The biggest threat to the banking business comes from giant technology firms and e-commerce, telcos and fintec businesses, armed with money, technology and a sizeable customer base. In the future, financial business will become seamless and banks still doing business in the traditional way are likely to run into difficulties. This is the reason why Kasikorn Business-Technology Group (KBTG) was set up three years ago.

Somkid Jiranuntarat, the chairman of KBTG, says the group aims to not only develop technology to help Kasikornbank (KBank) add new products and services for the customers, but also to make KBTG a world-class tech company that can provide a platform to all.

“We are not a bank but a technology company. We want KBTG to be recognised as a world-class technology company,” said Somkid.

When asked if KBank is the leader in the digital financial industry, he replies that KBank is the current leader in mobile banking in terms of transactions and number of customers, not only in Thailand but also in the Southeast Asia region.

He said in the future, business competition would not be explicitly visible since it would be “undiscovered territory”, hence KBTG needed to find and build its new business model.

He says the changing circumstances undoubtedly were a challenge. He insisted that his company could not remain dormant, escape, or avoid the changes and therefore the situation had to be dealt with proactively.

“My main mission is to help KBTG and KBank as Thai banks are on the brink of being taken over or risk being disrupted by other businesses. Being the leader in mobile banking in Southeast Asia is just a small thing when compared to the global level. Many of the operators have customers running into billions, like WeChat and Alipay,” said Somkid.

Currently, KBank has 10 million users – a small number when compared with the global scale. He said KBank is aiming for exponential growth and not just an incremental increase. “We want to grow 10 times from the current 10 million in the next 5 to 10 years,” he says.

“We want to be a global player, but we will start from being a regional player – Indo-China, CLMV [Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam] and the Southeast Asia region. To expand to other countries, we need to have a global-player mindset. We cannot think like a local player at all,” said Somkid.

KBTG was born and grew from mobile banking. And as a part of KBank, it has the source of funds to grow and expand its business. Somkid believes these factors will help KBTG become a leading global technology firm.

He says that KBTG and giant global players such as Alibaba and WeChat might think along the same lines. But, he says, there is one major difference. His parent company is in the financial sector and has diversified beyond banking, while the others are primarily in the technology sector and have diversified into the financial services sector.

“We come from different backgrounds, but we might have similar thinking and perhaps we would meet at the destination. It depends on how well we concentrate and how hard we work,” said Somkid.

Therefore, KBTG and KBank need to build their own platform, which is KPlus. KPlus is being rebuilt and is scheduled for launch some time soon. The new version of KPlus will enable KBank to become a regional and global player as planned.

The new version KPlus is designed to be a platform that will go beyond one bank and beyond banking. The concept of the new KPlus version is being opened as an AI-driven platform, which supports its partner to take part on this platform. Services will not be limited to financial services and partners need not come only from the banking and financial sector, says Somkid.

“We are eyeing the global market. Our goal is to have 100 million users, of course not just in Thailand. This is my challenge and KBank’s since I cannot do it alone and we need to work as a team,” said Somkid.

Coping with digital disruption

He recalls difficult days in earlier times. “It was when I took care of the KTransformation project, the second re-engineering of KBank.” KTransformaton is a 10-year project.

Somkid joined KBank midway through the bank’s efforts to implement KTransformation, when it was faced with difficulties and confusion.

Somkid says it was about technological re-engineering. KBank was building its internal technological capability and it brought technology back from outsourcing. The bank realised that in the next future it would face digital disruption and hence it needed to boost its own technological capacity.

“It was difficult because we needed to build our whole new technology capacity after having outsourced for a decade. Finally, we brought all the technology jobs back to KBTG,” said Somkid.

KTransformation was the largest, the most challenging, and also the most difficult project. However, Somkid says the current challenges are greater than KTransformation. “The difficulty about KTransformation was the complexity while the current challenge comes from the digital disruption, which is an unexplored territory.

“Digital disruption is not just the third re-engineering of KBank. It goes beyond that. We have to rethink the business model. The second re-engineering was KTransformation, which was primarily a re-engineering of technology, while the first one was about the process,” said Somkid.

He admits that to build capability for new technologies requires attracting top talents to join the team. KBTG was set up as a technology army for KBank with a vigorous and agile culture.

“It is never enough when we talk about technology resources. Our job is to create new business models and services that are driven by technology. There is never enough resource capability when compared to the jobs we need to do. We still need a lot more digital and technology talents,” said Somkid.

He is confident that KBTG has done a good job on human resource development through the past three years. KBTG has a strong AI team along with blockchain and mobile technology teams.

Currently, KBTG has 1,200 employees, 70 per cent of whom are tech personnel. KLabs is the key weapon for KBTG as it aims to be world class, working on new and innovative technologies including blockchain, AI design and mobile. KLabs needs to have talent capable of working with global companies.

“We need to be engrossed in, and not give up our belief in our ability to reach, our destination. We need to have imagination the scenario of our destination goal.

Even though the picture might not be clear, our job is to make it more clear and |more obvious,” said Somkid.

Leadership is important

Somkid believes the leader’s thinking and vision is very important in leading the company forward. The challenge is how to turn leader’s vision into reality. Execution is the key to success, he says but adds, “Having the same strategy will not guarantee the same level of success.

“We need to get our team to truly understand the company’s strategy – only then we can ensure proper execution. Execution is not just about the leader’s thinking and talking; it must develop the team’s trust and understanding and doing.

There are many factors to get execution done successfully, including leadership, teamwork and support.

“There are so many details that the leader needs to have a bird’s-eye view of while the team needs to help make the vision a reality. There should not be much of a gap between the leader’s thought and the team’s execution. If the leader has both the vision and the capability to act on it, the company will have a lot better chance to achieve the vision,” said Somkid.

At age 58, Somkid is leading a KLabs team whose average age is less than 30, a situation similar to many giant world-class tech firms.

“I am from the baby-boomer generation while most of my team members are millennials, who were born as digital natives. They can think and do multitasking quickly. We need to tune our mindset to minimise our gap between generations,” said Somkid.

He says trust and respect are the key. Executives and the team need to get in touch, share, listen to and respect each other as well as learn together. A generation gap should not be allowed to develop.

“It is like a family consisting of people from different generations but our relationships are good. We respect and listen to each other, learn together,” said Somkid.

He shares not only his vision, but also his mission and passion with his team to create an impact on society, not just create another new product or service. He has built their ambition to develop a new platform with new technology that would create benefit for all people.

For example, he says, KBTG has developed a platform, the new version of KPlus, with the aim of helping people, especially those who lack opportunities. He believes technology will help reduce the wealth gap in society.

Meaningful platform

Poor and underprivileged people will be worse off since the economic structure is not designed to encourage poor and underprivileged people access opportunities needed to make their lives better. People who have no chance will be poorer, while people who get chances will be richer, says Somkid.

“For example, when farmers or small people who need loans cannot get financial support, they turn to informal debt. There is no one to help them develop and improve their productivity to earn money. Technology can help in this area. The platform we are |developing can help this group of people to have more opportunity to first get capital to invest in farming or do their own business,” he said.

“Then, the platform, driven by AI and machine learning technology, can help them to easily reach the huge potential market without middlemen. This is the chance we can offer them. It is a new economic structure that we are dreaming of making happen.”

He wants to see his platform developed by KBTG help create new entrepreneurs. He says that is one of the aims of the new version of the KPlus platform.

Of course, he insists that cybersecurity and privacy are also things they are concerned about. Still, he does not see these as a threat to move forward in the digital life.

“We dream to make it an open platform to help people have a better life. And, we hope to expand it at the regional and global levels eventually. The platform itself can be still be sustainable, while helping the country’s economy, the people and small business to have tools to make better and new products.”

Striving for work-life balance

Somkid works hard with his team but he always pays importance to balancing his work and family life.

“I do not have a 9-to-5 working life. Sometimes I work 24 hours, sometimes I stay with my family for 24 hours. The thing I need to improve is spending time in my own life. I need to improve balancing of these three: my personal life, my family life and my work, since these three things are important for me and for society,” he said.

Somkid’s motto is to never give up when he is working on something and faced with a difficulty. He does not believe in the concept of “impossible”.

“We can make the impossible or beyond possibility to become possible. If we never give up, we are always fighting, some day we will win,” said Somkid.

Somkid says he is fearless because he has had close brushes with death many times. He once had to undergo a five-hour operation to change his heart valve. Hence, he said, he was not afraid of anything because, “in the worst-case scenario, one will just die”.

“My heart did not beat for five hours. I have also been in difficult situations where I wondered if I would live to see the morrow. So, I never worry about the future,” said Somkid.

He would like to see the good ideas from skilful talents develop meaningful products and services that would inspire others to join the KBTG ecosystem.

For the second half of 2018, Bitec is rolling out Asean and international events in line with the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (TCEB) vision to position Thailand as a premier MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) destination. Its target is 30.1 million MICE visitors in 2018, with an estimated economic value of Bt174 billion. Up to 1.19 million people are expected to come from foreign markets, generating revenue of Bt112 billion, and 29 million people from domestic markets, accounting for Bt62 billion in revenue.

TCEB has accredited Bitec with a certificate of Thailand MICE Venue Standard 2018.

In the first half of this year, Bitec and its new zone, Bhiraj Convention Centre has held many international events, such as the Taiwan Expo 2018, ProPak Asia 2018 and Asean Beauty 2018.

More tradeshows and international events are slated in for the coming months, such as World Sugar Expo and Conference 2018; Cosmex 2018 – an Asean exhibition on manufacturing technology, machinery, packaging for cosmetics, personal care and dietary supplements; and Metalex 2018 – an international machine tool and metalworking trade exhibition.

“This year, Bitec is focused on meeting consumer demand, with a state-of-the-art entertainment venue, meeting centres and event halls that are fit to accommodate world congress, international conventions, as well as lifestyle events and parties. At the same time, we are also putting a lot of focus on developing our personnel, as a move towards elevating Thailand to the forefront of the MICE industry in Southeast Asia,” Panittha Buri, Bitec’s managing director, said.

The exhibition centre has over 70,000 square metres of event space, separated into different zones.

It recently invested in improving its facilities and services to enhance its competitive edge in attracting players from the domestic and international market.

Bitec’s new facilities offer not only an upscale and spacious location, but also a full in-house specialist team that is on hand to ensure a successful event delivery for corporate clients and event organisers.

The centre is located on Bangna-Trat Road in Bangkok and is only 14 kilometres from Suvarnabhumi International Airport. There is also a skywalk linking Bitec to the BTS Bangna station.

Personal care products and dietary supplements firm Nu Skin Enterprises Limited in Thailand has announced a business partnership with LF Logistics Limited, a logistics provider, aiming to respond to a growth of online sales which are expected to generate over 60 per cent of total sales this year.

Vipada Tangpakorn, national manager of Nu Skin, said online orders have generated a nearly 50 per cent increase in total sales from the previous year.

“The consumers can have confidence in the quality of our products and services. Our fast, accurate and accredited standards will be maintained and enhanced with the use of modern technology which will help handle the products from the company all the way to consumers’ hands,” Vipada said.

LF Logistics is one of the largest warehouse management companies in Thailand. “Thailand is the first country in which Nu Skin has collaborated with a leading warehouse management company after entering the online market.

It is expected the collaboration will help enhance the efficiency of Nu Skin’s warehouse operations to handle online orders which will increase by 300 per cent.

L’Oreal again in top ten of Thomson Reuters index

For the third consecutive year, L’Oreal has been named one of the world’s top ten companies by Thomson Reuters, from over 7,000 international organisations, on a set of diversity and inclusion metrics. In 2018, Thomson Reuters ranked L’Oreal 8th place ex-aequo with Natura worldwide, among top players such as Accenture and Novartis, all evaluated on a wide range of criteria in four categories.

The scores of Thomson Reuters Index are based on 24 diversity & inclusion measures that roll up into four key pillars: diversity, inclusion, people development and news controversies. Only companies with scores on all these pillars have been given a global score.

“L’Oreal has an ongoing and enduring commitment to diversity and inclusion. This new recognition rewards and fosters our efforts”, said Jean-Claude Le Grand, executive vice-president/human relations at L’Oreal. “We are convinced that diversity and inclusion is a powerful performance lever and a unique source of innovation”.

The Thomson Reuters Index evaluates diversity as a measure of gender and cultural diversity across management and boards, and diversity processes and objectives. Widely acknowledged as a longtime global leader in gender equality, L’Oreal promotes parity and equal pay throughout the company.

“We expect business growth of up to 200 per cent over the next five years, included a recorded total backlog of projects on hand worth Bt6 billion,” said the company’s managing director, Marut Siriko. “[We see] total revenues of about Bt2 billion a year as we start to expand our business by learning and exchanging knowledge about projects and solutions management with foreign firm,” he told The Nation in an interview at his booth at InnoTrans 2018 in Berlin on Wednesday.

AMR Asia Co Ltd is one of Two Thai firms demonstrating their products and service at InnoTrans 2018 among a total 3,062 firms from 61 countries participating in the German transportation technology fair during September 18-21.

AMR Asia is showing off its |management solutions and its dynamic route map display system or DRMS.

“We joined this event for the first time in 2016, and again this year, because we want to demonstrate our own DRMS technology,” Marut said. “We also have experience providing project management, software and solutions for rail systems.”

After the company exhibited its business in InnoTrans 2016, they landed a contract to provide software to an India firm last year, he added. This year, several firms from the Middle East have shown an interest in learning about the company’s business.

“When we signed up for InnoTrans 2016, attracting new foreign orders was one of major reasons. We want to show that Thai firms have the ability to do business on the rail system, and to show our experience providing business solutions for BRT in Thailand and also that we got the contract to design the system for the Gold Line BTS route,” he said.

Marut and his initial team of 40 staff moved in the year 2000 from telecom giant DTAC and established AMR Asia Co Ltd with registered capital of Bt50 million to offer a myriad of solutions to enterprises seeking IT related products and services.

The company researched and developed its own software and technology to provide a management system for railways. “We started from 40 staff, but now have 360 people, most of them engineers and software designers,” he said.

Specially equipped with emergency flotation gear, fast roping, cargo sling, searchlight and electro-optical systems, these four new multirole H225M helicopters will join RTAF’s existing fleet of six H225Ms for combat search and rescue missions, search and rescue flights and troop transport operations. The air force will also be receiving two H225Ms from its earlier order, by end of this year.

This latest contract will also cover on-site technical support and continuing airworthiness management organisation services, supported by Airbus’ Thailand team.

Last year, DHL announced that it would invest Bt2.7 billion by 2020 into its end-to-end operations in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar in an effort to continue strengthening its growing regional footprint.

Innovations include a ring scanner, a lightweight Bluetooth-enabled wearable scanner which allows quick barcode scanning while letting staff keep both hands free and vision picking, which brings augmented reality into warehouse operations using smart glasses that enable a portable, high-quality viewing experience.

There are also collaborative robots which work safely alongside people to support with complex and repetitive tasks.

THAI Smile Airways is working on a plan to improve in-flight service and adjust to perfection with more attention to detail, according to its press statement.

As part of this, the carrier is introducing a wholly new range of hot snack for breakfast on domestic flights. It includes up to 24 international recipes, plus a selection of 22 special recipes on Bangkok–Narathiwat and Chiang Mai–Phuket flights.

More than 22 new exclusive inflight meals will also be served on short-haul international flights. The offer will be onboard from November 2018.

Additionally, THAI Smile is bringing a revolutionary change to premium in-flight service with the introduction of authentic recipes meticulously created by culinary gurus, in conjunction with the recent shift to new paper packaging in an attempt to reduce plastic use.

Starting from September 16 this year, on flights to India all meal boxes can be transformed into space-saving trays, illustrating THAI Smile’s corporate focus on providing superior in-flight experience, going beyond expectations and ensuring optimum satisfaction, the statement revealed.

“The change in our inflight service is to welcome the seventh year of our smile-filled operation and our tireless effort to enhance airline passenger’s inflight experience,” said Nednapang Teeravas, chief customer services officer of THAI Smile Airways.

“Hot snacks for breakfast are all internationalized with more variety. These will be available on flights departing before 9.30 am, starting November this year.

The newly created hot snacks for Smile Class (economy class) passengers on domestic flights come with new packaging design, representing fun and fusion while intentionally maintaining authentic elements of local dishes.

The 24 new hot snacks vary from Japanese cuisine such as Yaki-Imo (baked Japanese sweet potatoes), Tamagoyaki with cheese or sweet eggs, Okonomiyaki and Kushikatsu, to popular Korean dishes like Kimchi Fried Rice, western food like Spaghetti with Mushroom Cream Sauce and Thai food including Fried Vermicelli with Chayote. A selection of Chinese dishes is also available. To meet the culinary needs of Muslim passengers, all food ingredients are halal. Menu items are rotated throughout the year to provide passengers with variety and to coincide with seasonal freshness.

To make passenger experience more special, new 22 recipes have been created for those flying on Bangkok–Narathiwat and Chiang Mai–Phuket flights. These include, for instance, Spaghetti with Spicy Chicken and Rice Topped with Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil (Kao Pad Ka Prao Kai), of which the taste has been adjusted to be more pleasant and appealing to Thai passengers. Sandwiches are still served on flights departing after 9.30 am, but these will become colourful with the use of high-quality bread flour made from natural ingredients. It reflects the airline’s commitment to offering healthy inflight meals with the fusion of taste and style.

All exclusive recipes for 11 festivals will continue to be available onboard with greater effort to work closely with the airline’s long-standing partners to make its in-flight meals more attractive and delicious, giving passengers something beyond their expectations of what inflight service could look like.

On short-haul international flights to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Luang Prabang and Yangon, passengers will enjoy a whole new range of 22 inflight menu items, from western food like Spaghetti with Chicken and Tomato-Sweet Basil Source and Salmon Pie, to Thai dishes like Chicken Pad Thai, which are created especially to make their journey more memorable.

“Creating the latest inflight menu items is not an easy task. We worked closely with outsource suppliers and air caterers specializing in food research and recipe development to ensure high standards. The manufacturing and cooking process also needs to be qualified to achieve quality and palatability so that passengers feel like they are almost eating meals at some good restaurants on the ground level,” said the Chief Customer Services Officer.

Moreover, THAI Smile is writing a new chapter for in-flight service with the latest development and value added to hot snacks on flights to India.

Apart from selecting premium food ingredients, inflight communication with passengers rides on the theme, Original India, with the help of Indian food specialists creating a variety of Vegetarian Jain Meal (VJML) items that are truly palatable to Indian passengers.

Serving size is bigger and there are more options for Thai curry recipes such as Chicken Green Curry and Chicken Paneang along with a wide selection of Indian-style desserts.

In addition to the improvement in inflight culinary experience, THAI Smile is actively responding to the “go green” initiative, to which airlines around the world are increasingly giving importance. As part of this, it has changed inflight food service tradition by shifting to paper packaging as much as possible instead of using conventional plastic items.

One highlighted feature of the new packaging is that it comes available in a box shape when being loaded onto aircraft, and then can be transformed into a food tray before being served to passengers. Food warming onboard can be safer as the airline has substituted eco-friendly paper for aluminium foil. Plastic waste bags are now removed from all its flights and replaced with a biodegradable alternative.

“This major change took effect on 16 September, starting with flights to India. We expect Indian passengers will be impressed with our in-flight menu and satisfied with the touch of India they are familiar with. The change in packaging brings not only style and excitement but also the commitment of THAI Smile to tangible reduction of plastic use. This also enables effective space saving that leads to greater efficiency of aircraft space management, and therefore we are able to make the most of space available for more inflight offers. Moreover, advanced technology for food and packaging enables us to reduce costs while maintaining high quality of inflight service we deliver to customers fleet-wide. We plan to use case studies on our flights to India as a guideline for further service enhancement in other international routes.”

“With our passion to maintain service excellence and commitment to providing customers with the best possible service at every touch point, we are trying tirelessly to create superior travel experience for passengers on all THAI Smile flights. The recent change demonstrates the unique brand personality of THAI Smile as a full-service airline giving attention to every detail with added value and differentiation that put a smile on every passenger’s face and flight. We will continue to develop and improve both tangible elements like food and intangible parts, including the service attitude and passion of our cabin crews. We expect to find ways to meet and exceed passenger expectations,” said Nednapang.

Shopee for Men is a dedicated in-app portal offering male shoppers in Thailand one-stop access to more than 20,000 products from over 300 retailers including top brands like ASUS, Converse, and Bosch, according to its press release.

Shopee will celebrate the launch with a series of exclusive themed days from September 18 to 23, promising up to 90 per cent off popular product categories including Electronics, Fashion, and Lifestyle. To deliver unmatched savings to male users, Shopee will run Super Men’s Day on the 23rd of every month, packed with countless deals and flash sales on men’s favourite products.

Agatha Soh, Head of Marketing, Shopee Thailand, said, “Men in Thailand are shopping online more often. A Nielsen study1 on online shopping discovered that on average, male online shoppers in Thailand shop more often and spend about 15% more on online purchases

than females. The trend is mirrored on Shopee, especially for Motor, Sports & Outdoor, and Men’s Apparel products. Hence, we are thrilled to launch Shopee For Men to serve our community

of male shoppers and take another step in becoming the one-stop online shopping platform for

all Thais.”

Shopee For Men is a comprehensive one-stop portal built to meet the needs of all male shoppers in Thailand, with key benefits such as:

Ease of purchase: Male shoppers can enjoy an unprecedented shopping experience as Shopee For Men offers a curated selection of product categories and items for males.

In addition, the collection can be easily accessed via the Shopee For Men icon on the Shopee home page.

Value for money: Quality products aside, Shopee For Men will feature regular attractive promotions including flash sales for users to save even more on items they are passionate about.

Broad assortment: Shopee has teamed up with leading brands such as Unilever, Nivea for Men, Warrix, Gatsby, G-Shock, Electrolux, American Tourister, and ASUS to launch Shopee For Men. With a huge variety of products across various categories, Shopee For Men provides a comprehensive assortment designed to meet all male users’ needs.

Men hunting for new electronics can watch out for devices like the brand-new ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1, which packs a crisp 1080p 6-inch screen perfect for gaming and video. Gaming enthusiasts can shop from a variety of gaming gear and peripherals, including the highly popular PlayStation 4. Users looking to up their fashion and accessories game can also look out for stylish watches from G-Shock going at up to 50% off.

To bring even more value to male users, Shopee will also provide zero-interest instalments on selected Electronics, Sports, and Lifestyle items on Shopee For Men so male users can score their most wanted products at affordable prices.

“As a dedicated and extensive portal designed to meet the evolving needs of male shoppers, Shopee For Men continues our mission to provide value-added services that enhance users’ shopping experience. Through Shopee For Men, we aim to increase our community of male users and take another stride to become the number one online shopping destination in Thailand,” closed Soh.

Download the Shopee app for free on the App Store or Google Store.

For more information about Shopee For Men, please visit https://shopee.co.th/shopee-for-men-sale

With the name Gardenia, the new Airbus A321 landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 4pm on Tuesday.

The sleek, 230-seat aeroplane has been configured by Vietjet Group to provide passengers with increased comfort, and more transportation opportunities. Fitted with comfortable leather-covered seats and high-quality carpeting, the new member of the Thai Vietjet family boasts more space for passengers flying in the front section seats dedicated to SkyBoss, the airline’s premium service.

The new aircraft is also outfitted with Sharklet wingtips to help decrease its emissions and the company’s carbon footprint.

“Thai Vietjet is proud to offer our passengers highly modern, very safe flight experiences. The delivery of the new A321 marks another milestone for our business expansion, and also new job opportunities for pilots, aircrew and others,” said Captain Itsarawut Klaysutti, Director of Flight Operation – Thai Vietjet, who was on the special delivery flight.

The new aeroplane will soon start flying domestic routes in Thailand from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, as well as international routes.

Thai Vietjet currently serves a domestic network of flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Krabi, as well as flights between Phuket and Chiang Rai. Internationally, passengers can also fly from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong and Dalat in Vietnam, as well as from Chiang Mai and Phuket to Ho Chi Minh City.

Starting on October 15, the airline will also open new routes directly connecting Bangkok with Danang with daily frequency, and Bangkok with Taichung, Taiwan, from November 3.