Tag: CX

Singapore – Regional healthcare company Doctor Anywhere has teamed up with Zendesk to enhance its user support capabilities and scale its operations using Zendesk’s Suite.

The Zendesk Suite enables customers to interact with Doctor Anywhere through their preferred channels, powered by automated workflows and intelligent bots. Its seamless integration and real-time analytics deliver smarter service at scale, empowering agent teams to collaborate effortlessly and respond to customers more quickly.

This partnership with Zendesk reinforces Doctor Anywhere’s dedication to delivering exceptional customer service while expanding its regional presence.

Lim Wai Mun, founder and CEO of Doctor Anywhere, said, “Delivering a seamless and intuitive healthcare experience has always been at the core of Doctor Anywhere, serving as the foundation for building trust and loyalty among our users. Partnering with Zendesk puts our users’ needs further in focus as we enhance the support they can expect from us. As we expand the business, we are also committed to continuously improving the quality of service we provide.” 

Meanwhile, Jenny Choo, regional vice president of Zendesk Asia Pacific, commented, “Zendesk is proud to be a partner with Doctor Anywhere. The way they’ve disrupted the medical services space and the way they’re breaking down the barriers to accessing medical services is admirable. We are happy to be part of a tech ecosystem that is delivering such important services and to be a part of their growth story.” 

In the dynamic realm of marketing, embracing innovation and leveraging technology isn’t just a strategy—it’s a mindset that defines the path to success. By embracing change and staying open to new ideas, marketers unlock endless possibilities to engage, inspire, and delight their audiences.

For MARKETECH APAC’s latest Milestone Series, we spoke with Maggie Effendy, associate marketing director – head of marketing for baby and child care (BCC) at Kimberly-Clark Softex Indonesia, to discuss one of her greatest milestones — blending her expertise and decades of experience to push the boundaries of technology and innovation in enhancing the consumer experience.

In this feature, Effendy delves into her illustrious marketing career spanning two decades, her first anniversary with Kimberly-Clark Softex, and her remarkable journey of relentless innovation with new technology. 

A merger of talent and opportunity

In 2020, Kimberly-Clark completed its acquisition of Softex Indonesia, a huge move that drew Effendy to join the company two years later. Attracted by the acquisition–an area missing from her career experience–Effendy saw this as an opportunity to leverage her hybrid expertise from both big local family-run companies and multinational corporations to contribute significantly to the success of Kimberly-Clark Softex.

A year after joining Kimberly-Clark Softex, Effendy had played a pivotal role in leading and contributing to some of the company’s most successful campaigns. Her tenure at Kimberly-Clark Softex has been distinguished by groundbreaking initiatives, including the recent and particularly proud launch of the ‘Sweety Dry Xpert X-Zone’ product.

As the head of marketing for Sweety, Effendy and her team have relaunched Sweety Dry X-Pert with new X-Zone Technology, featuring an X-shaped channelling system exclusive to Kimberly-Clark globally. This innovation allows the diaper to absorb liquid five times faster, keeping the baby comfortable and dry for up to 12 hours, reducing the risk of diaper rash, and promoting healthy skin.

And to top this all off, an extra special innovative feature made it into the creative process behind the product launch. Effendy and her team have integrated AI technology to generate personalised baby images on the packaging. This unique approach allows them to depict a baby that grows with Sweety from newborn to XXL sizes, something traditional photo shoots or image banks couldn’t achieve. 

“I believe we are the first in Kimberly-Clark globally to utilise AI technology for baby image on pack, and we would not be here today without the support from management that values leveraging technology. Our network of stakeholders also helped us to ensure we took all the necessary precautions in this new territory of marketing,” Effendy shared. 

Pushing boundaries and leading with innovation

The idea of using AI for the baby image project emerged from the challenge of meeting a tight timeline. With the help of AI technology, Effendy and her team not only significantly reduced the production timeline but also saved considerable costs per image compared to traditional photoshoots.

Effendy believes that the integration of AI in their packaging not only fosters a stronger connection with shoppers but also demonstrates how technology can enhance the consumer experience.

For Effendy, a successful product launch should aim to exceed customer expectations, even addressing needs that were previously unvoiced or unknown. This is where innovative technology can push boundaries. 

Effendy’s innovative way of answering challenges and providing effective solutions is honed through his decades of experience in the industry. Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark Softex, she was an FMCG international marketing professional working for global QSR companies. 

In one of her previous roles as marketing manager at an international fast-food chain, Effendy’s goal was to drive mainstream traffic to the store. Instead of just creating a better burger, she identified a barrier for group dining: the lack of options for non-burger eaters. 

By introducing chicken and rice to the menu, they were able to break this barrier that hinders the business’ growth. Consequently, the company became the first globally approved fresh chicken menu and operations standard.

Charting the course of the future

AI has played a pivotal role in Effendy’s recent product launch with Kimberly-Clark Softex, and looking ahead, she foresees AI continuing to disrupt the marketing industry, particularly in product innovation and development.

The potential for AI to transform marketing practices excites her, especially in the realms of design, communication, and social media. She, especially, anticipates AI advancements in shopper CRM. 

“I believe AI innovation will help accelerate the growth of smaller niche brands’ products and services, therefore closing the gap in current scale barriers between big mainstream brands and carefully curated ones,” she explained. 

When asked what she foresees shaping the future of marketing in the SEA region, Effendy sees Indonesia playing a pivotal role in shaping future marketing trends, given its vast population and burgeoning consumer market. And with Kimberly-Clark Softex’s global network and local agility, she is also confident in the company’s ability to capitalise on emerging trends in the personal care sector. 

Effendy shared, “I believe Kimberly-Clark Softex is well positioned with both the power of global networks as well as the agility of local movers to capitalise on future trends in personal care in Indonesia.”

Reflecting on a distinguished career

Over her 20-year career in marketing, Effendy has had numerous achievements, from successful product launches to impactful team development. Reflecting on her past works and achievements, she finds it hard to pick which is the most memorable, as there are too many of them. 

From her Mie Sedaap project to Oreo Blackpink and now her work with Kimberly-Clark Softex, each of Effendy’s works occupies a special place in her heart. However, she believes her greatest achievement is best measured not only by commercial success but also by the growth and development of the team during the project. 

“There’s nothing more satisfying for me than seeing a talent grow to their full potential,” she simply said. 

Effendy’s journey exemplifies the spirit of innovation, resilience, and leadership in the marketing industry. Her ability to navigate challenges, embrace technology, and inspire others underscores her role as a visionary marketer.

“After 20 years in marketing, I’m amazed by how much there is still to learn and even in awe of the great leaders and mentors that are always willing to share knowledge out there. I can only aspire to ‘pay it forward’ and continuously partake in building the next wave of inclusive leaders,” she concluded. 

Singapore – Cloud communications provider Toku has announced its intent to acquire Singapore-based AI-powered conversational customer experience (CX) platform, AiChat, to support its vision of delivering a 360-degree CX platform tailored for APAC organisations.

Through this acquisition, Toku will gain AiChat’s industry-leading chatbot and messaging capabilities. When combined with Toku’s existing voice, messaging, and cloud communications suite, customers will benefit from a single, integrated platform to power their entire CX journey.

Once finalised, the acquisition will bolster Toku’s standing as a full-service CX technology firm, empowering the company to realise its goal of delivering seamless, personalised customer engagement across all channels.

The enhanced capabilities and synergies resulting from the collaboration between the two companies are projected to have an anticipated 50% revenue growth within the first twelve months.

By joining forces, Toku and AiChat will offer enterprise clients a single view of their customers with insights drawn from conversations across all channels, faster resolution of issues through seamless hand-offs between chat, voice, and other channels, and more personalised experiences tailored to individual customers at every step of their journey.

Besides integrating into Toku’s offerings, AiChat will maintain its status as a standalone product, catering to customers who favour a single, streamlined solution that delivers the best-in-class AI-powered conversational experience.

Toku’s acquisition of AiChat will mark the company’s second M&A activity in two consecutive years, following its acquisition of customer engagement firm Activeo Singapore in 2023, a strong testament to its solid business fundamentals and consistent upward growth trajectory.

As of now, no financial terms of the acquisition have been disclosed. However, the transaction is expected to close by Q3 2024.

AiChat employees will begin moving into Toku’s offices as part of the integration, bringing the company’s total strength to 160 dedicated CX professionals. Similar to last year’s acquisition of Activeo, no staff redundancies are expected from the acquisition; both companies are on a path to profitability and expect to tap into each other’s complementary strengths and talents to accelerate growth post-acquisition.

AiChat currently serves a variety of customers in multiple verticals across Southeast Asia, including Bayer, Marina Bay Sands, M1, Petron, Thomson Medical, and UPS.

Speaking on the acquisition, Thomas Laboulle, founder and CEO of Toku, said, “The acquisition of AiChat is a natural next step in our mission to be Asia Pacific’s leading customer experience platform. Both companies share a vision of using AI to enhance customer interactions and improve contact centre operations. Together, we can deliver even more value to our customers through a unified set of omnichannel solutions.”

Brendon Blacker, managing partner of Delivery Hero Ventures, also commented, “As a major strategic investor in Toku, we enthusiastically welcome the acquisition of AiChat. This move is a strategic enhancement to Toku’s portfolio, positioning it as an innovator in the region’s CX industry. AiChat’s expertise in conversational AI and regional insights, combined with Toku’s advanced cloud contact centre solutions, effectively amplifies their unique competitive advantages and signals a deliberate step towards expanding and solidifying their leadership in the market.”

Meanwhile, Kester Poh, founder and CEO of AiChat, said, “We are excited to join Toku. Toku’s commitment to CX excellence mirrors our values, making this acquisition a strategic and natural alignment. This partnership is a key milestone for us, revealing significant opportunities for synergy and growth as leading CX providers in APAC. Together, we aim to simplify customer operations, offering a unified platform for efficient and effective customer experience management.”

Singapore – SleekFlow is proud to announce its participation as a Gold Sponsor in MARKETECH APAC’s “What’s NEXT 2024: Marketing in Singapore” conference. The company will take the lead in driving the conversation on improving omnichannel customer experiences for enterprises. 

SleekFlow offers an AI-powered Omnichannel Conversation Suite that enables a seamless and personalised customer experience across popular social and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, SMS, live chat, and more. With SleekFlow’s customer engagement platform, enterprises can conveniently manage all customer interactions in one centralised hub, automating their business expansion from sales and marketing to customer support. 

Asnawi Jufrie, vice president and general manager for Southeast Asia (SEA) at SleekFlow, will deliver a keynote presentation tackling the challenges and solutions of integrating new messaging channels into existing omnichannel strategies. Jufrie will emphasise the importance of customer-centricity within omni-enterprise models, as well as the role of automation in effectively managing multiple messaging channels while maintaining a consistent brand message. 

SleekFlow 2.0, the latest offering from this global SaaS brand, revolutionises customer communication by delivering AI-driven, personalised conversational experiences at scale. The newly introduced feature Flow Builder seamlessly integrates workflows, enabling smarter and faster operations that ensure a unified customer experience. SleekFlow’s mission is clear: to empower companies to centre all their workflows around meaningful conversations. 

Teddy Cambosa, regional editor at MARKETECH APAC, commented, “In today’s dynamic business landscape, success lies in the seamless integration of diverse channels, for in the symphony of commerce, a harmonised omnichannel strategy not only amplifies reach but orchestrates customer experiences, transforming transactions into relationships and businesses into brands. We look forward to SleekFlow imparting actionable insights on enhancing omnichannel CX strategies across enterprises.”

What’s NEXT 2024: Marketing in Singapore is part of the trilogy of conferences from MARKETECH APAC’s “What’s NEXT 2023-2024 Series.” The conference features a diverse lineup of marketing leaders across Singapore, representing local and international brands including DirectAsia, Grab, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Kaspersky, Singapore Management University, Singapore Post, Standard Chartered Bank, StarHub, The LEGO Group, and more.

Head over to the official event site to see the full agenda and roster of speakers of What’s NEXT 2024: Marketing in Singapore. 

Singapore – In the contemporary retail landscape, a customer’s experience with brands and companies has become an identifier of success. 

From being simply a transactional aspect, the customer experience (CX) now encompasses every interaction customers have with brands, from browsing through products to post-purchase support. And whether it be online, in-store, or through various touchpoints, it is undeniable that how brands service their consumers plays a pivotal role in shaping their perception of the brand and their purchasing decisions.

Recognising this, global cloud communications platform, Infobip has launched the marketing guide ‘What Customers Want (A Retailers Guide to Digital Customer Experience)’, to offer businesses a simpler way to understand what shoppers want and what solutions and tools they can utilise in order to successfully answer these needs at any given moment.

This guide is specifically designed for retailers that seek to succeed and set themselves apart in the crowded and competitive marketplace. It is also suitable for brands that look to improve the way they engage and service their customers to ensure retention and loyalty, thus driving long-term success.

Infobip found that some shoppers will not complete their purchases if they don’t feel secure online. Therefore, this guide provides businesses with new solutions they can explore to offer uninterrupted and smoother authentication processes. Additionally, it also contains informative and actionable insights that show retailers how to utilise the right tools to make personalised experiences easier for both customers and retailers.

Teddy Cambosa, deputy regional editor at MARKETECH APAC, stated, “In the ever-evolving landscape of commerce, retailers must recognize that the heartbeat of success is synchronised with the rhythm of impactful digital customer experience (CX) strategies. This guide offers a multitude of strategies which retailers can implement to promote a harmonious intersection of technology and customer-centricity.”

With this guide, businesses can have an idea of what can tick or tickle their customers and how they can effectively address this to deliver a more personalised, seamless, and satisfying experience that drives long-term success.

To access the guide, you may download ‘What Customers Want (A Retailers Guide to Digital Customer Experience)’ here. 

Singapore – TikTok has rolled out its new ‘Shop’ tab feature for its e-commerce solution, TikTok Shop, to offer users a more convenient way to access its shopping portal.

The ‘Shop’ tab feature, represented by a shopping bag icon, takes users straight into TikTok Shop’s shopping portal in one touch, providing greater convenience and interaction for online shoppers and merchants.

With the new feature, online shoppers will easily have access to the familiar shopping interface where they can browse products, view orders, access their shopping cart, set addresses and payment methods, and chat with merchants.

Furthermore, the products in the Shop tab are also divided into categories to help users quickly and easily find what they are looking for. The feature also highlights products that are based on the users’ habits and interests while using the app. This ensures an even more pleasurable and convenient experience for users while also assisting merchants by having their products matched with a customer’s profile.

Additionally, the top of the page contains prominent flash sale information and countdown timers to remind users of sale discounts and other shop and item promotions.

Doven Yap, seller acquisition lead at TikTok Shop Singapore, said, “TikTok Shop has a rapidly growing community, and our innovation and developments are meant to address the desires of sellers, merchants, and creators to learn, discover, and promote one another on TikTok. The Shop Tab becomes a natural extension of the users’ journey from being entertained to learning something new and getting interested in buying. Consequently, this feature lets businesses grow to be discovered more easily and gain more new customers, leveraging the power of the TikTok community.”

Singapore – Customer service software company Zendesk has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to officially acquire AI-powered quality management platform Klaus as part of its commitment to future-proofing its AI-powered customer experience.

The acquisition is expected to provide the company with new and transformative quality management capabilities that can increase efficiency and customer loyalty.

As QA software, Klaus’ AI scores 100 percent of customer support satisfaction. Its platform can precisely identify positive and negative sentiments, outliers, churn risk, escalations, and follow-ups across all conversations, including those from outsourced teams.

Furthermore, its AI software can also spot knowledge gaps and coaching opportunities that can be utilised to improve agent performance and productivity, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.

Klaus will also be the latest addition to Zendesk’s existing workforce engagement management (WEM) solutions.

With Klaus, Zendesk customers will be able to power their everyday customer interaction with a more consistent, high-quality service across every channel and across both humans and digital agents or bots.

Commenting on the acquisition, Martin Kõiva, CEO and founder of Klaus, shared, “Zendesk and Klaus share a vision of AI-led, personalised CX with businesses fully anticipating and acting on their customers’ needs. QA software plays a critical role in this, ensuring consistency, assessing both human and digital agent performance, and providing actionable insights for strategic planning. As part of Zendesk, we will continue to build and deliver these crucial capabilities, but now at an even greater scale.”

Adrian McDermott, chief technology officer at Zendesk, also added, “As AI drives up the speed and frequency of customer engagement, only AI-powered quality assurance (QA) can keep up as companies work to identify and fix gaps in their customer service operations. The combination of Zendesk AI and Klaus’ capabilities will help businesses navigate greater complexity and volume and ensure both digital and human agents deliver highly personal and empathetic service.”

Zendesk’s acquisition of Klaus is expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2024, upon receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Singapore – Almost half, or 44%, of Thai consumers are more trusting of GenAI’s content, and 42% believe it is safe for use, a report from Publicis Sapient revealed.

According to the report, Thai consumers are among the leading in the global market in terms of generative AI use, with more than one in three, or 35%, answering that they have personally or professionally used generative AI tools before. This places Thailand alongside Australia, which scored 38%.

With GenAI’s capabilities, customers are also expecting a lot from it, including enhanced experiences in activities like shopping. In fact, almost half (43%) of GenAI users want brands to utilise the technology to advance their overall customer experience.

In Thailand, especially, more than half, or 55%, of consumers are expecting genAI to improve their overall customer experiences when interacting with brands and their products and services.

The global survey revealed that a huge majority of Thai consumers (97%) are excited about what genAI will bring to their shopping experience. Additionally, 86% of all genAI users in Thailand also reported that its impact on shopping experiences excites them. This is higher than the 63% global average recorded by the survey. 

Among the genAI tools, nearly half of users globally (45%) are very likely to use a conversational application of the technology for travel and hospitality shopping. Meanwhile, in Thailand, the numbers show a whopping contrast, with 63% of users responding that they are very likely to use the technology.

However, despite the global use of GenAI technology, many remain apprehensive of its implications and safety of usage. The report showed that only 21% of consumers globally trust the outputs produced by a GenAI tool. 

On the other hand, the report also revealed that Thai consumers are more trusting of GenAI’s content and outputs (44%), and they consider them safe to use (42%).

According to the results of the report, organisations must continue to develop strategies and ways to harness the power of generative AI while ensuring that the implementation of the technology remains ethical to establish deeper trust with customers.

The report further suggested organisations develop strategies that will help harness GenAI for customers. Firstly, focus on product research and discovery to enable faster and more accurate search results. Next, focus on helping consumers find the best deals amidst rising costs of living and inflation. And lastly, invest in GenAI-powered customer services to enable seamless, automated interactions like product returns and exchanges.

Andrew Male, client partner at ASEAN, said, “We are extremely excited at the potential that generative AI brings when it comes to transforming the customer experience. Thailand has shown itself to be a leader in embracing the use of generative AI tools, and we look forward to collaborating with our partners and customers to harness these innovative technologies and continually develop innovative solutions that transform how we live, work, and play.”

Singapore – Sprinklr, the unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform, has announced its expanded strategic partnership with multinational advertising company WPP to bring AI-powered customer experience management solutions to global brands. 

In this partnership, WPP will become Sprinklr’s first global agency partner and both will collaborate to launch a new offering, CX Live AI, that connects both companies’ AI tech resources and capabilities.  

The joint offering will leverage Sprinklr’s AI+ platform, including its customised AI models and generative AI capabilities, and WPP’s own AI resources to offer help to WPP teams in creating optimised content that reaches the right audiences. 

Together, WPP and Sprinklr plan to create AI solutions that will help global clients deliver more personalised and consistent experiences to their respective customers using Sprinklr’s unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform. 

The partnership comes as both companies understand the challenge of creating a seamless customer experience across a variety of channels. With this, Sprinklr can now offer a platform that can provide WPP’s largest client companies with a comprehensive view of data to inform insights and analytics, helping them reach, engage, and listen to customers at scale.

Both companies are expected to work together on shared data, analytics, and solution development for joint clients. Furthermore, WPP teams will receive priority support from Sprinklr, including bespoke enablement programmes and early access to new Sprinklr products and platform features. Meanwhile, WPP will participate in Sprinklr’s Partner Advisory Board to help shape the roadmap for products.

As of now, WPP and Sprinklr are collaborating on solutions with only select clients, such as The Coca-Cola Company, where teams leverage AI insights around customer engagement to inform creative development and channel selection.

Stephan Pretorius, CTO at WPP, said, “Through the seamless integration of WPP’s AI toolset with Sprinklr’s AI+ platform, we are reshaping how brands can connect with their audiences. This partnership enhances our existing AI offerings and enables our clients to create customer experiences across all touch points on a scale like never before, further solidifying our position as a leader amidst the technology revolution that is transforming our industry.”

Ragy Thomas, founder and CEO at Sprinklr, also commented, “Sprinklr and WPP serve many of the world’s most iconic brands. Together, this partnership will enable customers to effectively deploy AI that will result in measurable productivity, cost savings, and the seamless experiences customers have come to expect today. Integrating Sprinklr’s AI-powered Unified-CXM platform with WPP’s AI toolset will help our shared customers quickly adopt the latest AI technologies while ensuring the enterprise-grade privacy, security, and governance that Sprinklr and WPP have built our businesses on.”

Singapore – In collaboration with global customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce, global cloud communications firm Vonage has launched Vonage ‘Conversations for Salesforce’, a configurable omnichannel messaging app powered by the Vonage Communications Platform. 

Vonage’s new app provides a flexible and scalable way of sending SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp messages from within Salesforce, making it easy for businesses to develop custom workflows using standard Salesforce tools.

This feature aims to enable businesses to serve customers directly from the Salesforce platform and deliver exceptional customer engagements, whilst blending bot and Vonage Contact Center (VCC) agent interactions.

With Salesforce as a single source of truth for customer data, users can participate in a conversation and access the entire customer history. Response-handling can also be automated with chatbots or routed automatically to the right agent or organisation to enable fast resolution.

Savinay Berry, EVP, product & engineering at Vonage, said, “Vonage ‘Conversations for Salesforce’ unlocks the power of delivering personalised two-way interactions with customers from Salesforce, enabling engagement at scale with SMS, MMS and WhatsApp channels while blending bot and VCC agent interactions.”

“Based on Salesforce’s best practices and latest tools, the app overcomes the constraints of existing solutions and is enabling conversations across the entire organisation,” he added. 

Vonage Conversations for Salesforce is part of the full Vonage AI Acceleration Suite for Salesforce, a portfolio of AI-capable, low-code/no-code programmable components that aim to help speed business transformation and seamlessly integrate with Salesforce applications to enable personalised conversations across omni-channel communications.