ZONE1511 wins prestigious Industry Award

SINGAPORE, January 16, 2001 – ZONE Group Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed e-KONG Group that provides the world’s only IDD service portals, has been honoured as one of Asia’s top 20 IT users in the inaugural Intelligent20 Awards organised by Intelligent Enterprise magazine. The award recognises ZONE Group Limited for its strategic use of IT and excellent tech-driven business initiatives for its convergent service portal - ZONE1511 - that is operating in Hong Kong and Singapore, and branded as ZoneLD in the US. 

The ZONE1511 convergent service portal available on the Internet simplifies the process of choosing IDD service providers for subscribers. It conveniently manages their accounts online and provides significant costs savings by giving the option to choose from leading IDD service providers. 

“ZONE Group uses technology to boost our efficiency and streamline our operations and this award is an endorsement of our business concept,” said Yvonne Lee, managing director of ZONE Telecom Pte Ltd, Singapore.  “ZONE has created a service which reduces the distribution costs of IDD service providers and gives consumers dramatic cost savings. We will continue to use advanced technology to enhance our service and provide end users with even more functionality and ease-of-use.”  

Every time the customer makes an IDD call through ZONE1511, the platform checks to see which of the service providers chosen has the best price at the time of the call and places the call over that service provider. The method ZONE1511 employs for this is called Least Cost Routing (LCR). 

Customers using ZONE1511 can choose to use multiple service providers and only have to remember one access number – 1511. At the end of the month customers receive a single consolidated bill that shows all the calls. Customers can update their account, change their choice of service providers or manage their Personal Identification Number (PIN) conveniently online. 

“We are very proud to receive this prestigious award,” says Jeffrey Fraser, vice president of regional e-business for ZONE Group Limited, Hong Kong. “e-Kong Group has taken advantage of the Internet to expand its business concept into other industries. Similar technology is also used by two of our other subsidiaries - speedinsure, the revolutionary insurance service portal offering instant coverage, and EventClicks, the on-line event planning service portal.” 

The inaugural Intelligent20 Awards – the first of its kind in Asia – was open to entries from seven countries in Asia: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

"It's great to see a lot more companies today evaluating ROI on IT investments on the basis of top line results rather than purely cost-savings. After all, the best way to grow is to grow your revenue. The Intelligent 20 Awards salutes these companies, their initiative, commitment and leadership in bringing to their businesses new dimensions and opportunities through IT," said Philip Khoo, group publisher, CMP Asia. 

The awards winners were handpicked by a panel of independent judges from five leading business and IT management consultancies. The results will be announced on January 16 and will be presented with trophies at the inaugural Intelligent20 Awards gala dinner held in Singapore at the Shangri-La Hotel.