Bnetworks-Yanolja partnership expands hotel tech solutions to SEA

• Promotion and sales of solution to Malaysia, Phil, S’pore
• Open technology partnerships are new digital economy formula

[Ed: Caption has been edited for accuracy.]

South Korea’s Yanolja, a global leisure platform, and Bnetworks, an incubatee of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) Corp, have established their partnership with a Strategic and Technology Development Agreement to expand its hotel solutions into the Southeast Asian (SEA) market.

According to the terms of the deal, both companies will combine its respective technologies and hardware to roll-out IoT & AI driven automated room management systems (RMS). They will also work closely together in the promotion and sales of the solution to expand into markets in SEA, with a focus on Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore for now.

Yanolja is the largest online travel agency and the only unicorn travel-related company in South Korea. The company is also now considered the world’s top in the cloud-based property management system market, following its acquisition of eZee in 2019. Its Y Flux solution addresses pain points in the hospitality industry with its fully integrated and automated features such as mobile concierge, room service by robots, vending machines for amenities and more.

“Previously, hotels managed different datasets for different services, so real-time data sharing and integrated data management were difficult. Y Flux RMS is a leading cloud-based technology that organically and seamlessly connects data across all services provided by hotels. We will introduce optimum technologies for local hotels and bring innovation to the SEA hospitality industry through the partnership with Bnetworks, a leader of IoT technologies in the region,” said Jongyoon Kim, CEO of Online Business and Corporate Strategy at Yanolja.

CEO of Bnetworks, Tharmaindran K.Gannasin sees this collaboration and expansion as a game changer for the hospitality industry within the SEA region.

“This partnership will be a new milestone for both entities with endless opportunities. Open technology partnerships and collaborative commercial models are the new digital economy formula. This partnership leverages on technologies, platforms, and services of both entities.”

Tharmaindran explains that both parties see a bright future in enabling convergence of solutions and versatile platforms, while future-proofing hospitality industries with long-term sustainable digitalisation strategies.

Bnetworks is a member of MDEC’s GAIN programme that is designed to catalyse the expansion of Malaysian tech companies to soar on the global stage. Gopi Ganesalingam, vice president of MDEC’s Global Growth Acceleration Division commended Bnetworks for being an exemplary Malaysian tech company that is redefining smart living through innovative automation and digitalisation solutions for private and commercial dwellings.

“The collaboration between Bnetworks and Yanolja is a testament of Malaysia’s capability of becoming an IoT and AI hub in the region, which will bolster the nation’s aspiration of being the heart of digital ASEAN and as a preferred tech investment destination,” he says.

In addition, Bnetworks’ award winning bWave IoT platform ensures all communications are encrypted with modern cryptography and presence of strict firewall protocols. Cyber threats will be constantly monitored and automatic security patches will be updated to ensure the smart devices are not vulnerable to cyber threats and hackers. Through a closer understanding of the assets, operations and the guests, IoT provides access to analytics and a level of control to a hospitality environment, which was not available before.