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- Generative AI, personalized customer experience, and equity were all hot topics at the recent Tata Communications WeConnect Asia conference in Singapore.
- Speakers highlighted the need to bridge the digital divide by ensuring access to technology.
- The brightest minds in tech and innovation attended to shape the future of digitalization.
"I asked ChatGPT to be my Valentine's date." Among the many illuminating discussions at WeConnect 2023, this amusing contribution from Cheah Sui Ling, venture partner at Wavemaker Partners SEA, smartly captured the event's core theme. We're entering a new era of connectivity — one that's diluting the boundary between the physical and digital universes and opening up a slew of exciting and unforeseen opportunities.
WeConnect Asia 2023, organized by Tata Communications in February, was a highly anticipated conference that brought together some of the brightest minds in technology and innovation across industry, academia, and policy makers.
During the event, attendees were privy to insightful debates on a digital future shaped by proliferating networks of devices, systems, and platforms, all connected through technology and the internet. In the words of Amitabh Sarkar, vice president and head of Asia Pacific at Tata Communications, this hyperconnectedness is taking the world into a distinct new phase beyond digital transformation.
How to build a world that looks after everyone
The conference highlighted the need to embrace equity in all walks of life. The gap between those with full digital access and those without is increasing rapidly.
Unlocking the full potential of women involves reaching out to young girls who falsely believe they are not smart enough to get into science. "We tell them they have the competence — confidence is what they need," said Georgette Tan, president of the nonprofit organization United Women Singapore (UWS). Tan sits on the board of the Singapore Council of Women Organisations' BoardAgender, and the Singapore government's Taskforce on Family Violence. She explained that having incredible female role models and more male mentors will help build a sustainable support system.
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"Tata Communications is a proud proponent of gender equity and extends its solidarity to bridge the gap in tech through the partnership with UWS,"Genius Wong, chief technology officer at Tata, said. "We also have a social impact program to use mobile technology to empower vulnerable and underserved women. We empower women in extreme poverty to improve their livelihood and increase access to financial and government programs."
The new partnership with UWS is one of many strands of Tata Communications' efforts to uplift women through digital-led initiatives. The conglomerate plans to empower five million women in India by 2024.
The sports broadcasting revolution is underway
"Businesses have to think about their systems with everything connected: connected customers and partners, a connected workforce, and connected things," said Lakshminarayanan Amur, managing director and CEO of Tata Communications, in his keynote address. Connected networks drive the development of new products and services.
Recently, motor racing fans across the globe were able to tune in live to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race in Hyderabad, India, thanks to Tata Communications' remote broadcast setup, Amur said.
Live racing action from over 85 camera feeds and audio channels was transmitted and transferred to Formula E's central production hub in the UK in milliseconds before being streamed to millions of viewers worldwide. Dedicated media cloud and edge computing capabilities sped up processing time and reduced latency. At the same time, the remote production facility lessened the environmental impact associated with live TV coverage of major international sports events.
Golf is benefitting in a similar way, explained Michael Cole, chief technology officer for the DP World Tour, who spoke on the "Hyperconnected Ecosystems for Sustainable Growth" panel.
Adopting Tata Communications' remote broadcast solution helped his organization reduce its normal on-site staff count by over 30% without compromising content delivery. "We were able to operate as if we were on the course itself," he said, while golf fans watching at home felt more connected to the action.
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Mobile-first and personalization are key factors in customer experience
Many of the top thought leaders attending and speaking at the conference said that their businesses are very focused on customer engagement, and the growing need for personalized customer experience.
It's critical to be precise in your response to different segments. B2B clients care more about the bottom line, whereas B2C clients want answers to a problem, said Selena Nimerick, vice president for Customer Satisfaction and Quality for Secure Power at Schneider Electric.
Speaking on a panel that addressed creating a differentiated customer experience, she said: "We need to look at how we shift the technology to tackle and answer the questions more quickly and efficiently while allowing more time and effort for those customers that really need in-depth interaction."
The financial services industry has prioritized mobile-first strategies to meet changing customer expectations. Michael Raynor, head of strategy for enterprise technology at Standard Chartered Bank, said that it is vital to offer customers convenience and personalization with access to financial information any time, any place.
Raynor said that the pandemic forced Standard Chartered to think about digitalization differently and reboot for a new era. They launched Nexus, a banking-as-a-service solution that enables it to embed financial services into popular consumer platforms. "It allows us to reach and serve a whole different set of markets; we can also tap into other companies, organizations, and ecosystems to bring financial services to them," he said.
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Trust is crucial as technology and innovation shape the future
Cheah Sui Ling's bold attempt to date artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT raised a few smiles at the conference. Still, it was a reminder of how digital trust is essential for innovation, enabling people and enterprises to take risks and try new things.
"Our vision is to deliver a digital fabric for enterprises that is end-to-end secure and has full observability and visibility right through," Amur said. "It will be underpinned by our digital fabric — network, cloud, edge, and other platforms."
Forward-thinking nations such as Singapore contribute toward a global ecosystem of trust through international partnerships. Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How delivered a compelling keynote in which he outlined Tata Communications' role in the region's development.
"Tata Communications has been an enabler of the wider digital ecosystem, with enterprise solutions spanning cloud, IoT, cybersecurity and more," Tan said. "These solutions are important in helping businesses transform and capture new opportunities, especially in a post-pandemic world."
Every voice at the conference echoed this view — for organizations everywhere, future success will depend on how effectively we can connect. In this new landscape, next-generation networks will help the world overcome tomorrow's biggest challenges.
This article was created by Insider Studios with Tata Communications.