Circle.

life : Business Model

Innovation and Digital
Entrepreneurship in
Telecommunications
Andhika Rama Prakasa 29321030
Jhon Heryanto 29321042
Rahanandra Hadyan A. 29321101
Arnadi Irsyad Mulyadi 29321033
Norman Seno Prabowo 29321077
Yudha Berlyandini Lampe 29321072
Notrida Yasmina S 29321123
Putri Nabila A 29321079
 Company Overview

Circles.Life is a multinational mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) based in Singapore. The
company was founded in 2016, initially operating exclusively in Singapore, leasing its network from
M1. This company aims to provide whole new mobile experiences for consumers by allowing the
customers to customize their mobile plans according to their own usage and needs.

Despite the challenges and the fierce competition, the Circles team determined that at least 5%
market share was a defensible niche – as was achieved in 2019. The company also has expanded
its offerings by launching digital lifestyle features such as its AI-driven events and movie-based
platform.
External Analysis (PORTER)

● Threat of New Entrants

○ Low : Due to the high capital needed to setup Telcos company
● Bargaining Power of Supplier
○ Low : Since the supplier needs to have the physical infrastructure like M1
● Competitive Rivalry Within Industry
○ High : The market is easy to switch brands if a more competitive pricing is available and more
attractive bundling
● Bargaining Power of Customer
○ High : Buyers are well educated on picking their suitable plans and services that fits their
needs
● Threat of Substitutes
○ Low : Alternative form of communication (aside from data network) is not preferred by the
buyers (pre-paid simcards etc)
 Internal Analysis (PORTER’s Value chain)
A company's primary activities and relevant support activities that create and deliver value to customers are identified by analyzing the company's
value chain. Value chain analysis will help us determine how well Circle.Life meets customer needs and where it falls short in the process of
doing so.

● Primary Activities
○ Inbound Logistics
■ Circles partnered with M1's network. Circles.Life can avoid investing in expensive infrastructure by partnering with M1.
■ Circles was able to streamline the experience of using their website or app by making better use of previously existing infrastructure.
○ Operations
■ Circles commitment to being fully e-commerce means that purchases can be made at any time, day or night.
■ Eliminating physical outlets reduces Circles business costs.
○ Outbound Logistics
■ Circles customers don't have to wait like with traditional telcos. Online transactions will change everything.
■ Once consumers make their purchases online, all they have to do is wait for their phones or SIM cards to be delivered to their doorstep.
○ Sales and Marketing
■ They use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to reach internet-savvy consumers.
■ Circles holds roadshows and posts ads in MRT stations and bus stops to reach non-social media users.
○ Services
■ WhatsApp customer service is beneficial. Customers can send WhatsApp screenshots, locations, and articulately describe issues without
deciphering foreign accents. This service improves communication.
Internal Analysis (PORTER’s Value chain)
● Supporting Activities
○ Firm Infrastructure - Circles.Life relies on non-physical infrastructure. They’re based in Singapore with remote teams in
other 3 countries.
○ Human Resource Management - Their HRM team consisted of highly experienced members. One of them is Donald
Chan, who previously worked with investors Clifford Capital and Temasek Holdings, and Monetary Authority of Singapore
○ Technology Department - They used latest technologies due to their nature as a virtual telco
○ Procurement (funding) - From First Pacific Group, a Hong Kong based investment management and holding company
● Collaborators
○ M1 Limited (Internal Partnership & Important collaborator) - Opportunity to Enhance Value + Skills and Resource
Gaps
■ Airtime purchase in bulk rather than building its own physical mobile networks.
■ Able to concentrate on building customer-facing product due to its virtual setup
■ Because they are using M1’s infrastructure for their services, M1 counts their subscriber as their own
○ WhatsApp (Strategic Alliance & Important collaborator) - Opportunity to Enhance Value
■ WhatsApp Plus benefits to their subscribers and allows them to send unlimited text and media messages. So
that the subscribers can use WhatsApp instead of SMS
○ Carousell (Strategic Alliance) - Opportunity to Enhance Value
■ Short-term partnership by offering special benefits to users who register for the joint campaign
○ KASE (Strategic Alliance) - Opportunity to Enhance Value
■ With the purchase of one device from Circles.Life, user will be able to redeem 1 free customized phone case from
KASE, worth up to $55
Internal Analysis (PORTER’s Value chain)
● VRIN Framework - Circles.Life has little competitive advantage to a certain extent as it has slight
differentiation in the Telco industry.

Valuable Rare Inimitable Non-Substitutable

Customer No No Yes No
Services

Plan Types Yes Yes Yes Yes

Service Speeds No No Yes No

Online Order Yes No Yes No

Tracking

Enquiry Yes No Yes No

efficiency

Maintenance Yes No Yes No

Check
 SWOT ANALYSIS
Weaknesses Opportunities
● Trust issues from
● World-wide expansion
customer
● Limited
infrastructure
W ● Low to high level of mass
market

Strengths
● Good partnership
S O
business model with
M1 & WhatsApp
●

●
Wide range of
market
Customize offering
T Threats
product to customer
● Similar issues with
partner have
● Big competition and
rivalry
Business Strategy
● Circle.Life current business strategy is Low-Cost leadership as they defend their competitive position
while having low cost offerings.
● Offering better option (more data) with lower costs
● Circle.Life aims to gain market share in the telco industry by using pull strategy in creating brand
awareness through social media platforms as the company are operating fully digital, and by
partnering with M1 as their backbone operational network infrastructure
● As Circle.Life is in a MVNO business model, it was vulnerable to price wars and customer flight, the
company first defence of this problem is by prioritizing the customer experience. Circles CSAT
customer satisfaction improve from 80% in Q4 2017 to 98% by Q4 2018.
● Cloud based automation of customer processes also was Circles fundamental businesses
operations, Circle system succeeded in cutting down average time-to-approve a customer order
from 3 hours to 2 minutes. This automated KYC system would pave the way to offer other digital
products
● Its concept of neo-telco enable the company to compete in the digital ecosystem, which is beyond
the digital market. Circles rolled out Discover, a lifestyle service layer in the app, Discover helped
customers consolidate and explore interesting events happening around the city. Circles also create
an eCommerce layer, setting up a shop and gaming section on the app interface.
 Recommendation
Alternative Business Model: Differentiated Analyser Strategy
Focusing to customer issues, for example: 24/7 customer service on their website, Flexible
Policy, Allowing customer to have one-month trial for the plans.

Mass-Market Penetration Product Diversification

Reaching potential customers, both those who Supporting plan A by entering new
don't know about Circles.Life and those who will
later use and have purchasing power to become Opportunities market to gain new customer
Opportunities Circle life users base

Manfaatkan generasi yang memiliki kekuatan

keputusan
Broad range of data plans to
There is a potential market for the long Advantage generate sales and increase
run market shares
Advantage
Fast growth in customer base and shares

easily adapted by full-resource High cost for market

Disadvantages competitors Disadvantages
entry
 Conclusion
- Circles life now is in the low-cost telco market industry and they are able to maintain
and improve overall cost, and having special high service quality and offres instead only
cheap offers. Although they are doing fine with this strategy, Low Costing can be easily
by competitors because there are lack of differentiations in the Telco Industry
- The first point leading to another conclusion that the Low-Cost strategy are still need to
be revise and adopt Differentiated Analyser strategy to become sustainable. The
differentiation can be based on customer concern, for example by applying 24/7
customer service for those potential customer who have trust issue
- Even though Circle.Life is a new company, with a market share that is far less than its
competitors, Circle.Life still has a lot of room for growth and having higher profits
- Circles.Life rely mostly on its competitor to sustain itself, deriving from integration with
M1’s physical infrastructure. There is probability to join forces with M1 to take full
advantage of its resources