Interview: Kim Kyoungnam, Bosch Features 20/06/2019 Hurrairah bin Sohail speaks with Kim Kyoungnam about Bosch’s standing in Asia Pacific across product segments and market verticals.Growth is a word that has become heavily associated with Asia Pacific. But the opportunities the region presents still have to be grabbed. According to Kim Kyoungnam, director for regional marketing at Robert Bosch SEA, the manufacturer is going from strength to strength when it comes to APAC. He says: “We’ve experienced growth across almost all of our business divisions. Compared to last year, we’ve grown by 5% and hopefully we will continue to grow in the years to come as we have done in the past.” Considering the range of Bosch’s business activities, the sustained growth is no mean feat. The achievement is made more impressive by the fact that Bosch is in a dominant position when it comes to multiple product verticals and application segments. In the realm of conferencing and congress, Bosch remains the premium offering. Kyoungnam says: “Conferencing has been growing for us as can be expected with the increasing importance of Asia Pacific as a global player in politics. Dicentis remains the leading IP-based, digital, wired and wireless conferencing system available in the market and clients have recognised this. It brings features and functionality to the table that satisfy all kinds of customer requirements.” Bosch’s success in the conferencing and congress segment is not just its own doing as Kyoungnam adds: “A crucial part of our success is our congress rental partners [Congress Rental Network]. I cannot credit enough the hard work they put in across the Asia Pacific region.” Another sector where Bosch’s performance is worth noting when it comes to Asia Pacific is transport. Kyoungnam details: “In the transport sector, we’re seeing demand from all sorts of projects, be it airports, trains or metro systems. At present, we’re engaged in providing AV systems for new train lines in Thailand and Indonesia. We have 20 to 30 airports in Asia that feature Bosch systems and this number is growing as new airports are being built and older airports are upgrading.” Kyoungnam discusses the reasons behind the strength of Bosch in the transport sector: “We have an established track record when it comes to the transport sector. Every successful project that we are involved with strengthens our position further. AV systems at transport installations like airports are mission critical, they need to function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. In such situations, the end users are looking for assurances and Bosch has the size and scale to offer support for our products across the Asia Pacific region.” Another important move which secured Bosch’s position in the transport sector came with the development of its product line. Kyoungnam explains: “The digital version of the Praesideo system that operates over IP networks helped greatly in the transport sector. It was the right product introduced at the right time and has been instrumental in helping us secure numerous projects.” Even with this performance, Kyoungnam believes there is room for improvement for Bosch. He says: “We have a renewed focus on commercial and installed audio. Our PA-VA offerings have great standing in the market. But Bosch also features a complete range of loudspeakers, amplifiers, microphones and DSPs which are perfectly suited for corporate, hospitality, education and further applications.” Bosch is taking the lessons it has learned from other product segments and applying them to its commercial audio offerings. Kyoungnam says: “With the Praesideo we saw the impact having the right product at the right time can make. We’re replicating that in commercial audio with a new range of amplifiers to pair with our already great EVID speakers. We are currently in the process of introducing the amplifiers to our partners and AV communities across multiple countries in Asia Pacific.”