Malaysia – ADA, Asia’s digital marketing agency, has announced a partnership with Cycle & Carriage, an automotive manufacturer that serves Malaysia’s affluent and high-affluent segments. Together, they intend to incorporate artificial intelligence and natural language processing (AI/NLP) technology into their conversational interactions on the martech stack.

Cycle & Carriage and ADA have partnered to launch a strategic effort that will use AI/NLP technology to improve customer experience. This expanded reach demonstrates Cycle & Carriage’s commitment to staying creative and utilising digital solutions to improve its capacity for providing customer support. 

The staff at ADA has worked closely with Cycle & Carriage, fully comprehending their company needs and objectives. They have developed specialised digital solutions to address problems and seize opportunities in the automobile sector. Cycle & Carriage is now able to take advantage of ADA’s expertise in AI/NLP integration, automated customer support systems, and data-driven marketing tactics due to this cooperative effort. 

Cycle & Carriage plans to leverage ADA’s experience even further in order to increase opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, increase the reach of CTWA campaigns, and maximise the efficiency of media and digital marketing.

Cycle & Carriage is the first customer at the CES to use ADA’s AI/NLP services. Cycle & Carriage hopes to increase the reach and effect of CTWA initiatives by working together with ADA Marketing Service on a continuous basis. By utilising the most recent martech products. 

Speaking about the partnership, Stephen Tan, general manager, head of marketing, Cycle & Carriage, said, “We are incredibly grateful for ADA’s unwavering dedication and support throughout the WABA migration journey. ADA’s commitment to excellence and innovative solutions has truly elevated our customer experience and positioned us for success in the digital landscape. We look forward to continuing our partnership and achieving even greater milestones together.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Data and AI company Axiata Digital & Analytics Sdn Bhd (ADA), has recently announced international trade and development company Mitsui’s investment of US$58m, facilitated through ADA’s holding company, Axiata Digital Services Sdn Bhd (ADS).

Mitsui’s additional investment has established a watermark valuation of US$550m for ADA, reflecting the company’s continued growth and innovation in the digital and data transformation domain.

On the strength of the investment, ADA is set to broaden its digital reach and reinforce its commitment to advancing digital and data transformation in the region. Mitsui has also been working closely with ADS and ADA since their initial investment in 2019, and is now intensifying its efforts to deliver data and AI solutions to partners and clients in the APAC region.

Talking about the investment, Srinivas Gattamneni, chief executive officer of ADA, said, “Mitsui’s strong endorsement highlights our extraordinary growth story. We are excited about the prospect of deepening our collaboration with Mitsui to empower their partners with cutting-edge data, AI, and technology solutions.”

Vivek Sood, group chief executive officer and managing director of Axiata, added, “Mitsui has a strong and proven track record of bolstering innovative businesses in the fields of AI, data analytics and digital transformation. We are confident that broadening our strategic partnership will further enhance ADA’s expertise in AI and data analytics with Mitsui’s substantial business capabilities derived from a global portfolio.”

Meanwhile, Toru Matsui, representative director, senior executive managing officer of Mitsui & Co. Ltd, commented, “We look forward to collaborating closely with Axiata Group and ADS/ADA in order to contribute to the growth of ADA by accelerating the provision of its digital marketing solutions and data analysis services to our partners throughout the region.”

Singapore ADA, Axiata Group’s digital group, joins with Meta to launch a business messaging hackathon, improving WhatsApp’s use as a route of communication between individuals and organisations across the APAC region.

ADA and Meta will launch the ‘ADA Business Messaging Hackathon 2023: Building the Future of Conversations’, with the goal of providing 1 million APAC enterprises with said solutions. Over 10,000 digital talents from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, including students, developers, and entrepreneurs, will collaborate to create chatbot solutions on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Paul Kim, VP of Telco Ecosystem Partnerships APAC at Meta, said, “With increasing number of customers communicating with a business or service account on WhatsApp in APAC, business messaging has become one of the core growth pillars of Meta and we are delighted to cement our partnership with ADA, which will also include the integration of ADA’s best-in-class CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) solutions – ADA’s Business Messaging Platform & APIs with WhatsApp Business Platform. This will enable businesses to seamlessly communicate with their customers and offer more personalized experiences”.

Meanwhile, Srinivas Gattamneni, CEO of ADA, said, “As seamless Customer Experience (CX) and stronger customer relationships continue to become the focus of businesses, ADA is proud to strengthen our strategic relationship with Meta by contributing to the growth of this ecosystem. This hackathon will be anchored on the WhatsApp Business Platform for our clients and businesses across APAC.”

Singapore – Data and AI company ADA has appointed Anthony Chan as its new head of growth. Chan will be spearheading the company’s marketing technology sales team across the APAC region. 

Chan bring with him 25 years of experience in martech sales and partnership management with top companies Microsoft, Sitecore, and Braze, and was most recently vice president and enterprise sales leader of Merkle APAC Region. Chan has supervised exponential growth across multiple businesses throughout his globetrotting career. 

The agency said the appointment is part of its ambitious plans to grow its martech business. Chan’s responsibility is to strengthen ADA’s portfolio of digital marketing solutions for brands. His team will be overseeing ADA’s sales progression and contribute to the firm’s plans in strengthening its position as the region’s largest independent analytics, data, and AI business.

Anurag Gupta, ADA’s chief operating officer, stated, “ADA is thrilled to have Anthony onboard as head of growth. Anthony’s blend of vast experience in B2B sales, partnership management and management consulting is a great addition to our solutions leadership team.”

Gupta continued, “With his appointment, I am confident in the focus that ADA has in place to strengthen and tap on the opportunities that lie in the 10 markets were established in, helping brands maximise their marketing technology ROI.”

Chan commented, “Marketing technology is one of ADA’s fastest-growing solution pillars as we see rapidly increasing integration in our clients’ digital marketing landscape. ADA’s growth plans are ahead of the curve, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to uncover more growth opportunities for ADA.”

Singapore – Integrated end-to-end e-commerce practice ADA has acquired the e-commerce unit of Singapore Post (SingPost), including the unit’s assets and staff, and will further strengthen ADA‘s e-commerce capabilities in technology and enablement in Asia-Pacific.

They are offering clients fully integrated services in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and South Korea. Through this acquisition, ADA will seek to deepen its strategic partnership with the SingPost Group in distribution and logistics across Asia.

Srinivas Gattamneni, chief executive officer at ADA, said, “I am thrilled to expand our e-commerce family – ADA is now over 1,000 strong across 10 markets, comprised of e-commerce practitioners, data and digital specialists, industry experts, and management consultants.” 

He added, “The addition of SingPost’s e-commerce arm marks a milestone in ADA’s e-commerce practice expansion plans as we ramp up our end-to-end e-commerce solutions with enhanced e-commerce technology expertise and services, complementing it with our deeply integrated services of combining media, creative, and analytics.”

Meanwhile, Koh Jin Kiat, senior vice president for customer engagement and commercial at SingPost, commented “E-commerce has a high level of penetration in Southeast Asia today, and this proportion will only grow from here.” 

He added, “This deal is only the start of a strategic partnership with ADA, and we look forward to complementing their business with our wide suite of e-commerce logistics solutions within the Asia Pacific region, making it a win-win for both firms as our clients will get to scale up their operations with ADA’s integrated offerings.”

Singapore – Paloe, one of Singapore’s CFO and startup advisory, has partnered up with franchise management consulting firm Asiawide Franchise Consultants to launch Asiawide Digital Advantage (ADA), an all-in-one digital franchise management Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to digitise and streamline the management of franchisors with company-owned and franchisee-owned outlets.

Often underlooked, franchise management can become painfully complicated and cumbersome, especially when the franchise grows. More features are added subsequently to the franchise concept; not to mention the amount of reporting and documentation required. The franchisor then has to juggle many issues with franchisees at varying levels, including franchisee onboarding, communications, site audits, royalty payment management, performance management, and more. 

The following features of ADA provide unprecedented openness of information between franchisors and franchisees by centralizing and consolidating important technologies required for franchise management. Onboarding Management allows for the provision of structured training for franchisees, as well as visibility and transparency throughout the process. This aids franchisor in ensuring and facilitating the efficiency of their franchisees. 

While, Communications Hub, maintain and facilitate engagements, collaborations, communication, and address frequently-asked-questions and requests in a single location. The Communications Hub also serves as a one-stop administrative tool, enabling consolidation and sorting of important documents, while ensuring security via curated access controlled by the franchisor. 

Using Site Audit Management, standardize, track, and manage site audits to ensure continuous franchise improvement, and compliance, and to retain brand quality and confidence through established processes and reviews. 

In order to accurately manage royalty payments and decrease operational load, Royalty Management automatically tracks sales throughout all franchise locations, providing consistent sales reporting and automatic processing of sales data. Strategic planning is facilitated by a single, configurable dashboard that provides visibility into royalty payments, sales trends, the success of franchisees, revenue and expenses, and data analytics.

Han Sheng Chin, CTO of Paloe Pte Ltd., said the team at Paloe had to work closely with Asiawide Franchise Consultants to run through countless franchising scenarios and use real cases to truly understand the day-to-day operations and challenges typically faced by a franchisor.

“Even older, established companies today need to incorporate technology into their business model and processes, else they risk being overtaken by newer, more agile and innovative competitors. We believe ADA will keep Asiawide Franchise Consultants (AFC) both relevant and competitive as they continue to provide franchise-related services throughout the booming Asia region,” Chin said.

With these features, ADA is both simple yet revolutionary in how it aims to transform and distil current laborious franchise procedures to streamline business processes rendering it more effective and affordable. Compared to current market rates, ADA provides rock-solid features at just a fraction of the price every month.

Albert Kong, CEO of Asiawide Franchise Consultants, commented, “With ADA, the process of onboarding and managing franchisees has become more streamlined and systematic (and eco-friendly too). This enables the franchisor (and their team members) to be more productive, effectively managing their own outlets and franchise operations more efficiently.”

Looking ahead, Paloe and Asiawide Franchise Consultants are working with franchise operators to ensure constant updates and improvements for the platform, with new features such as leads management being developed to enhance ADA’s capabilities. With ADA, both Paloe and Asiawide Franchise Consultants aspire to keep their digital services ahead of the game in an ever-evolving digital age.

Franchise management has remained largely unchanged for decades; however, the global pandemic has made travel and physical meetings a thing of the past, and as such the entire franchise industry is in dire need of a more streamlined, cohesive, and virtual solution to strengthen their business processes, in order to survive and thrive in the digital age.

Malaysia – ADA, analytics, data, and AI business in Asia, and Treasure Data, global customer data platform (CDP) company, have announced a strategic partnership to bring end-to-end enterprise customer-centric solutions to 10 markets across South and Southeast Asia, including South Korea. 

The partnership will be helping enterprises enhance and personalise customer experience to improve the customer journey, communicate efficiently, and manage data gaps. To support brands in achieving a successful outcome and getting the most value out of a CDP, ADA and Treasure Data will provide strategic consultancy and create functional use cases with measurable return on investment. This includes setting up and deploying a CDP with a single customer view, supporting design and unifying data, activating platforms from media to mobile to web to CRO (conversion route optimisation), and offering full technical support. 

ADA said that as CDP remains a highly accessible solution only to most larger enterprises, the new offering is able to empower SMEs to connect with their customers whilst scaling up their business.

Srinivas Gattamneni, CEO of ADA, said, “Our clients across all industries are craving for solutions that can fully leverage their customer data to enhance their digital customer experience journeys. With Treasure Data, we are truly able to deliver complete marketing solutions that enables usage of customer data across all parts of the marketing funnel from brand identity development to customer acquisition to eCommerce revenue delivery.” 

He adds, “This partnership will connect enterprises in APAC by using CDP to build meaningful connections across their customer journey, thus enhancing the customer experience through data and marketing technology.”

Meanwhile, Kazuki Ohta, CEO and co-founder of Treasure Data, commented, “We are excited to work with ADA to bring this first of its kind partnership to the Southeast Asia market that will allow customers to experience our leading CDP with best-in-class service to clients. Together we can ensure all brands will be able to easily leverage insights to create tailored, relevant and secure customer experiences.”

According to ADA, the partnership is made possible via the strategic investment by SoftBank Corp. Just recently, ADA has also announced that it is now a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) in Asia-Pacific, where it’s able to help businesses connect with their customers through the WhatsApp Business Platform. 

Kathmandu, Nepal – The art of spoken word poetry has been a modern form of literature to pay tribute to any entity, and this latest ad by Nepalese telco Ncell Axiata shows that as a tribute to all of the people who go the ‘extra mile’ and explore further in life.

The ad, titled #PossibleChaSabai, represents the progressive Nepali who does not shy away from any challenges that comes their way and are determined to learn and explore further. In addition, the film itself is aligned with Ncell’s brand philosophy of liberation and focus on digitalisation to empower their customers.

The ad is conceptualised by agencies ADA, Sun, and Outreach Nepal; and has been produced by G21 Production.

“As we all transit in the post pandemic world, Nepali people are rapidly adapting to the digitalisation with new possibilities in commencing education, work, connections and a global exposure,” the company noted in a statement.

The ad is available on YouTube and Facebook, with the YouTube version nearing the 1 million view mark as of this writing.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Data and artificial intelligence company ADA has announced that it is now a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) in Asia-Pacific. Through the offering, ADA will empower businesses to connect with their customers in a private and secure environment across its markets in South and Southeast Asia.

WhatsApp Business Platform allows businesses to drive better conversations with their customers in a personalised manner, thus boosting customer engagement and increasing customer satisfaction, leading to better sales conversions.

The new integration comes in line with business recovery making its way across Southeast Asia, as well as retailers bouncing back from COVID-19. ADA notes that WhatsApp chatbots can also give operators in-store support to help guide the customer journey and enhance every bit of the customer experience.

“Over 2 billion people around the world use WhatsApp and it is the most popular messaging application in Southeast Asia. As the number of people using this app will continue to rise with the growth of digital consumers across the region, brands and businesses will need to better connect and communicate with their customers who are turning to chat with businesses on WhatsApp,” the company said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, Srinivas Gattamneni, CEO at ADA, noted that chat commerce is changing the way businesses operate, and customer engagement solutions are the key drivers.

“With this WhatsApp Business Platform, ADA now offers a truly seamless end-to-end business solution across our practices – e-commerce, martech, business insights, and marketing services – for that complete customer experience and journey. The face of chat commerce as we know it will change too, with the integration of our AI and machine learning models, deepening the level of personalisation and quality of conversations,” Gattamneni said.

The new endeavour from ADA reflects the company’s vision for this year in improving the e-commerce experience in the region. During an exclusive interview by MARKETECH APAC with Gattamneni in recognition of ADA’s e-commerce solution as Product of the Year, he said that businesses need to be efficient, agile, and falling in front of new trends to cope with the ever-changing digital landscape of business.

“Be efficient with your resources and invest in what gives you the best return, whether it’s your marketing campaigns, strategic partnerships, or the various e-commerce platforms. Automation is also key to optimising your e-commerce operations in areas including content production, customer service, and fulfilment,” he told MARKETECH APAC.

2021 was a year of innovative and one-of-a-kind product launches amid brands responding to the highly-fluid times that we have now; through it all, it’s ADA, the marketing company that delivers data and AI-driven solutions in Asia, that emerges as our Product Launch of The Year for introducing its end-to-end solution for eCommerce this year.

The company launched the solution in March 2021 – a time where brands are cementing their resolve that the way to win the consumer this pandemic is to elevate their presence in eCommerce. 

Since launching the solution, ADA has made significant strides such as merging with eCommerce enabler Awake Asia and announcing its new regional head of eCommerce

We caught up with Srinivas Gattamneni, ADA’s CEO, who shared with us what ultimately made them put up the new solution and the changes that have occurred in the offering since the merger. Gattamneni also imparts his top three pieces of advice for brands to stay ahead of the eCommerce game in 2022.

What made you establish the new end-to-end eCommerce solution?

Since our founding, ADA’s focus has been to drive real business impact through outcome-oriented solutions and digital marketing transformation. When it comes to eCommerce, we noticed that the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) sector typically operated in silos especially with media, creative, and analytics. But to drive real business impact, integration is key. We saw that as an opportunity for ADA to acquire eCommerce enabling capabilities and offer an end-to-end solution that combines analytics, technology, media, and creative. 

Of course, COVID-19 was a big factor that expanded our serviceable obtainable market. While the adoption of digital solutions started prior to the pandemic, we observed a drastic boost in online shopping demand for segments such as groceries and home goods throughout these past two years, which is likely to persist. 

You have merged with e-commerce enabler Awake Asia shortly after you launched the solution. What has changed in your services since then?

The merger with Awake Asia has allowed us to expand our eCommerce solutions across all 10 markets in South and Southeast Asia. We’ve since launched our Digital Shelf tool for eCommerce insights and integrated analytics, built a regional Content House to do creative at scale, expanded our ecosystem with platforms such as Shopify and Magento, and signed strategic partnerships with brands like TikTok to expand our eCommerce offerings. 

Today, our team serves countless brands from a wide range of industries, addressing different business challenges through data-driven solutions. I’m proud to highlight that our work has been recognized by The APPIES Malaysia. With our eCommerce revenue doubling year-on-year, we’re optimistic the new year will bring even more opportunities to seek innovative solutions for clients.

Your markets expand Southeast Asia and South Asia; what has been the most challenging market in helping to elevate in eCommerce?

All of ADA’s markets are growing at a heightened rate thanks to the continued uptake of digital commerce. The challenge will be to stay ahead of the curve to deliver the best end-to-end eCommerce solutions for our clients.

How do you think brands’ demands for eCommerce will evolve as we move forward in 2022?

Efficiency becomes critical in a year when growth is leveling off. The big question for 2022 is how to optimize from the top to the bottom of the customer funnel as eCommerce growth normalizes. Brands will also need to take another look at their operating models, warehouse logistics, share of wallet, and platforms, and consider how they should invest in marketplaces, Brand.com, and social commerce.

As a TikTok Marketing Partner, we’re riding the wave of social commerce through TikTok’s efforts in Indonesia. With brands increasingly buying into social commerce, we expect the growth curve to steepen over the next 6-12 months. Beyond that, brands are looking into the metaverse. Whether it’s VR shopping, minting an NFT for Roblox or Meta, or transacting in cryptocurrency, the possibilities of this new realm are endless – and I look forward to seeing how the region transforms.

What are your tips for brands in order to win in e-commerce in 2022?

Three things: efficiency, agility, and falling in front of new trends. 

First, be efficient with your resources and invest in what gives you the best return, whether it’s your marketing campaigns, strategic partnerships, or the various eCommerce platforms. Automation is also key to optimizing your eCommerce operations in areas including content production, customer service, and fulfillment.

Next, be agile in the face of an ever-changing market. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that the market can change at the flip of a switch, so brands must be able to adapt and pivot. 

Lastly, it’s always better to fall in front than to fall behind when it comes to emerging trends such as social commerce and the metaverse. Stay in the know and dare to experiment while everyone else is still figuring it out. 

This recognition is based on the results of Google Analytics on the most-read stories of 2021 with editorial validation on the significance of a leader’s contribution, campaigns results, and overall impact.