New Business Group launches three solutions for Thai Businesses/SMEs
With its eyes firmly on post-COVID-19 recovery, Thailand’s third-largest GSM mobile-phone provider, dtac, has adjusted its business concept and has established a dtac Business Group aimed at better understanding and responding to its customers’ needs.
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After extensive consultations with customers and guided by the new concept, the company has vowed to make it easier for customers to understand the hi-tech solutions that are relevant to their needs. It is now highlighting three business solutions focused on mobility, the Internet of Things, and “SmartConnect” cloud services. It says that all three are not only easy to use, but also easy to understand.
The deputy CEO for SME Business at Total Access Communications (dtac), Rajiv Bawa, speaks of Thai businesses ranging in size from one-man companies, to small, medium-sized, and large enterprises. He says these businesses have different needs, but small enterprises, in particular, usually face a range of challenges from personnel to competitors, technologies and management issues.
Consultations with all of its customers have led dtac to understand their different business contexts and problems. The goal now is to develop solutions for them all.
“We have accorded importance to all groups, regardless of size. We have striven to support their businesses; to help them to sell their products or services,” he said.
The COVID-19 crisis has forced businesses to adjust their methods. Even those that were reluctant to abandon traditional ways of working have made drastic changes. SMEs, for example, have started using digital and cloud technologies – something unimaginable to them in the past.
Mobile phones and internet access at home have also become increasingly important. Recognizing this fact, dtac has striven to ensure that its staff can work from anywhere and conduct business discussions with customers with the same level of security as when they were based at an office.
Rajiv said the dtac Business Group had developed “e-care” – an online platform for service delivery that offers customizable solutions. Corporate clients can adjust the solutions available on the platform for use with their own customers. For example, a hospital using dtac solutions may adjust them to enable easy connections with its patients.
The Business Group is also offering “e-store”, in which customers may adjust their packages and pay service fees without a need for face-to-face dealings. Dtac has also established a Business Call Center (Hotline 1431) solely for corporate clients.
“Our mission is to make it easiest for customers to understand technical issues that are relevant to their needs. Our solutions must be easy to use, so that our customers are free from worry and can run their businesses smoothly,” Rajiv said.
Focus on 5G, IoT and Cloud
Dtac believes that all businesses will eventually embrace the Internet of Things (IoT), or the interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.
Back in 2018, the IoT market in Thailand was worth Bt3.6 billion. It is expected to grow to a value of Bt9.6 billion by 2023, so dtac is working seriously on the development of an IoT platform and ecosystem, through collaboration with business partners.
“In the first phase, our IoT initiatives involve investment,” Rajiv said. “But in the long run, our costs will reduce by between 30 and 40 per cent, and once 5G arrives, our costs will plunge even further.”
Dtac has already tested 5G on the 26GHz band in collaboration with several industrial plants. The aim was to test the efficiency of 5G solutions being sought by those plants, and together to develop cases involving the use of 5G. Rajiv is now confident that before the end of this year, his firm will be able to present these use cases as proof of efficient solutions.
Dtac has also made it a mission to provide a smooth link for businesses wanting to move their systems to Cloud. When backed by dtac services, customers will now be able to connect with Cloud solution providers.
Three solutions for Thai businesses
Mobility: Dtac has launched WorryFree SIM cards to smooth over customers’ “pain points”. Many of the company’s business customers reported facing unexpected expenses after call charges and data usage by their staff exceeded limits without generating extra benefits.
WorryFree SIM cards will solve these problems by enabling users to upgrade their mobile-service packages without new subscriptions. Corporate customers, new and old, will also be able to adjust their service packages without the need to contact dtac’s call center.
Moreover, the company’s Mobile Care and Mobile PBX services enable customers to manage their own call and internet-data limits. In the future, more such features will be made available.
Internet of Things (IoT): This aspect of dtac’s business services is being developed in collaboration with business partners that specialize in connectivity and related devices. Thanks to this partnership, dtac has recently developed more than 10 IoT solutions for application across various industries.
Dtac now has a secure platform for IoT-device management. It has taken more than a year to develop the Managed IoT cloud platform, which operates on Telenor’s 4G network and works well with IoT SIM cards. The platform deploys Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTTS) protocol, requires little bandwidth, and applies TLS 1.2 encryption when taking data from IoT devices.
Three conceptual focuses of dtac’s IoT-solution development are “Smart City”, “Smart Industry” and “Smart Life”. In “Smart City”, dtac works with both government agencies and private entities to establish ecosystems and integrate smart solutions into smart cities, including the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) zones. With regard to “Smart Industry”, as mentioned above, dtac has developed use cases across the transportation, banking, industrial, agricultural and service sectors. For “Smart Life”, dtac has prepared systems that make it easier for people to work and live. For example, it offers sensors to enable automatic lighting and temperature settings for housing units.
SmartConnect: Dtac has now positioned itself as a multi-cloud aggregator. In other words, it offers efficient access to several Cloud service providers. This access is available through both connectivity and mobility, and is provided through dtac’s collaboration with its partners. The partnership model is SmartConnect, powered by NetFoundry. With this model, dtac’s customers can connect to and send or receive data between headquarters and branches from anywhere. It is possible to connect to a public or hybrid cloud via SmartConnect, and it is safe, efficient, and saves costs.
“We have given a lot of importance to partnerships, with a goal of creating a proper ecosystem with business solutions for our customers. Dtac will never stop growing alongside its customers. Focusing on their pain points, we will give our customers the best answers and the best care,” Rajiv said.
