True Corporation, in collaboration with its affiliate EGG Digital, is pursuing a leading position in what it sees as its next-generation telecom analytics business.
The move aims to boost corporations' capability to transform through technology and deep data analytics support for their management and marketing activities.
The pivot is part of True's journey to become "a real tech company in the Asean region," said Teeradet Dumrongbhalasitr, co-president for artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics management at True.
He said True is focusing on four key aspects of its new data analytics management business: analytics-as-a-service (AaaS) through cloud; hyper-personalisation; customer-centricity; and AI-embedded development.
Mr Teeradet, who also serves as chief executive of EGG Digital, said the True Analytics unit was established in 2020 to run this new data analytics management business.
True Analytics was officially launched in March this year. It capitalises on innovation tech and digital-driven services to support businesses under the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group.
EGG Digital operates as a media agency and advisory service for big data analytics for retail and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. EGG Digital has 60 employees, of whom half are data scientists.
The True Analytics business has been providing big data analytics support to Lotus's since March, which is under the CP Group umbrella.
The support to Lotus's comprises in-store media, digital display screens, personalised media based on customer relationship data management, and data insight solutions related to big data about customers' behaviour.
Lotus's mobile application is also being upgraded to become more personalised and interactive, he said.
Mr Teeradet said the support provided to Lotus's represents the type of solutions the company can offer to non-CP companies keen to adopt big data analytics solutions. True will benefit from the services through fees and solutions development.
"True is in talks with several interested enterprises that are eager to adopt data analytics, especially banks, financial services firms and state agencies," he said.
True expects new corporate customers for the services by June next year.
"We are confident we are ready to become a leader of next-gen telco analytics in the country thanks to our digital convergence model, which has been initiated over the past decade by Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive of CP Group," said Mr Teeradet.
He said digital convergence has been proven as the correct vision and the foundation for digitisation is now underway everywhere.
CP businesses cover several major sectors, including telecom, agriculture and retail, which involves massive amounts of consumer data.
According to a report by True and EGG, there were 16 million online shoppers in Thailand in 2019, rising to 35 million this year. There are 45.6 million people who shop via omni-channel marketplaces.
The report found 75% of Generation Z in Thailand is influenced by social media, compared with 68% of Baby Boomers, 57% of Gen X and 48% of Gen Y.
Globally the direct-to-customer (D2C) model of marketing has seen transaction volumes rise by 250% in 2022 compared with the pre-pandemic era. However, a higher rate of D2C activities has added delivery costs to companies selling products via this channel.
In addition, the report said several industries have growth potential in the post-pandemic era, especially self-care, personal care, food and seasonings. Omni-channel platforms could grow by 800% in the future, driven by multiple factors in the new economy, according to the findings.
Of the four True Analytics categories, AaaS provides a single customer view and subscription-based data analytics software and procedures through the cloud.
The second category sees AI incorporated along the customer journey and used to develop models. The third category sees hyper-personalisation used to send highly contextualised communications to specific customers at the right place, time and channel.
Finally, customer-centricity places consumers at the centre of the strategy and builds mutually beneficial relationships with them.
Mr Teeradet said True implemented the AaaS and AI solutions at Lotus's, and is in the process of providing hyper-personalisation capabilities.
He said True has operated as a tech company for years. The company is equipped with what it calls a complete ecosystem through four critical fundamental supports: its True IDC data centre and cloud services; the True Digital company enabling digital transformation; the True Digital Academy, which builds up digital talent for the future; and the True Digital Park, which aims to be Thailand's 5G innovation hub.