ASUS global VP Jackie Hsu talks innovation

In a tech market full of brands trying to stand out from the crowd, ASUS sticks out as a brand that is constantly innovating across a wide variety of sub-markets.

A key player in ASUS’ success is Jackie Hsu, corporate VP and global sales head of ASUS’ OPBG (Open Platform Business Group).

Hsu recently visited South Africa and in an interview spoke about what makes ASUS tick, and what the company’s plans are for the future.

The key to ASUS’ success

“If we want a successful business result, we have three criteria,” Hsu said.

According to Hsu, these are an outstanding product, outstanding teamwork, and outstanding partners – including channel and media partners.

“Without any one of these, a business cannot run very smoothly,” he said.

“We focus on making products that are unique and avoid following a ‘me too’ approach,” Hsu added, highlighting that a third of ASUS employees are involved in research and development – a key factor in ASUS constantly being at the head of innovation.

A focus on design

ASUS has won many design awards from reputable institutions such as the IF Design Awards, Computex, and the Red Dot Design Awards.

According to Hsu, ASUS places quite a big focus on design, employing an expansive team to achieve this.

“These design engineers come from different backgrounds – some of them are from traditional art schools, some are from industrial design, and some could be engineering graduates with a high interest in design,” said Hsu.

“They are also from different countries – giving us a wide range of thinking,” Hsu added.

Hsu added that the most important thing they do is investigating industry trends.

“Industrial designers have to produce a product, not just an artwork,” said Hsu.

“It may look very beautiful, but if the user can’t use it, it’s not a product – it’s a concept.”

Future focus

People often associate ASUS with gaming equipment, but Hsu said that the company is actually heavily focused on other markets such as SMBs and education.

“Many people may think that ASUS is only good at gaming routers, but for two consecutive years we have won the award for the best business router from PC Magazine,” he said.

Additionally, ASUS recently launched a high-quality new motherboard that comes with remote management software, ASUS Control Centre (ACC).

“Many people don’t know that the motherboard can deliver big differences in performance,” said Hsu.

According to Hsu, many SMBs don’t have large and complete IT teams. They usually just have one or two engineers working primarily on network connectivity.”

“If they need to install a new application on everyone’s PCs, usually they have to go to each user’s desk and do it one-by-one,” said Hsu.

“However, if their computers are equipped with our solution, ASUS Control Centre, then the IT guy can install applications from his desk to all the PCs with one click of a button.”

For bigger corporates, ASUS Control Centre also helps substantially, with security software that protects hardware such as USB ports from being accessed to malicious ends.

Focus on portable USB monitors

ASUS has released its industry-leading MB16AC portable USB monitor, which allows for multi-screen computer usage even when out of the office.

Hsu said that the monitor has almost endless uses – from a businessman in their hotel room, to the everyday man who wants to watch Netflix or check their emails.

Hsu said that the monitors currently comes in the traditional, USB-powered version, as well as the MB16AP that works with its own battery and is USB Type-C and Type-A compatible.

“Very soon, we will also release a version with touch functionality,” Hsu added.

Monitors for every need

ASUS recognises that users have various needs for their equipment, and therefore create monitors that match these needs.

Hsu used the example of his son, who is studying industrial design, and has a high-quality gaming monitor, but needed a content creation-focused monitor to meet his data colour accuracy requirements.

On the subject of content creators, Hsu highlighted the PA90 mini PC, which is created for designers in terms of its performance and features.

The PA90 includes various features that will provide the optimal experience for content creators, such as CAD-optimised performance, quiet liquid-cooling, and up to 64GB DDR4 memory.

Visit ASUS’ website to learn more about their various product offerings.