Mirroring its success on the consumer PC segment, Taiwanese tech giant ASUS shifts its focus to its commercial lineup, as it brings more devices intended to cater to what the users really need.
In September 2019, George Su, ASUS Philippines Country Manager shared what the company called its ‘bold target’ -- to reach 30 percent market share and be the number 1 brand in the commercial PC market in the Asia Pacific region within three years. According to Su, ASUS aims to replicate its achievement in the consumer PC segment, wherein the company obtained 30 percent market share in the entire Asia Pacific region and was hailed as the top 2 brand in the local PC market.
“The Asia Pacific region has been one of the top-performing regions for ASUS in the past year. Worldwide, the PC market is either stagnant or declining in quantities, but in this region, ASUS has been extremely performing. The whole company decided to focus on another sector of the market which is the commercial or business PC, which we haven't addressed in the past year,” Su said.
George Su, ASUS Philippines Country Manager
In order to achieve this goal, ASUS revamped its Pro line, which it reintroduced as the Expert Series. Comprised of the ASUS ExpertBook P3540, ASUS ExpertBook P5440, ASUS ExpertPC D540SA, ASUS VivoPC S340MF, ASUS Chromebook Flip C434, and the ASUS All-in-One series, the Expert lineup is aptly made for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as the education and the government sector.
Months after the launch of the Expert Series, ASUS announced another lineup of laptops and PCs, this time, made specifically for content creators and design professionals. The said move stemmed from the company’s observation that most of today’s creatives opt to use repurposed devices, meaning, instead of utilizing devices that are suitable for graphics, animation, photography, videography, and the like, they use gaming laptops.
“Before the ASUS ProArt StudioBook, content creators have been using repurposed gaming hardware for their workloads, since at the time only gaming hardware can provide the necessary performance that they need. But using hardware meant for gaming can have some downsides: displays and hotkeys that are calibrated and built for gaming, and not necessarily content creation, thick and heavy chassis, and of course, poor battery life,” Su said in a recent interview with the Manila Bulletin.
“When ASUS envisioned the ProArt brand, we envisioned a platform built to remove barriers and provides a professional and comprehensive solution with content creation in mind. Content creators and professionals alike can enjoy no-compromise hardware dedicated to their craft,” he added.
Su mentioned that with the ASUS Expert Series and the ASUS ProArt lineup, the company is merging the philosophy of its commercial and consumer devices -- high-end and purpose-built features and internals created for a wide range of target market.
“ASUS celebrated its 30-year anniversary last 2019, and while it is an achievement in itself for us, we consider one of our biggest achievements is the realization of a more expansive portfolio of products that are now available in the country. These new products, together with the already existing consumer and gaming laptop lines help ensure that ASUS has a product for everyone,” the executive said.
Right offer, right approach
Serving as the frontliners for ASUS’ 30/30 vision, the ASUS ExpertBook B9450 and the ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro X set to arrive locally this year are anchored on the brand’s main principle: design and functionality. These are additional devices under the brand’s wide array of products that are created to handle heavy and demanding work requirements.
Asus Studio Book Pro X
“We consider the ASUS ExpertBook B9450 to be the ideal partner not only in the corporate world, but anyone who wants a portable laptop that they can carry around without having to worry about battery life, extra dongles, performance, security, and most importantly, durability,” Su said.
“For the ASUS ProArt StudioBooks, we basically put together all the hardware and processing power needed by the creatives, and set out to build the perfect mobile workstation laptops, without the compromises that they would encounter when buying from non-creator lines,” he added.
Weighing at only 870 grams with a 14.9mm ultrathin chassis, the ASUS ExpertBook B9450 or the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is the lightest 14-inch business laptop in the world to date, with jam-packed internals of up to i7 10th Gen Intel Core CPU, with dual 2TB PCIe SSD, and 16GB LDDR3 onboard storage, complemented by a Windows 10 Pro operating system. Designed for business professionals on-the-go, apart from its light form factor, the said ExpertBook laptop also surpassed a series of durability tests, copping a military-grade toughness. ASUS also equipped the ExpertBook B9 with the latest features to ensure enterprise-grade security on both of its software and hardware. Aside from this, the ASUS ExpertBook B9450 also features up to 24-hour battery life, as well as ASUS’ exclusive NumberPad, an illuminated numeric keypad on the touchpad for better productivity.
The ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro X, on the other hand, attributes its uniqueness to its secondary display, allowing content creators and industry professionals like architects, programmers, animators, and filmmakers to have the freedom to express their creativity more and to enhance productivity. Dubbed as the ScreenPad 2.0, this feature of the ProArt StudioBook Pro X can be used to navigate easily between different apps. The said laptop also has a Pantone-validated display for an uncompromised color accuracy that creators need.
“We believe that with these new product lines, we can introduce a new world of computing for our customers, an experience that breaks the stereotypes of the typical business laptop or workstation: that they can be feature-packed, elegant, and highly portable, all while maintaining
all the functionality and performance that should be expected from a laptop of their caliber,” Su shared.
Aid to education
Apart from technology and innovation, ASUS takes high regard to partnerships, may it be with their resellers and distributors, or the company’s community and NGO partners, particularly in the education sector.
In the past years, ASUS has been helping educational institutions in embracing a modernized teaching and learning approach. The list includes the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, Xavier University in Cagayan De Oro, and the Philippine Military Academy, among others.
“ASUS is helping cultivate the minds of the next generation of Filipinos through our local solution for progressive and innovative learning. We believe that with technology, every student can benefit from an individualized learning experience that is as effective as it is engaging,” Su said.
The brand also continues to broaden its efforts to reach schools even in far-flung areas and provinces away from the metro. An example of this is Lamo Elementary School in Nueva Vizcaya where ASUS donated 30 units of laptops to support its computer literacy program.
“In today’s digital age, learning does not need to be confined to the classroom -- it can be accomplished anytime, anywhere with the help of technology and the cloud,” he added.
Extending its reach
Su also underscored the help of their partner resellers and distributors in widening its target market to SMBs, startups, the government, and the health sector. To date, it has more than 350 partners nationwide and has more than 4,000 units deployed to different organizations.
“ASUS always values all partnerships that it builds not just with customers but also with the channel partners that brings our products closer to the consumers. Distributors and resellers play a very important role for us especially in this very organized and developed commercial segment,” he said.
Su also shared that ASUS will augment more its presence on different e-commerce platforms to provide expanded accessibility for its products and services. Apart from its online stores on Lazada and Shopee, ASUS has its own eStore.
“Complete solution, convenience and customer value are the key guiding principles in developing our e-commerce channel. We strive to bring the same incredible experience of our physical stores online, not just to reach a wider audience, but to offer exciting and exclusive deals for online shoppers as well,” he said.