Tag: digital transformation

Singapore – Luxury fashion giant Calvin Klein has appointed brandtech company CONTEN.T to enrich its performance-driven digital engagements and deepen first-party insights across Asia via the company’s SUPERFAN platform.

SUPERFAN is CONTEN.T’s data-aggregation platform that funnels action data across multiple digital channels with AI predictions. 

This partnership comes as Calvin Klein APAC aims to revamp their consumer experience strategies, driven by the increasing emphasis on first-party data and insights in the data world. 

Calvin Klein APAC will leverage CONTEN.T’s consumer engagement tools, which drive performance enhancements and gather crucial insights, to improve their understanding of consumer behaviours and preferences across platforms. 

The strategic move accelerates Calvin Klein APAC’s digital transformation and enhances their connection with Gen-Zs and beyond, reinforcing Calvin Klein’s already strong market appeal in the region.

Jason Ang, founder and CEO of CONTEN.T, said, “This collaboration not only sets a new standard in data-driven fashion marketing but also highlights brands’ proactive approach to adapting to the evolving digital ecosystem; it’s a crucial time to put data to work.” 

He added, “By prioritising first-party data, Calvin Klein is positioning itself to not only meet but exceed the expectations of a discerning, digitally-savvy customer base. With CONTEN.T’s expertise and the SUPERFAN platform’s capabilities, Calvin Klein is poised to lead the charge in creating more personalised, engaging, and effective digital consumer experiences. This partnership is more than a strategic alignment; it’s a forward-thinking move that promises to shape the future of digital engagement in the fashion industry.”

Malaysian consumers seek more immersive and convenient shopping experiences. Adyen’s 2023 Peak Season report notes that 55% of Malaysian retailers have observed an increase in customer expectations in response to this behaviour. 

This trend is even more pronounced in Malaysia, where 40% of consumers wait for key calendar moments, such as the upcoming Chinese New Year season, to make their purchases, hoping to secure the best deals and discounts.

This peak sales season, Malaysian retailers are standing at a threshold of a major transformation in order to meet these preferences.

Bridging the digital and physical divide

Traditionally, online and offline transactions are treated separately and not integrated, making for a poor shopping experience. Yet, evolving consumer preferences show a demand for seamless integration of online and physical shopping experiences. 

To this end, retailers are embracing a unified strategy to elevate the shopping experience. This strategy connects backend systems of a business with its customer-facing channels via a single platform, enabling retailers to gather valuable data insights and help them improve customer experiences.

With these insights, retailers are able to bring a new level of personalisation to the retail experience, such as offering rewards and discounts that are tailored to the customer’s interests. A connected backend also means that retailers are able to recognise returning shoppers easily, thus enabling flexible purchases and exchange processes at the shopper’s convenience. 

During peak seasons like Chinese New Year, the focus is also on the convenience enabled by in-store technologies, including portable payment devices, self-checkout kiosks, and flexible payment options. This mirrors the ease of online shopping, offering swift and hassle-free transactions—picture the efficiency of fast mobile checkouts in-store versus the simplicity of one-click online checkout—while minimising queues and wait times.

Innovations such as self-checkout kiosks and mobile apps have become popular among Malaysian consumers, with 52% reporting a happier shopping experience. Beyond this, the rise in usage of portable in-person payment devices in-stores have shown how they open possibilities for more dynamic in-store customer journeys. 

For example, Sephora Malaysia revamped their in-store experience, which included removing as many counters as possible in their stores. This strategic move liberated staff from traditional cashier roles, allowing them to serve as roving sales and beauty consultants, providing personalised assistance and value-added services at the retail store floor. Today, staff are now able to help customers complete purchases on the spot without needing to guide customers to a counter or to a queue. This reflects consumer expectations, mimicking online shopping behaviours by busting checkout queues and offering a more personalised and efficient in-store experience. 

Consistent data analysis of consumer behaviour also helps retailers better forecast future demand, especially during peak shopping seasons. This in turn can optimise inventory management to avoid shortages or excess stock. Real-time inventory tracking, often facilitated by IoT devices, further aids retailers in ensuring a smooth shopping experience.

Customising experiences to consumer preferences

Malaysian shoppers desire smooth and easy transactions with minimal hassle. A significant 55% of shoppers have no qualms about abandoning their purchase if their preferred payment method is not available. This scenario becomes even more critical during high-traffic sales seasons. As a retailer, the last thing you want is to frustrate a customer who can’t pay how they want, at the very last stage of the purchase.

An overwhelming 79% of shoppers also now seek more personalised discounting from retailers, indicating a clear preference for offers that cater to their specific needs and interests. By leveraging technologies to gather actionable data and insights, retailers can better understand their customers’ behaviours. Through the analysis of purchasing patterns and browsing habits, retailers can go beyond one-off discounts and purchases and drive repeat engagement through more meaningful long-term incentives and rewards programmes.

As we anticipate the peak sales season of 2024, it is clear that continuous technological innovation is shaping the future of retail in Malaysia. While consumers’ needs have not undergone drastic shifts, the evolving dynamics of how retailers meet these needs constitute a dynamic blend of art and science. This highlights the imperative for retailers to consistently innovate to stay ahead of their customers’ ever-evolving preferences. Those who embrace these changes and use data-driven insights gain an edge by turning transactions into meaningful relationships with consumers. Adaptability is key for long-term success in the ever-changing retail landscape.

This article is written by Lee Soon Yean, Country Manager, Malaysia, Adyen

The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2023-2024. What’s NEXT 2023-2024 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.

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.”

Australia – Australian customer-owned mutual bank Beyond Bank has announced the appointment of digital agency Orchard to support its digital transformation journey.

In this appointment, Orchard’s remit will cover the redevelopment and redesign of Beyond Bank’s website. The full digital transformation is expected to make banking even more seamless and integrated for the bank’s 300,000 customers.

Beyond Bank aims to enhance its customers’ banking experiences across its range of digital platforms, creating a state-of-the-art digital environment.

The Orchard agency’s appointment comes after a competitive bid process. The bank disclosed that alignment of values played a key role in their decision to hand the mandate to the agency.

Wai Kwok, CEO at Orchard, said, “Beyond Bank is driven by a mission to create a banking environment like no other, placing paramount importance on delivering personalised, community-focused experiences.”

“This mission is incredibly aligned to our belief in connected experiences, and to be able to partner with individuals who not only aspire to elevate the banking experience but also share our commitment to values in every aspect of their work is incredibly exciting for us. This partnership reflects Orchard’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the digital landscapes of organisations, ensuring their values align with the communities they serve,” he added.

Speaking on the appointment, Tonina Iannicelli, senior manager digital at Beyond Bank, also shared, “We deeply appreciate Orchard’s dedication to understanding not only our customers but also the essence of Beyond Bank itself. Their commitment to our community-focused banking approach resonated with us, making them the perfect choice for this transformative journey.”

Washington, United States – The World Bank’s board of executive directors approved a total of US$600m in funding to support the digitalization reforms in the Philippines through its First Digital Transformation Development Policy Loan (DPL). 

The funding project aims to promote digital transformation and digital infrastructure policies, extend financial inclusion through digital finance, and stimulate the growth of digital services. It will also aid the government in digitising its operations and service delivery, compete in the digital infrastructure markets, and encourage the adoption of digital payments and financial services. 

The World Bank’s funding support is also expected to facilitate reforms that promote e-commerce, enhance competition and value-added activities in digital services markets, and strengthen skills development in the industry. 

The Philippines has experienced rapid growth in terms of internet use. However, the country is still lagging behind in terms of fully capitalising on the advantages of digital technology.

Furthermore, the World Bank sees that widespread adoption of digital payments in the country can benefit millions of citizens and small businesses. Only a small percentage of small businesses are able to fully embrace digitalization because of its high cost.

The World Bank seeks to address these concerns through DPL, which will support reforms aimed at enhancing competition and investment in broadband services in the country to reduce costs and improve the quality of services and access. 

Furthermore, the funding will promote broader acceptance of digital payments, strengthen trust in digital financial services, and enhance competition in digital financial infrastructure. It will help the authorities expand the reach of digital financial services to underserved and unbanked segments of the population, including women, and facilitate the transition from a predominantly cash-based economy to a digital one. 

Ndiamé Diop, country director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand at the World Bank, said, “Greater adoption of digital technology can improve the efficiency and transparency of government services, empowering individuals who were previously far away from decision-making centers. Digitalization can also drive productivity growth by reducing operating costs for firms and enhancing their resilience and preparedness for future crises.”

Speaking on the funding project, Smita Kuriakose, lead economist at the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice, shared, “Transitioning to a cashless economy would provide various benefits, especially during climate-related and natural disasters, enabling the government and the private sector to respond swiftly and efficiently. With digital transactions, affected individuals can receive government assistance or insurance payouts promptly, facilitating their recovery and rebuilding efforts.”

Australia – LEVO, a digital transformation and strategic design agency under the Clemenger Group, has announced the unveiling of a new advisory practice centred on digital transformation, customer experience (CX), and technology.

The new advisory practice will be led by Kevin Miller, who has joined as practice director of advisory and consulting, and Pankaj Prasad, who has joined the team as client solutions director. Both join from Capgemini and bring a wealth of experience in consulting, strategy, CX, design and delivering enterprise technology solutions.

LEVO’s new advisory practice will leverage its existing expertise in strategy, product design, technology, and change management.

Cale Maxwell, CEO at LEVO, explained that this new advisory practice offers clients a transformative solution to stay ahead in an ever-changing business landscape.

“Every organisation is in the business of experience. This is a significant step forward in helping Australian and New Zealand-based organisations achieve their goals and remain relevant in a highly competitive market,” Maxwell said.

LEVO’s advisory practice will concentrate on forging long-term partnerships with clients centred on technology, CX and transformation strategies, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve. 

The agency has a track record delivering enterprise digital experience and transformation projects across a range of clients including Bendigo Bank, Rams Home Loans, Interflora, Officeworks, Australian Red Cross and JELD-WEN. 

Mumbai, India – Wunderman Thompson has appointed Harsh Shah as its new chief digital officer for South Asia. Shah will be responsible for accelerating the digital transformation of the Wunderman Thompson Group and will work with its agencies across the creative, communication, tech, health, and commerce practices. 

In his last stint, Harsh was with Dentsu Creative as President – West, and led operations, revenue, people and culture for Dentsu Webchutney, and regional business for the rest of Dentsu Creative. For the new role, he will be reporting directly to Shams Jasani, chief executive officer of Wunderman Thompson South Asia.

Jasani said, “We are Delighted to welcome Harsh to the Wunderman Thompson Family. He brings in a wealth of experience across Digital, Technology and Commerce. Our work at Wunderman Thompson harnesses the power of creative, technology, and Commerce to drive unprecedented growth for some of the world’s biggest brands. We are glad to have Harsh onboard at a critical juncture when we are keenly looking at offering end-to-end capabilities to our clients at scale.”

Meanwhile, Shah commented, “I am deeply excited by the vision drawn up at WT and my specific charter as a key growth partner. I look forward to drive this vision and unlock growth with my highly experienced and talented peers at the agency.”

Sydney, Australia – Independent creative agency Now We Collide launched a new campaign unveiling digital employee experience company Azuronaut’s new name, Cocentric.

The rebranded Cocentric aims to improve the digital employee experience in order to ‘bring people and tech together to unite and connect the workplace’. It is also set to launch today across the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand with a redesigned website, and digital and social media presence.

Global brands like Kerry Group, Populous, Pladis (McVitie’s, Godiva), and The White Company have already partnered with Cocentric to improve their employee communication and collaboration strategies.

In its rebranding efforts with Cocentric, Now We Collide overhauled the company identity by creating a new company wordmark, which is a play on the words collaborate, communicate, and centric.

The agency also created a new logo, style guide, and brand strategy for the company. It also refined and defined Cocentric’s core company values, mission, vision and purpose.

“Our approach to the digital employee experience is unique and our rebrand as Cocentric reflects this, clearly differentiating us from the competition. The rebrand has already been embraced by our employees and stakeholders and we’re excited to see it go live,” said Regan Collins, Cocentric’s founder and CEO.

Cocentric COO Brett Secole also comments, “Our business had evolved hugely over the last few years and the relaunch as Cocentric represents an expression of our huge growth, providing our clients, employees and wider stakeholders real clarity on our strategy moving forwards.”

On collaborating with Now We Collide for the rebranding, Rhea Hokayem-Conway, head of marketing at Cocentric said, “We reviewed a number of proposals as part of the pitch process and Now We Collide immediately stood out due to the calibre of their work, their insights led strategy and their understanding of the challenges we faced.”

She added, “Everything was very collaborative from the outset, this has enabled us to get the very best out of the partnership with them, and we’re looking forward to working closely with them in future as we continue to roll out marketing plans”

Keir Maher, CEO and managing partner at Now We Collide also said, “Cocentric is a dynamic company on the move, with a market-leading mindset and that sits perfectly with our approach. As a team we were totally aligned from day one on the challenges and where we needed to get to. It’s always a great experience to work with businesses with similar values on collaboration, embracing change, challenging conformity and our ambitions for the future. The result speaks for itself with a much clearer brand look, feel and sound.”

Kurt Toohey, creative director at Now We Collide explained, “The visual identity and brand framework firmly sets Cocentric apart in their category and gives the team a solid foundation to build on as the brand continues to evolve. Along with a new name, we developed a simple, yet strong wordmark, brand symbol, refreshed colour palette and layout system.”

Toohey added, “Animated versions of the brand symbol and wordmark were also created, with the symbol variations subtly alluding to the brands purpose to ‘unlock the best in people’, with the silhouette of a lock forming before transforming into the open ‘C’ shape.”

Prior to the collaboration with Cocentric, Now We Collide was also tapped by digital transformation firm TMX to manage its brand strategy.

Singapore – Companies in Singapore are the most likely in the Asia-Pacific region to use data analytics and visualisation, with about 83% of Singapore companies reporting having a digital transformation strategy. This is according to the latest data from CPA Australia.

About one-third of respondents said their organisation will start or continue implementing a digital transformation or technology strategy in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, About two-thirds of Singapore respondents said their business worked with technology companies or vendors in the past year to supplement their technology needs.

In addition, Singapore-based businesses are already the top users of robotic process automation (RPA) in the region, with 57% of local respondents saying their company deployed RPA as a business tool.

However, the survey reveals many companies need external support to overcome barriers to digital transformation. High financial costs and a low return on investment were a challenge for 37% of respondents while 35% pointed to a shortage of technology talent

CPA Australia Singapore Divisional President Max Loh said the take-up of technology by businesses in Singapore would pay dividends.

“New technologies enhance organisational efficiencies by automating many mundane as well as high volume tasks. This allows employees to focus on work that needs strategic thinking, such as customer engagement or creating more value for organisations and stakeholders,” he said.

Loh added, “Technology will play a pivotal role in an evolving future workplace. It’s critical for companies to invest in and fully embrace advanced technologies to maintain their advantage in a globally competitive marketplace.”