The Sanitech-Sentricon advantage

It was a passion, and fascination, with insects that sparked the young "co-preneurs" from UP Los Baños, Noel and Gennie de Guia to trail blaze into the pest control business. In 1997, the Sanitation Technology or simply SANITECH to its loyal clientele started out as a company specializing in Integrated Pest Management or IPM to many households in the more ecologically aware segment of the market. With IPM as its guide to managing pests that affects the health and valuable properties, the company uses only the safest and the most effective technologies to safeguard against insect-borne diseases and insect damage to properties.

Always on the lookout for better ways and better systems to serve their growing clientele base, SANITECH adapts to new technologies when others would simply wait and see. "We want to have that agility to respond to change quickly. Rapid changes in technology would translate to new needs and demands by your clients. We want to have these technologies even before our clients asked for them," says Gennie de Guia, general manager of SANITECH.

"With all the emerging technologies available, one would just have to be daring and aggressive enough to pick one innovative enough to make it work. We were constantly searching and poring over information on the Net to look for what’s new in the industry. We came across Sentricon, the revolutionary termite elimination system by Dow AgroSciences that’s sweeping across the US. And how we wished that it would be able for us here in the Philippines!" enthused Noel de Guia, CEO of SANITECH. Thus when the breakthrough termite control technology came to the Philippines, SANITECH saw this as a positive development for their business and of the pest control industry, as well.

The Sentricon System was awarded by the Clinton Administration with the US Presidential Green Chemistry Award for its commitment to keep the environment safe. Its active ingredient, hexaflumuron is the first pest control product in the US to receive the fast track registration from the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, in its new Reduced Pesticide Risk category. After undergoing a rigorous selection and training process with Dow AgroSciences, SANITECH, became the first Authorized Operator for the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System in the Philippines in 1997.

Sentricon has also transformed the business of pest control into a more professional and technology based one. At SANITECH, specialized teams of young professionals work into the different aspects of the business. One group manages the company’s database, websites; electronic reporting to clients and the web-based reporting system Prolinx Data Management System developed by Dow to be used exclusively by its authorized operators. Its Technical Specialists are graduates of UP Los Baños and handles the Quality Assurance Program of the company. Another team, the Customer Care Specialists are trained in CRM, Customer Relationship Management to handle and manage clients’ expectations and be responsive to their needs.

"Times have changed. Clients would expect your entire organization to revolve around them. We are developing our backroom support intensively to achieve this, "adds Gennie.