A traditional Malaysia-based brick-and-mortar company, Fire Fighter Industry Sdn Bhd has been in business for 46 years. Some 95% of its customers are other businesses.
The business model has always been direct – the company would wait for an offer or approach clients by phone and follow up with a quotation. Realising the need to adapt to the changing technological landscape, the company set up an innovation team led by chief innovations officer Brian Soo.
Soo believed his conservative, conventional company could grow, despite being in a ‘boring’ industry. The main purpose of his team was to find new methods to solve problems, outside of the company.
The team’s first undertaking was a one-off project to create an online platform to schedule appointments to service its fire safety products. It started with Soo attending an event about hiring on-demand talent led by Alejandro Kikuchi, the head of international growth at Workana.
Workana said it could find the perfect candidate for the job and Soo decided to use a freelancer. This gave the company an alternative to get tasks done that otherwise may have not been achievable.
Happy with the results, the company moved on to digital marketing for another project.
It hired a Google Analytics professional to create online advertisements and write copy for the company. It was skeptical at first because the digital space was uncharted territory for a conventional company selling fire safety equipment and services.
The freelancer hired from Workana had experience working in a traditional company and could relate to the issues and reservations. She was experienced, knowledgeable and her work exceeded the company’s expectations and it continued to work with her to help the company grow.
Freelancers are specialists in their own fields with varied backgrounds, experience and training. This is why it is cost-effective to hire a freelancer, as training does not have to be provided.
Fire Fighter Industry saved time and spent a third on freelancers of what it would otherwise have spent on a full-time employee.
How have other companies benefited from hiring Workana’s freelancers?
OCK Group Bhd is one of the country’s biggest service network providers, with over 2,600 employees. Its core business is the design, construction, installation and maintenance of towers and networks for mobile phone signals.
An opportunity arose when government tenders were opened for the Small Towers Project – for small towers to be built within the city to improve phone signals. It was completely different from the company’s core business so how would they go about it in a timely manner? Freelancers!
After analysing multiple proposals, OCK hired a freelancer from Workana for the upcoming proposal presentation.
Start-ups have also prospered with the help of freelancers. One example is NUMU.
Isn’t it exciting to be rewarded with a free cup of coffee after posting a picture at your favourite café? Or being rewarded with points for your next visit after you review a restaurant?
This was the brilliant idea that initiated the start-up NUMU. Consumers are constantly creating value for brands on the internet. With this in mind, NUMU created a tool to keep a record of that value and accumulate it so users could gain rewards in exchange.
Using the marketing principles of affiliates and influencers, NUMU presented the same opportunity to everyone. Within a short period of time, NUMU was able to access the Instagram API platform and is about to work on Facebook data.
In order to keep up with the growing company, the website needed constant improvement. NUMU founder Carlos Lopez and his team started asking for recommendations and that’s when they heard about Workana.
The access to the best in their respective fields and professionalism of its freelancers made Workana stand out and this was the start of a long history of successful projects, from programming to customer service.
Another successful partnership is that with Unilever, a multinational company with employees all over the world. It is considered one of the best places to work because of its supportive, creative, encouraging and happy work culture.
Workana and Unilever started working together to access young talent beyond geographical locations. They came up with a programme called ‘Yourfreelo’ to give college students access to projects and help supplement their vocational training with experience wherever they are.
A partnership like Workana and Unilever’s saves time and resources compared to formal recruitment processes because it enables the company to find specific talent in a timely and efficient manner. This helps it grow and stay relevant in this digital era.
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