Philippine premier telecommunications company Eastern Communications continues to champion its high-tech and high-touch promise, as it fortifies its offerings with up-to-date digital essentials and a more personalized customer experience.
With the rise of digital operations in various sectors, Eastern Communications amps up its wide array of cybersecurity and cloud services to assist organizations in achieving efficient and secure digitalization.
Based on the telco’s research, several industries such as the supply chain, finance, tourism, and public sector are in need of cybersecurity and cloud solutions to solve some of their pain points. With this, Eastern identified key business essentials that industries need to help them move forward in their digital transformation journey. The “Evolve Every Day Essentials” include Eastern Cloud, Eastern SASE, and Eastern cybersecurity services.
For instance, the public sector’s implementation of eGov apps requires sophisticated digital security to safeguard personal information and online transactions. There is also a need to digitalize day-to-day business operations to make services more convenient for the public. Building a digital nation entails a foundation of a robust digital infrastructure.
With tourism flourishing, Eastern Communications also suggests that related businesses must evolve digitally and provide wider and more consistent touch points. This is to access real-time information and services in order to boost the productivity of tourism industries.
Other sectors like supply chain, finance, and IT BPO, are likewise recommended to upgrade their operations by adopting automation, digital collaboration tools, and an advanced cybersecurity system. Eastern also recognized the importance of cost-effective and customized cybersecurity solutions for MSMEs, based on reports that a significant percentage of cyberattacks (70-75%) are specifically targeted toward SMEs.
“We believe that the MSMEs also deserve to be protected. That’s why we’ve worked on democratizing our services, making them accessible to all. By leveraging cloud technology, we were able to make cybersecurity tools more affordable and we can now offer it as a service. Our goal is to empower small and medium enterprises across the Philippines, enabling them to benefit from this technology as well,” said Edsel Paglinawan, Eastern Communications Vice President & Head of Product and Innovation Division.
“Regarding the needs of the specific market segments we have identified, the three hero products—Eastern Cloud, SASE, and Eastern Cybersecurity—are the main drivers that help us serve customers effectively and help them achieve more and evolve more every day,” he added.
As it continues to promote digitalization, Eastern Communications is strengthening its partnership with global provider Fortinet, which helped the company deliver the first telco Fortinet MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider) in the Philippines.
Eastern Communications is also the first Philippine telco to provide Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) in the country, an enterprise networking technology that provides a single network connecting and securing any enterprise resource – physical, cloud, and mobile – from anywhere. Paglinawan emphasized the distinction between broadband and shared internet, where shared connections can restrict connectivity but can be overcome or mitigated by utilizing SD-WAN and SASE technologies.
Moreover, Paglinawan says that Eastern is also the first telecommunications company and cloud solutions provider to partner with another cloud provider to utilize the same platform and to offer a locally hosted geo-redundant cloud platform.
Enhanced customer experience with My Eastern Portal
Eastern Communications subscribers can now take advantage of My Eastern Portal, a feature that allows customers to conveniently view and pay their bills online with different payment options.
The portal is the telco’s step in implementing eco-friendly alternatives in its operations by reducing the amount of waste produced with printed bills.
Apart from My Eastern Portal, Eastern Communications’ website interface has been optimized for more efficient performance, so existing and new customers can access Eastern’s extensive portfolio of services easily and securely on their desktop and mobile browsers.
Furthermore, customers can create customized plans by matching solutions based on their needs.
“Through this website refresh, we can make the customer’s journey as simple, hassle-free, and as secure as possible. The redesigned interface will make it easier for them to identify the product or service that best suits their needs. Moreover, concerns about the billing process will also be addressed as subscribers will have access to different online payment providers in our My Eastern Portal,” said Eastern Communications’ Head of IT Rex Evangelista.