Fast and furious
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2019 16:18:53 +0000
I want to keep moving and try other things. To be part of a technology that will change the landscape of digital automation and bring business efficiency to a higher level. I want to be part of the discovery.”
“It all started with sheer curiosity.”
That’s how Tisha Gay Corros, chief operating officer of solutions provider 2City Technologies Inc., explained how someone with a bent for arts and literature wound up in the digital technology space and flourished there.
“I finished a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Baguio, but never got to practice what I studied for,” she says. “My first job was in sales and customer service at a trading firm for mechanical equipment and robotics.”
That first exposure to technical instruments eventually led her to the internet and information technology. “The challenge was for me to understand the system,” Tisha recalls. “I’m not a techie, but I like observing people and things. I watched how mechanical engineers worked. I wasn’t conscious that I was pushing myself, like learning robotics — how to transfer integrated circuit to analog body. And this brought my curiosity to the next level — innovation.”
Wherever she went, Tisha wanted to enhance a system, to add something more to it, so both customer and her company would be happy. “The demand then was to sell solely software solutions for POS (point of sale) machines. We introduced a software with a hardware that was customized, based on the requirement of the retail store. It came out to be more efficient, there was ease of use because we offered compatibility with a hardware.
They need not source it themselves. Most importantly, there was value for money.”
Financial technology has also been part of Tisha’s work experience. “When e-commerce was just starting, I got the chance to work with Dick Chiang of Dragonpay [the entrepreneur who established an alternative payment channel to respond to the new demands of consumers and businesses]. Back when payment was only over the counter, I saw first-hand how the first alternative payment in the Philippines developed. Nowadays, you don’t have to physically queue up. You can pay online, make fund transfers, create payment solutions using over 20,000 payment facilities.”
Tisha adds: “I want to keep moving and try other things. To be part of a technology that will change the landscape of digital automation and bring business efficiency to a higher level. I want to be part of the discovery. To be there when it happens.” Such ambitions led her to 2City Technologies Inc.
Set up in 2018, 2City, according to Tisha, could literally mean two cities/sources with one goal: to bring solutions to a business; or two cities, meaning, the company and the client focused on one outcome: maximum efficiency. “We help business owners manage their work flow processes through our high-end digital products. Our flagship product is Kyoo queueing management solution.” Other products include Zuuki, an online marketplace setup that lets people create their own online store; TalkM, a real-time chat messenger widget; and HRIS Plus, a human resource information system.
As the name connotes, Kyoo (queue) zeroes in on the universal, chronic problem of waiting in line. Tisha points out: “You experience it everywhere. At banks, supermarkets, bus stations, restaurants. We’re offering a system, the only one in the market, that uses a QR code. It could be generated from a hand-held gadget, or a tablet, or a life-size kiosk.
“The size of the equipment depends on client’s need and budget. Once you get a print out of the QR code, you can take a picture of it with your smartphone. If it turns out, say, you’re number 75, you may leave the premises and do your other errands. Even watch a movie, as an exaggeration, which sometimes, you wish you did in worse instances.
Then, when you’re about third in line to be served, you will get a notification through your smartphone, which gives you ample time to go back to the place you queued up in,” explains Tisha. “I’m sure you’ve seen a restaurant in the mall filled with people waiting for their names to be called. You see families sitting on benches, probably playing games on their phones or, sometimes, starting to get irritated. As long as there are humans involved, there will be limitations in the system, that’s why we want to help through innovation. Our thrust is to always promote ease and convenience.”
Just this year, Tisha proudly says they helped a company in the transportation business ease its perennial problem of long lines. “We recently deployed our handheld and kiosk queueing systems in Victory Liner. And the results were impressive. We were able to organize the lines, and there was ease of operations. I am very happy to share that we’ve helped not just a company, but so many people. Now, if we could only help ease the traffic flow on Edsa…
“If I had my way I would widen Edsa to 10 lanes. Bring in more experts to solve our heavy traffic problem. But above everything else, those, who wish to help, should have a heart. We want to give people balance of time. We respect their time,” emphasizes Tisha, who, outside her job, equally values her time as a mother to daughters — Tea, 17, and Toe, 11.
She may be a corporate woman, but she has managed to strike a balance between work and her family, even finding time to do daily household chores. “I cook for my family every day. It’s really just a matter of managing your time. I used to be a weekend parent since my daughters then studied in Baguio, and my job was in Manila and my husband Jufel’s was, too.
“Nevertheless, we never missed out on checking their homework daily. Technology enabled us to ease our pain points as parents. I even order groceries remotely. Like when the kids say we ran out of some food stuff. They are my priority, so I don’t make them wait until I get home. The items are delivered when they need them.”
Even at work, Tisha’s motivation is to have more time with her family. “I value my being a mom.”
She reasons: “I want to create innovations that would give value to my time. I want to do more things for my girls. One time, my daughter was sick. Who wants to make her sick daughter wait in the hospital? It took a day to get a room. And if you wait in the ER [emergency room], it’s more expensive. The queueing once again…
“It’s my nature to want everything fast. I don’t want to wait for my bills to come, because I want to transfer my payments when I want it. Even going to work at peak hours, you have to wait in line for the elevator. That’s why I want change. I enjoy every step of looking for change. I’m constantly pushing myself to discover new things.”
With such a hectic schedule and a grand mission to change old ways, does Tisha ever have time for just herself? “I enjoy being a girl, despite all the things that I do,” she reports. “I love watching movies with my husband. We still have date nights; we never lost the romance. I dance when I hear music, even at the office. That takes the place of exercise.
“I love my kitchen. My day starts at 4 a.m., cooking. I bake cakes, make hungarian sausages and even sell some if I’ve made too many.”
And if there wasn’t heavy traffic on EDSA, Tisha would be happy to get home earlier than usual. She would spend more hours at the neighborhood convenience store (her family’s favorite past time), chilling with her spouse and their girls, eating boiled bananas and eggs, catching up on what happened in the kids’ school that day. The inquisitive Baguio lass-turned-techie-boss is simply a devoted, easy-going mom, after all.
About me
ROLE MODEL
My parents, Clemente and Elizabeth Bentia. I carry the values they instilled in me — to be independent, to learn how to decide for myself. They never stopped me from pursuing my dreams.
GOAL
To have my own tech company
FIRST PAYING JOB
Sales and customer service at a trading firm
MORNING ROUTINE
Wake up at 4 a.m. to prepare breakfast for family. Leave home at 5 a.m. Eat breakfast in the car. Start work at 6:30 a.m.
SPECIAL SKILLS
I can cook anything.
TIME SPEND ON SOCIAL MEDIA
One hour daily
Elaine Veronica R. Lubag