COVID-19 is Accelerating the Rise of the Digital Workspace 

Nguyen Quang Huy, Founder & CEO of CMSmart tells us about this leading add-on developer and marketplace for the most popular eCommerce CMS frameworks. 

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Nguyen Quang Huy: We’re fine, thank you! 

My country – Vietnam, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, Vietnam has closely monitored the situation and installed a series of proactive, comprehensive measures to combat the spread of the virus within the country and prepare its public health facilities. Past experience with other epidemics places Vietnam in a strong position to protect its population as well as visitors passing through. 

I’m just thankful that my family and the CMSmart Family is safe and well. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded CMSmart.

Nguyen Quang Huy: Starting with the roles of manager and online marketing & branding manager for building & online re-brand launching a completely new website for the largest luxury French hotels chain, I’ve always had a passion for doing e-commerce. 

Then, I have run my own company, becoming Founder & CEO of CMSmart since 2010. 

CMSmart is currently investing and managing a portfolio of a variety of e-commercial businesses with more than 50 staff. We are a leading add-on developer and marketplace for the most popular eCommerce CMS frameworks with more than 20.000 clients from all over the world. 

How does CMSmart innovate? 

Nguyen Quang Huy: There has never been a more critical time to innovate and look at things differently than there is now because the world has completely changed. 

Our customers are almost all from the US, Europe, China,… where countries are heavily affected by the epidemic. Therefore, first of all, we have continuously provided free support services as possible as we have to help our customers overcome this crisis. Besides, we provide full services and full solution e-commerce to minimize costs for customers. 

At the same time, apart from upgrading CMSmart, we have researched hard and created an online working environment named Cloodo to meet the demand for scaling teams and reducing costs in the context of Covid-19. Cloodo is a magical digital workspace that helps the company to accelerate business digital transformation by deploying advanced technologies to connect outsourcing resources to your operation and uncover your breakthrough business insights. Hence, we can do everything, anywhere on time, no matter what kind of Covid-19. For more information, it is the way the slogan of Cloodo was born. (You can take a look at Cloodo: https://cloodo.com/) 

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Nguyen Quang Huy: Actually, it doesn’t affect me so much. I must say that there is even a lucky chance for us to expose our inventions. You know customers’ needs about products and services served for an online working environment are increasing in a social distancing context; therefore, our revenue grows moderately. 

Our outstanding items are NB design online tool, solution for printing and marketplace business, online marketing consulting services,… They are loved and bought a lot by our customers. 

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources, and what are the lessons learned? 

Nguyen Quang Huy: During the peak epidemic, we did not do staff cutbacks; instead, we let our employees work from home and optimized their online workflow by using Cloodo’s management system. At first, we had difficulty communicating and working online, but gradually, everyone got used to it. 

In my perspective, the most important lesson while working online during Covid’s time is we have to create an online working environment effectively and have an evaluation measurement appropriately. 

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient? 

Nguyen Quang Huy: We are investing more into customer relationship management systems than anything. From the day it started, CMsmart has had its own customer relationship management system; our system software aims to organize, analyze, and understand the relationships and interactions between a business and its customers, both current and potential.

Currently, we are trying to evolve it to become the best CRM services set out to improve employee data access and collaboration, including the capturing and sharing of valuable customer intelligence. 

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat? 

Nguyen Quang Huy: The Vietnamese government has used drastic measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels. The government has always supported businesses, helping us to overcome difficulties, stabilize production. I really appreciate and feel grateful. 

Your final thoughts?

Nguyen Quang Huy: The current crisis has shown just how big a role digitalization and everything it implies plays in enabling agility and quick response to the unexpected. Digitalization is more than just technology; it has to encompass a new process framework that enables rapid response to change situations, be they disasters or opportunities. Putting a genuine digital strategy in place is now imperative. 

Your website?

https://cmsmart.net/

https://cloodo.com/