Two years after its first i.Luminate business innovation event, SingTel brought a huge number of business customers together to reinforce its position as ICT service provider for Singaporean SMEs and Asia-Pacific based corporates. It also hosted Accelerate, its first developer forum to kick off its major innovation exchange program. There was a big focus on cloud services and SingTel has clearly made good progress in delivering on its strategy. While we think it will face strong competition in exporting its ICT proposition out of Singapore, we found its overall message and commitment very impressive.
Innovate: how to stay relevant to customers
SingTel has the most ambitious plan among telcos in the region to move beyond connectivity. Its strategic objective is to be the leading “ICT experience provider,” a one-stop shop for ICT services for enterprises in Asia-Pacific, and a leader and shaper in cloud services. It aims to do this by developing a world-class ecosystem of partners.
Innovation is a critical component of SingTel’s ICT strategy. With this in mind, it has set up a corporate venture capital company to invest in innovative technologies and solutions. Through a program called Innov8 it will invest $150 million (S$200 million) to promote innovation within the ICT industry by leading developers, government agencies, and R&D organizations.
The initiative will help to promote a stronger national ecosystem of players that will form a good basis to position Singapore as a leader in regional cloud services. Importantly, it will build momentum and support the rapid development of new services. And SingTel has made it clear that it is keen to embrace co-funding opportunities with partners too.