US-based systems integrator World Wide Technology (WWT) has set its sights on the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region, and is looking to ramp up its digital hires in Singapore this year.
While the group was founded in 1990, its Singapore outfit was established only in 2009. In 2017, the group recorded revenue of US$10.4 billion. Of this, US$1.75 billion came from outside the US, and 40 per cent hailed from Asia.
In May last year, the tech advisory firm expanded its Asian Integration Centre in Singapore to occupy a space of nearly 50,000 square feet in a bid to service some of the largest web services companies around the world, WWT's vice-president for Apac, Nilesh Mistry, told The Business Times in an interview.
Essentially, WWT's Asian Integration Centre has a data centre-like capability that allows it to build and integrate tech solutions for its customers, Mr Mistry said. One of the firm's biggest differentiators, he added, is its investment in lab capabilities that has enabled it to bring various tech offerings available in the market to its clients in an "integrated fashion".
"Unlike a lot of tech companies that may only be partnering one organisation, we're actually partnering all the Tier-1 organisations out there. So what we're able to do is really replicate what the customer has from an ecosystem perspective, and then advise them based on that."
Some partners that WWT works with include heavyweights such as Cisco and Dell EMC.
Mr Mistry also pointed to WWT's Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) as the firm's "jewel in the crown" - it allows customers to evaluate different types of technology, and test their proofs of concept in a sandbox, before deciding on a solution to implement. "So the customer would engage us via the ATC first to come up with the design or the solution, and then engage us via the Asian Integration Centre to deliver their products to them," he explained.
And testing solutions in a self-contained environment separate from their own allows customers to do things a lot faster, Mr Mistry said.
"The ATC is where we're seeing a lot of our customers testing out their strategies around their digital transformation ... What we're trying to do is help organisations improve their time to market, so it's really about accelerating their ability to make a decision around a high-level strategy that they may have."
As a tech company, WWT is also seeking to build on its global capabilities and is constantly on the lookout for talent. "The areas that are hot at the moment are around automation, and those skill-sets are in demand," Mr Mistry said. "I wouldn't say they're readily available, but what we're doing is a combination of two things. We're bringing practitioners in, be they local or foreign who already have skills, but we're also developing our people and training them in technologies." He added that another field where the firm is seeing a significant amount of activity is related to security technologies, though those are "very scarce skills".
Beyond technological prowess, the company is also interested in people with expertise in consulting. "What we want to do is help organisations achieve a business outcome, and that shouldn't be predicated on a certain type of technology. It should be more around a business process, a business outcome, a customer experience. That's what we're really focused on," Mr Mistry said.
At present, WWT has slightly more than 70 employees in Singapore, and about 110 more staff members elsewhere in Asia. And the company intends to grow its headcount in Singapore by at least 50 per cent in 2019, he said.
He explained that key technology drivers in the region now include multi-cloud technology, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, cloud or multi-cloud technology is an area where the firm is seeing significant growth. "Regulations are evolving to allow customers to be able to adopt multi-cloud strategies which wasn't the case maybe five years ago," he said.
As organisations start to realise their digital transformation aspirations, blockchain is fast becoming a key technology driver in the region, Mr Mistry added. He explained that blockchain changes the whole paradigm around transacting, and that this doesn't just apply to financial institutions, but to different retail organisations and B2B activities as well. And with the amount of data that's out there, the time is now ripe for AI penetration throughout the region.
WWT is now looking to replicate in Asia the success it has attained with European and US conglomerates, and is of the view that there are many opportunities for it to collaborate with companies in the region.
This article was written by Rachel Mui from The Singapore Business Times and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
