Vivienne Du

"With the growth, we didn't get corresponding productivity increases in our company." In an interview at #BrainstormAI in Singapore, Glean cofounder and CEO Arvind Jain shared that when he founded his previous company, Rubrik, he noticed a decline in productivity as the company grew compared to when it was a smaller organization. "We asked employees what was in the way of getting high productivity, and our surveys showed that people were really struggling to find information at work," he added. Learn more about #BrainstormAI here: bit.ly/3KfetEJ

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FieldAssist recently hosted a webinar on "CPG RTM Transformation in Southeast Asia," where experts dived into the evolving landscape of the FMCG sector. The session was packed with insights on how different Southeast Asian markets present unique opportunities, the growing complexity of distributor networks, and the pivotal role technology plays in enhancing sales execution and data control. 1. 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲-𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: - Traditional trade in Indonesia. - Growing convenience stores in the Philippines. - Leveraging tourism in Thailand for FMCG sales. 2. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬: Modern retailers are offering discounts, disrupting traditional distributor networks and cutting margins. 3. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Stricter data control has led to a heavier reliance on promotions, impacting distributor management and efficiency. 4. 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬: Mini markets are on the rise, while hypermarkets decline, driving changes in FMCG stocking and promotion strategies. 5. 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝: Overburdened sales teams are now sharing responsibilities with other functions to focus more on core sales activities. 6. 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫: Technology should support business strategies, automating data collection so sales teams can focus on customer engagement. Catch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gyMYyJMf 🎥 #CPG #RTMTransformation #SoutheastAsia #FMCG #FieldAssist #Tech #BusinessTransformation Neeraj Bhargava Shivika Mansata Ser Patrick De Dios Nikhil Aggarwal Chitransh Jain Divir Tiwari Shivangi Gohri Shresth Nehra

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What happens when retailers prioritize speed, scalability, and innovation? PT. Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, Tbk (Alfamart), and EasyEat are reshaping ASEAN's retail with MongoDB! Alfamart scans customers 10x faster during peak hours, while EasyEat offers data-driven insights to restaurant clients, all thanks to MongoDB's flexible document model and auto-scaling. 👇 https://lnkd.in/dXyEZuVf

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When it comes to assessing and implementing new technology, a couple of simple yet important messages came up several times at eTail™ conference in Singapore. And it relates to strategy and execution. With all the hype surrounding AI, Stuart La Brooy, Sr Vice President of Sephora, in his session emphasized the need to remind ourselves that AI is a tool to solve a problem, it is not the strategy. It seems almost too obvious to mention, that we should be focusing on understanding the business problem, and identifying the right tools to solve the problem, rather than identifying a tool (such as a hammer), and seeing every problem as a nail (following the hammer analogy). The other key part of the equation is execution. As Danni Peirce, CEO of 7 Eleven, put it, you get 1 point for strategy, and 9 points for execution. New technology can be powerful. However, executing them in the real world presents its own set of challenges. There is a lot to consider in implementing, configuring, operating the new technology, and then making sense of the powerful data that it can capture. I completely agree on both fronts. When strategy and execution are well-thought-out and aligned to solve the right business problems, supported by the right technology partners, interesting things can happen, as many shared at the event. Unfortunately, not all companies and departments have the luxury of having large teams, resources nor time to implement, let alone go on to keep the solutions updated in line with evolving business needs. At Revieve, we do see this as a real challenge for companies. Over the years, we have continuously evolved our solution on both the technology and the services to ensure the initiatives are tightly aligned to achieving the wider business goals, and executed successfully. This is what we're doing within our space. Would love to hear your thoughts, tips and/or challenges in rolling out tech projects across retail. Feel free to reach out to discuss more. #etail #digitaltransformations #ai #tech #retail #projectmanagement

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Salesforce and IMDA's Data + AI Boost SME Program will assist SMEs in leveraging their significant data assets, which are typically spread across multiple systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data lakes, and legacy systems. Speaking about the launch, Der Yao Leong, assistant chief executive, Sectoral Transformation Group, IMDA, said, “Aligned with Singapore Digital Enterprise Blueprint, IMDA is excited to partner with Salesforce to enable our SMEs to stay ahead of the curve. The Data + AI Boost SME program by Salesforce will help strengthen AI adoption for the broad base of SMEs by firstly providing them with the know-how to unlock the full potential of their data assets as well as providing access to resources to understand the ethical use of data and AI.” Meanwhile, Sujith Abraham, senior vice president and general manager for Salesforce ASEAN, stated, “SMEs are the bedrock of the Singapore economy, and need access to AI and its foundational building blocks to support their growth and competitiveness in the future. Setting up the right data foundations will put them in the best possible position to embrace AI. After all, AI tools are only as good as the data those tools are accessing and acting upon. The immediate challenge for SMEs is to ensure that their data sets are interconnected in a way that is valuable.” #artificialintelligence #smes #singapore  ------ -[Awards] MARKETECH APAC is launching its inaugural "Marketing Technology Awards" where we recognise the groundbreaking achievements in marketing technology, uniting the brands and tech organisations within the region’s marketing community. Learn how your brand can be a part of it by checking it more details HERE: https://bit.ly/3SVtoIa -[Industry Series] We have launched our latest industry initiative "E-commerce Marketing Series" where we aim to equip businesses with the latest strategies and insights to navigate the dynamic world of e-commerce, as well as discuss cutting-edge concepts, trends, and case studies shaping the future of online commerce. Learn how you can be part of this industry discussion by checking out more details here: https://bit.ly/4aiMEX4 -[Report] Discover the latest trends in business communication, and explore how mobile messaging channels are preferred by consumers to seek deeper connections with brands by checking out this report HERE: https://bit.ly/3RckF4z

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MyPOV: best point so far Oracle #OracleAnalyatSummiy Know when to go with Gen AI vs Classic AI Rondy Ng Ng has it right. #OracleARSummit

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#FreshTech Across Southeast Asia, women are breaking barriers and carving their paths to success by embracing AI and digital skills. These women are rewriting their own narratives and creating incredible stories of success. From unlocking new possibilities to transforming careers, their integration of AI and technology into their everyday processes is changing the game. Jidapa Nitiwirakun, despite living with muscular dystrophy, landed a fulfilling remote job using her digital skills. Today, she's an inspiration, even training others on the path to success. Dr. Hasyiya Karimah Adli transformed her passion into a Faculty of Data Science and Computing, empowering hundreds of students, particularly young women, to pursue their tech dreams. Shelin Puspa Arum used her newfound skills from Microsoft's Skills for Jobs initiative to secure a full-time quality control officer position, allowing her to contribute financially to her family while completing her studies. Hidayah Ibrahim transitioned to the administrative field after acquiring digital skills, nearly doubling her income and experiencing greater job satisfaction. Saran Hansakul used her newfound AI knowledge to transform her company's operations, making them more secure and efficient. These women's stories extend beyond their individual journeys and shape a future where women are not just participants, but leaders in the technological revolution. It's indeed an interesting era and always inspired to learn about the incredible things women are achieving. Read on to learn more!

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Later today, our CEO Jensen Huang will join Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang at #LenovoTechWorld to discuss how #generativeAI is driving intelligent transformation across industries. Learn more now.

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#NRFAPAC is a wrap. This was my first experience of NRF and it was an educational and an overwhelming experience for me. Here is what I learnt (based on what I saw on the show floor and my conversations with Retailers and Partners): 1.    The sheer number of technology providers for the retailers are growing at an enormous pace. Their business also seems to be growing means that  Retailers are adopting technology at an ever-increasing pace.  2.    I saw a lot of interesting innovations targeted for in-store efficiency and improving customer experience.  3.    Adoption of AR / VR tech seems to be still in the early phase but seems to have found some footing among high end, high ticket value retail.  4.    The number of vendors providing solutions for self-checkout indicates to me that deployment of this tech is growing fast. 5.    AI use cases that I saw were all revolving around writing product descriptions (and thereafter creating social media content), customer service or digital shopping assistants and employee engagement (knowledge dissemination).  6.    Interestingly, I did not see any interesting use of AI / ML on the supply chain, operations, procurement or finance functions.  7.    The presence of e-commerce platforms was still front and center indicating to me that this is still a priority area for many retailers.  8.    Promotions management still seems to be an area of focus, as is loyalty management. I am surprised that not many Retailers have cracked a good loyalty program 9.    Almost all my conversations with Retailers indicated that most of them are seeing a downturn in their business in the past 3-6 months. All of them were still struggling with having a good data governance model that could put them in a position to leverage the advancements in ML and AI.  10.  Performance marketing is still front and center and we are starting to see some good success stories emerging. This is still not as common as I thought it would be in organisations. SAP Amazon Web Services (AWS) Achim Schneider Bharani Krishnan Joerg Koesters Deepak Krishna Patsy Wong Klaus Boeckle Mukesh Kumar H. Hakaru Morikawa Erica Low Sophia Pereira Silvana Tagand Will Wilson Katy Doran Peter Bray Grace Yio Steve Nijjar Whye Loong Wong Kaylie Wong Clinton Mottram Neetha John Peter Moore Sotis Dramalis Jaehyeon Bae Rahul Padgaonkar Yasmin Awad Mandavi Singh Ranjan Sharma Karthik Kuppusamy Madhav Nishtala Shobhana Lele Binod Negi Tanuj Vijay Rajiv Ranjan Singh Vineeta Bathija Anil Dogra Ben Nottle Eileen Chua Sebastian Chia

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AI is transforming industries, but its growth must be matched by ethical responsibility. Microsoft has pioneered Responsible AI since 2017, focusing on fairness, security, and transparency. Lanna Teh shares how these frameworks ensure compliance, enhance reputation, and foster public trust. https://lnkd.in/ggwV-Fe2 #AI #Microsoft

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The circle of stupidity continues. One of cloud’s greatest features is consumption economics - pay only for what you use. Most businesses, however, want cost certainty and predictability - particularly for their BAU operations. And cloud costs hit the bottom line, so by the time you notice they are too high, it’s already too late. “Despite these challenges, getting cloud spending under control continues to be a priority, even if results do not show that. This means major fixing needs to be done at the architecture and integration level, which most in IT view as overly complex and too expensive to fix. As I’m having these tough discussions, the conversation quickly goes to: “Is there any tool I can buy to fix this now?” The circle of stupidity continues.”

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This is one of my favorite stories of how data transformation can take downstream to the next level! PTT Group, one of Southeast Asia's major refiners, leveled up their C360 and distribution across 5,000 fueling & store sites. They were stuck in a tangled mess of data pipelines, making operations slow and inefficient. But when they turned to Cloudera, that changed. Now, PTT distributes fuel faster, and more sustainably, thanks to advanced geospatial analytics. Previously out-of-reach data informs strategic expansion, while enhanced CX drives expanded margins from more visits, higher spending, and exciting new product offerings. Imagine what your team could achieve with an automated, unified system that securely integrates real-time, multi-format data at scale! #hybridcloud #oilandgas #downstream #cstore #analytics #enterpriseai #omnichannel

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Is Oracle's "generous" offer of free AI training in Singapore really as benevolent as it seems? 🤔 While on the surface, it appears to be a noble effort to boost the nation's digital workforce, let's dig deeper. Are these training programs truly about empowering individuals, or are they just a clever strategy to cultivate a pool of skilled workers who will ultimately serve Oracle's interests? And what about the environmental and social impact of Oracle's plans to open a new data center? Sure, it may enhance technological capabilities, but at what cost to sustainability and resource management? Let's not forget the ethical implications of AI and cloud computing. As Singapore races ahead in embracing these technologies, are we adequately addressing concerns around data privacy, security, and sovereignty? It's time to move beyond the hype and ask the tough questions. What do you think? 🔥 #AI #TechEthics #DataPrivacy #OracleSingapore

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