INTHEBLACK October/November 2024 - Magazine - Page 34
MEMBER PROFILE
“If you analyse data, you
can make better-informed
decisions without relying
only on your gut feeling.”
PATRICK SIM CPA, SECRET RECIPE GROUP
RECIPE FOR RELEVANCE
After attaining a commerce degree in
accounting and completing his CPA
certification in Australia, Sim worked at
PwC and Deloitte in Malaysia for about
four years. He got the call from his family
in 2013.
After working his way up through the
ranks at Secret Recipe, Sim now must
ensure the business stays the course in a
rapidly changing market and has overseen
several initiatives to ensure the evolution
of the business.
This includes refurbishing stores to
improve the ambience for customers and
employees and creating Instagram-worthy
cakes for a younger cohort of social-mediatech-savvy diners.
Sim has also guided the increased usage of
business intelligence, social media and mobile
apps as part of a data-led growth strategy.
For a lover of numbers like Sim, getting
data-driven insights into the business to
identify the latest market trends is logical
and exciting.
“If you analyse data, you can make
better-informed decisions without relying
only on your gut feeling,” he says.
“For example, with a marketing campaign
for a product launch, we can drill down
immediately to see which outlet this product
does best in, what time or day it does best,
and which type of customer is the top
purchaser. Then we can adjust our marketing
message or operational processes to cater
better to the launch.”
“We try to be relevant with the new
generation of customers,” he says. “They
are changing in the way they consume
34 INTHEBLACK October/November 2024
ONE PIECE OF ADVICE
“Engage in continuous learning,” Sim says.
“I’m an introvert and prefer to look at
numbers, but I would not be where I am
today if I did not take the time to learn
and keep improving as a leader.”
