March 19, 2018 | Michelle Wilkinson | Senior Director, Marketing

Spinnaker Support developed a relationship with Mr. Lee years ago, and when we decided to expand into the Northeast Asian market, we knew he would be a perfect addition to our team. Early in his life, he realized he wanted to work in multi-national organizations, so Yong spent over 4 years in the United States earning degrees in English Literature and Information Technology. Prior to joining Spinnaker Support as the Regional Managing Director of our South Korean office, Yong spent fifteen years climbing the ladder at an SAP implementation firm.

We recently sat down with Yong to ask him about his first year with the company and what he sees for the future of Spinnaker Support – Northeast Asia.

How did you become involved with Spinnaker Support?

I was working for an SAP implementation company, and my customers were suffering financially because of SAP’s annual support costs. My customers were asking for alternative solutions, so I started researching options.

Through my research, I found Spinnaker Support and reached out. After hearing about my needs, Spinnaker Support flew out to South Korea to meet me in person—I was very impressed. This gesture paired with the level of service Spinnaker Support could provide for my customers encouraged me to keep in touch with the team. When they decided to launch their Northeast Asia business unit in South Korea, it was a natural fit.

What are some of the challenges you face as you try to bring the third-party software support model to South Korea?

At first, it was difficult to explain Spinnaker Support’s business model to customers, because they didn’t believe it was possible to provide this service without the vendor’s help.

Fortunately, we landed two customers in the initial phase. Both heard about the third-party maintenance from Google searches, and they invited us into their business to explain our services. We were able to get the message across that, “Yes, it’s possible to provide this service without vendors.”

The Korean market has been quick to learn and understand the third-party support model. CIOs want to stay on top of the latest trends, so they do their research when they hear about something new. These days, it’s easier to discuss our service offering, but last year it was hard! It was the first year of learning for our customers – and us getting the word out to the Korean market.

How are you spreading the word of Spinnaker Support to the Korean market?

I started to introduce Spinnaker Support’s third-party maintenance model early in 2017 then officially to the Korean market in April at a special event that we hosted. We invited the heads of IT for many major conglomerates in Seoul and the surrounding areas. It was very well attended and created a lot of interest and questions about the market. Since then, I’ve had so many meetings to field questions and talk about the improved service they can receive at a fraction of the cost by switching to Spinnaker Support.

We also retained the services of Korea’s largest Public Relations firm. Through their local expertise, we worked through some of Korea’s leading IT journalists. Their many published articles have read by many prospects, increasing market awareness about the benefits of third-party support and the value proposition of Spinnaker Support.

We have onboarded new customers, hired more team members locally, and proven that Spinnaker Support can replace SAP or Oracle-provided support very easily. Because of this great service we are providing, it’s also spreading by word-of-mouth.

What questions are prospects asking? 

Value is the most important thing; equal or better SAP or Oracle support for lower cost is the main reason why customers switch to the third-party maintenance. However, without trust, pricing means nothing. So, we build the trust first, and then we negotiate pricing with our customers.

What do you like about Spinnaker Support?

It’s a global company, but there’s a collaborative community within it. This is a competitive business, but we treat each other and our customers with honesty and respect. We have a good team that works together well!

What are your goals for 2018?

Fortunately, I have several customers from the past 18 months. So, this year, I’d like to set up references with those established customers and document their success with Spinnaker Support. We have many true third-party support success stories that I want to be able to share with prospective customers, so they can see that other companies like theirs are having positive results and experiences.

I’d also like to expand outside of Korea into Japan and China. Korea is the headquarters for Northeast Asia which is why we’re conquering the Korean market first and then extending our new territory to other countries.

The post Q & A: Yong Lee – Regional Managing Director in South Korea appeared first on Spinnaker Support.