Tag: Technology

Singapore – Integral Ad Science, a global media measurement and optimisation platform, has unveiled a first-to-market advertising solution with Meta. The solution is set to be released by early 2025 for all advertisers.

The third-party Content Block List solution ensures better advertisement placement for advertisers on Facebook and Instagram feeds and reels. Through the tool, advertisers can automatically avoid placing their ads next to content unsuitable for the brand.

The Content Block List allows social optimisation, customisation, seamless activation, and accurate classification through artificial intelligence. Additionally, IAS provides end-to-end campaign support for advertisers.

IAS has completed its testing for Content Level Block Lists, ensuring performance improvements and brand suitability.

“As the first provider to test this solution with Meta, we are delighted to enable advertisers to drive engagement and reach users in brand suitable, contextually relevant environments across Meta’s platform. Our Content Block Lists improve media quality while reducing brand risk for advertisers by providing industry-aligned tools that enable them to avoid content they deem unsuitable and safely scale their campaigns,” Lisa Utzschneider, chief executive officer of IAS, said.

“This solution demonstrates our continued commitment to provide global advertisers more tools to support their brand suitability goals. Alongside Meta’s inventory filter for Feed and Reels, we’re excited to give advertisers even more control over where their content appears on our platform,” Samantha Stetson, vice president, of client council and industry trades at Meta, said.

Bengaluru, India – Infosys, a digital services and consulting company, has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft to advance the customers’ adoption of its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings globally. The collaboration aims to promote the use of generative AI and Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing platform.

The collaboration began when Infosys became one of the early users of the coding assistant GitHub Copilot, a tool developed by Microsoft and OpenAI. Since then, over 18,000 Infosys developers have used GitHub Copilot to generate code, enhancing their productivity.

Additionally, Infosys became a supplier that delivers cloud and AI services to Microsoft’s enterprise customers. Leveraging Microsoft’s generative AI technologies, Infosys aims to help its clients achieve cost-efficiency, scalability, and agility.

Complementing Microsoft’s technology, Infosys’ AI-powered tools will also contribute to enhancing customer experiences.

The expanded collaboration focuses on enhancing efficiency across various industries, including financial services, healthcare, supply chain, telecommunications, energy management, and customer service. These solutions will be available on the Azure Marketplace.

Infosys and Microsoft are also jointly working on responsible AI initiatives, sharing best practices, and developing ethical guidelines.

“This collaboration addresses various business problems by delivering heightened value to clients through a customer-centric approach, providing scalability, agility, and cost-efficiency across key sectors like Finance, Healthcare, Supply Chain, and Telecommunications. As Infosys and Microsoft embark on this transformative journey together, we are poised to redefine industry standards and empower organisations to thrive in the era of generative AI,” Anand Swaminathan, executive vice president and global industry leader of communications, media, and technology at Infosys, said.

Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer at Microsoft, commented, “Our expanded collaboration with Infosys will transform industries, enhance business operations, elevate employee experiences, and deliver new value for customers. Together, we will harness the power of generative AI to deliver innovative solutions, drive AI Adoption and enable unprecedented innovation for customers.”

Singapore – Adjust, a measurement and analytics company, has launched ‘TrueLink,’ a solution designed to streamline mobile application marketers’ deep links management. Its launch across Southeast Asia, India, and other countries enables marketers to drive in-app engagements.

Adjust’s TrueLink allows marketers to generate branded and personalised linking experiences that prompt higher engagement and conversion rates across various platforms. This includes social media, SMS, and the web.

TrueLink is part of Adjust’s Engage pillar, which helps marketers guide users, enhance brand reputation, and expand their reach. With its single, multi-platform deep link, TrueLink makes manual link creation unnecessary. The solution also provides multiple link creation options, including bulk generation and individual links for specific campaigns like user referrals, influencer partnerships, and product promotions.

Moreover, it allows mobile marketers can create branded deep links that are short, and easily editable for various campaign types. This not only improves the user experience but also helps to strengthen brand recognition. 

“The tedious process of creating different links for different platforms has been a challenge for many marketers. With TrueLink, we’ve simplified this process by allowing marketers to quickly and easily create one multi-platform, customisable link that delivers a seamless user experience,” Katie Madding, chief product officer at Adjust, said.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Technology companies GoTo Group and Tencent have announced a five-year partnership to strengthen their digital services. As part of the partnership, Tencent will provide cloud infrastructure solutions to GoTo, enhancing its offerings.

The partnership will see GoTo’s engineering team collaborating with Tencent’s service and architecture experts. Leveraging Tencent’s ‘Platform as a Service,’ GoTo is set to boost its products and user experience.

Tencent’s local presence will also contribute to strengthening GoTo’s market presence in Indonesia. 

“We are excited to partner with GoTo to drive Indonesia’s digital transformation. With over 20 years of experience in technological innovation and building large-scale digital ecosystems, Tencent Cloud’s high-performance, easy-to-maintain, and flexible cloud services will benefit GoTo’s key service offerings. We remain committed to GoTo and Indonesia and we look forward to exploring further collaborations in the future,” Poshu Yeung, senior vice president, Tencent Cloud International, said.

“The partnership between GoTo and Tencent Cloud will support our company, as well as the countless consumers, driver-partners and MSMEs that depend on our ecosystem. Our goal is to offer our users a seamless and integrated experience across our platforms, and Tencent Cloud offers us a firm technical foundation for achieving this. Our two companies have a long history together and I am confident that our relationship will continue to flourish,” Patrick Walujo, GoTo Group chief executive officer, said.

GoTo Group has also partnered with technology company Alibaba to enhance its digital ecosystem.

Singapore – Lack of quality data hinders 76% of Singapore businesses from using artificial intelligence (AI) effectively, according to a report from customer platform HubSpot. The report unveiled various challenges being faced by businesses in elevating customer satisfaction and generating revenues.

While technology solves most problems faced by businesses, the lack of data has influenced AI use. According to the report, this may be behind 34% of Singapore businesses’ resistance to talk about the integration of generative AI in their operations.

Less than half (43%) of Singapore businesses who participated in the survey reported having data and systems that effectively provides extensive customer information. While the insufficiency delays customer interaction management, it also impacts customer experience. 

Businesses are also facing high costs, as cited by 44% of survey participants. Some raised the burden of intense competition (39%), rising costs of reaching prospects and customers (35%), and channel saturation (34%).

“Needing to switch between more than 50 applications to manage customer interactions is not only detrimental to efficiency, but could also lead to inaccuracies as businesses try to align insights across disparate data sources. Having a single source of truth for customer data is essential to build and maintain meaningful customer relationships. Technology can give businesses a helping hand, however our findings show that data connectedness and a unified tech stack are presenting significant opportunities for local businesses looking to improve prospecting and customer retention,” Dan Bognar, vice president and managing director of JAPAC at HubSpot, said.

“Operating in the world’s most competitive economy is no easy feat, requiring a delicate balance between manginging increasing costs, while delivering an impactful customer experience. At HubSpot, we are committed towards equipping businesses with applications that are easy to use, fast to implement, and delivered on a unified platform. This helps to align marketing, sales, and service teams with a unified view of their customer,” Bognar added.

Indonesia – GoTo Group has announced a strategic partnership with Alibaba, the global e-commerce and technology giant, aimed at driving the growth of Indonesia’s digital economy. The collaboration will harness Alibaba Cloud’s advanced technologies to enhance and support GoTo’s expansive ecosystem.

GoTo will harness Alibaba Cloud’s services over a five-year partnership to enhance its platform and accelerate digital innovation using Alibaba’s cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies. Alibaba Cloud will deliver a range of services, including cloud computing, cloud-native databases, networking, security, and data analytics, among others.

The partnership aims to elevate the customer experience for GoTo’s Indonesian users by leveraging the latest innovations in digital transformation and AI-driven growth. Moreover, it underscores Alibaba’s commitment as a long-term investor in GoTo. Set for a five-year period, Alibaba has pledged to retain its current shareholding in GoTo Group throughout the partnership. 

Patrick Walujo, CEO of GoTo Group, said, “By collaborating with Alibaba, we are not only strengthening our technological infrastructure but also enhancing the services and solutions we can offer to millions of Indonesian consumers and businesses. This partnership marks a significant milestone in our journey to create a more inclusive and resilient digital economy in Indonesia. It also underlines our commitment to work with partners in a way that delivers the long term sustainable growth that returns value to our shareholders.”

Meanwhile, Selina Yuan, vice president of Alibaba Group and president of international business for Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, commented, “As a leading cloud service provider in Indonesia for more than seven years, we are excited about working with GoTo in its digital transformation and driving innovation in Indonesia. This strategic partnership combines Alibaba Cloud’s world-class cloud computing and artificial intelligence capabilities with GoTo’s extensive ecosystem. We want to empower businesses of all sizes in Indonesia and foster innovation to drive long-term growth.”

Alibaba Cloud and GoTo will extend their collaboration into several key areas, including talent development initiatives aimed at meeting the growing demand for digital and AI expertise, critical for driving innovation and maintaining a competitive edge in the fast-changing digital landscape. 

The two companies will also explore further commercial partnerships to empower Indonesian businesses and accelerate the growth of the country’s digital economy. These efforts align with Indonesia’s push for intelligence-driven transformation, fostering greater economic opportunities and technological advancement.

The partnership MoU, signed on September 13, 2024, marks one of Alibaba Cloud’s key strategic engagements in Southeast Asia. GoTo will begin migrating its cloud services to Alibaba Cloud in October, streamlining operations, enhancing service efficiency, and reducing operational costs.

Singapore – Salesforce, a customer relationship management (CRM) software, has unveiled ‘Agentforce,’ a platform of autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents for efficiency in driving sales, marketing, and commerce. It allows companies to boost their workforce while assisting employees in their tasks. 

Unlike AI tools that depend on human requests, ‘Agentforce’ operates autonomously.  Its limitless digital agents can build and execute plans independently while still working within the company’s customised guardrails. The platform’s independence is powered by ‘Atlas,’ a reasoning engine that simulates the thought processes of humans when planning. 

Using real-time data, it can address customer inquiries while adapting to cater to the needs of customers. It can also provide an overview of the interaction, customer details, and further recommendations for the next steps.

An agent builder is also available in the platform, which enables customers to configure agents based on their needs. However, customers can also access the agents that have been built by companies that are part of the Agentforce Partner Network. This includes Amazon Web Services, Box, Certinia, Copado, Coupa, Google, Honeywell, IBM, Workday, Zoom and more.

“Agentforce represents the Third Wave of AI—advancing beyond copilots to a new era of highly accurate, low-hallucination intelligent agents that actively drive customer success. Unlike other platforms, Agentforce is a revolutionary and trusted solution that seamlessly integrates AI across every workflow, embedding itself deeply into the heart of the customer journey. This means anticipating needs, strengthening relationships, driving growth, and taking proactive action at every touchpoint,” Marc Benioff, chair and chief executive officer at Salesforce, said. 

“While others require you to DIY your AI, Agentforce offers a fully tailored, enterprise-ready platform designed for immediate impact and scalability. With advanced security features, compliance with industry standards, and unmatched flexibility. Our vision is bold: to empower one billion agents with Agentforce by the end of 2025. This is what AI is meant to be,” Benioff added.

Agentforce is set to be released for general use on Oct. 25, 2024.

Singapore – Rakuten Advertising, an affiliate marketing network, has launched Partnership Discovery, a tool that helps advertisers find publisher partners, in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the tool has a new brand search functionality that enhances its services.

Partnership Discovery’s expansion in the APAC region provides advertisers with access to its features, empowering advertisers in the market to find partners effectively. 

The AI-powered search function applies network performance data to reveal publishers and the history of brands they have sold. It unveils publisher audiences which can help advertisers find partners for their operations.

Partnership Discovery allows advertisers to accurately categorise products, analyse annual sales and performance of publishers, and find alternative search terms and categories to optimise audience reach.

“This expansion of Partnership Discovery is part of our ongoing initiative to be a leader in affiliate marketing innovation and harness the power of AI to deliver stronger partnerships with publishers. With our vast database of transactional data, use of advanced machine learning models, and a robust AI-forward infrastructure, Rakuten Advertising is leading the way to help brands unlock efficient affiliate and influencer marketing strategies,” Nick Stamos, chief executive officer of Rakuten Advertising, said.

Before expanding to APAC, Partnership Discovery was available in the United States and United Kingdom.

Toronto – Quickplay, a cloud transformations platform, has announced the availability of its solutions portfolio in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, an online software store. 

The initiative grants AWS customers with accessibility to Quickplay’s cloud-native platform, including its content management system, end-to-end orchestration offerings, generative artificial intelligence tools, and more.  

Quickplay provides over-the-top (OTT) product solutions for sports, operators, and media companies. With its availability in AWS Marketplace, it will allow OTT providers to adapt with changes in technology and consumer demand. 

“The fierce competition for streaming audiences is amplifying the need for the smartest, fastest, most effective ways to engage and monetize viewers,” Paul Pastor, chief business officer at Quickplay, said. 

“Our AWS Marketplace availability is turbocharging the industry’s CMS, Orchestration and AI capabilities, all of which are essential to creating value for streaming services and their customers,” Pastor added.

Since 2004, Quickplay has been powering the delivery of sports, live experiences, and entertainment.

Singapore – The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is among the top three business priorities for 87% of Singapore C-suite executives, new Salesforce research reveals.

According to a survey of 221 large business leaders in Singapore, 48% report employing a well-defined generative AI strategy in their businesses, while 47% have begun working on a generative AI strategy. The study suggests that companies that are not implementing AI may fall behind competitors. 

Key motivations for using generative AI strategies in their team include the companies’ goals to be perceived as up-to-date in technology adoption (43%), remaining competitive (42%), and ensuring innovative customer and employee experiences (42%).

The research reveals that generative AI is expected to have the most significant impact on information technology (40%), operations (33%), finance (29%), and customer service (28%).

However, C-suite executives also identified hindrances to adopting generative AI, including lack of accessibility, lack of skill-building, incomplete customer or company data to train AI, lack of governance, and inaccurate outputs from generative AI.

“As CEOs look at AI to deliver measurable value and remain competitive, their first step should be unifying their data. Every conversation I have with business leaders about AI inevitably comes back to data and overcoming silos to increase the impact and accuracy of AI. Without building a cohesive view of the customer, Generative AI initiatives will fall short,” Sujith Abraham, senior vice president and general manager of ASEAN at Salesforce, said.

“The good news is that it’s possible to bring your data together, efficiently, without actually moving it through innovations like zero-copy.  Innovations like this will differentiate each organisation’s ecosystem of autonomous agents, humans and AI and how well they drive customer success at scale,” Abraham added.