Fusionex Launches Enhanced GIANT 2017 Amidst Controversy

Malaysia’s Big Data Analytics (BDA) leading company, Fusionex, hosted a packed press conference in Petaling Jaya on 1^st June 2017. Not only was the excitement over the company’s launch of its enhanced GIANT offering, touted as GIANT 2017, but it was also about the company’s sudden announcement on its plan to delist from Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange the Friday before. 

Any announcement by Fusionex is worth the attention, seeing that it is a multi-award-winning, highly-accoladed software solutions provider specializing in BDA and Internet of Things (IoT) from Malaysia to land a listing in AIM four and a half years ago. Its customer base spans across the regions of APAC to Europe to America. Eminent customers include Airasia, CIMB, DHL, Citibank, American Airline

L-R: Chen Keat Ming (Fusionex VP – Marketing), James Martin (Fusionex Programme Director), Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh (Fusionex MD & CEO), Raju Chellam (Fusionex VP – New Technologies) & James Houng (Fusionex Senior VP – Solutions Development)

s, Celcom, Petronas, Singtel, RBS, Shell, Qantas, Ford, Takaful, AIG and ING, among others.

GIANT 2017

This enhanced BDA platform boasts all-new search-driven analytics capabilities that allow users of any skill level to unearth insights in their data. Using an intuitive and easy-to-use search function, users can simply key in requests and GIANT will deliver the analysed results. This pushes the boundaries of how data can be analysed and extracted by anyone.

Ivan Teh, Fusionex CEO commented, “This marks a milestone for Fusionex as it will revolutionize the way businesses use data. In the future, with a simple key-in request, they will be able to discover complex insights into their data.” Not only so, Fusionex is also able to interface a Google Assistant-type voice-activated request capability, whereby, “even an aged grandparent or a child will be able to use”.

 Faster, smarter, easier insights with enhanced visuals

The platform is able to understand user queries and immediately churn data insights using the Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP capability is an Artificial Intelligent (AI) component that businesses will now be able to leverage on to gain an advantage over their competitors.

“With AI capabilities, enterprises will be able to reach out to their customers with more comprehensive insights that are easily retrieved in a short period of time. Time is of essence in a data driven consumer world, where trends and customer needs change rapidly. Businesses need their data analysed faster and easier,” continued Teh.

“However, where self-service analytics capabilities and data integration is concerned, availability of skilled resources is a common roadblock to BDA initiatives among APEJ organizations. This is where Fusionex GIANT’s offerings stand to add tangible value,” said Chwee Chua, AVP, Analytics, Big Data and Cognitive Systems research in IDC Asia/Pacific.

GIANT 2017 will now give even non-technical users the ability to crunch petabytes of corporate data without the need for lengthy technical trainings. The powerful analytics capabilities of GIANT will enable users to forecast future trends and confidently make data-backed decisions and enjoy an increased rate of accuracy in inventory management, personnel deployment, energy consumption, route planning, and much more.

With a much richer visualization palette compared to its past version; charts graphs, dials, heat maps and more are automatically selected by the system to best present data concerning making comparisons, drilling down from worldwide to regional, country and city data, and chronological displays. Richer visuals allow customers from any background, position or industry to further analyse and discover real-time insights within their data.

With deeper and more meaningful insights, users will now be able to compare, contrast and seek out minute correlations which might have escaped the naked eye. These insights are then translated to data-driven decisions, aimed at increasing operational efficiency and organizational revenue, as well as achieving greater understanding of market movements and customer behaviours.

Chwee asserted, “The barriers of artificial intelligence, machine and deep learning are rapidly dropping. As such, cognitive systems, the likes of Fusionex GIANT’s natural language processing capabilities, will soon be powering data-driven applications across a wide spectrum of solutions. This new generation of tools and capabilities is capable of offering intelligent assistance, advice and recommendations to end users, thus enhancing their competitive edge or supplementing information for better decision making.”

Suffice to say, C-suite executives and board of directors will be the direct beneficiaries.

 Successful soft launch

Following a soft launch late last year, ten companies were invited to take part in the pilot run of Fusionex GIANT 2017. Eight of these have already signed up. The company expects the rest to sign up imminently. Existing users of Fusionex GIANT will be given the option to migrate to GIANT 2017. While the likes of SAP, IBM and Oracle offer advanced BDA solutions too, GIANT 2017’s complete ease of use and remarkable cost-efficiencies gives it unparalleled advantages.

Teh shared that there is also a “scaled-down” version of GIANT, called “ANT” that will be marketed to SMEs. He estimated there to be a market size of at least 600,000 such enterprises out there in Malaysia alone. He has set ambitious double-digit targets to reach out to them.

With ANT, there is no friction in adoption and no need to set up an IT team. Just go on a subscription-model where complete support will be provided by Fusionex. Being able to access the analytics from any tablet or device via a browser, now there is no reason why any SME cannot embark on its own BDA journey. The scaled-down ANT offers analytics compatible with the requirements of SMEs, and so the logic “Why pay so much more for a Rolls-Royce when you only need a Honda?” stands Fusionex in good stead.

 Planned delisting controversy

While the logic behind the following of GIANT 2017 is unquestionable, the same cannot be said of Fusionex’s recent “corporate play”. The fact that it garnered such reaction, from within and outside the organisation, spoke of its impact on AIM. Teh reportedly owns 41% of Fusionex. Share price had taken a drastic fall over the last year and market capitalisation now only stands at approximately 30% of its IPO debut price.

Fusionex’s London PR agency, Buchanan, gave notice to quit amid the fallout from the company’s planned move to delist from AIM. It was also confirmed that the company’s non-executive chairman, John Croft, had also given notice to resign. In addition, Fusionex said it had accepted the resignation of its joint broker, Peel Hunt.

When pressed on about this, Teh patiently explained that its delisting consideration is made in the best interest for the mid-to-long term benefit of the company’s stakeholders. The share price’s big tumble had caused great discontent among shareholders and proved a bane to the company’s efforts in shining the torch on its products.  Employees are unnecessarily distracted.

“Europe had been a good region for the last few years, however, Brexit had caused turbulence in Europe which would reverberate for the next 3 years. We cannot listen to all views, but ultimately, what matters is that the Board of Directors had unanimously stood behind the decision to leave AIM. “There are other options put forward” said Teh before coyly adding that Fusionex is considered an attractive counter for NASDAQ, SEHK, SGX and Bursa Malaysia.

The message Teh strived to drive is that Fusionex is focused on heralding a new beginning with the launch of the superior GIANT 2017 and instead of being fixated by share price fluctuations beyond the control of the company, all focus and energy should be channelled into accomplishing that double-digit growth, particularly in the fast-growing APAC region.