COLUMN
How
How technology
technology is
is
shaping
shaping the
the future
future of
of
innovation
innovation in
in retail
retail
Kickstart is the Philippines' most active Corporate Venture Capital firm investing in early- to
early-growth stage tech startups globally. We put capital, market access, and expertise
behind startups so they have a better shot at success. Kickstart is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Globe Telecom and is backed by SingTel and Ayala Corporation.
In this column, we go straight to the source of innovation and ask tech leaders their 5W’s:
Who, What, Why, Where, and When to get to the driving force behind an innovation and a
better understanding on its application in the digital transformation of retail.
WHO:
Gian is the CEO of Aiah, a leader in intelligent
process automation that uses software robots
to automate customer interactions and
back-office processes. Aiah's goal is to build a
future where bots and brains work together in
the enterprise.
A graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University,
Gian is a self-taught software developer who
got his feet wet in the corporate world, working
with global giants Hewlett-Packard and
Unilever before leading the technology teams
of US startups' Montpac and Efficio Tecnology
Services. In 2013, Gian co-founded Aiah to
build an online document approval system for
a client. From this humble beginning, Aiah now
has over 50 people delivering automation
solutions to clients in the telecom, financial
services, consumer goods and
pharmaceutical verticals in the Philippines,
United States and Singapore.
Gian used to take care of 11 cats.
WHY:
We started by helping one client convert their
paper forms to online forms. This alone led to
reduction of processing time from 2 weeks to 3
days and the complete elimination of paper.
We then realized that if this client achieved
these outcomes using the tech that we built in
a few weeks, what more if we focus our entire
company to further develop that technology.
That was 6 years ago. And now, with
customers expecting better, faster, cheaper
products and services, more and more
companies are looking at digital solutions to
help them achieve those goals. However, we
believe that automation is merely 1/2 of the
solution, the other half belongs to the humans
who will now have more strategically
important tasks. This combination of bots and
brains is the vision of Aiah.
WHAT:
Aiah is an intelligent automation platform
designed to build and deploy AI bots that
serve as your company’s first AI teammate.
Aiah Actions bots can automate repetitive and
transaction-heavy business processes using
robotic process automation OR Aiah Assist
bots can automate commerce conversations
at scale using chat and AI.
WHERE:
Using Aiah will lead organizations to have
teams of bots and brains. Humans and
software robots working together to generate
positive outcomes for their clients and
stakeholders.
Imagine having chatbots enabling commerce
transactions at scale and software RPA robots
5WS WITH KICKSTART
by Frances Barsana
Frances Barsana helps
companies in their digital
transformation journey by
connecting them with the
most innovative technology
startups in the market. She
helps build strategic and
commercial partnerships
between best-in-class tech
startups and top1000
corporations in the
Philippines and in
Southeast Asia.
automating repetitive tasks while humans
solve customer problems and devising new
ways to better serve customers?
Organizations which have those will enjoy the
speed, scale and flexibility of automation while
being able to provide awesome and
world-class experiences because employees
are focused solely on solving customer
problems and designing new and better
products or services.
WHEN:
When you use Aiah, you will:
Increase
productivity up to
20x vs manual
processes with Aiah
Actions Decrease process
cost by up to 80%
with Aiah Actions
Experience 400%
more leads and up
to 50% lower
acquisition cost with
Aiah Assist Perform
banking-grade
secure transactions
in chat with Aiah
Assist