digital transformation Archives - Page 3 of 4

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysian higher education institution SEGi College Subang Jaya has tapped digital solutions provider elfo to improve the institution’s digital transformation strategies by being its corporate partner for integrated performance-based marketing and automation.

Included in the partnership is the utilization of elfo’s marketing automation platform elfoMAP and its application-to-person messaging platform elfoA2P, which have been used by SEGi’s marketing and recruitment division for its email and SMS campaigns for the past four months.

Sri Yosephin, head at elfo, believes that leveraging digital technology is crucial for the higher education sector, to ensure the sustainability of enrolment strategies and student retention.

“Our user-centered solutions will help simplify redundant administrative processes and provide real-time, comprehensive data such as open rate and click-through rate. These key metrics allow SEGi College Subang Jaya to model student retention and apply that model to forecast successful enrollment,” Yosephin stated.

Calvin Chan, acting principal at SEGi College Subang Jaya, agrees as well, stating that it is important for the institution to position themselves as an industry-driven higher learning institution, moving towards Industrial Revolution 4.0, which is in line with Malaysia’s nation building agenda.

“Working closely with a MAdTech expert like elfo helps us make our necessary technological shifts seamless and enables us to focus more on the college’s recruitment needs and serving our students. The straightforward onboarding process and reliable professional support are definitely convenient, cutting short our learning curve and making the integration effortless,” Chan explained.

In addition, Li Chun Young, digital marketing lead at SEGi College Subang Jaya, also noted that two of the email campaigns optimized by elfoMAP had seen a promising return. Scholarship-offer emails sent to potential students had a 90% open rate and emails sent to Australian recruitment agencies had a 30% open rate. On top of that, the college also saw a 100% increase in conversion from the email campaigns

“This is impressive considering the average open rate is only 24.9% for the education-related campaigns. These numbers and responses are unlike what we’ve seen prior to our partnership with elfo,” Young said.

New Delhi, India – Amazon Web Services, the IT service management unit of e-commerce giant Amazon, has announced a new digital suite called Amazon Digital Suite, targeted to improve digital transformation strategies among small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.

The Amazon Digital Suite comprises payment and credit solutions from Razorpay; customer support and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions from Freshworks; human resources and payroll management solutions from greytHR; tax compliance and invoicing solutions from ClearTax; accounting and productivity solutions from Zoho; e-commerce and retail order management solutions from Vinculum; and digital ledger and online cataloging solutions from OkCredit.

Prices of the products that are part of the Amazon Digital Suite available on Amazon.in begin at INR 20, and all Amazon Digital Suite software can be purchased individually with discounts of up to 75% off the suggested retail prices. The offering is designed to be easy to use, with customers being able to implement it in a few simple steps.

The launch of the Amazon Digital Suite is part of the company’s goal to digitize 10 million Indian SMBs by 2025, announced in January 2020.

“We want to ensure the power of the cloud is within the reach of SMBs, and we have built a solution that is simple to understand and deploy, and accessible to new customers. With the Amazon Digital Suite, SMBs can overcome the challenges of technology adoption, digitize their operations, innovate in their business, accelerate their growth, and help India prosper,” said Puneet Chandok, president of commercial sales of Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (AISPL) at AWS India and South Asia.

Meanwhile, Vedanarayanan Vedantham, head of SME business at Razorpay commented, “Digital payments in India are at an interesting and exciting inflection point. Small businesses, now more than ever, are waking up to the possibilities offered by digital, and need help assembling this puzzle.

He added, “Today, we are excited to take this mission of serving the underserved SMBs further through this collaboration with AWS. The launch of the Amazon Digital Suite will be a game changer; it will empower millions of SMBs of any size, and make it possible for them to reach new customers around the world.”

The Amazon Digital Suite is available for purchase on Amazon.in and Amazon.in/business for both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) customers respectively. B2B customers purchasing products from the suite using their Amazon Business Account will receive exclusive offers and a goods and services tax (GST) invoice for input tax credit. Customers purchasing the Amazon Digital Suite during Amazon Smbhav 2021, a virtual summit catered at leveraging digital strategies and innovations to Indian customers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, from April 15-23 will be eligible for discounts of up to 30% in the Amazon Digital Suite store.

Manila, Philippines – Cebu Pacific, one of the largest airlines in the Philippines, has announced that it will now be discontinuing its CEB PH call center, starting 1 May 2021, to make way for a more contactless and self-service customer experience.

According to the airline, the move to drop the hotlines is in line with its mission to speed up its digital transformation and to further accelerate the improvement of its overall customer experience.

Cebu Pacific has taken great strides in its customer service in the past recent years in specific touchpoints such as online booking, check-ins, booking management, and Charlie the chatbot.

In 2017, it was among the first airlines in Asia to invest in an integrated facility and technology for social intelligence and customer engagement. Then the year after, Cebu Pacific introduced its very own Charlie the chatbot which enabled passengers to receive real-time answers to common queries and transactions, and since then, Charlie has been continuously improved and is now able to respond to more queries, without the passengers having to talk to an agent.

The airline shared that by the first quarter of 2021, it has noted a total of 87% of passengers maximizing the Cebu Pacific website to directly book flights.

Candice Iyog, the vice president for marketing and customer experience of Cebu Pacific, said that the company is glad to have started its digital transformation journey even before the pandemic, as they have come to rely on it in the new normal environment.

“We continue to prioritize the safety and convenience of our passengers, that is why we have accelerated our digital efforts to support contactless and self-service processes. Rest assured Charlie, along with our Customer Care team, are online 24/7 to assist everyJuan. We continue to enhance existing processes as we remain committed to empowering customers and ensuring access to the information they need anytime, anywhere, without having to call the hotline or go to a ticketing office,” said Iyog.

Bangalore, India – The Indian arm of e-commerce giant Amazon is once again hosting for the second time its ‘Amazon Smbhav’ summit on April 15 to 18, 2021, aimed at leveraging digital strategies and innovations to Indian customers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.

‘Smbhav 2021’ aims to bring together important industry and thought leaders for invigorating discussions on the way ahead towards creating an ‘AatmaNirbharBharat’, the vision by the Indian government to be self-sufficient, by unlocking possibilities for businesses and entrepreneurs through partnership with Amazon.

Centered around the theme ‘Unlocking Infinite Possibilities for India’, the four-day summit will tackle various industries, ranging from manufacturing, retail, logistics, IT/ITeS, content creators, start-ups, brands, and entrepreneurs across India. Over 30,000 participants are expected to participate at Amazon Smbhav, learning about best practices and industry trends from over 70 speakers.

For Manish Tiwary, vice president for Amazon India, ‘Smbhav 2021’ showcases Amazon India’s commitment to “being a strong partner in making the 21st century the Indian century.”

“As we continue to work with a gamut of Indian businesses and entrepreneurs, we are committed to bringing to them tools, technology, and innovation that empower the Indian economy, help create jobs at scale, and unleash entrepreneurial agility in companies of all kinds and sizes. Smbhav 2021 will therefore be a unique platform offering opportunities to unlock these possibilities towards an ‘AatmaNirbharBharat’,” Tiwary said.

During the last Smbhav 2020, Amazon pledged to invest an additional US$1B to digitize 10 million MSMEs, to generate US$10B in cumulated exports from India, and create an additional 1 million jobs in India by 2025.

The summit will primarily focus on four key pillars – Innovation, Skilling & Job Creation, Digitization, Exports & Startup Enablement. The summit will bring together diverse perspectives from eminent business leaders, policymakers, solution providers, and Amazon leadership on areas that are most relevant for India’s growth.

Other summit events that will be included are ‘Amazon Smbhav Awards’ that recognizes businesses, innovators, and individuals that have contributed to the concept of ‘self-reliant India’, and the ‘Amazon Smbhav Startup Pitch Competition’, where participants must pitch feasible startup pitches and get a chance to win Amazon-related cash prizes and mentorships.

The event will also be conducting an ‘Amazon Smbhav Hackathon’ that will provide an opportunity for individuals and startups to present breakthrough ideas that have the potential to solve real-world problems in the areas of business innovation, sustainability & healthcare.

Sydney, Australia – Australian-based adtech company Cartelux has launched its centralized marketing solution, and it has decided to pilot it to the Australian arm of global automotive brand Kia, specifically in its dealer’s network.

Through the solution, Cartelux’s technology will assist Kia in driving local innovation by simplifying and automating ad creation, approval, and media buying process. This then enables dynamic personalization of creative assets by each dealer, while delivering a consistent brand campaign for Kia.

For Nikolas Souliotis, digital marketing manager at Kia Australia, their partnership with Cartelux means achieving success in the digital age between the brand itself and its numerous dealers nationwide.

“The Cartelux platform offers an entirely new playground allowing better marketing alignment across national and local tiers through scalable video and data consolidation. This enables us to see consumers through the same lens and drive better results and greater efficiencies – it’s the future of performance-driven retail marketing,” Souliotis said.

Meanwhile, Randy Han, global lead for Kia at Google noted that Kia’s partnership with Cartelux means creating more engaging video content for the automotive brand, as Kia has been looking for simple ways to create dealer ad content at scale.

Patrick Doble, global general manager at Cartelux, commented, “Kia is one of the world’s most innovative and fastest growing brands. The program for Kia will commence with providing digital video advertising, which geo-targets campaigns based on the dealers primary marketing area.”

Sydney, Australia – Global digital agency Jellyfish is ramping up its global presence by acquiring five companies, including one in Australia, Data Runs Deep.

The Australia-based Google marketing agency provides consultancy and training to clients. Data Runs Deep assists its clients with the structure and implementation of Google Analytics in their business – most importantly, giving companies the ability to produce outputs through large amounts of customer behavior data in order to make fast business decisions.

The newly-announced acquisitions speak to the rapid acceleration of businesses looking into integrating digital transformation strategies into their company. This is done in response to the global pandemic that has created a greater need for brands to partner with companies to help them navigate and meet the challenges of driving growth and sustainability.

Other of Jellyfish’s global acquisitions include tech agency Seelk, e-commerce content production Quill, creative technology company Splash, and technology services Webedia Brand Services.

“These acquisitions bring powerful enhancements to our portfolio of services by expanding our depth of expertise, geographical reach, and our offerings across several continents and regions,” says Chris Lee, COO at Jellyfish.

Jellyfish’s rapid expansion comes against a backdrop of consolidation and challenges in the traditional agency sector as the company’s capabilities lie in helping brands during their digital transformation journey.

“Our mission is to ensure that our clients have all the resources needed to fully embrace digital transformation and reach results that transcend every expectation. These acquisitions are key in driving prominence and growth in the marketplace and we believe nothing is impossible or beyond the reach of our clients,” said Rob Pierre, CEO of Jellyfish.

Hong Kong – Nexstgo, a Hong Kong-based technology services provider, is enhancing the product lineup of NEXSTMALL BIZ, the provider’s business solution catered to client small and medium enterprises.

Some of the services include one-stop professional IT services, remote conferencing and VPN security systems, together with a wide range of mobile computing products including branded services from tech companies VAIO and AVITA.

Furthermore, Nexstgo ensures enterprises of any size and industry can find the most suitable software and hardware solutions on NEXSTMALL BIZ, helping businesses maintain the strongest performance under the continuously transforming business environment during the new year.

“Stepping into the new year, the ‘new normal’ commercial environment continues to affect business IT purchasing decisions. In order to help SMEs be successful in their digital transformation and adapt to the new reality of remote working, Nexstgo has enhanced its business solutions available through the NEXSTMALL BIZ platform to provide a more comprehensive technology application strategy focusing on the business and commercial field,” the company explained in a press release.

One of the aspects Nexstgo focuses among these releases is network security among customers and IT consulting services. Nexstgo has launched technological solutions specifically for network security management, including the installation of bank-level encryption software by Norton VPN for customers in business areas that require remote-work with a high level of integrated protection. Some include Targus Docking Station, which supports multiple USB interfaces and screen configurations; Targus Privacy Screen Filter, designed to protect high-value information; and Targus Security Cable Lock that locks the connection end of the transmission line to protect valuable resources on the device.

“As a strategic partner to SMEs, Nexstgo’s elite team also provides customers with professional IT support and technology operation consulting services, helping companies confidently achieve digital transformation and adapt to the ‘new normal’. These supporting services undertaken by the professional specialist team handle inquiries regarding computer products and software systems, and provide product management and technical support,” Nexstgo further stated.

Lastly, Nexstgo provides online and video conference software and hardware, such as NEXSTGO laptop products with dedicated functionality for online meetings equipped with a high-quality Dolby voice system, and artificial intelligence camera lens Huddly-IQ designed for remote video conferencing, and other related activities.

“The package helps companies of all sizes to deliver excellent customer service, and to keep pace with fast-changing business environments. By taking advantage of these solutions and transforming into an e-commerce business – with the realities of the ‘new normal’ replacing traditional face-to-face service – companies can greatly increase their revenues, productivity and cost management performance,” said Nexstgo.

Singapore – Global advertising and public relations company dentsu has recently appointed Rachel Ooi as the company’s new chief growth officer for customer experience management (CXM) for Asia Pacific.

Through the new appointment, Ooi will be responsible for bolstering CXM’s regional footprint through new business and organic growth, working closely with Media and Creative leads on integrated opportunities. She will also lead the regional roll-out and implementation of the sales platform across all sales and account management functions. She will report to Zhengda Shen, CEO of CXM at dentsu APAC, and Owen McCorry, global CXM chief growth officer.

“dentsu has world-class capabilities in CXM through Merkle and huge growth potential in APAC. I am excited to join the team at such a pivotal time for the business, especially when this growth opportunity collides with a seismic shift in changing consumer and business habits seen globally in the past year,” Ooi commented regarding her appointment.

Prior to joining dentsu, Ooi has worked for professional services company Accenture as managing director for Industry X.0 lead (growth markets), and for multinational conglomerate Electric (GE) as general manager for the ASEAN enterprise sales, as well as leading GE’s Ecosystem Alliance for the APAC region.

“Rachel has an impressive track record, is results-driven and skilled in leading high-performance teams and projects across various sectors, especially Tech Innovation and Digital. Her background and experience will ensure we continue to lead in this space,” Shen said.

Meanwhile, Owen commented, “We believe focusing our business capabilities around customer experience is the greatest advantage we can give our clients. Hence, we need someone like Rachel, who has proven strategic vision growing businesses and challenging the status quo. Most importantly, she will deliver client centricity across APAC markets, bridging cultural nuances, which is fundamental to success in this dynamic, fast-paced region.”

Rachel Ooi’s appointment comes with a greater need in digitalization of businesses. For her, there are opportunities to drive business outcomes for clients amidst transformations and convergence, which she describes as the “era of digital genesis”, centered around a “digital-first, cloud-scaled, and AI-enabled circular economy”.

“CXM is the weakest link today in many organizations that are in transition, where there is an urgent need for creativity working with digital innovation and human-centric engagements for continual customer intimacy and business success. I look forward to working with the team to make a fundamental impact and deliver value for our clients,” Ooi concluded.

Singapore – ‘Start Digital’, a digital initiative started by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Enterprise Singapore for SME support, is refreshing their existing digital solutions in order to provide newly incorporated SMEs or those that have yet to digitize with foundational and easy-to-deploy digital solutions.

Initially launched in January 2019, the Start Digital program has helped more than 30,000 SMEs to adopt various digital transformation strategies for their businesses, known collectively as the ‘Start Digital Pack’. These solutions are offered across six partners, namely financial institutions DBS, Maybank, OCBC, and UOB, as well as telco Singtel and M1.

Start Digital is offering three new and enhanced categories:

Digital Collaboration – These enable employees to work from home or any other convenient locations. Examples include Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Digital Marketing – Tools that provide SMEs with templates to create social media ads and manage their digital ad buys and placements on a single platform. This allows SMEs to easily manage targeted digital marketing campaigns and reach out to consumers on social media.
Digital Transactions – InvoiceNow-linked solutions offered by bank partners are integrated with e-payment including PayNow Corporate to enable SMEs to generate/receive e-invoices through InvoiceNow and receive/make e-payments seamlessly. These solutions help SMEs improve transaction accuracy and administrative productivity. Both e-invoicing and e-payments are part of digital utilities which IMDA is putting in place as baseline infrastructure for the digital economy. Similar to their physical counterparts, digital utilities provide common standards and ease of transactions for businesses.

Start Digital initially included accounting, human resource management system and payroll, digital marketing, digital transactions and cybersecurity solutions.

“Based on feedback from SMEs and Start Digital partners, IMDA and Enterprise Singapore are enhancing Start Digital to include new solutions that will enable SMEs to collaborate seamlessly with internal and external parties, and gain new customers,” according to a factsheet released by IMDA and Enterprise Singapore.

Both institutions have been proactive in driving support for SMEs and startups based on digital transformation strategies. Earlier this year, Enterprise Singapore supported the launch of the PlanetSpark Innovation Centre to focus on tech startups seeking to deploy artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) to the market.

Singapore – A new flagship technology event is on its way this year, as integrated research provider Informa Tech, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have entered in a memorandum of intent (MOI) to host the event on July 13 to 16 this year at the Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Expo.

The event, called ‘Asia Tech X Singapore 2021’ or ‘ATxSG’ for short, will convene government, tech, and business leaders for dynamic and open conversations on technology’s pivotal role in tackling some of the region’s biggest challenges, and powering digital innovation for the advancement of Asia.

“As technology media and event specialists, we are keenly aware of how bringing together the technology ecosystem on a global platform to share their knowledge and talent can be a powerful tool to drive the change we want to see in the world,” said Carolyn Dawson, managing director for Informa Tech.

“We are excited to tap into our international networks to bring tech leaders to Asia; facilitate conversations around the use of tech for good and share new insights on innovations that will make an impact in the region,” added Dawson.

The upcoming event will be hosted in a hybrid format and will feature event segments such as ‘ATxSummit’ – an invite-only conference hosted by IMDA, ‘ConnecTechAsia’ – Informa Tech’s B2B trade show in Asia, and ‘Elevating Founders Asia’ and ‘accelerateHer Asia’ – highlighting the startup ecosystem and diversity in tech respectively. ATxSG will also feature a host of fringe events to be announced in due time.

“ATxSG is looking at delivering that uniquely Singaporean experience while bringing together government and digital leaders to discuss how the public and private sectors can converge and propel Asia’s digital economy to the top of the list. We look forward to engaging in face-to-face, ground-breaking conversations on creative tech, talent and governance with the vision that ATxSG will shape the outcome of our region’s shared digital future,” said Howie Lau, assistant chief executive of IMDA’s media and innovation group.

IMDA has been active in the past to promote digital transformation strategies in the country, which included the promotion of local media talent, and providing training with Shopee’s parent firm Sea for 500 trainees.

Meanwhile, Yap Chin Siang, deputy chief executive for STB commented, “We are delighted to partner IMDA and Informa Tech to launch ATxSG in Singapore, an event which takes full advantage of our position as a trusted Global-Asia hub. In a time of great disruption, Singapore’s vibrant knowledge economy and focus on innovation make us an ideal platform for like-minded people to exchange ideas and spark new possibilities in the digital space.”

Yap added, “We will continue to work closely with our industry partners to reimagine the future of Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions & Exhibitions (MICE) and set Singapore apart as the world’s leading destination for safe, trusted and innovative business events.”

STB has also been proactive in many marketing partnerships that utilize technological practices in promoting tourism, such as their partnership with American game company Niantic to use the game ‘Pokemon Go’ to promote local tourism, and their partnership with travel booking platform Klook to promote ‘staycation’ bundles for tourists.