Yeirang Lee- Interview with the founder of Platicube International

Yeirang Lee
Application Assignment #8
Communication Management

Network, Networking, and Networks

As the readings highlight the significance of informal networks in helping organizations adopt changes or implement better operations, I was interested to learn more about how to network. Networking is very significant to our lives, we do it every day, but learning how to network better, I believe, is a foundational key to our successes. Krackhardt and Hanson and Cross and Parker readings discuss the various ways in which to analyze and better utilize existing network systems. They discuss ways to identify different types of networks (whether its communication, personal, trust, etc.) by asking specific questions. However, I was more appealed to the Ibarra and Hunter reading which focused on looking at three types of network: operational, personal, and strategic. In this essay, I will interview James Park, the founder of Platicube International in London.

Hi Sung, Just to engage the audience a bit, tell me about yourself.

My name is James Park. I have taken time off from school to start a company focused on app-making and smart phone applications, ePublications, and database management. It’s been a quite challenging, adventurous process, and I would say networking has been a significant key to the growth of my company. With the rising role of technology and the changes in our social systems, we seek out opportunities for implementing leading edge technologies at the heart of forward thinking organisations with a view to making an immediate impact. Although we produce contents that are related to native apps, web apps, websites, and eBooks, our focus is utilizing the increasing role of mobile phones in today’s society. With the introduction of 4G LTE, we can expect to see further increases in usage of mobile phones and even replace some of the functions personal computers provide. Mobile phones are portable and used frequently throughout the day for various purposes beyond calling. We hope to be the best and bring a new era of product development, corporate culture, and advanced technological experiences to the global society

So how does your company work?

Well, we divide the process of our company into various parts. The usual process is that we receive a product request, in which our client discusses their needs. Then, we discuss together with our client what we can do and get a clear sense of what they request. Then, we start a planning process in which we discuss how we will develop the product, we call this wire-frame because we our trying to closely knit our company together to best utilize our skills and make top quality products. We form, design, and create the product.

Thanks. so if I can get to the meat of the bones, How has networking helped your success? In my class readings, Ibarra and Hunter, divide three types of networking (operational, personal, and strategic). Operational network as a network focused on getting the work done efficiently, centered within the organization, and prescribed by task and organizational structure. Personal network as a network focused on personal and professional development, those outside of the organization, and used for referral for useful contacts. Strategic network as figuring out future priorities and challenges, those internal and external of the organization, and looking at potential partnerships.

Those are good ways to think about networking. For operational networks, it’s a good way to look at it from our organization structure. Our organization is divided into Programming, Design, and ePublishing. Programming department are our employees making apps, centered on our customer’s direction. We do a lot of coordination within this department and this department is centered in Seoul, South Korea, which is the leading country for mobile broadband penetration with 91% of the population subscribed to mobile broadband services.
ePublishing department focuses on our marketing department, where we want to promote our products, meet new potential clients, and better serve our current clients with updates. Marketing has been a significant program to help our company to be recognized, especially by well-known firms, and it has been the driver of our company to get new projects in. Its main function is to provide publishing products and services for administrative publications and forms to Air Force customers worldwide. This way other companies can easily see what we are doing and what we can provide.
Design is the department focused on design of the app products. How it will look, what pictures to use, what to use, why to use certain colors, and by asking these questions, we are trying to tailor our products to our customers as best as possible.

Personal networks arise from the networks of our workers. Whether its people we know or interact with in our daily lives. We encourage our workers to interact with others as much as possible, in this way, we can promote our company and help bring in new ideas.

Our Strategic network, as the definition goes has been focused on our future clients, trying to best manage and open our networks. We have meetings with outside and inside managers, looking at how are networks can serve our company, whether its making better products or finding new products. Thus, we focus mostly on leadership networking in working towards our strategy.

How have you employed these networks to your advantage and success of the company?

Operational networks have been really helpful in bringing ideas to our company. Our ePublishing, Design, and Programming department are all located in Seoul within one office. Because of our tight-knit group, the employees know all the projects that are going on, and thus, we get ideas flowing constantly. The important part of our projects is that we have to get as creative as possible. We try our best to provide something innovative and eye-catching for our clients, and if we don’t interact we tend to produce similar products. We want to provide a wide-range of products as well as best fit our products to our clients. With many inputs from our employees, we have come up with very interesting apps. For example, we provided an app that focuses on capturing car accidents from a 360 degree viewpoint – so that insurance claimers can project their claim as clear as possible. When we discussed this project at a lunch table, one member suggested that we connect the 360 degree view with Google Maps to pinpoint the exact location that allowed the insurance companies and department of traffic to find incident prone areas. This added a very useful option for our app that our client was very interested in.

Our personal networks have been really key in helping us recruit members. When we recruit employees, we focus on the personal networks of our employees. Although we do receive outside applications, and go on campuses to promote our organization, our employees know best who is capable of helping our company grow and make better products. There are so many applications these days that its hard to tell anything from resumes or interviews. Moreover, our company is small and our organization culture has been to work together constantly to integrate as much ideas as possible.

Another way personal networks have worked in our favor is that projects have been increasing because our CEO and executive director are veterans of the media sector. They know significant people working at BBC, Northern & Shell, Paramount UK, PBS UK, and others. These media organizations have helped our company to expose our company to many other companies. Moreover, our CEO and executive director invite marketing experts to our meetings that help us our company grow. The power of personal networks has been very significant.

Our CEO, executive director, myself, and CIO have been working on the strategic networking. Our leaders know best how our company is giving a cutting edge product, and so we develop a list of organizations that we believe we can provide them a helpful product. Then, we call them or even visit these companies to set up appointments. Then with the appointments, we not only receive ideas and requests, but also find other companies we can network. Most of the clients we find are actually those who we get in contact through the list we first formulate. So strategic networking has been really key as well as our products to impress our clients.

Thanks for the interview James.

From my short interview with James, his comments about his organization has been one-sided. Still, I was able to get important insights on how networking has been significant in his organization. It was to difficult to survey his organization and develop a social network analysis, but it seems as though informal networking in his group is utilized most in recruiting, finding clients, and improving their products. The main way he has kept utilizing informal networks is by employing, creating a close-knit environment, and strategizing on how to network with companies. By employing well-networked workers, he has set a strong foundation for building his strategic networks and built strong credibility for his organization, and his close-knit environment has been effective in breaking down cross-functional boundaries and assisting new ideas to build-up.