“ We didn't know anything about Cloud PBX before. We thought we had to integrate Telco phone service with other information systems to get what we needed. With EVOX, we found everything we wanted in a single system.”
by QDM co-founder Hu
Returning to Kao Hsiung to form a startup
（Image source： QDM）
Ten years ago my business partner A De and I packed our bags, returned home to Kao Hsiung, and formed our own startup. Leveraging our expertise in user experience, our goal was to help Kao Hsiung develop an information service industry.
We experimented with different projects, first focusing on developing an app with AR for everyday use. With the agility of our small team, we were able to keep the business running but we had no idea of the challenges ahead.
Birth and challenges of the QDM Ecommerce platform
Even though online shopping was already a big industry in Taiwan, it was dominated by a few players like PChome and Yahoo. For a lot of sellers, these platforms were too restrictive and didn't allow them to create their own promotions and user experience. Sellers wanted more control over their online shop and the ability to inject their own creative influence. This was the impetus for our creation of the QDM platform.
（Image source： QDM）
QDM, the abbreviation for “Is your shop open?” in Taiwanese, is like the way you would greet a friend. We wanted to create a user-friendly platform with a low entry cost to allow many sellers to build their online shop with style and personality. In addition to the platform, we developed promotional tools and in-depth retail services, so sellers wouldn't need to find and integrate third-party tools.
Steve Jobs famously said you shouldn't start a company if your only goal is to make money. Starting a company is extremely hard and, after two years of research and development and market studies, QDM was finally launched. Even though we had success with earlier projects, a hard road was waiting for us.
From the first month of our launch we ran into integration issues, data corruption, and hacker attacks. All of the problems we tried to avoid came in quick succession. We acknowledged our faults, faced our problems, and proactively worked with our customers to overcome these challenges.
Moving became the perfect opportunity for digital transformation
The honeymoon period for QDM as a startup had come to an end. QDM was growing steadily and transitioning to becoming a “grown-up.”
In the beginning we did not adopt cloud technology. Important company information was kept on paper, even while we were using some online tools for development and management. This left us vulnerable to data loss and team communication was problematic.
In particular, our customer feedback was based on verbal descriptions from our support team. Organizing and consolidating the descriptions led to delays in decision making. Development tended to be based on opinion and personal experience rather that actual customer knowledge and data.
We realized we needed to digitally transform our operations, but we knew we couldn't do it overnight. To sustain our growth, we had to manage our knowledge and become data driven. In other words, we needed to capture customer feedback, usage, and monitor needs to understand the market direction. Our first step was to come up with a solution to manage customer service data.
（Image source： QDM）
This realization coincided with our office move, which became the perfect opportunity to begin our digital transformation. When we learned about EVOX, we knew we had not only found a customer knowledge solution but also solved some of our moving problems. Since EVOX is a 100% cloud solution, we wouldn't require any hardware equipment, or need to worry about moving our phone system or changing our number. Our service team could continue to work during the move on their mobile app.
More info：
Cloud PBX allows you to move your office without changing your phone number or moving equipmentHaving the complete customer history and information when a call comes in allows your service team to appear more professional
QDM adopted the EVOX Connect contact center solution and the Pro PC App for making and receiving calls. Because EVOX Connect integrates your customer contact database with your phone system, the Pro PC App instantly displays the complete customer profile on an incoming call. This allows our service team to quickly understand the customer's needs and provide friendly and personalized service.
Service staff can also take notes and follow up on each customer call. All this information is captured in the cloud database where it can be reviewed and edited. This powerful combination of phone service and customer knowledge is an invaluable tool for customer service. We didn't have to find different tools and try to integrate them. Like QDM, EVOX is a one stop shop service solution.
The Pro PC App and headset are QDM staff favorites since they allow them to accept calls and take notes without neck pain and fatigue. Another feature that protects both QDM staff and customers is the legal recording of calls. Not only do customers behave better when the call is recorded, but the call is preserved in case there is any contention later.
For QDM, digital transformation is not a project but a continuous process. When we first onboarded EVOX, we experienced some hesitancy from the staff. But, after it was widely adopted, they quickly realized the benefits of a cloud contact center that was easy to learn and would allow supervisors to check on customer contact data without interrupting the team. It was a win-win situation.
