The IT company that distinguishes itself by its excellent delivery service.
Globalization brings with it a tremendous opportunity to reach a mass audience around the world in the realm of cyberspace. There is a critical need for organizations or individuals in the public and private sectors to effectively market and communicate their products, services or messages through highly efficient and secure web servers.
Enter Readyspace.
Founded in 1998 with the original name of “Oikose” by church friends David Loke and Wong Chee Foo, the business was initially focused on helping customers set up their desktop personal computers.
Loke was then a student at Temasek Polytechnic, and Wong was serving in the military. Inspired by A.R. Bernard’s message on penetrating the marketplace, both began to search for business opportunities where their IT talents could be fully utilized. The resulting entrepreneurial effort proved to be immensely successful, with each service provided earning a few hundred dollars in revenue. However, the business was put on hold for a period of time when Loke was enlisted into the army.
In 2002, following his release from full-time national service, Loke decided to re-start and develop the business further, which was now to focus on IT hosting services. The business resumed its existing name of “Readyspace” and grew rapidly. Loke even recruited his army colleagues, Alvin Chan, John Chan and Poh Yong Hwang to assist in the daily operations. At present, the latter remains with Loke in executive directorship of Readyspace, while the former two are still shareholders and active supporters of the business. Through the perseverance and passion of Loke and his team, Readyspace has grown from strength to strength, and has expanded internationally, with offices in Malaysia and Hong Kong today.
Readyspace’s core business is IT hosting, which allows individuals and organizations to make their websites accessible through the leasing of internet space from the host company. This basic level of service is usually coupled with other online resources like SMS server and video-streaming in packages catered for a range of customers differentiated by their purchasing capabilities. Packages start as low as $6 a month for the budget-conscious user to more expensive packages for the capital-strong companies.
Readyspace’s vision is to “build businesses that will impact society with the right values” and “raise the standard of living” by meeting the needs of people with its products and services.
It determines its success by evaluating the value it has added to its employees’ and customers’ quality of life, as well as the socio-environmental consequences of its operations, and measuring its overall profit. Its three core service values are providing security, availability and support to its clients.
Acknowledging that it is in a highly competitive industry, Readyspace’s strategy is to focus on making the service delivery as excellent and creative as possible, meeting its customers’ needs beyond their expectations.
With a strong reputation for service excellence in the market, Readyspace’s clients include major businesses like eBay, SPH Magazine, Singapore Airport Terminal Services, Capitaland and Propnex, along with close to 5,000 small and large accounts registered, each subscribing to an IT hosting service.
Said Loke, when asked about the challenges Readyspace has faced, “We had lots of challenges in the areas of finance, operations, and people management, but the main challenge is keeping ahead of the competition with new ideas and innovations.”
Loke states that the key staff of Readyspace come together to pray on a weekly basis for innovative ideas, strategies, wisdom and grace, for further breakthroughs.
“Without God, there will be innovations, but no great innovations. That is the difference. That is why we really need God; He is really the key to Readyspace’s success today … He has brought us opportunities and helped us identify areas where others could not see. It’s just so important to lean on Him and no one else.”
Currently, Readyspace is working tenaciously to launch its latest service, ReadySpace Cloud, using the latest technology to provide integrated services where IT resources can be purchased online. It aims to acquire 80 percent of the Singapore market, and provide a wider range of services like VirtualPOB and Online Backup Services, slated for the next year.
At a strategic level, Readyspace is poised to enter the Indonesian, Australian, and fast growing Chinese markets in the next few years, emerging as a dominant market force in the global arena of IT businesses.
