Spark Business Hub: Tailored support for small and medium-sized businesses, weathering the pandemic together
As New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company, Spark New Zealand has 27 Spark Business Hubs nationwide. Working with world-class suppliers and IT companies, they provide local business customers with tailored, one-stop solutions covering connectivity, IT, mobile communications, information security, cloud services and related coordination services.
Spark’s largest Business Hub is its Auckland CBD hub, located on the busy commercial strip of Ponsonby Road. Manager Aabhas Dole works with outstanding account managers and business development managers to provide personalised, professional services to customers across industries, business sizes and requirements, meeting their diverse needs comprehensively. YIJU New Zealand interviewed him exclusively about the challenges and opportunities Spark Business Hub encountered during COVID-19.
About Spark Business Hub
Spark Business Hub serves customers across sectors including retail, manufacturing and design, ranging from microbusinesses to large enterprises. It places particular emphasis on working with small and medium-sized business owners to develop tailored solutions.
Q: What are the pain points for your customers and prospective customers?
A: Telecommunications and digital services require specialist knowledge. When problems arise, many business customers struggle to pinpoint the cause immediately and find the right provider to resolve it promptly. They often make several calls without resolving the problem, wasting staff time and delaying business operations.
Q: How does the Business Hub help customers address these pain points?
A: Things are different when customers choose Spark Business Hub. Our hubs provide connectivity, products and services in one place. When customers encounter problems, we can bring together telecommunications, security, collaboration, mobile communications and technology resources to resolve them and meet their needs. This is also why our hubs are rooted in their communities: we work where our customers work, making it easier for our specialist teams to provide timely, dedicated advice and services.
If customers need us, we can meet face to face at a time convenient for them. We assign each customer a dedicated account manager, so they only need to speak to that person to resolve a large proportion of the technical issues their business may face.
Q: What are Spark Business Hub’s main advantages over other providers in the market?
A: As a one-stop service centre, our most distinctive advantage is our ability to support local businesses within their communities, with dedicated customer service teams in regions throughout New Zealand. This is our biggest point of difference from competitors. Alongside connectivity, we offer solutions spanning IT, cloud-managed networks, IoT, information security and devices.
We have a wide range of devices and hardware, leading IT partners and world-class suppliers. Of course, we also have an outstanding business team who take time to understand customers’ business needs and help them make sound technology decisions.
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The post-pandemic “new normal”
As we all know, COVID-19 has brought major challenges to almost every industry in New Zealand and around the world.
Some see only crisis and risk, while others see opportunities for growth.
Aabhas and his team naturally belong to the latter group.
Q: How has COVID-19 affected Spark Business Hub’s operations during the nationwide lockdown and since then?
A: Like other Spark stores, Spark Business Hubs stopped accepting in-person customers during the Level 4 lockdown.
However, wherever circumstances allowed, our teams collaborated remotely to help customers resolve urgent technical or hardware issues and keep their businesses running smoothly.
My team adapted very well to remote working. At every critical moment, our service staff found creative ways to work with customers to resolve technical issues.
As a result, we received a great deal of positive feedback, recognition and appreciation from customers.
Q: What are Spark Business Hub’s main advantages over other providers in the market?
A: As a one-stop service centre, our most distinctive advantage is our ability to support local businesses within their communities, with dedicated customer service teams in regions throughout New Zealand. This is our biggest point of difference from competitors.
Alongside connectivity, we offer solutions spanning IT, cloud-managed networks, IoT, information security and devices.
We have a wide range of devices and hardware, leading IT partners and world-class suppliers. Of course, we also have an outstanding business team who take time to understand customers’ business needs and help them make sound technology decisions.
Q: How is Spark Business Hub responding to the challenges brought by the pandemic?
A: We are busy working with business customers to help them prepare for changing working environments, including more remote working and additional security requirements, and to ensure all their business-related needs are met.
Spark is committed to providing customers with connectivity solutions suited to their needs and the best combination of digital tools to help them work smarter.
Through world-leading partners and our extensive range of solutions, we are helping businesses adapt to the pandemic’s “new normal” and embrace a digital future.
Q: What are Spark Business Hub’s short- and long-term strategies for adapting to the pandemic’s “new normal”?
A: Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy. To remain competitive today, they must confront the challenges of a rapidly evolving digital environment, which are greater than ever.
In response, Spark Business Hub will continue working closely with customers to tailor solutions that best meet their business needs and help them remain competitive, weathering the pandemic together.
