Cloud Services to Change How Companies Adapt to Challenges in the Market
As a new Malaysia settled in and slowly emerged this past year, so does the promise of a prosperous digital economy. But a thriving digital economy has yet to emerge, even though Malaysian consumers are primed and ready to spend their ringgit using electronic and online methods.
For example, as of 2018 there are as many as 42 licensed e-money issuers to meet Malaysians’ demand to spend conveniently.
An iPay88 survey also discovered more bricks and mortar shops are starting to sell their wares and services on the Internet.
With Bank Negara’s move to make online transactions cheaper, the Malaysian payment gateway provider found that consumers are transitioning from paying with credit cards to paying via online banking.
As many as 11 virtual bank licenses are expected to be awarded within 2019, also.
While all of this is happening, regulations for the financial services industry are evolving slowly but surely (although some say not quickly enough) to prepare for an economy that is state-of-the-art and driven by digital technologies.
All of this is expected to considerably increase competition in the retail as well as financial services sector.
What will give these players much needed competitive edge as the e-commerce industry begins to ramp up?
Customer experience
The economy is increasingly becoming more digital. This means retailers and e-commerce players are leveraging more digital technologies to provide better customer experiences with the main objectives of acquiring more customers as well as create loyalty to their brands.
The Internet is a double-edged sword; whilst it can help to create more interaction with consumers and promote brand awareness among them, it also informs consumers of brand alternatives. The internet has become a platform for customers to air positive or negative experiences, and bad reviews can viral extremely quickly.
With consumers of e-commerce being some of the toughest and most fickle customers that are out there, downtime of an e-commerce service is an absolute no-no.
In a digital economy during times like these, instant gratification is the name of the game. But where do e-commerce players turn to, to provide this?
Ability to scale : an invaluable experience
Alibaba Group specialises in the e-conmerce and retail industry, leveraging Internet and other technologies.
It owns the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C (Taobao) and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world according to Wikipedia, and online sales and profits have surpassed even that of US retailers.
Due to the expanse and robustness of their cloud computing infrastructure provided by Alibaba Cloud, the Group’s online sales are global and legendary.
For example in 2018, their annual Global Shopping Festival on November 11th (Double 11), captured a gross merchandising volume of USD30.8 billion in just 24 hours.
Significantly, the Group’s e-commerce ecosystem of payments and logistics Is supported by their sister companies, Alipay and Cainiao respectively. In turn, these two services are supported by Alibaba Cloud.
All of this invaluable support, infrastructure and experience is being put to good use.
Alibaba Group lends the wealth and breadth of their experience in online retail and e-commerce, to their customers.
In an interview with McKinsey, Alibaba’s new CEO Daniel Zhang had shared, “We are not only helping big brands and retailers – we also help small and medium businesses grow. We believe small is beautiful; we want to help new businesses and entrepreneurs be more successful.”
“When small businesses can grow faster and grow healthier, it will benefit the whole society,” he also said.
The infrastructure to back this up
Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and public services.
It now has 61 availability zones across 20 regions across the globe. Besides mainland China, some of these markets include Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Indonesia, UK and the U.S. (East and West Coast).
Small is beautiful
Within Asia Pacific, this cloud computing provider has the largest infrastructure footprint.
Due to this and a combination of local market knowledge, presence, global best practices and compliance to local regulations, Alibaba Cloud empowered e-commerce player Lazada’s 11.11 and 12.12 shopping festivals in the region,. At the peak of sales, that meant supporting supporting up to 1.3 billion webpage visits.
Closer to home, Alibaba Cloud put their networking and knowledge of the local market to use, to help #MyFutureMakers like Air Asia, Touch n’ Go Digital, SENA Traffic and Genting Group, achieve key business outcomes.
This aligns with what Mr. Daniel Zhang had shared with McKinsey that rather than talking about how they make themselves stronger, they focus on helping their business partners win through successful digital transformation.