Embracing the Pandemic and Welcoming Changes with W.L.P

We talked to Tan Li Han on how W.L.P is a one-stop business solution partner, and this is what he had to say.

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

Tan Li Han: Covid-19 has made significant changes to our lifestyles unexpectedly, but on a positive note, we spent more time together at home during the lockdown whilst working from home. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded W.L.P?

Tan Li Han: I started my career as an accountant in an investment holding company working on M&A and gained invaluable experiences to encourage me on an entrepreneur journey. Hence my partners and I founded W.L.P based on our expertise to provide a one-stop service solution for business owners and entrepreneurs in their corporate compliance (accounting/incorporation/tax), human resource (payroll/work pass/immigration), and digitalization (e.g., e-commerce/social media management). 

How does W.L.P innovate?

Tan Li Han: Even before Covid-19 happed, we are actively digitizing our business processes and continually looking for ways to improve our operations and engagement with our clients.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Tan Li Han: The coronavirus pandemic made us realize the importance of going digital in our daily operations, especially when the team is not allowed to leave their homes. At some point in time during the lockdown, we faced communications issues, and accessing documents that were physically in the workstations proved to be difficult for the team. Clients who have yet to digitalize their operations cannot provide us with the information we must continue with our tasks. Hence, at the time, we experienced delays in our work and cannot produce as per schedule. As part of a lesson learned from lockdown, we now encourage and educate our clients on the importance of digitalizing their operations and processes. The majority of our clients now can provide us with the information we need online without a physical meeting, which is discouraged in this pandemic.

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

Tan Li Han: Yes. As the business was severely affected due to the pandemic, we had to lay off some staff to ensure the company is on track. We learned the hard way that streamlining our daily operations to maximize efficiency and going digital on our processes are vital.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and W.L.P in the future?

Tan Li Han: For myself, spending time with friends and family has helped me get through my stressful times. Although the pandemic has made gathering almost impossible, we continuously send our thoughts and love online, and it works just as fine. We will soon be focusing mainly on improvising our digitalization journey and accustoming the team to work remotely so that we will be operating as per usual in any event that such pandemics (hopefully not) were to occur. This ensures that there will not be any hiccup in delivering our service to the clients if we cannot work from the office.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Tan Li Han: Our main competitors are, of course, corporate firms that have already digitalized their operations and processes. As much as we would like to digitalize our entire process fully, we have to keep in mind that not all clients will be willing to take this journey with us. My job is to educate my clients who refute going digital on the benefits that digitalization can bring to his/her organization.

Your final thoughts?

Tan Li Han: The pandemic is just the start of some sweeping changes that affect us and the various industries. We have to keep ourselves at the forefront of technology to stay ahead and bring about this digitalization to help our clients benefit on this change journey.

Your website?

www.wlp.com.sg