SINGAPORE – Growing up during the dawn of the interconnectivity, I had been attached to technology since I first owned a computer — the kind where the CPU made noises upon startup; the monitor was big and bulky; floppy disks were an actual tangible object, and not just the logo for the “Save” button; and you absolutely should not use the telephone while you’re online, lest you lose your connection. This was also the era where free messaging apps first started popping up, such as Yahoo! Messenger and Chikka Messenger, which made it easier and more accessible to talk to friends and family online. However, these internet-based applications, at the time, could only be used strictly via computer.
Then came the next greatest thing known to mankind: the smartphone. And if you were alive in the 2000s, you most definitely owned one immediately. This quickly came with the rise of mobile apps. Your usual gadget would have contained popular gaming apps like Temple Run, Fruit Ninja, and Subway Surfer, as well as your usual social media apps that are still used today such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Instagram. But beyond the games and social media platforms, one bright, purple-colored app has essentially remained a staple to this day and stood as a pioneer in free, instant, Internet-based messaging in the smartphone era: Viber.
Whether someone was an iPhone fanatic, a Blackberry lover, a Nokia loyalist, or an Android user, the purple logo of Viber was prominent among smartphone owners, allowing any and all types of gadgets to exchange communications across a single, seamless platform. This dependability on the messaging app has carried over the years, and guided Viber in its continuous growth and evolution.
“We continue to build the trust of our [audience.] We have seen many new users joining us and contributing to a double-digit growth in our active users [year-over-year.] So, we want to focus on the most important thing: being stable and trustworthy [for them,]” shared David Tse, Senior Director APAC at Rakuten Viber during his exclusive interview with adobo Magazine.
While I was only video calling from Manila since David was stationed in Singapore, his passion and sincerity for his job and helping Viber’s users emanated through our on-screen interaction.
Wirelessly navigating international waters
Spearheading a team spread across Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar, and Vietnam, David and his associates make it a point to focus on the needs of local users in APAC’s key markets. Understanding them and bringing relevant initiatives to meet their needs are his team’s top priorities. And he stays on top of it all through the power of the internet.
“Managing remote members is always about the commitment, discipline, and willingness to have a meaningful conversation. Be it physically […] or even via online meetings like we have now, [it] is always about the quality of the conversation — not just about work, but also about their well-being. And most importantly, [it] is building trust and clear expectations among the team members,” he expressed.
David emphasized the importance of understanding each other within his own multinational team — discussing every detail and thoughts, despite the distance. He meets online with every member on a regular basis to check in with them, and to ensure that they are aligned with a common understanding of their cross-functional performances and the strategy direction from their leadership team. Most importantly, he does this to hear his members’ feedback and address any areas of improvement.
“I really put a lot of discipline and my own commitment to ensure that I hear them out, speak with them, and have that constant understanding of every member in the team,” he shared.
According to David, some of the key factors in managing a team across multiple countries are the cultural differences and varying perspectives. “It’s very important for me to focus on clear and open communications because of the [different perspectives and] experiences they have. And I think this is actually the strength of Viber as a whole.”
He went on to explain: “If we only have one perspective, we can only do one thing. I think we can [achieve so much more] with different initiatives [and] ideas — really drawing from the diversity of the team in Viber, both in the APAC region and globally.”
Through a solutions-oriented mindset, David sees the team’s diversity as an advantage and a strength, not a barrier. With many voices chiming into the day-to-day conversations within his own circle, one question he most often asks is, “How do we move forward more effectively?”
“Ultimately, leadership is to serve the well-being and effectiveness of the team — not myself. And I want to emphasize this point: Leadership is not a position of power. If anyone sees [otherwise], then you’re just driving from one perspective. And I don’t think this will give us any advantage over a diverse team who has so much to offer through their experiences, their values, and perspective,” he stressed.
David’s leadership style leans towards taking accountability in making sure that his team is taken care of, and that they are enabled and empowered to perform their responsibilities. He also coaches and guides his members with their initiative and ideas.
“I think that’s exactly why my team in APAC continues to bring new ideas to the global stage for global stakeholders. In fact, for the last five years — and I just celebrated my fifth anniversary in Rakuten Viber — we started to see APAC really driving or piloting new ideas. And many other regions are actually starting to adopt what we do because of the different experience and perspective that we have. And I think, most importantly, these new ideas from the team have to be brought to the front by not just themselves, but myself to ensure that their dreams and ideas are being realized. This can only be done when they are enabled and they are empowered,” David enthused.
When praised about his admirable leadership style and work ethos, and how he seems to be a really good boss, David simply laughed and humbly said, “I hope so!” And to this writer’s personal note, his modesty only adds to his proficiency and proves why he’s rightfully at the top.
Micro and small businesses make a big impact on the economy
As the overseer of a wide region, David takes great consideration of the Asia Pacific users’ situations: politically, economically, and climatically, as he enumerated. He noted the challenges that users from APAC have experienced this year, as well as the resilience that its natives have demonstrated to face these hardships.
“I think during challenging times, they will always fall back on something that they trust,” he reflected. And this sentiment is what fueled him and his team to double down on working on Viber’s reliability and stability to users.
He cited how the pandemic had affected people, but opted to see what had resulted from it: “During and coming out of Covid, many users across our key countries — not just in APAC, but globally — are starting their new businesses, or what we call ‘side hustles.’”
He noted that this rise in businesses allowed Viber to listen to its users and have a foundational observation on what they really need. This includes the features specially made for small businesses in Viber’s Business Accounts, which enhance businesses’ visibility and discoverability to customers, and further enhance their e-commerce experience.
This exposure of merchants to potential customers is the first step towards the most crucial factor in making a sale: conversation.
“I do believe businesses will require a very important part of the user journey — to have great conversation. That leads to trust, that leads to a great commercial relationship between the merchant and customer. This is the part we continue to emphasize,” David illuminated.
He continued: “Transactions happen only over a great conversation. It is not about how big your carousel of product offerings [is]. You can have [a] big discount, you can have rows and rows of offerings. [But] it all comes down to a great conversation between the merchants and the customers — be it pre-sales, during the sales transaction, or post-sales. We realized that why people are coming to Viber, even before our Business Accounts were born, [is] because they’re having great conversations.”
On a local scale, David put the spotlight on Philippine users and how Viber is always looking for ways to help micro and small businesses in the country with Business Accounts and Marketplace, the new dedicated space on Viber where users can discover businesses and their products and services. He took note of these businesses that are penetrating the market and contributing more to the economy, and wanted to be at their aid through tools that could easily be utilized with little to no learning curve.
“They don’t have a lot of resources. In fact, some of them may [be run] by just one person or two. So, we want our Business Accounts and Marketplace to be an easy tool for them,” he insisted.
The most helpful solution that he highlighted for micro and small business owners was Viber’s ease of use, which allows them to set up a business account within a minute, and integrating and creating business tools that are accessible to them on the app.
Only date real people
David then shed light on a broader challenge that many of us experience online: spam, inappropriate content and fake users. “It is in Viber’s DNA to be secure, private, and put customers first. [It’s] always our top priority [to have] robust spam prevention mechanisms,” he pointed out.
He explained that Viber has both automatic and manual moderation on its platform to filter potential inappropriate users and spam. This is to ensure users that they are engaging with only real people on the app. It’s implemented not just in Viber’s common functions as a messaging app, but also in its Business Accounts and on Viber Dating — Viber’s very own dating platform that can be found within the app itself.
“The way we look into our security and privacy, the way we look into spam prevention and ensuring real users are [on] our platform, this ultimately gives the benefits for users across different features. This is the emphasis that we have, and a commitment [that] will never change simply because we have more features. In fact, the more features we have, the more we should emphasize on the safety in our platform, and the trustworthiness. We continue to challenge ourselves as we give more of such features out. We would never compromise our safety, our security, and [the] privacy of our users,” David underlined.
In the case of Viber Dating, he quoted the feature’s tagline, “Meet real people like you,” to drive his point home. “[It’s a] simple, but a very fundamental, strong commitment that when you come in, you’re meeting real people — not some fake account,” he expounded.
He also shared that from an insight among their users, Viber Dating offers the quickest medium for people who have matched to have a meaningful conversation. This is in stark comparison to other dating platforms where users might have to wait a while for a conversation to begin, or it might not even come at all.
A small seed sprouting into a super app
David sees the path for Viber’s growth to be at an upward trajectory, but it’s one that’s still rooted in its core identity. “We’re not walking away from our core capability as a messaging app. Whatever we build, [it] is always about conversation, [whether it’s] the Business Account, Dating, or other functionalities,” he clarified. “It is always about two parties having a great and meaningful conversation on a trustworthy platform. In everything we do, we draw back to our core capability, and this is the part where people trust us the most.”
As Viber adds more functionalities and continues to be a part of social interactions, David highlights its evolution into what he calls a “super app.”
He elucidated that super apps can be filled up by many features that have no relation to each other. But Viber remains steadfast in offering closely related functions that are fundamentally based on conversations.
“We are [a] super app right now, even though we are still at heart a messaging app. And we emphasize on that without any compromise to the conversational experience, security, and privacy,” he resolved.
“I think this is the part that I’m really proud of about what Viber is doing,” David stated. “We don’t throw out new features just because it’s cool, or it’s the latest technology. We implement features with careful thought and understanding of our users, what they need from conversations, and how easily they can manage their daily lives within the Viber ecosystem as a super app.”
