Serendipitous Beginnings
The Consumer Electronics Show held annually in Las Vegas every January brings together buyers, sellers, innovators and investors to generate myriad business and collaborative opportunities. It serves as a platform for ideas and a marketplace for the business savvy. In 2017, it was at CES that Omni Channel Solutions was born, out of a conversation between its founders Lionel Garcia and Vicky Trinidad-Garcia, and a longtime friend who looked to the power couple for a solution to his problem with employee turnover.
How could you stop rapid employee turnover at a company which heavily contracted Filipinos for its workforce? This situation was bad not just for the company, which needed consistent, reliable manpower, but also for the Filipinos who resigned. Clearly, something was wrong and something smart had to be done.
Enter Lionel and Vicky, who knew that they could provide a solution. Lionel is a Filipino-American who grew up in the United States. He had a rich and diverse background in sales, technology, and marketing that made him the perfect person to lay the groundwork for an exciting new start-up. Vicky, on the other hand, was born in the Philippines to a family of astute entrepreneurs. She knew what Filipinos were made of, what made them tick, and how they could be managed well.
On one side of the equation was a company that needed its Filipino employees to stay. On the other side was the couple who made it their mission to create jobs for Filipinos and provide them with fresh and exciting opportunities. And, so Omni Channel Solutions began, proving that what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. It was gearing to be the perfect collaboration.
Passion for People
With a formidable talent for fostering relationships and motivating people, Vicky is especially passionate about bringing people together. Her leadership philosophy is best summed up by a nugget of wisdom she’s taken to heart: ‘Most leaders focus on finding the right strategy. The best leaders focus on empowering the right people.’ Vicky believes that Filipinos have an instinctive response when they join an organization. “If you provide them the tools they need to make them successful, they will go above and beyond for you. If you put the support in, they’re not going to go elsewhere and keep growing with you.”
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Though millennials often get a bad rap in the media, Omni Channel Solutions leverages on their unique generational qualities that help the team tirelessly deliver results with a fresh flourish. By equipping each team member with a well-stocked toolbox suited for their particular idiosyncrasies, Omni can boast of a low turnover rate. The company is generous in providing learning and advancement opportunities so that its members remain up-to-date in their respective fields and emerge confident and highly skilled.
“We just try to keep our ears open” says Lionel. “We listen to what our team members are looking for in their careers. Incentive is not necessarily monetary only. They also want to learn. They’re so eager to challenge themselves, they pick up new things very quickly and want more as soon as possible. Collaboration, respect, and care all result in growth.”
“The fundamental value of the Filipino is we care,” says Vicky. “Once we care, it grows from there. If you believe in that system, people will follow without you even asking. It starts with collaboration, with care, with self-respect.”
Omni’s company culture calls for collaboration instead of competition. “There are certain things that every single team member gives. They are the core values of collaboration and respect.” Each team member has the belief system that Omni has what it takes to succeed.
“We function as a unit. We are each other’s support system,” says Vicky.
Onwards and Up
In 2021, Omni Channel Solutions is taking wider strides and painting bolder strokes. The company is currently 50-people strong and projects its numbers to increase as it welcomes more clients and trains more Filipino talents — the Omni way. Its Manila headquarters is in full operation, with plans for an outpost in Bacolod City soon.
Omni Channel Solutions started with one partner agency in the US whose specialization is Amazon, the biggest eCommerce platform in the world. “This is a testament to all the hard work and ingenuity brought to the table by the company’s incomparable team,” states Lionel. “We survived the first year of a global pandemic together, went through an entire obstacle course of challenges, yet somehow still managed to kick ass. We hope you become part of our continued growth.”
