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Meeting Eric Tay for the first time, his quiet, unassuming manner masks his desire for success. He is currently the Country Manager for Global Knowledge, the world’s largest training centre for IT and business skills. Its company is headquartered in North Carolina, USA with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Global Knowledge is the global authorised learning partner for CISCO® and also the Registered Education Provider (REP) for Project Management Institute (PMI®), a non-profit organisation that provides professional validation for project managers.
In his mid thirties, the soft-spoken bachelor recounted that he was a KL boy whose early interest was in finance. He managed to continue his studies in the United States at Colorado State University where he obtained a degree in Business Management. Before he came back in late 1997, Eric managed to take some time off travelling around the whole of the USA. This showed his spirit for adventure and indirectly, his thirst for knowledge, as he wanted to experience what America was all about.
When he came back, it was to a Malaysia that was in the throes of economic problems, the 1997 financial crisis. Finding a job for a new graduate was next to impossible, however, he managed to secure a job as an assistant manager with a quick-service restaurant. After a few months, he decided to try his luck in Singapore as he felt that their economy was not as badly hit as Malaysia’s. Not choosy in getting a job, he worked as a cost administrator with a construction company. But working there he discovered that it was not something that held his interest so he began looking for more suitable employment.
Sometime in 2000, he was hired by Global Knowledge to work in their operations and administration section. Once in the company, Eric was taken by the company’s philosophy of continuous learning and decided to apply it to himself. He took part-time and night courses to upgrade his skills, whether internally or externally. Eric believes that it is because of his initiative that he achieved such a level of success.
After three years he was promoted to Account Manager, where instead of being a purely sales position, he expanded the scope of the job to include product/marketing on his own initiative. He was then promoted to the Sales Manager position. He was rewarded with the position of Malaysia’s Country Manager after 1 year later due to the success that he had shown to his superiors.
When he was assigned to Malaysia in 2005, Eric knew that it was not an easy job because the Malaysian branch was in the doldrums and the business needed to be turned around. The staff were demoralised, clients were not plentiful and the financial situation was tight. He is honoured to have a dedicated team behind him and of the fact that since he had taken charge, the situation had changed 100%. He had managed to expand the number of clients and secured top consultants and instructors into the
organisation.
This success he attributed to a number of factors, of which the backing of his staff was paramount. It was Eric’s ability to motivate and look after his staff’s needs that he believed sustained the company through the rocky times with none of the staff leaving except one when he just took over. It was Eric’s enthusiasm for his service/product that brought in more clients and a better teaching staff. Another sign of success was that the company has managed to move to new premises that were more than twice the size of the previous office. In under 2 years, Eric Tay had managed to turn an ailing branch of Global Knowledge into a profitable and dynamic business.
The other factor was that Eric was able to apply all that he had learnt from the courses to get the desired results. This is why he is so passionate about education and lifelong learning. Eric believes that in a world that increasing relies on IT, any company, be it an MNC or SMI cannot be complacent about the training that its management and staff receives. IT is progressing at a fast pace and there are new technologies, software/ hardware coming onstream constantly and both the management and staff must be aware of its capabilities in order for the company to take full advantage of the efficiency it will provide.
Eric said that the staff must have their skills upgraded when their company switches to newer technology. But more importantly, Eric believes that the management itself must have their skills and awareness upgraded as well because they are the decision makers. If the management does not keep abreast of the new technologies, then they will not be able to pick the technology best suited to their company.
To put it simply, Eric’s principles for a successful business is to look after the wellbeing of his staff so that they will give their best at work and to continuously educate the management and staff for the continued and sustained profitability of their company. He has applied those principles and they have worked spectacularly. Other SMIs/SMEs should follow his shining example if they want to taste even more success.
For his own future, Eric believes that Global Knowledge would remain his company of choice because they acknowledge his success and value his contributions.
