Bluebik Global Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Thailand’s leading consultancy on digital transformation Bluebik, is relying on its parent’s expertise and success formula to expand overseas, setting its sights on large tech consulting companies.
Martin Christopher Simpson, Director of Bluebik Global, said that Bluebik’s success in Thailand was due to its local knowledge, local skills, and cultural understanding – and the same method of doing business would be applied wherever Bluebik Global expands.
For example, when Bluebik Global expanded to Vietnam, the first thing he did was to hire a Vietnamese team. That is because working with Vietnamese clients requires a different language, and their culture is entirely different from that of Thailand.“The vision is to bring what Bluebik does when it does best to overseas, to the rest of the world where we can compete on that high-level playing,” he said, pointing to Bluebik’s strengths in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and data, as well as “having a great team”.
The British-born executive added that another strength was a good understanding of cultural sensitivity in Thailand, which will be adapted for different markets. “Thailand has its strength, but Bluebik Global has to take that strength one step up by being able to be adaptable to every different location and every different client that we work with,” he said.
Bluebik Group PLC was listed on the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) in September 2021, with a plan of listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by 2025. The leading consultancy set up Bluebik Global in 2022 for overseas business expansion, with a registered capital of 2 million baht.
Competing with large companies
Simpson pointed out that like its parent company in Thailand, Bluebik Global expects to compete against global competitors as it is expanding overseas.
“We’re not competing on a small local scale. We’re competing with large tech consulting companies. … In Thailand, our competitors are not local – they are these global tech consulting firms who we compete against here in Thailand. So, if we have those skills, we can do that overseas,” he said.In his view, what makes Bluebik Global stand out in the industry is its approach to business – the combination of end-to-end functionality and end-to-end capability. “This all combines into us being like a one-stop shop for people to be able to get what they need done. That’s what makes people talk to us. I think that’s why we stand out,” Simpson said.
The executive said he believed that the collection of skills that Bluebik has makes it stronger in every location. According to him, the company’s value proposition is that it has many years of experience helping lots of companies carry out digital transformation.
“We know how to go from point A to point B and most of the scenarios that they have – whether that’s AI or machine learning, whether they want to renovate their systems or build new mobile applications. We can do all of this because we’ve done it before – and more importantly, the skills are already in the company. So, what we can do is we can guide them through it,” he said.Simpson likened Bluebik to a lighthouse that guides its clients through difficult journeys fraught with problems. “We’ve suffered these problems before. We’ve gone through these. That’s why people reach out to us. It’s because not only can we do it, we also have experienced it before. And from the collective experience, we are able to navigate them through these difficult journeys and difficult issues.”
Focusing on Southeast Asia
According to Simpson, his company is focusing on the Southeast Asian markets. After Thailand and Vietnam, Bluebik Global is setting its sights on Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines “as our next footprint”, he said.
“Southeast Asia, for me, is the key focus because we can play in this region. We know the region, we know the people, we know the culture,” the executive said.
He said the leading criteria in choosing the market is how the company can play in that region with the experience and skills that it has. And it has a different focus for a different market. For example, the focus in India is on talent because that country has a big talent pool.“But it doesn’t mean we rule out clients. It just means it might not be our focus for that region. For the UK, our primary focus is not on talent. It’s a focus for sales,” he said. However, in Vietnam, his company focuses on both talents and clients. “Vietnam has a great talent pool, but also it has a good client portfolio that you know needs our services.”
The executive reckoned that unlike more mature markets like the United Kingdom, Southeast Asia still needs to undergo digital transformation although the extent may differ from country to country.
“In Vietnam, it’s still a very hot topic. In Thailand, companies are maturing, so it’s on the way out,” he said.
According to him, several companies in Vietnam need digital transformation. “That’s where Thailand was 2-4 years ago. But if you look at markets like the UK, they’re much more mature. The UK markets have already gone through that digital transformation journey, maybe 10 years ago.”
However, he says, digital transformation is still relevant in the majority of Southeast Asian countries, even in Thailand. “We still have [Thai] companies needing to do digital transformation. We still know of companies that need digital transformation,” he added.
Simpson pointed out that digital transformation often takes years to complete. “Realistically, most digital transformation is about three years long. If it’s a large organisation, it can be up to five, depending on their plan and strategic objectives too.”
