Belgian BDA company NGDATA sets up APAC hub in Singapore

• To support existing customers and to grow customer base
• Focus on banks, but also eying telco, media, publishing and entertainment industries

 
GENT, Belgium-based big data analytics company NGDATA has opened its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, a move that has a threefold purpose.
 
These are to support its current clients in the region; meet demand for its customer experience management solution Lily Enterprise; and to grow its customer base in the region, according to chief operating officer Frank Hamerlinck.
 
“To achieve this, our Singapore office – a sales and services office for NGDATA – will also serve as the hub for Asia Pacific,” he told Digital News Asia via email.
 
The Singapore office has already opened for business, and has five employees “who are currently working with local system integrators to assist with implementations of NGDATA’s customer relationship management solution,” he added.
 
NGDATA will be hiring more, and is looking for big data software consultants to boost the regional office.
 
It currently has banking customers in India that will be serviced out of the regional Hq in Singapore, and ultimately would be looking to set up a research centre in the Lion City.
 
This centre would focus on “technologies such as big data and machine learning to help banks better understand how to enhance customer relationships,” said Hamerlinck.
 
The company, founded in 2012, landed a US$10.2-million Series B round last October, according to CrunchBase.
 
Its Asia Pacific game-plan will include building on its customer base in the region’s banking industry, starting with Singapore, according to Hamerlinck.
 
It hopes to leverage on its experience with its multinational banking clients to assist retail and wealth management banks here gain greater customer insights, he said.
 
“This would enable banks to deliver more relevant interactions for significant CLTV (customer lifetime value),” he declared.
 
NGDATA also aims to reach out “to other subscription-based, customer-focused industries such as telecommunications and media, publishing, and entertainment to increase our footprint in the region,” he added.
 
Addressing a need
 
Hamerlinck (pic) is confident that NGDATA would be able to address a growing need in the region, pointing to a Gartner study where 89% of companies highlighted customer experience as their primary basis for competition in 2016.
 
“In Asia Pacific, this is gradually becoming the case, especially in the financial sector,” he said.
 
“Asia Pacific’s maturing customers are placing unique demands that are correspondingly raising institutions’ understanding of the need to increase standards of engagement. 
 
“However, as technology disruption among financial institutions in the region continues to accelerate, market players should not neglect the golden rule of putting the customer first,” he added.
 
This is especially pertinent to the financial services sector, according to Hamerlinck.
 
“With growing competition for customers, banks need to stand out and deliver; they need to understand their customers better in order to consistently engage and impress them,” he said.
 
“To do this, they should improve customer care and service by addressing their needs, not only at the right time and place, but to ensure it is relevant to each unique customer.
 
“This service must be delivered at every interaction, regardless of the channel, and should be based on continuous understanding of the customer so that they are ready to engage with them at every moment.
 
“Only then can banks truly gain lasting loyalty and grow customer lifetime value,” he added.
 
This is where NGDATA hopes to come in, by taking “customer experience management to the next level,” Hamerlinck declared.
 
“We will be assisting banks in gathering and analysing all types of information about their customers, to help build a more effective relationship.
 
“Most importantly, we want to allow banks to better deliver targeted and timely customer experiences that are expected in today’s data-driven world,” he added.
 
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