Stefan Hirsch, a senior executive of IBM Asean, told The Nation that the company had not yet fixed a date for opening the Thai design studio, but noted that it would be a smaller-scale studio than the Singapore facility.

The Singapore studio, opened on June 9, is IBM’s 30th studio worldwide, aimed at helping clients reinvent their business for the digital age and develop individualised experiences with cognitive computing capabilities and experience design.

IBM has maintained a Bangkok-based team of experts in multiple disciplines with local capabilities that can help Thai clients transform their business digitally, Hirsch said.

On June 9, IBM also opened its Watson Centre at Marina Bay in Singapore, an event presided over by Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

IBM Studios in Singapore now serves as a regional hub with more than 100 designers and digital experts from IBM’s iX Interactive Experience unit. Worldwide, IBM has a total of about 1,300 designers at its 30 studios.

To deliver results, clients work with teams of creative designers, researchers, digital strategists, analytics and cognitive-solution experts when analysing business challenges and creating new business models and offerings.

Among the first creations of IBM Studios in Asean are Singapore Airlines’ two mobile applications for its pilots.

The FlyNow app enables pilots to prepare their flights using relevant operational information in a timely manner, while the Roster app aims at enhancing pilots’ awareness of their duties and qualification compliance for operations.

In Thailand, Hirsch said IBM would focus on helping clients in finance and banking, telecoms, retail and healthcare, among other sectors, to reinvent their business for the digital economy.

Bangkok’s renowned Bumrungrad Hospital is one of IBM’s clients in healthcare, using the cognitive computing system for cancer treatment.

Hirsch said there would be further efforts to enhance doctor, patient and staff experiences for more relevant and personalised services. In addition, IBM’s studios aim to be incubator studios for business and tech start-ups such as those for mobile banking and financial-technology services, he said, adding that the firm will also help large clients identify new opportunities and partnerships in the digital economy.

The executive said Thai consumers were digitally mature, as evidenced by various indicators, so there were now opportunities for smart farm-tech start-ups, for example, in partnership with telecom carriers using weather forecasting and other big data.

Robert Morris, vice president for global labs at IBM Research, said the company was also experimenting in a new type of ledgers using blockchain technology with the New York Stock Exchange and major banks.

These widely distributed ledgers, with a majority consensus to verify records of value for almost anything, are regarded as a new way to create cheaper, faster and more reliable records similar to those used by the Bitcoin system. Morris said it was harder to change or violate the system because of the minimum one-third-majority consensus requirement.

According to IBM, blockchain applications can support new payment, settlement, supply-chain and business processes, while enabling Internet of Things data, making it possible to process information from various devices such as RFID-based locations, barcode-scanners, and device-reported data.

This will allow smarter transactions throughout the entire supply chain, especially for more efficient financial transactions or shipping services, among others, he explained.

Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of DBS Group, said blockchain technology would change the landscape of banking and financial services from a hub-and-spokes system to a widely distributed ledger system.

He cited Alibaba as an example of a fast-growing major platform for payments, lending and wealth management, in addition to e-commerce.