Tag: Cloud

Singapore – CARSOME Group has announced a multi-year collaboration to fuel CARSOME’s continued expansion and growth in the markets where it operates. With Google Cloud as its new preferred cloud provider, CARSOME aims to deliver more dynamic and differentiated car transaction and ownership experiences to drive its next phase of growth.

Said collaboration will use Google Cloud’s industry-leading platform services across modern infrastructure, cybersecurity, data analytics, and generative AI (GenAI) to further enhance the car transaction and ownership experience for consumers and used car dealers, thereby solidifying CARSOME’s position as a leading integrated car e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia.

The transition to a modern infrastructure cloud will ultimately increase the scale and velocity at which CARSOME delivers new and enhanced services through its digital applications (e.g., the CARSOME consumer app, CARSOME CARagent, CARSOME CARdealer), refurbishment facilities, inspection centers, and experience centers to better serve used car buyers, sellers, and dealers. 

To strengthen its security posture, uphold compliance requirements, and reinforce customer trust, CARSOME is leveraging Google Cloud’s built-in data access controls and Security Command Center for advanced threat detection and response across its consolidated cloud systems.

In addition to accelerated software development cycles and projected cost savings, CARSOME’s move to Google Cloud will give its teams access to granular insights that enable improved business decision-making and hyper-personalised customer engagement. This is the result of CARSOME’s first-party data being warehoused on Google Cloud’s BigQuery platform, integrated with Google Cloud’s Looker platform for business intelligence and Google Marketing Platform.

Through native integrations between BigQuery and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform, CARSOME can centrally process and stream data in all formats (i.e., structured and unstructured) to enhance the performance of its existing AI applications.

Kjetil Rohde Jakobsen, group chief technology officer at CARSOME Group, said, “At CARSOME, we’ve been digitising the used car industry with the help of advanced technologies since 2015. With our business continuing to experience significant growth, we saw an opportunity to strengthen our digital foundation to better support our expanding operations and drive even greater efficiencies.”

He added, “Shifting from a multicloud environment to Google Cloud not only helps us realise cost savings due to its infrastructure’s better price-performance; it also allows us to access secure-by-design, full stack capabilities across data analytics and AI. This will enable our teams to deliver more dynamic and differentiated solutions and experiences for CARSOME customers and partners across the region, from car listings and discovery, to financing and transacting, to after-sales support.”

CARSOME is also taking advantage of BigQuery and Vertex AI Agent Builder to embed semantic search capabilities into its internal tools. This will enable employees across departments and functions to intuitively extract relevant information from CARSOME’s vast and continuously expanding enterprise knowledge base. With GenAI turning information retrieval tasks that take hours into quick searches or conversational exploration, marketing and product teams, for instance, can more easily create educational content and enhanced solutions to address the evolving needs of car buyers and sellers.

Meanwhile, Yash Thakker, director of solutions consulting for Asia-Pacific at Searce, commented, “We’re proud to be facilitating CARSOME’s cloud consolidation, which will optimise its cloud spend by as much as 30%. These cost savings can then be redeployed toward other strategic innovation initiatives that deliver top-line growth for the business, such as the potential development of next-generation conversational AI agents that autonomously and effectively handle common customer queries for relevant information, freeing up CARSOME’s customer support staff to address more complex issues. With a full team of certified in-house experts, Searce is well-positioned to support companies’ full-scale infrastructure migration to Google Cloud and the technical implementation of cutting-edge Google Cloud AI solutions.”

Lastly, Serene Sia, country director of Malaysia and Singapore at Google Cloud, stated, “By running its business on fully managed Google Cloud infrastructure that scales reliably to handle the increasing performance needs of any application, CARSOME can expand its operations with confidence, from increasing its penetration in existing markets, to expanding its inventory of pre-owned vehicles, to streamlining the movement of vehicles between inspection centers, refurbishment facilities, and customers. Together with Searce, we look forward to completing CARSOME’s cloud consolidation and advancing its innovation roadmap, which includes harnessing GenAI and agentic AI to create more personalised and seamless car transaction and ownership experiences, delivering new engines of growth for its business.”

Thailand –The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has approved investment privileges for projects totalling 170.5b baht (approximately US$5b), including significant digital infrastructure and cloud services initiatives from TikTok and Siam AI.

At a meeting chaired by deputy prime minister and minister of finance Pichai Chunhavajira, the BOI approved a 126.8b baht investment by TikTok Pte. Ltd. in data hosting services to support its affiliated companies, with operations slated to begin in 2026. 

Additionally, the BOI granted approval for a 3.25b baht investment by Thailand’s Siam AI Corporation in cloud services focused on artificial intelligence applications.

“TikTok’s and Siam AI’s investments mark a significant step in enhancing Thailand’s digital and AI infrastructure and supporting the national goal of becoming a digital innovation hub in ASEAN,” said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary general of the BOI. 

TikTok’s investment adds to Thailand’s growing digital infrastructure, following data centre and cloud projects by Amazon Web Services, Google, Australia’s NextDC, India’s CtrlS Datacenters, and Singapore-based GDS IDC Services. In 2024, investment promotion applications surged 35% to a 10-year high of 1.14t baht, driven by major foreign direct investments in data centres and cloud services.

India – Microsoft has announced a US$3b investment in India over two years to enhance cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling, and establish new datacenters, driving AI innovation in the country.

During his visit to India, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to expand the company’s cloud and AI infrastructure across its datacenter campuses. With three datacenter regions already operational and a fourth set to launch by 2026, the investment aims to build a scalable AI ecosystem to support India’s growing AI start-ups and research community.

The new datacenters will also feature zero-water cooling, reinforcing Microsoft’s commitment to sustainable AI growth. Additionally, long-term renewable energy contracts with Amplus and ReNew support the company’s goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030.

Nadella said, “India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, unlocking new opportunities across the country. The investments in infrastructure and skilling we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to making India AI-first and will help ensure people and organisations across the country benefit broadly.”

Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, further explained, “In the last 12 months Microsoft has been a copilot to making AI a reality in India, taking it from boardrooms to classrooms, commerce to communities, and finance to farmers. Today’s announcement strengthens our belief in India’s potential and our resolve to equip the country with the resources and future-ready skills needed to excel in the global marketplace. We will continue to use AI to unlock possibilities for the next few decades and ensure communities across the country have access to the compute they need to prosper in the AI era.”

Moreover, Microsoft plans to bolster India’s long-term competitiveness by equipping 10 million people with AI skills over the next five years through the second edition of its ADVANTA(I)GE India program. As part of Microsoft’s Global Skills for Social Impact charter, the program will deliver training in collaboration with government, nonprofit, and corporate partners, as well as local communities.

Shri Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said, “India’s vibrant youth and tech talent are key to shaping the future of AI. Through the ‘AI for India’ mission, we aim to empower citizens with cutting-edge AI skills, driving innovation, creating jobs, and bridging the digital divide. Collaborations with global leaders like Microsoft and similar companies are pivotal in this transformation. By equipping our workforce, especially women and youth, with advanced skills, we are building an AI-ready India, poised for digital leadership and sustainable economic growth.”

To strengthen its commitment to India’s AI ecosystem, Microsoft Research (MSR) Lab also launched an AI Innovation Network. This initiative will drive new collaborations, particularly with digital-native companies, to accelerate the translation of AI research into practical business solutions.

In line with this, Microsoft signed an AI MoU with SaaSBoomi, an Indian B2B startup community. The partnership aims to fuel the growth of India’s AI and SaaS ecosystem, positioning the country as a global product powerhouse and contributing to its trillion-dollar economy.

By combining SaaSBoomi’s network with Microsoft’s technology, the collaboration seeks to support over 5,000 startups and 10,000 entrepreneurs, upskill 150,000 employees, and drive regional development in more than 20 tier II cities. Over the next five years, the initiative aims to create 200,000 new jobs, attract $1.5b in venture capital, and nurture 50 unicorns and soonicorns, advancing innovation, sustainability, and tech infrastructure across India.

Microsoft underscores that its investments in accelerating AI innovation are crucial to supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of transforming India into a developed nation (Viksit Bharat) by 2047.

The travel and tourism industry is changing fast, and it’s not just about offering stunning destinations or top-notch service anymore. Today’s travellers expect a seamless experience at every step—whether they’re booking online, scrolling through recommendations, or checking in at a hotel. If brands want to stay competitive, they need to deliver more than just great physical experiences; they also need to wow their guests digitally.

In this latest case study, we take a look at how Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) embarked on its CRM journey with Salesforce in order to improve its guest experiences through a unified platform for data-driven decision-making.

The Challenge

SDC is dedicated to the development, management and promotion of Sentosa island, and one of its goals is to provide exceptional customer experience and create meaningful, lasting relationships with its island guests to meet their evolving needs. Continual efforts are also undertaken by SDC in providing world class experiences, and engaging effectively with guests, island partners, and broader ecosystem partners.

The Objective

The strategic imperative was to implement an enterprise CRM solution aimed at advancing data analytics and digitalisation to deliver a personalised and seamless guest experience, fully aligned with the One Sentosa Service Experience initiative. The key business objectives included achieving a comprehensive Customer 360° view, consolidating data for more informed decision-making, and enabling personalised customer interactions at scale. 

On the technology front, the goals focused on integrating disparate data sources into a unified platform, utilising a common data model, and deploying extensible APIs to enhance speed-to-market while ensuring scalability for marketing automation.

Moreover, the overarching goal was to elevate guest service standards and unlock deeper insights across various business units, including guest insights and experience, brand experience & marketing, loyalty marketing, and digital marketing teams.

The project also aimed to transform SDC’s interactions with guests and streamline operations by focusing on key goals:

  • 360-Degree Guest View: Consolidate guest profiles, including visit frequency, spending habits, and preferences, for personalised engagement and better service.
  • Marketing Automation: Bring marketing automation in-house, enabling teams to design campaigns independently and reduce costs while automating case management for guest inquiries.
  • Analytics and Insights: Centralize data from various systems to generate actionable insights, improve customer segmentation, track marketing performance, and monitor membership trends.

The Solution

SDC took a major step in its transformation journey by rolling out an advanced set of CRM capabilities built on Salesforce’s Sales, Service, and Marketing Cloud platforms. This initiative was designed to redefine how SDC harnesses data insights to deliver more personalised and efficient guest experiences. 

By integrating Salesforce with core systems—encompassing B2C profiles, guest transactions, and service histories—SDC established a unified platform that empowers data-driven decision-making across the organisation.

The project was executed through a structured process, ensuring seamless integration across departments:

  • Implementation Process:
    • Conducted discovery workshops to identify business and technical needs.
    • Ran user-driven sprints dedicated to each module as well as planning a detailed mapping of existing data fields for both migrated and streaming data made for a smooth transition.
    • Performed robust data validation through system integration and user acceptance testing (UAT).
    • Deployed the CRM system with a well-coordinated Go-Live plan, followed by ongoing maintenance and enhancements.
  • Cross-Department Collaboration:
    • Strong alignment among department heads, coupled with a consistent messaging of the project’s strategic importance to working teams, ensured effective change management.
    • Teams actively participated in reviews, testing, and data validation, even during weekends, with notable contributions from the Loyalty, Digital Marketing, Brand Marketing and Guest Insights & Experience teams.
    • Integrated multiple data sources, such as ticketing, product information, and admission systems, into a unified platform for a comprehensive guest view.
  • Overcoming Challenges:
    • Addressed data fragmentation and operational silos by creating a centralised system with unified data fields.
    • Improved data accuracy and monitoring through automated alerts for sync failures and weekly vendor support reviews.
    • Integrated diverse admission systems (e.g., Gantry IU, Sentosa Express QR code) to capture guest behaviour comprehensively.

The Result

The CRM project brought tangible benefits across various teams, driving greater efficiency, accuracy, and personalised engagement. The Guest Insights & Experience team saved over 1,000 hours annually through streamlined processes, while the Loyalty team leveraged integrated data to gain richer insights into guest behaviour. The Digital Marketing team also saw improved click-through rates by delivering personalised content. These improvements not only enhanced operations and customer engagement but also supported SDC’s overall business growth.

Singapore – Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that regional superapp announced that Grab has selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider. With AWS, Grab is pursuing a technology-led strategy to accelerate growth across its mobility, deliveries and financial services verticals, including its new digibanks, while continuing to improve its operational efficiencies and reduce IT infrastructure costs.

Grab relies on AWS to serve 41.9 million monthly transacting users and over 13  million driver and delivery partners registered on its platform. Every second, Grab does over a hundred transactions, receives over 500k GPS pings and services over 50,000 ETA requests. AWS powers Grab’s critical compute, storage, networking and database functions. 

By leveraging AWS’s resilient, secure, and elastic cloud, Grab accelerates innovation, rapidly launches new services and scales efficiently across its eight-country footprint- Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As Grab looks to balance growth with cost discipline, it is also using AWS Cloud to power the majority of its operations in Southeast Asia across verticals such as mobility, deliveries and financial services and entities, including its digibanks in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. 

By adopting AWS’s suite of cloud-based solutions, Grab has been able to gain agility and reduce operational costs. Grab uses analytics service AWS Clean Rooms, which enables secure, privacy-preserving data collaboration between different entities and organizations. Grab also leverages AWS’s purpose-built databases and has migrated more than 400 backend application services from traditional virtual servers to AWS Graviton2 processors to drive high performance, as well as cost and energy efficiency. 

Moreover, on-demand transactions made by Grab customers were up 22% in the third quarter of 2024. To cater to this surge in demand for services, Grab uses Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) as its transactional database coupled with Amazon DynamoDB. This ensures high availability, scalability, and adaptability of its platform to drive exceptional customer experience fueled by more accurate searchable data. With AWS, Grab seamlessly adapts to evolving customer needs by easily adjusting resources dynamically based on user demand. For example, during peak times like holiday sales, Grab can easily accommodate increased traffic to make transactions across the superapp seamless. Conversely, during off-peak periods, resources can be scaled down to save costs. 

As it looks to accelerate growth with initiatives focused on affordability, high value offerings, and digital banking, AWS provides Grab with a stable and scalable infrastructure to support this rapid expansion. For instance, Grab continues to scale its revamped Advance Booking feature across the region. It also did a region-wide roll out of its improved Group Order feature and continues to drive adoption for it, making it easier for users to join the group order, track food delivery updates and split the bill. With AWS, Grab was also able to build and launch digital banks in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as GX Bank in Malaysia, which was launched in under 16 months, scaling rapidly to serve close to one million customers within the first year of launch. 

Lastly, Grab is committed to being at the forefront of exploring how the latest AI technologies can better serve and respond to the needs of its users and partners. Catwalk, Grab’s machine learning (ML) model platform, is built on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), and has been used to deploy over 1,000 AI models in production, such as route guidance and pricing. With Catwalk, Grab provides users’ real-time decision-making across its services and delivers personalized experiences like tailored restaurant recommendations, loyalty rewards, and bespoke financial services based on users’ preferences. In addition, Grab uses AWS’s custom-designed AWS Inferentia chips with specialized ML inference capabilities to cost efficiently power its AI-powered services, including map enhancements and fraud detection in its digital banks.

Grab also leverages AWS as the underlying compute infrastructure for its many AI initiatives. The superapp stores hundreds of petabytes of data and processes over 200 TB of data—the equivalent of 200,000 full-length movies—on AWS daily. This data forms the foundation of Grab’s advanced analytics, ML, and AI initiatives, with AWS powering innovations across the company’s services offerings.     

Building on AWS’s compute foundations, Grab continues to develop and implement several AI-powered use cases, particularly to improve driver productivity and support merchant growth. By integrating large language models (LLMs) with point-of-interest data and historical customer notes, Grab has refined its last-mile guidance system for delivery partners. This enhancement provides drivers with more precise drop-off instructions, enabling them to complete more trips every hour, leading to higher earnings, while expediting food delivery to consumers. Additionally, Grab has rolled out a new feature that uses AI to create appetizing descriptions of food dishes in five of its eight markets. This has boosted order completion rates, bringing particular benefits to smaller, unique restaurants on the platform and enhancing the overall dining experience for customers.

Jeff Johnson, managing director for ASEAN at AWS, said, “AWS is proud to support Grab in its mission to drive innovation and enhance customer experiences across Southeast Asia. By leveraging AWS’s unparalleled operational performance, scalability, and cutting-edge technologies, Grab is able to deliver personalized, seamless transactions to millions of users throughout the region.”

He added, “As the leading cloud provider, AWS is uniquely positioned to help Grab optimize its price performance, boost operational efficiency, and continually evolve its broad suite of data-powered services. We’re excited to continue collaborating with Grab as it navigates the dynamic landscape of ecommerce and superapp development, ensuring it stays at the forefront of innovation in the digital economy.”

Meanwhile, Suthen Thomas Paradatheth, chief technology officer at Grab, commented, “At Grab, our strategy for growth is anchored on constant innovation to outserve the needs of our users and partners. This requires rapid experimentation, while ensuring security and stability, along with the ability to fully harness the potential of the latest tech like GenAI. We’re pleased to extend our partnership with AWS as our preferred cloud partner to continue to support us on this journey.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Oracle has announced plans to invest more than US$6.5b to open a public cloud region in the country. The upcoming cloud region will enable Oracle customers and partners in Malaysia to leverage AI infrastructure and services and migrate mission-critical workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

The planned public cloud region will help organisations in Malaysia modernise their applications, migrate all types of workloads to the cloud, and innovate with data, analytics, and AI. 

With this, customers can have access to OCI Generative AI Agents with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) capabilities; accelerated computing and generative AI services to help keep sovereign AI models within country borders; and OCI Supercluster, the largest AI supercomputer in the cloud.

Moreover, with the planned public cloud region in Malaysia, customers and partners can gain low-latency access to cloud services to help them derive better value from their data and securely store data and run applications to help address regulations and requirements for data residency within Malaysia. 

In addition, OCI’s sovereign AI capabilities provide customers with increased control over where they locate their data and computing infrastructure and how they manage it. As a result, customers can achieve AI sovereignty by gaining the assurance that their use of AI is aligned with digital sovereignty frameworks.

YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, minister of investment, trade and industry (MITI), Malaysia, said, “We warmly welcome Oracle’s US$6.5b investment in Malaysia, which represents yet another expansion of their 36-year footprint in Malaysia. This investment will empower Malaysian entities, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, with innovative and cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies to enhance their global competitiveness.”

He added, “It is also a significant step towards realising the country’s New Industrial Master Plan’s ambitious vision of creating 3,000 smart factories by 2030. Oracle’s decision to establish a public cloud region in Malaysia underscores Malaysia’s infrastructure readiness, and its growing position as a premier Southeast Asian destination for digital investments.”

Meanwhile, Garrett Ilg, executive vice president and general manager, Japan & Asia Pacific, Oracle, commented, “Malaysia offers unique growth opportunities for organizations looking to accelerate their expansion with the latest digital technologies. Our multi-billion dollar investment affirms our commitment to Malaysia as a regional gateway for cloud infrastructure as well as a comprehensive suite of SaaS applications deployed within Malaysia.” 

Hong Kong – Multinational insurance company FWD Group has announced a five-year agreement for technology services with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of FWD’s cloud-first strategy.

As FWD Group’s strategic cloud provider, AWS will continue to host core business applications, ranging from finance to customer and insurance agent interfaces. 

The extended partnership with AWS will also provide FWD with greater agility, scalability, and resilience as FWD continues to progressively move away from operating its own onsite data centres.

Examples of previous collaborations with AWS include Omne by FWD, which offers a customer-focused digital self-service and claims process that earned strong net promoter score ratings since its introduction in 2022. 

FWD was also supported by AWS in its development of a cloud-based centralised finance hub for collecting, validating, and processing financial, investment, and actuarial data in FWD.

Between 2021 and 2023, FWD saw significant growth in certificates awarded by cloud providers, which included AWS Skills Guild, a programme that builds cloud fluency across an organisation, which trained more than 600 FWD employees and contractors.

Talking about this extended collaboration, Sandeep Pandey, group chief technology & operations officer of FWD Group, said, “At FWD, cloud computing is a holistic business strategy, not just a priority for the technology function. This digital-first mindset has delivered operational infrastructure and capabilities that are not only secure and cloud-based, but also fully integrated across business functions and with valued partners like AWS.”

”With these foundations in place, we can now further scale our generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) deployment in an efficient, effective and responsible way, in line with our vision of changing the way people feel about insurance,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Francessca Vasquez, vice president of professional services and generative artificial intelligence innovation centre at AWS, commented, “AWS has been supporting companies in the financial and insurance industry around the world to better serve their customers with its cloud and AI technologies for more than a decade.”

“FWD Group’s ambition of harnessing the power of cloud and generative AI demonstrates their commitment to digital transformation and customer-centricity. We are excited to continue supporting FWD Group with AWS’s proven reliability and capabilities, helping them accelerate innovation, save cost, drive efficiency and expand their business,” she concluded.

Washington, USA – Microsoft and The Coca-Cola Company have recently announced a five-year strategic partnership to align Coca-Cola’s core technology strategy systemwide; enable the adoption of leading-edge technology; and foster innovation and productivity globally.

As part of the partnership, Coca-Cola has made a $1.1 billion commitment to the Microsoft Cloud and its generative AI capabilities. The collaboration underscores Coca-Cola’s ongoing technology transformation, underpinned by the Microsoft Cloud as Coca-Cola’s globally preferred and strategic cloud and AI platform.

Through the partnership, the companies will jointly experiment with groundbreaking new technology like Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions. This includes testing how Copilot for Microsoft 365 could help improve workplace productivity.

Moreover, Coca-Cola has migrated all its applications to Microsoft Azure, with most major independent bottling partners following suit. As a pioneer in AI adoption, Coca-Cola has been innovating with generative AI for nearly a year and has already leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to reimagine everything from marketing to manufacturing and supply chain and beyond. 

The company is currently exploring the use of generative AI-powered digital assistants on Azure OpenAI Service to help employees improve customer experiences, streamline operations, foster innovation, gain a competitive advantage, boost efficiency and uncover new growth opportunities.

Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said, “Through our long-term partnership, we have made significant progress to accelerate system-wide AI Transformation across The Coca-Cola Company and its network of independent bottlers worldwide. We are proud to support Coca-Cola as it continues to embrace the era of AI and looks to solutions like Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365 to drive innovation across every area of its business.”

Meanwhile, John Murphy, president and chief financial officer of The Coca-Cola Company, stated, “This new agreement builds on the success of Coca-Cola’s partnership strategy with Microsoft, showing our commitment to ongoing digital transformation. Our partnership with Microsoft has grown exponentially, from the $250 million agreement we initially announced in 2020 to $1.1 billion today.”

Lastly, Neeraj Tolmare, senior vice president and global chief information officer for The Coca-Cola Company, commented, “Our expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in Coca-Cola’s journey toward a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies. Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value.”

Gaydon, UK – British multinational automobile manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover Limited (JLR) has partnered with global commtech company Tata Communications to future-proof its digital transformation journey.

JLR’s partnership with Tata Communications comes as it looks to pave the way for new standards such as Industry 4.0 and advanced analytics. JLR aims to power the production of the next generation of vehicles as part of its Reimagine strategy.

In this partnership, Tata Communication will deploy its cloud-first, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology to connect JLR’s global headquarters to its 128 sites worldwide. With this, JLR can significantly boost its supply chain efficiency and security.

The advanced network capability will power the automobile company’s AI adoption, providing robust and predictive risk management to reduce disruption to manufacturing and ensure vehicle quality. Tata Communications’ digital architecture can enhance vehicle build quality by providing real-time data diagnosis, monitoring, and analysis to improve production lines.

Furthermore, the partnership will help shorten the time spent upgrading manufacturing processes, strengthen operational resilience, and increase agility to meet production demands.

This digital transformation for JLR is estimated to be cost-saving, considering the business benefits through scale and security. The implementation of the network transformation is expected to be complete by 2025.

Commenting on the partnership, Tony Battle, group chief digital and information officer at JLR, said, “This is an exciting phase in the digital transformation of our business, leveraging the technologies and capabilities of Tata Communications that will leapfrog our networks into the future.”

He continued, “Moving to SD-WAN means we can use AI-powered automation to predict vulnerabilities, proactively intervene, prevent issues, and perform more effectively on a global scale across our network. The cutting-edge connectivity platform will help us build the world-class ecosystem we need to deliver modern luxury vehicles and remarkable driving experiences.”

Sumeet Walia, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Tata Communications, also shared, “JLR is a global hallmark for automotive luxury and innovation. As the industry rapidly evolves, it’s an exciting time to further strengthen our relationship and support its digital transformation strategy. Tata Communications is deploying a ‘digital fabric’, comprising our agile infrastructure, platforms, and managed services, that will help integrate JLR’s systems, workforce, suppliers, stakeholders, and customers across the globe, delivering a seamless flow of data to enrich key aspects of the business ecosystem.”

“This partnership will also further our combined commitment to sustainability as we join forces with JLR to digitally transform the production line of their next-generation vehicles,” he concluded. 

Singapore – NCS and Google Cloud announced today their strategic partnership to accelerate AI-led transformation for public and private sector organisations across Singapore, Australia, and the wider Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

NCS has also integrated its Google Cloud expertise across its service offerings and teams. This enables APAC clients to harness AI and cloud technologies to transform and innovate at greater speed and scale. 

Clients can also tap into NCS’ extensive experience and capabilities and its 100-strong APAC Google Cloud team to confidently navigate the full spectrum of innovation, security, and AI transformation.

The integrated offering will help businesses unlock new opportunities, improve operations, and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market. They will also be able to deploy AI capabilities for data-driven decision-making, with cloud providing the infrastructure to support AI applications at scale.

Howie Lau, managing partner of corporate development and partnerships at NCS, said, “We are seeing a revolution in digital experiences and innovation led by the convergence of AI with cloud computing. By combining NCS’ end-to-end system integration expertise with Google Cloud’s trusted AI and cloud technologies, we are empowering our clients to harness the transformative potential of AI and cloud.”

He added, “Together, we will co-create the next generation of resilient and secure AI-powered applications that our clients need to advance their businesses and the communities they serve. Our partnership with Google Cloud will not only accelerate innovation and expedite time-to-market but also enable our clients to leverage the growth of AI in the APAC region.”

Meanwhile, Anthony McMahon, managing director for partners and alliances for Asia-Pacific at Google Cloud, commented, “Google Cloud is committed to providing the industry’s most open cloud, as well as enterprise-grade data management and AI development platforms, to help customers accelerate their digital transformation.”

He added, “Through our collaboration with NCS, organisations can take advantage of Google Cloud infrastructure and services to power new capabilities that can improve operations and create real-world value.”