CORPORATE EXCELLENCE CATEGORY
Brandt International Sdn Bhd
Professional & Business Services Industry
www.brandtinternational.com
Information about the Company
Brandt International Sdn Bhd is a multiple award-winning Malaysian Company, which was founded in 2004 by Dato’ Munirah Looi, with 25 years of Corporate Experience, including 15 years in the Banking sector. She has worked in many APAC cities and the US.Brandt International Sdn Bhd started as a consulting and training company in Customer Experience, Business Transformation & Change Management consulting. Brandt has regional offices in Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. As the business grew, Brandt expanded its service offerings to Business Process Managed Services in 2009, offering outsourced services in customer management & support, sales and telemarketing, as well as IT Helpdesk and back-office functions. The expansion powered a consistent 29% p.a. CAGR revenue growth since 2009. Today, Brandt’s growth is driven by high growth internet companies and MNCs and focused on supporting markets in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2020, Brandt achieved a record 35% YOY revenue growth with a record revenue at RM45m (USD11m). In the last 12 months, Brandt International expanded rapidly, doubling the total number of staff within six months; from two offices to four and from a single floor to four floors.
Corporate Culture & Company Activities
Brandt’s Core Values of Integrity, Strive for Excellence, Respect for Diversity, and the Spirit of Adventure are reflected in the culture of the organisation allowing the team and the leadership to be agile and to pivot successfully. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift has focussed internally to help employees manage and adapt to the new normal. Employee Experience represents one of Brandt’s key strategic drivers and theme, with a focus on increasing empowerment and trust and monthly employee engagement activities. This complements the quarterly Rewards and Recognition Programmes to recognise high performers. All employee engagement and team-building activities are driven by employees, with support and guidance from the leadership.Like any rapidly growing company, Brandt faced countless challenges including hiring the right talents, managing the COVID-19 pandemic and expanding the business beyond Malaysia. In line with its Spirit of Adventure, the company quickly bounced back and pivoted quickly. Brandt learned that the best approach in hiring was to “hire for attitude and train for skills”; and “slow to hire but quick to fire”.
To deliver Customer Experience and Business Value to Clients through People & Operational Excellence.
Achievements and Impact
When the pandemic hit in 2020 and the first lock-down was enforced, Brandt was faced with the immediate challenge of revenue protection and job security of its people; managing clients’ expectations; ensuring staff had the relevant tools to Work from Home; and managing real-time information and interpretation of policies. Brandt made significant investments in Digital Transformation in 2019 and thus there were only minimal disruptions in its operations. Brandt’s leadership is constantly adapting to changes in the market with quick and tactical decisions. The Brandt Pandemic Task Force was set up to map out a cohesive strategy and action plans. Scenarios and “wargames” were debated and played out in daily virtual meetings, enabling large teams of up to 200 people to work from home with no disruptions to service, quality and performance. The task force also ensures that all lines of communications remain opened to both internal staff and external stakeholders. Foreseeing the challenges ahead, Brandt also embarked on internal wellness and leadership programmes to ensure that the financial concerns and overall wellbeing of the staff were taken care of. This enabled the teams to challenge themselves to achieve more, to reinvent the ways to serve clients as well as to shape how the future workspace and roles would be.With Covid-19 and the closing of many borders, accessibility continues to be a challenge. In line with its regional goals, Brandt moved to invest in smart partnerships and collaboration to enable the company to scale beyond Malaysia.
Future Direction
Brandt’s goal is to accelerate its growth plans to achieve a company valuation in excess of RM200m (USD48m) by 2023. In 2020, Brandt invested in developing an internal competency framework to grow its workforce. Empowering and enabling them to succeed is seen as critical to organisational growth and expansion. In parallel, Brandt will be using its existing track record in telco, fintech, e-commerce, and high-growth internet companies to secure fastgrowing clientele in the region. The strategic intent is to strengthen the business development capabilities for external outreach in new countries and new sectors and strengthen value-added offerings through AI-IT enabled platforms.COMPANY MILESTONES
