When Juan G. Chua founded Nexus Technologies, Inc. 30 years ago, along with Mario Arroyo and Fonsi Olondriz, the company had only three employees, and that number included Chua, the company’s president. Three decades later, with Chua still at the helm, the Nexus Group is powered by 1,400 people, including those working in its subsidiary companies.
Today, Nexus is well-known in the Philippine IT industry for providing world-class solutions in cybersecurity, IT infrastructure, and for being the pioneer of analytics in the country.
There is much to learn from watching an IT solutions company grow into a trusted, beloved firm in the technology sector.
Making IT Work for Customers
Nexus remains steadfast in its original aim, which is to help customers be at the forefront of IT by using technology to make their operations more efficient.
“When we started,” recalls Chua, “cybersecurity was more of an afterthought because cybercrime was not as prevalent as it is today. But because IT is now so entrenched in the operations of any business, big or small, that has given rise to a lot of cybercriminals taking advantage.”
This development has shaped Nexus’s priorities over the years. Cybersecurity is now among the most important functions the company performs today.
They provide cybersecurity solutions to customers who want to use these on their own. On the other side of this is Cybersecurity Managed Services—officially, Nexus Orion Managed Services, which was launched around five years ago. If clients outsource their entire cybersecurity solutions to Nexus—from providing the products to implementing these in their internal systems—Nexus Orion comes in and takes care of it.
A People-Centric Company
Chua is most proud of the fact that Nexus has an extremely low turnover rate.
“For me, the number-one success factor for our company, since the beginning, is our people,” Chua says. “We take care of our people because they’re the ones who give success to us. It’s always at the top of my mind to make sure that we take care of our own.”
This care is evident in how employees feel about the company. Especially for mid-management levels and above, the turnover rate over the last 30 years has been very low.
The strong management-employee relationship begins during recruitment. Nexus works with schools to find the right talent who need to fulfill requirements for their on-the-job training (OJT). Their referral program—initiated by satisfied employees—also produces potential talent.
“We make sure we have the right people running all the different businesses,” says Chua, referring to Nexus’s subsidiary companies. “As a whole, all our people are constantly learning and evolving. As you know, the IT industry is fast-paced. There’s so much technology coming out. We have to be constantly updated on the latest trends in the industry.”
Once Nexus’s people have been thoroughly trained in a product or service, the technology is considered ready for deployment, at which point it is introduced to customers.
This continuous learning cycle is not just relegated to the staff. Even Chua and his C-suite executives undergo a constant learning process.
“In very specialized fields, like cybersecurity, we normally invest to provide further training to our people,” says Chua. “We teach them practical skills that may not have been taught to them in school. Even I attend conferences to learn about the trends in our industry. That makes life more interesting for us and all our employees.”
Riding the AI Wave
“Two things I learned in this industry: you can’t predict what’s going to happen, and you can’t predict how people will use technology in their lives and in their businesses,” says Chua. “This is why AI can be a boon or a threat, depending on how you look at it.”
Nexus handles this unpredictability by training its people for what’s to come (and what is already here) and developing more solutions adjusted to each client’s needs.
Currently, the dominant trend in AI is customers using it to compose email, write better articles, produce presentations with graphics, and create worksheets and computer-generated videos.
As Nexus helps its clients with these programs, the company is also applying solutions to automate more of its clients’ mundane, less creative tasks; i.e., processing invoices for payment and verification, cross-referencing documents, etc. Automation frees workers to do more productive, creative, and interesting tasks.
What’s Next for Nexus?
Much of the work done for Nexus is done remotely. Since they dabble in IT and sales, management focuses more on output over onsite work. This setup works well for Chua’s plans.
“The Philippines has always been underrated in terms of what we can offer to the world. But our people are at par with the rest of the world,” he says. “My hope is to export some of our expertise to our neighboring countries. It would [open] a lot of opportunities for our young people. And it would help build our economy.”
With this next chapter already within sight, one thing is clear: Nexus is ready to continue and improve on its mission of, as Chua promises, “using technology to improve life and make it less boring.”
