition for customers that
sets us apart from the competitors out there. What would benefit our
customers, improve efficiency, and if possible, make us cool too? We
found the perfect answer in Microsoft,” said Christopher Choong,
co-founder of JAC Photography.
Being
a tech-savvy group of entrepreneurs, JAC Photography saw the value in
leveraging technology to elevate its current operations in a way that
placed the customer at the very center of focus. Chris explained, “At
JAC Photography, customers always come first. We believe that quality
service guarantees a satisfied customer. One of the discussions we had
was how to capitalize the technology available today to bring more value
to our customers - with technology, we can achieve that. In
streamlining and simplifying our workflow, we can pass on the savings to
customers.”
How it all clicks together: doing more, with less – while still staying cool
With
all that in mind, JAC Photography turned to a mix of Windows 8 laptops,
Surface RT tablets, Skype, and SkyDrive to help make events more
enjoyable while bringing even more value to their customers.
“It
took us awhile to come up with the idea and to devise a configuration
that enables it, but going with Microsoft has made it a worthwhile
investment. For example, at a typical wedding banquet, our photographer
will shoot photos of attendees at registration during the pre-dinner
reception. With Wi-Fi connectivity, these photos are transferred to a
Windows 8 laptop for quick editing and enhancement, and subsequently
uploaded to SkyDrive. Then, a Surface RT will pull those photos and add
in social media tagging and be featured on the company’s Facebook page.
The same photos will be simultaneously projected as a slideshow in the
ballroom. This provides our customers and the attendees at the wedding
dinner an almost ‘live on the red carpet’ feel. So far, we have had
tremendous/overwhelming positive response to this new concept! In fact,
providing this feature as a service has opened up additional revenue
streams for us,” Chris enthused.
Another
typical customer issue that Chris has started solving involved the
option to purchase soft copies of photos. In most situations, customers
would want the soft copy of the photos for safekeeping. However,
photography studios are usually opposed to providing the soft copy
option as it is perceived as giving away potential repeat business.
Typically, most studios would take a few photos selected by the customer
to be bound into a portfolio, which the studio then prints and delivers
the hard copies. If requested, customers can purchase the soft copy of
the photos in a CD – incurring additional charges in the CD and printing
of the packaging, as well as mailing costs if the customer is out of
town. On top of that, a lot more time is in the communication with the
customer throughout – all just to complete one transaction.
JAC
Photography however takes on a different view – one that has the
customer fully in mind. Chris explained, “What can we change to bring
more value to our customers? For one, what we do differently now with
Microsoft technology is giving the customers access to all their photos
via SkyDrive – for free. The customer has the choice of viewing all the
photos at their leisure and come back to us to print the photos if they
want to, and more often than not they do because of this flexibility and
the ‘customer comes first’ service that we provide.”
Elaborating
further, Chris said, “We also decided to also incorporate voice and
video calls via Microsoft’s Skype as an easier and quicker way to
communicate with our customers! It’s certainly far more engaging and
intimate to be able to communicate ‘face-to-face’, albeit virtually,
with our customers – while also being able to see their reactions when
they view their photos with us too! Of course, this certainly adds to
the ‘cool’ factor – which is fast becoming a hallmark experience with
JAC Photography! It is all about putting customers first.”
A view of the future
Apart
from satisfied customers and a growing reputation, a simplified
workflow also means increased efficiency for the business. JAC
Photography has seen as much as a 15% increase in efficiency that has
led to higher productivity and a better return on investment. With less
manual work needed to complete each transaction, JAC Photography is
getting more done, with less. As a result, customer satisfaction is on
the up and this has given the photography studio the motivation to take
the next step in fusing technology into their business operations. Chris
said, “We are very happy with the results thus far, but I believe we
can extend this advantage that we have over our competitors further. We
are currently looking into the possibility of upgrading our Windows 8
laptops to Surface Pro tablets for photo editing and uploading, and also
additional Surface RT units and Windows Phone smartphones for social
media tagging. What makes this all possible – and easy – is the one
experience across all devices that we use. The seamless transition in
getting tasks done comes without the jarring experience when you change
platforms. We are looking forward to this next phase in our growth with
Microsoft.”
Azizah
Ali, Director for Small and Medium Solutions and Partners
(“SMS&P”), Microsoft Malaysia, commended JAC Photography’s for the
innovative way they were using technology to transform their businesses.
She said, “At Microsoft, we are delighted to see how much further
people like Chris and his team take our technology. With a keen eye for
the future, they have taken the devices and services we have introduced
and configured it into a winning formula – to wow their customers while
becoming more productive and profitable. That’s the essence of what we
stand for – to work with businesses in a way where they can leverage our
technology to help them concentrate on what they do best: succeed and
grow their business. It’s truly the essence of what we believe in: to
transform Malaysian businesses together.”
Additional details on Surface are available at http://www.Surface.com/my, the Surface Blog and Surface on Facebook.
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