HDS - moving to a bigger office

Last week, 16 Nov 2009, we moved to a new and bigger office in UOA Bangsar. This is the 3rd office for me in the last 3 years. We moved largely because we have consolidated more operations in KL.

Besides, the sales team, we have the Deal Operations Center (AP & EMEA), Internal Audit, IT, HR and the Shared Services Center (AP)... and more to come.

In April 2007, we moved to Chulan Tower to accommodate the DOC.... from Bangunan Getah Asli.

I must say now that, HDS is a very significant entity in Malaysia.

This Is it

Last Sunday, I went to watch the movie "This Is It" - a recording of Michael Jackson's rehearsal of his to-be last concert. I must say - this guy is a perfectionist - literally!!


I thoroughly enjoy it, not because of the songs but because of MJ's commitment to perfection and to be the best. In spite of the fact that he is a star, he continued to rehearse and rehearse and rehearse...


I hope this can be said of all of us.


16 years ago, I was down in Singapore to watch MJ's live concert - his Dangerous Tour on 29 Aug 1993. I am proud to say that I have seen Michael Jackson in person. He is truly a superstar and "The King Of Pop".

MAS - is there hope?

Yesterday, I made a trip to Singapore and my experience with MAS is getting from bad to worst.

I was booked on MH605 at 16:30 that departs at Gate H04 at the main building. On the way to get the boarding pass, I stopped by the KLIA information counter - the lady had actually informed me that the flt was cancelled.

Feeling a bit disappointed, I went to the MAS check-in counter to enquire if the flt was indeed cancelled. I was assured that it wasn't. To my relief. The check-in counter told me that she had already checked in 55 other passengers - so it can't be cancelled. So far, so good.

Just as I was going into the immigration level, I noticed at the departure screen that flt MH605, has indeed been cancelled!! I went to the check-in counter again and this time was told that they have just received the information "abt 2-3 mins ago"... ?? What are they talking abt when the KLIA staffs are able to tell me about the cancellation earlier than the MAS staffs?



I was then issued another boarding pass for flt MH613 at 17:30 that departs from gate H08. I thought, "what to do?" - this is after all MAS... Hence, I went over to the premium lounge just to pass some time while waiting for the flt. The premium lounge is at satellite building C.

At about 16:45, I took the train over to gate H08 - while on the way, the announcement came and it mentioned that flt MH613 now departs from gate C22! Realising that I was at a different building - I quickly rushed over to satellite building C. Initially, I was having an easy stroll and then suddenly - I had to make a dash to the gate for fear of missing the flt!! Looks to me that, for MAS, change is the only constant - or rather inconvenience is the only constant.

MAS - what a way to treat your passengers!

MCA - getting irrelevant FAST

Looks like the MCA's crisis is getting worse by the day.


First, you have Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat who wanted to call for another EGM to determine if a fresh election for the CC is indeed needed - after failing to get all the CC to resign - as a sign of collective responsibility over the loss of the EGM resolution on 10 Oct 2009.

Secondly, you have the unity plan between Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek that was supposedly brokered by the PM.

Thirdly, you have Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai who has now requested for an EGM to call for a fresh election.


What a joke!!


First, we have an EGM but you don't honour the result.

Secondly, you then tried to have a work-around.

Thirdly, you try to have another EGM...


At this moment, MCA is getting irrelevant to all of us since all they are interested is themselves!! Isn't it obvious??

Hole-In-One

Today I collected my Hole-In-One cheque of RM1,500 from Kurnia Insurance.

This is my first Hole-In-One and could probably be my only one (considering the standard of my game now...).

It happened at Saujana Golf and Country Club on 27 August 2009 at the 5th Hole on the Palm Course. I was playing with Alex Loh - Datacraft, Loo Chong Peng - Sun and Mun Loong - HDS.

After teeing-off at the 5th hole, the caddy shouted that the ball went into the hole. At first, I didn't believe it but the rest of the guys seem to confirm that the ball actually went into the hole. As we were driving towards the green, I can feel my heart beating faster and faster - hoping that the ball goes into the hole instead of the slope..

True enough - it is my first Hole-In-One. Wow!! What an experience...

MCA - Restart FAST

Now that the MCA EGM is over and Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has been given the vote of no-confidence by a margin of 14 votes (1141 vs 1151), this is an unusual situation in MCA. Even though, technically, the president can only be removed by a two-third majority - this is no longer the issue since they have decided to put this matter to a vote and the latest decision should take precedent.

My view is that the entire CC - Central Committee, should resign and have a fresh election.


The most important issue is not about who is the president and the deputy president - the most important thing that we have to consider is the type of leaders and government we want to have as we move forward.


In fact, with the rumours about the "third force" coming into play - it looks to me that the party may not be all that serious about helping the country to move into a transparent and corrupt-free era. Looks like the warlord s are still running the party and vis-a-vis the country, with other warlords.

Really, is MCA still relevant?

Really, is the MCA really serious about the people or themselves?

Really, do we even care?

Disappointed by happy

Last week, I received a call from Rahman - HDS pre-sales Manager telling me that one of his engineers, Daniel Ooi is resigning. He sounded a bit disappointed. When I heard that, I was disappointed, too.

Daniel started with us abt 2 years ago - coming from CA. I have seen him grown and he is beginning to be a strong contributor for us. I am, at the same time happy as he is leaving us for Springlab (our distributor) as a Sales person. He will be selling HDS. He had wanted to move to sales but I didn't have an opportunity for him due to the timing and our need.

I met with Daniel a few days ago and the first thing that he asked was for some advise that he can take with hm... I told him that as a sale person, he has to just " focus on the numbers" and I told him why :

"if you have the numbers, and no politics

- no one can touch you, but

if you have no numbers but only politics

- no one can save you"

Below is a picture taken during our recent successful HDS Malaysia User Conference

that was held on 18 Aug 2009. Daniel is fourth from the left.

On the HDS Malaysia User Conference - it was a very successful event that was spearheaded by our Marketing Manager, Pooi Fong. We had more than 2x the attendees as compared to last year and 12 sponsors as compared to 7 last year. Starhub (Singapore) and JPN, spoke at our event. Overall, I am very proud of the team that I have at HDS Malaysia!!

MCA - get real FAST!!!

Was just going through my old blogs and I noticed that I have posted some comments on 25th October 2008 about the MCA's just concluded election. It was just interesting that I suddenly felt that I was able to "predict" the future - or rather, the state of affairs in MCA does not need any prediction - they are just going down all the way.

To even have an EGM this coming 10 Oct 2009, is even mind boggling. What is it for?

Is it to :

o redeem Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's sex scandal? - There is a cost for everything including public office

o to confirm that Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is the right candidate? - I thought MCA just had their election last year on 18 Oct 2008

Are the MCA folks still living in the glory of their past and do they clearly understand the aspiration of the community and the nation.? Is anything going to be changed as a result of this election??

I seriously think that all they need to do is to get down to helping the people and the nation before we turn out to be a laughing stock of our neighbours....

In a recent seminar that HDS organised, we have invited a few speakers from our regional office and customer in Singapore - to my amazement, most, if not all the speakers are actually Malaysian - working in Singapore!!

The way things are going - I am not surprised if we have more bright Malaysian looking for greener pastures in Singapore, Hong Kong or even China, in the future.

Papa John's Pizza

I just got back from Phuket where we had our HDS Asean Partner's Summit for 2009. It was a well organized event where our partners were exposed to a variety of new and exciting solutions. Most importantly, those solution help to save cost and streamline operations eg. Hitachi Content Archiving Platform (HCAP) and Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning (HDP)... More of these later.


When I came back, I received the latest copy of the Fortune Magazine - 28 Sept 2009. I have been an ardent fan of Fortune Magazine for many years as I have learnt a lot from their articles. One of the articles strike me and I thought I should post them in my blog so that I can remember them.


It's a story of how Papa John's got started... John Schnatter - founder, shared that we should :


1. find something that comes easy to you

- it is true that all of us aspire to do big and great things but very often the best talent that we have is just around the corner. At HDS - we spend a lot of time planning and building the business with what we have.


2. put the ideas to work

- dreams will remain as a dream until we test it. This is what we have done especially with our HCAP product where Malaysia is the main contributor to Asean's revenue this year.


3. be willing to take on the big guys

- we I joined HDS in 2007, our marketshare was just abt 4% when we closed 2006. However, we have a marketshare of 12.5% for 1H09! We have come a long way but what John said is correct - you must take on the big guys. So IBM, HP, EMC and Netapps - here we come.