10
NEWS & VIEWS
October 2017
Astro embraces changes in IoT world
First of all, can you share with
us your vision for the future
of TV — how will consumers’
consumption habits continue
to evolve, and how is Astro
preparing itself to face future
challenges?
Phuah Aik Chong: In the age of
the fourth industrial revolution,
we are seeing business models
and skill sets being challenged
by digital disruption. Technology,
demographic and socio-economic
trends are affecting business
models and consumer behaviours
globally with revolutionary
pace. Mobile Internet and
cloud technology, as
well as processing pow-
er and big data, have
hastened the growth
of a sharing economy.
This results in crowd
If computerisation can be described
as the third industrial revolution,
then perhaps the Internet of Things
(IoT) is heralding the fourth industrial revolution. IoT basically
links consumer lifestyles onto digital applications across smart
devices. For the media industry, it represents an opportunity for
media companies to understand and engage their audiences in
the digital space. APB prompts Phuah Aik Chong, CTO of Astro,
for more details.
sourcing, and changes the
nature of work and skill
sets needed to support
it.
Coming into 2017,
Astro recognises that our
operating environment
is undergoing rapid dis-
ruption, and we must
proactively shape the
world we operate
in. The competitive
landscape in the local
Internet and media
spaces is now more
challenging due to
the entrance of glob-
al digital challengers,
who have lower bar-
riers to entry. Astro,
and other local media
players, now effec-
tively compete in a
landscape of global
competition.
As an organi-
sation, we must be
resolute in address-
ing the challenges
of this new digital
age. That means
we must be bold in
the face of global
competition, or risk
rendering ourselves
irrelevant and obso-
lete. Our approach
is to first identify
our strengths that
can be consolidated
and built upon, and
more importantly,
our weaknesses that we need to
address in a revolutionary way.
We are doing this via our three
strategic imperatives of digitising
our business, acquiring scale in an
increasingly global marketplace via
digital startups, and deepening our
verticals, which comprise differen-
tiated content, as well as products
and services that our customers
want and are willing to pay for.
Technology never remains
static, and has been advanc-
ing at an unprecedented pace.
Broadcast has gone through a
series of transformations — with
satellite, cable and over-the-top
(OTT) — that have irrevocably
altered consumers’ viewing habits,
accelerated the shift from linear
to on-demand consumption, and
driven lay-back to lean-forward
consumption behaviour. Also, the
growth of broadband and smart
device penetration will continue
to spur the change in consump-
tion behaviour.
I believe cloud and data analy
tics will continue to be important
in enabling an organisation like
us to continue to innovate, and
deliver best-in-class experiences to
our customers. We are also invest-
ing time and resources in artificial
intelligence (AI), as we believe it
will be key in enhancing customer
experience, as well as improving
operational efficiency.
Can you elaborate on why Astro
is utilising AI to enhance the cus-
tomer experience? Particularly,
❝ As an organisation, we must
be resolute in addressing the
challenges of this new digital age.
That means we must be bold in the
face of global competition, or risk
rendering ourselves irrelevant and
obsolete.❞
— Phuah Aik Chong,
CTO, Astro
how can AI be beneficial for an
established broadcast company
such as Astro?
Phuah: Machine learning and
AI will further accelerate Astro’s
capability to leverage data to gain
actionable insights and competi-
tive advantages. We will continue
to invest in analytics, and gather
data from our various digital prod-
ucts and services.
On top of the traditional data
warehouse, we have recently built
a Data Lake in the cloud. The Data
Lake will enable Astro to capture
vast amounts of data to support
personalisation, providing person-
alised recommendation, and the
enhancement of overall customer
experience. The data we have gath-
ered will help us to further refine
our understanding of our customer
base across both households and
individuals while supporting our
quest to provide tailored services
at an individual level.
For instance, we have enabled
personalised content recommen-
dation across our video-on-de-
mand (VoD) service on connected
set-top boxes (STBs), and OTT
video streaming services such as
Astro GO and NJOI Now. Similarly,
personalised product recommen-
dation is available on our Go Shop
e-commerce site.
We are accelerating the pace
of building AI-driven, intuitive
experiences for our customers
while optimising internal efficien-
cies