In a recent media briefing, Aboitiz Data Innovation (ADI) announced its target of expanding its capabilities in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) across Southeast Asia to foster innovation and growth across the region.
Hailing from the Philippines but headquartered in Singapore, ADI offers data science and AI products and capabilities tailored for the financial services, industrials, and public sectors in these two markets.
ADI highlighted that the challenges in deploying AI in the Philippines are the same as in neighboring markets in Southeast Asia. This provides an immense opportunity to bring ADI’s know-how and approaches in making AI work to other countries in the region.
“ADI aims to help companies tailor AI solutions to their specific goals. While it’s impressive when one company succeeds with AI, our objective is to enable more companies to strengthen entire industries. With ADI’s data science and AI expertise, we plan to expand this capability from the Philippines and Singapore to other Southeast Asian markets. By sharing our methods, ADI can help multiple organizations excel, transforming whole sectors across the region,” said David R. Hardoon, ADI chief executive officer.
According to the US-Asean Business Council, AI could add $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030, representing an 18% increase.
Recognizing this potential, Asean released a regional guide on artificial intelligence governance and ethics earlier this year, supporting its members as they increasingly embrace AI.
ADI has started forging partnerships across the region to build its footprint. ADI recently teamed up with Cloudera to empower Asia Pacific’s financial services and industrial sectors with GenAI capabilities, followed by a partnership with Thailand’s REPCO NEX and AboitizPower to create the country’s first smart power plant, enhancing asset health and reducing downtime through AI-driven proactive maintenance.
The DSAI startup is an official Amazon Web Services (AWS) partner for Select Tier Services and the Public Sector, boosting its ability to deliver AI-powered solutions.
In the Philippines, ADI collaborates with Union Bank of the Philippines for AI solutions in credit scoring and risk management, fighting financial crimes. With AboitizPower, they integrate AI for power plant operations and maintenance.
ADI also collaborates with Victorias City for smart city road mapping and works with the Department of Budget and Management on utilizing analytics for data-driven decision-making.
Adding to their growing list of clients is a leading bank in Asia and Singapore pillar bank — United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), covering data governance review.
ADI uses the same data science and AI technologies used in the Aboitiz Group, and offer to customize it for other companies and industries.
Felicia Li-Gaillard, ADI chief marketing officer (CMO), said that while the company isa based in Singapore, it now has cleints in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Azerbaijan.
Now, the company wants to fully develop its AI and data science capabilities in the Philippines and make it a showcase model for the rest of the region.
Hardoon shared that even though Philippine companies are using AI technologies, they are reluctant to leverage it for business decisions.
ADI, he said, would fill the niche by exporting technology know-how and offering an AI consultancy.
The objective, he added, is to provide service that would lead to accelerated financial growth, future-ready energy solutions, and sustainable smart cities with human-centric AI.
“We aim to achieve this objective by first understanding the business process and looking for points of improvement where AI could fit in,” he said.
Currently, ADI provide the following products and services:
- Alternative Scoring
- Transaction Monitoring to detect Financial Crimes
- Customer Intelligence
- Landslide Prediction
- Demand Forecasting
- Digital Twins
- Behavior-Based Collection
While ADI is currently focusing on the retail industry, Hadoon said the company could cater to most industries by understanding their respective process components.
“We use an industry-first approach and real-world use cases, to combine the industry talents with AI technology for practical applications,” he said.
Aside from the products and services mentioned, the executive said ADI is capable of data management and architecture, generative AI, smart city advisory, industrial change management, and AI road mapping.
