Home / Articles / Interviews / Understanding The Building Blocks of Exabytes’ Success in Singapore

Understanding The Building Blocks of Exabytes’ Success in Singapore

Exabytes has established itself as a key player in the hosting industry within Malaysia and Singapore, however, their success did not come easy.

Especially with Singapore being a competitive market for web hosting, the success that Exabytes continues to enjoy speaks volume to the dedication they have towards their products and services.

We managed to chat with Vickson Tan, Vice President of Exabytes Marketing, and Exabytes Singapore Marketing Team; and talk about the building blocks that help catapulted Exabytes into becoming one of the top rated hosting company in Singapore (www.exabytes.sg).

Exabytes Main Singapore Office.

Understanding The Singapore Market

Facing Stiff Competition In Singapore

Establishing a presence in Singapore was not an easy task for Exabytes. Being a local brand meant that they had an uphill battle against more well-known international web hosting companies.

I can say it was very hard (to establish ourselves) as we were a no-name brand in Singapore back in 2010.

Singapore prospects/companies used to look for Branding (of a company) before engaging with their services. They were more familiar with US/Europe providers compared to those unknown company/provider.

— Vickson Tan, Exabytes VP of Marketing

While Exabytes managed to avoid any operation issues, as they were sharing their resources within the country, it proved to be a challenge for Exabytes to bring up their brand in the local market due to fierce competition from US/European providers.

Standing out Among The Competition

Exabytes had to step their game if they wanted to survive and succeed in Singapore’s tough market.

They knew they had to offer something that other providers could not if they wanted to stand out amongst the competition.

Competitive pricing is always the way to attract leads and we were using cheap SG domain name stand out from the Market. Exabytes is the 1st well-known brand for providing cheaper SG domain in Singapore.

While providing cheap SG domain names was enough to put Exabytes on the map, they needed to be able to do more if they wanted to be a prominent brand in Singapore.

The Brands That Run Singapore

Exabytes Singapore focuses in serving small-to-medium business owners. Their Premium Hosting Plans, start at S$12.99/mo (signup rate), come with daily backup, spam email protection, free Comodo SSL, and domain privacy protection (click to visit Exabytes.sg).

From the beginning, the team at Exabytes knew that in order to make their presence known in Singapore, they needed to diversify their portfolio and focused on building up different brands that provide specific hosting services.

“Exabytes SG (is) more to startup (retailer/wholesaler) and SME prospects.” Vickson continues, “In short, anyone (that) just want to start an online presence. Exabytes is their option.”

The focus of the main Exabytes brand remains the same in Singapore, as it does in Malaysia and continues to be an all-in-one hosting solution for small to medium businesses that need a website.

 

Exabytes conducting a seminar within their office HQ.
The Exabytes Singapore team.

* Click to enlarge image.

Beyond Exabytes Brands

But there was a market beyond small and medium businesses in Singapore and knowing this, the company acquired Usonyx, SignetiqueCybersite, Web Server SG, as well as WebHosting.sg, to provide specialized hosting services.

Signetique

“Signetique.com is more to (providing) enterprise kind of solutions, which include migrating the in-house system to a cloud environment. It’s similar to Microsoft Exchange or Sharepoint. We also help in securing your system from being hacked.”

With a clear target towards the Singapore market, Signetique offers customized solutions that are catered more towards the local Singaporean user, which is something that Exabytes SG does not offer.

Cybersite

“The other company is Cybersite.com.sg, which primarily focuses on clients who are looking for scalability resources when they need more,” Vickson notes that Cybersite is more towards providing cloud solutions and SG domain proxy services.

Usonyx

“Usonyx.net mainly caters to Project/Enterprise level of prospects, with a focus on cloud/server solutions. The other market target is for developers who need a Virtual machine (VPS) to build their application.”

Unlike the rest of the brands, Usonyx aims to cater to a larger audience. Despite a Singaporean brand, Exabytes wanted to push the company as viable hosting cloud /server solution for the South East Asian market.

Updates: Usonyx just recently launched their new website. The brand now focuses in solving users needs in cloud-base and dedicated hosting.

Giving The Services That Users Want

The Exabytes Singapore team hard at work.
The inside of Exabytes’ office in Singapore.

With the four main brands firmly established, Exabytes continues to provide the services that Singaporean users want. Especially when it comes to their main Exabytes SG brand, which is to push their web design services.

When it comes to small-to-medium businesses who want to take advantage of their web design services, Vickson had the following advice to offer.

As Exabytes do target those startups (retailer/wholesaler and small to medium businesses), and that they only need to have a website online, a simple website with 5 to 8 pages is our solution for them.

“As a startup, you may not need to build a complicated website, as not much people will know it without running any marketing campaign.” Vickson continues, “Therefore, start with a 5 to 8 pages website, which is good enough for most startups.”

Being a local brand, Exabytes is able to offer their services at a lower cost compared to other international brands. “A simple website solution will cost about S$3-5K in the market and we can do it at less than S$3K.”

Continuing Their Success in Singapore and Beyond

Exabytes won Nanyang Siang Pau's 20 Excellence Business Award in 2018 (source).
Exabytes – Winner of The Golden Bull Award 2007, 2008, 2011, and 2012 (source).

Despite the massive success that they’ve enjoyed in Singapore and in Malaysia, Exabytes continues to build upon the foundations that made them a prominent figure in the hosting industry,

They continue to push and position the four brands of Exabytes, Usonyx, Cybersite, and Signetique, as unique services that offer the best specialized hosting services in Singapore.

Notable brands that run on Exabytes Singapore servers (August 2018).

For Usonyx in particular, it was important that they provide a high level of service as their clients are geared towards governments and web developers, who require stable server performances and uptime rates.

Beyond that, Exabytes aims to extend their presence within the larger South East Asian region, particularly in Indonesia, as they’ve begun acquiring brands and laying out the building blocks for their success.

We’d like to extend our gratitude towards Vickson Tan for providing us with an insight towards Exabytes and their inner workings at Singapore. With a talented team and a clear passion for providing the best hosting services to their customers, we’re sure that Exabytes will continue to be a key figure in Singapore.

Photo of author

Article by Azreen Azmi

Keep Reading