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.”

Hong Kong – Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of china-based tech giant Tencent, is introducing Lighthouse, a one-stop cloud server service that is suitable for lightweight business scenarios. This is in response to covering the needs of more SMEs and developers amid small businesses further seeing the importance of cloud usage. 

Tencent Cloud Lighthouse comes with ‘out-of-the-box’ features such as one-stop integration of basic cloud services, including computing, storage, and network. It also provides a one-click app deployment, providing a rich set of out-of-the-box app images and preconfigured software stacks for websites, blogs, forums, and other application systems. 

The company also boasts Lighthouse’s packages for computing, storage, and network resources as well as high bandwidth/traffic packages which aim to make the deployments highly cost-effective. Tencent also said the service helps in unifying operations and maintenance, where servers, applications, operations and maintenance are able to be carried out from a single unified management console of Lighthouse.

Furthermore, Tencent Cloud emphasises Lighthouse’s fit in different scenarios, such as building websites, and web applications, as well as building mini programs, mini games, online stores, cloud storage, and image hosting, among others. 

Poshu Yeung, SVP of Tencent Cloud International, said, “As we usher in the new digital era, there’s a surge in demand for cloud technologies, particularly with SMEs and the developer community around the world. As one of the world’s leading cloud service providers, we are committed to empowering businesses of all sizes and fields to embrace digital transformation. We are pleased to introduce Tencent Cloud Lighthouse, a simplified and easy-to-use cloud server product that can assist them as they embark on their cloudification journey efficiently.”

Tencent Cloud also recently launched the SME Booster Program, offering SMEs up to USD500 exclusive rebate packages, various product free trials and promotional offers, including Lighthouse. 

Sri Lanka – SLT Mobitel, leading mobile service provider in Sri Lanka, has rebranded and upgraded its current cloud storage service, SLT Storage, to now be called ‘Eazy Storage’. The telco said the enhanced service is in response to the immense potential in the cloud space, and will be offering customers the ultimate cloud solution with a robust and cutting-edge user interface for cloud applications.

SLT Mobitel offers mobile telephony, broadband services, and roaming and idd services, among others. Its cloud storage, file sync, and sharing solution, Eazy Storage, will have no additional broadband costs. Customers have instant access to all data including all files, photos, messages, contacts, and documents in any format to work and share with others, with real-time collaboration from any device, anywhere.

The telco assures all files are secure with powerful on-server and end-to-end encryption. In addition, the solution is hosted inside SLT-MOBITEL’s state-of-the-art data centers.

Eazy Storage packages range from 5GB to 1000 GB and based on customer requests, 1TB can be offered. With prepaid and postpaid options, rates are priced from Rs 50 to Rs. 4675.

SLT Mobitel shared that it will be unveiling new features in the future, including a family sharing option to be launched soon.

As digital technologies dramatically reshape industries, customer expectations are also rapidly evolving in a hyper-connected environment. In fact, we see the same technologies which are changing customer behavior also enabling businesses to redefine customer journeys. This has led to customers increasingly seeking differentiated experiences built on convenience, speed, and accessibility.

While putting the customer first is not a new idea, many organizations are still trying to crack the code on how to integrate this effectively into the business model. An easy first place to start is cloud agreements. Businesses often focus on digitizing the upfront customer experience however often overlook the process of agreement and rely on paper-based processes that aren’t aligned to customer expectations. Digitizing the agreement process removes the potential friction introduced by needing to print, send, and sign paper documents.

With modern electronic signature tools available, it’s now up to leaders to leverage technology and reorient the business towards customer needs. Here are three ways cloud agreements help to strengthen business touchpoints.

Make customers part of your solution

Delays and miscommunication are the most common risks every business that is not digital-first is exposed to. This incurs unnecessary time and revenue costs to the company, resulting in decreased productivity. Today, where the expectation for convenience becomes the norm, make yourself as easy to do business with as possible which starts with digitizing contracts. 

It’s important to provide full transparency throughout your engagement with each customer from pre- to post-sales. By leveraging cloud agreements, businesses can better accommodate customer needs by tapping into the flexibility and convenience of the system.

This is evident in the financial and banking industry where online contracts and e-signatures have helped global banks bridge the broken customer experience with an end-to-end digitalization of offerings like home loans. As a result, customers now enjoy improved and faster services that are aligned to their expectations.

A frictionless agreement process

A great customer experience starts with a frictionless agreement. We’ve all experienced the pain and frustration of having to print, sign, and mail documents. And it’s not enjoyable, to say the least. So why impose this on your customers? With cloud agreements, you can assimilate your business to the anywhere economy by eliminating manual steps in your processes and focus on service quality.

A robust cloud system that is compliant and reliable is a key part of any business success. The strong technology infrastructure from AI to machine learning that supports cloud services helps to build trust and confidence among customers. Additionally, the greater visibility of agreement processes allows senders to see real-time signing status which removes any customer fears and worries. This makes the customer experience holistic and safe.

A renewed focus on corporate and social responsibility

Providing a superior customer experience doesn’t hinge only on the customer’s benefit—it’s a strategic business decision. Thus, having a modern digital agreement process is also a reflection of your brand and corporate social responsibility. Through automated processes, paper wastage is greatly reduced which minimizes the negative impact on the environment.

As the world is gearing up towards building a green environment, your digital-first mindset of cloud-based agreements will help reduce your carbon footprint. This is critical especially for socially responsible customers, shifting mindsets that the cloud system is purpose- and value-driven instead of focusing on profits.

To be truly customer-centric, technology alone isn’t enough. Organizations must provide customers with a connected and meaningful experience that is supported by cloud agreements. This would make the customer journey easy and memorable for all the right reasons.

This article was written by Andrea Dixon, senior marketing director of DocuSign for APJ.

Singapore – State-owned Thai telecommunications company TOT has collaborated with Genesys, a California-headquartered cloud customer experience and contact center solutions to accelerate its contact centers.

According to a press release by Genesys, TOT, as a company responsible for operating government contact centers in Thailand, experienced a surge in call volumes when the Coronavirus broke out.

To effectively manage the increase in calls, Genesys embedded machine learning and conversational AI capabilities with the use of Genesys Cloud and Google Cloud Contact Center AI (CCAI) into its system, allowing callers to now interact with AI-powered virtual agents who are able to accurately capture a customer’s intent easily, routing them to the agents most well placed to handle their needs.

Genesys Cloud is the company’s proprietary web-based unified communications solution, connecting contact center users, business users, vendors, partners, and customers; while Google Cloud CCAI is Google’s solution that helps integrate AI into contact center processes.

According to Genesys, one of the pain points it has also targeted for TOT in integrating the new solution is the company’s added complication of having less manpower to receive calls amid social distancing measures.

“The telecom provider needed a solution capable of scaling rapidly to meet the unexpected surges in call volume, address a constantly evolving set of requirements, optimize agent resources, and still deliver superior customer satisfaction with empathy,” said Genesys.

Senior Director for Cloud and Digital at TOT K. Santhiphap Phoemmongkhonsap said that customer experience remains one of the most significant measures of success for TOT as a government organization.

Phoemmongkhonsap also shared that with audiences increasingly utilizing digital channels, TOT has made it a priority to modernize contact center infrastructure and maintain high customer experience standards despite significant changes to customer requirements due to COVID-19.

“TOT and Genesys shares a common vision of improving lives with technology, and we look forward to continue serving businesses and consumers in line with Thailand’s digital transition vision with a like-minded partner,” said Phoemmongkhonsap.

Commenting on the partnership, Gwilym Funnell, senior vice president, and general manager at Genesys Asia-Pacific said, “Genesys is honored to assist TOT in serving the needs of local businesses and consumers, and more importantly, harness technology to make lives better amid the ongoing pandemic. We operate with a strong belief in the transformational potential of AI and Cloud technologies for modern economies. We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with one of Thailand’s telecommunications pioneers to accelerate digital transformation within one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing internet economies.”

Meanwhile, Head of Product for Conversational AI at Google Cloud Antony Passemard said “The successful application of Google Cloud’s CCAI solution by Genesys for TOT is a tremendous example of how applied AI can help organizations digitally transform quickly, and ultimately drive stronger, more efficient experiences for their customers while maintaining control of their costs.”

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s data centers have been highly sought by investors and owner-operators in 2020 with majority, 54%, of the total investment volume into data centers in the Asia Pacific coming from the city, according to data by Cushman & Wakefield.

Data center investment in the region has been on the rise with total transaction volume between 2018 and 2020 totaling USD 5.7 billion, over seven times that between 2015 and 2017.

Despite the pandemic outbreak, investment activity in the sector remains relatively robust with the total transaction volume in the region over the first eight months of 2020 reaching USD 1.43 billion, about 56% of the 2019 level.

Among the most notable transactions in Hong Kong is China Mobile’s securement of an industrial government site for HKD 5.60 billion in July. The record-high asset value of HKD 5,967 per sq. ft was 56% higher than the closest bid; demonstrating the eagerness of the buyer to secure a data center site amidst limited supply.

Hong Kong has long been eyed as an ideal data center location. The latest research by Cushman & Wakefield identifies the city as the fourth most attractive data center location in APAC, trailing Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. The city ranked highest in terms of low tax rate and low climate risks and ranked in the middle in categories of fiber connectivity, market maturity, and electricity costs. Meanwhile, it scored poorly on its high real estate costs.

At the end of the second quarter of the year, total data center stock in Hong Kong amounted to 7.9 million sq. ft, of which 80% was dominated by 10 operators including the two largest local operators – SUNeVision and PCCW Solutions, with the latter making up 31% of the market area.

Cushman & Wakefield forecasts that over the next four years, a combined 4.2 million sq. ft of supply will enter the data center market.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Associate Director for Research in Hong Kong, Eric Chong said that existing data center demand is supported by banking & finance, insurance, and telecom operators, and that in the future, such demand is expected to be largely driven by leading global cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud as well as Tencent Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. 

Chong said, “The growing importance of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the impending 5G network, and fast adoption rates of cloud computing as well as the post-COVID-19 ‘new’ normal are the four major factors driving the surge in demand for cloud storage”.