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A Creator of Self-Owned Brand in Taiwan
-The Interview of ACARD CEO Daniel Weng
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CEO Daniel Weng regards high technical threshold as the success of ACARD.
Perhaps we know little about ACARD Technology Corp., but anyone who has used a computer mostly used ACARD products too. Those products are chiefly key components inside the computer, and thats why they are so easily neglected. Actually ACARD has occupied an important seat in the storage industry with its excellent technologies. It has cooperated with many big computer manufacturers. For example, two of the first three network disk makers in Japan have cooperated with ACARD. Besides, ACARD has supplied the key components for the Microtek scanner and authorized the circuits controlling HDD/ODD in SCSI chips. Even in STB you can find the technologies of ACARD. In these fields ACARD has enjoyed more than 50% of market share. All the success of ACARD lies in its constant technological development and innovation.
Success is not accidental
ACARD Technology Corp. was founded in 1996. It is a world-class manufacturer providing storage solutions. Since the start it has been concentrating on the research and development of IC chip. It is the first local SCSI chip designer enjoying high reputation in the fields of IDE and SCSI. Moreover, it is the first maker launching PCI Ultra ATA-100/133 IDE RAID Adapter for Mac and PCI Ultra ATA-133 IDE RAID Adapter for PC in the world. Its products include IC, SCSI/IDE/SCSI-to-IDE/SATA Adapter, Copy Controller, RAID 1 Subsystem, Disk Box, Ha! DVD Burner, etc.
In the beginning ACARD had only five employees. At that time, besides research CEO Daniel Weng had to be responsible for sales too. He said that it was hard for a small local firm to be accepted in Taiwan, because you were not famous and therefore couldnt ask a good price. However, the situation was different in foreign countries. Their manufacturers judged you totally from the value of the product itself and the actual needs. Fortunately ACARD always satisfies their requirements.
As for the international exhibitions, Daniel Weng regards them pretty important. Any business should promote its products through exhibitions. But at the start ACARDs capital was under NT$1 million and had no money to set up a booth. Therefore it tried to sell its products from one booth to another at the exhibition. Undoubtedly, the course was not smooth, but even an opportunity was encouraging.
Why did ACARD enter the market of IC? Daniel Weng said, The other partners and I were not so sure of IC at first. We did a market survey and finally chose the most challenging thing to do. We couldnt get a loan to produce a big thing like most large firms did, so we chose to make a difficult but highly profitable thing (a differentiated strategy), and decided to concentrate on IC. There are few local manufacturers producing the same goods as ACARD. Now we have made various products and accumulated different technical experiences. Accordingly, the world famous manufacturers like IBM are willing to purchase our products. They understand the threshold of such technology is very high, and their response is often fine. Anyway, once a client knows your precious technology via exhibitions, he will try to cooperate with you. As to the question of authorization, Daniel Weng smiled and said that at that time we had no money to talk it with others.
The art of business administration
In the early stage ACARD considered to apply for a project subsidy from government, but failed because no one believed that a firm of five persons could develop high technologies alone. Therefore, ACARD turned to the application of patents. The problem of capital was solved only when ACARD developed its own technologies. From technical development to management, Daniel Weng said that an engineer was simpler but an administrator had to consider others thoughts, develop the markets, participate in all stages of business running, learn many things, and adjust personal mood. In other words, an administrator should learn to think from a customers viewpoint.
Since the establishment of ACARD ten years have passed. During the period, the company encountered some difficulties but also successfully quoted its shares to the local stock exchange. Daniel Weng said, Our way is a little reserved. Before doing something, we always make a plan. Though sometimes the reality and the plan are different, it is easier to supplement or change. In 2001 owing to the network bubble, many big clients shortened their projects and accordingly the orders became much less. There was no loss on the whole but the business running was hard. At first we planned to lay people off, but after revaluation we found it was just a temporary frustration, so told employees to work hard 10 more percent and guaranteed no layoff, no salary deduction. Fortunately the sales were improved little by little in the second half of 2001. In regard of technical innovation, it is a road of no return. Daniel Weng compared it to a pilgrims progress. It is very hard but when you feel happy, it wont be so hard.
As for the management of employees, it varies from one company to another. Daniel Weng said, ACARD has a flexible system but the overtime is never late than 9 PM. Of course ACARD is not a company following the punctuality of off duty either. That kind of company is unlikely to be competitive. Although nowadays young people emphasize living standard and arent willing to do overtime, the neglect of ones job is actually the negligence of ones duty. If anyone wants to be punctual whether he is on duty or off duty, he should finish his job first, because that is his responsibility. I hope every employee of ACARD can live healthfully and work responsibly. Responsibility is a part of our corporate culture.
ACARDs products are usually inside other big makers devices, but its technologies are the same as theirs.
Starting an enterprise is disciplining oneself
In Daniel Wengs opinion, starting an enterprise is disciplining oneself, because in the process there will be many problems requiring solutions. You have to understand all kinds of problems concerning R&D, finance, accounting, marketing, sales and so on, and try to solve them. You must be versatile because in a short period of time you have to solve all the problems.
Anyone who owns a patent is competitive. It fully expresses the importance of key technologies. Thats why ACARD chose to do some special products which almost hadnt been done before. About this Daniel Weng said, Build a very high threshold in order to block others entrance. Nevertheless, this kind of product, though very profitable, is relatively small in quantity. In the future ACARD will try to seek a market requiring products of mass amount. In other words, ACARD will shift from the blue sea market to the red one, and even try to seek the blue one within the red one. On the other hand, ACARD will establish a stronger brand in the field of storage equipment. That is the best choice when someone wants to buy a storage device.
Translated from People in Focus in Innovation & Cultivation Monthly No. 27 |
About ACARD Technology Corp. ACARD is a dedicated storage IC designer and SCSI/IDE as well as RAID card manufacturer in Taiwan. ACARD's products are marketed to PC, Macintosh, Unix, and Linux workstation and server users around the world. As ACARD has been engaging in SCSI hardware development and design for years, it knows what the market demands and how to cater to customers' needs. Since 1999 ACARD has been developing key technologies to grasp the fast growing network storage market, and to focus on managing, protecting critical data on hard drives. ACARD's products are available through its distributors worldwide. For more information, please visit our website at www.acard.com or contact the ACARD Technology Corp. at 886 (2) 8512 2290 or, via e-mail:sales@acard.com |
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