Technology Insight Part 1: Wacom Singapore

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On 26th August, we had a rewarding experience with Mr. Ong Khiaw Seng, Senior Director SEA & S.A Wacom Singapore Pte Ltd and Mr. HC Chew, Managing Director of Peripheral Solutions Pte Ltd for our exclusive interview hosted at Wacom headquarters.

Left to Right: Mr. HC Chew, Managing Director of Peripheral Solutions Pte Ltd & Mr. Ong Khiaw Seng, Senior Director SEA & S.A Wacom Singapore Pte Ltd


Technology giants in the pen, tablet and surface technology industry, Wacom Singapore and Peripheral Solutions had made significant contributions in pushing the boundaries of promoting digital arts in all related fields. They have offered valuable assistance to our partner – Ink Fusion Singapore in many government-related projects, such as community events held at Sengkang West Community Sports Centre and Toa Payoh SAFRA, where the elderly and members of the public got the chance to experience with the cutting-edge technology of Wacom tablets in digital arts creation and 2D animation production.

Peripheral Solutions opened its doors in July this year to its very first Learning Journey experienced, co-organized with Arts Educators from Ink Fusion to offer Hwa Chong International School students an enriching up-close and personal experience with the vast spectrum of functions and versatility of the wide range of Wacom products solely distributed by Peripheral Solutions.

Wacom Singapore and Peripheral Solutions also played an active role in arts and design related competitions, such as their sponsorship this year of premium tablets – Cintiq 16 as top prizes for Singapore’s very first large-scale original comics and illustrations themed competition – Singapore International Original Comics Competition (SGIOCC), jointly organized by TCZ Studio Pte Ltd and Comics Society (Singapore).

Wacom Singapore and Peripheral Solutions also look into giving back to the community, such as enabling Ink Fusion Singapore via collaboration with social enterprise oriented independent education entities like Little Arts Academy (Northpoint City), to offer the underprivileged access to digital art education with their affordable range of products and tools.

Without further ado, let us dive into the responses from the two successful hardware-tech leaders!

Interview of:
Mr. Ong Khiaw Seng

Senior Director, S.E.A & S.A
Wacom Singapore Pte. Ltd.


1) How do you view your product amongst the other brands?

Wacom is a technology company and our brands are basically being used by all the top animation studios in the world, for example – Disney, Sony Pictures, Cartoon Network and Pixar. So definitely there’s a good reason why they used our products. We have also invented our own patent called the EMR Technology, which is adopted in all our products. It started in 1990 when Disney first used our tablets for “Beauty & The Beast” and subsequently all other big animation studios followed suit.

Questions-for-Mr-KS-WACOM-ASIA-MD
Mr. Ong Khiaw Seng Senior Director, S.E.A & S.A Wacom Singapore Pte. Ltd.

2) What differentiates Wacom against competing brands?

What we always do is that we’re constantly getting feedback from our customers, from the users who are actually using the product to let us know whether everything is okay, what should we do to improve on this and that – in terms of accuracy, feel and touch.

In doing tablets for the last 36 years, we basically know what customers want, for example, our products are actually quality products and we add value to it. Like we have software which we bundle together with our Intuos range of products. Sometimes we do have special deals for our tablets like the Intuos Pro.

Other value-adds will be our local warranty and customer support. We have a toll-free line where customers can call in to in their respective countries whenever they have problems.

 3) What do you think consumers expect from your products in the next 5-10 years?

Our customers are people who really know what they want. So one of the things that they’re looking for is more affordable display tablets which are our Cintiq range, so we’re currently moving in that direction. But I’m very sure that the aspiring artists and professionals are looking for a more affordable range of display products.

There’s also feedback that customers are looking for a more affordable all-in-one. Currently, we have our mobile Studio Pro, which is a bit on the top range. So customers would like to see more low-end all-in-one products and one of the things that are frequently feedbacked is probably to have more usage for our products, instead of just for animation or for education. Maybe we can turn it into a mouse, for gesture use, instead of just animation or education.

Read: Learning Journey Programme – A Modern Approach To Art Education >>

This learning journey trip is accredited by the National Arts Council. It enables our art practitioners and partners to reach out to more local school students, and to help them better understand the creative industry. Through field trips accompanied by professional trainers who work closely with the Comics Society (Singapore), we aim to encourage the youths to pursue their passion and nurture their talents in areas of Original Creativity.

Read now >>

 

Read: Technology Insight Part 2 : Peripheral Solutions >>

The man responsible for our local creative digital tablets distribution.

Learn about our local distributor who got his exclusive distribution rights from Wacom, his contributions to our local art scene, and learned about his company strategy – Managing Director of  Peripheral Solutions PTE LTD – Mr. HC Chew.

Read now >>

 

 

Credits:

Videographer: Flippictures Production

Photographer: Silver Chia

Video subtitles by Ziru Chang

Reporter: Ziru Chang