“The Internet of things is and will remain the key driver for our business,” he added,

The company expects the sector’s sales to grow to 5.5 billion euros (Bt 204 billion) in 2018. That amounts to an increase of 2 per cent, or 6 per cent when adjusted for exchange-rate effects. He added that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key to further advances on the internet of things as well as future growth: “With the help of AI, web-enabled products will become intelligent assistants.”

Where energy and building technology are concerned, connectivity and AI have the potential to boost security, efficiency, and convenience. To give one example: The Building Technologies division offers cameras that use smart image analysis to pinpoint fires. With a direct line of sight on potentially dangerous situations, these cameras spot flames and smoke in seconds – which is even faster than conventional smoke detectors. Smoke does not first need to reach the ceiling before the alarm is raised – and those few extra seconds can help limit the damage and perhaps even save lives.

“Everyone is talking about AI. Bosch is putting it to use,” Hartung said. “In ten years, every Bosch electronic product will either utilise AI itself or will have been developed and manufactured with its help.” The company plans to invest accordingly, with around 300 million euros alone going to expand the Bosch Centre for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI) by 2021. The BCAI currently employs 170 experts globally, and looking ahead, this is expected to rise to 400. They are currently working on some 80 development projects – from automated driving to applications in medicine and manufacturing. Many of these are being carried out in collaboration with academic partners, including the universities of Tubingen, Stuttgart, and Amsterdam.

Bosch is also focusing on platforms and partnerships in its energy and building technology activities. “There are many devices and services from different manufacturers out there in the connected world,” explained Hartung. “We have to get these devices and services to interface. They have to understand one another and be interoperable in order to benefit people.” For this reason, the company set up Security and Safety Things GmbH (SAST) as a wholly owned Bosch subsidiary a few weeks ago. This startup is working on the world’s first open IoT platform for security camera apps. SAST wants to deliver something unprecedented – an operating system that programs and controls apps for different types of security cameras. Updating cameras made by different manufacturers will require just one version rather than countless software variants. “SAST is striving to create nothing less than a global marketplace for security camera applications with this open, standardised operating system,” Hartung said.

Change in management

After five years as head of the Energy and Building Technology business sector, Hartung will hand over the reins to Christian Fischer on January 1, 2019. Before joining the Bosch board of management on October 1, 2018, Fischer was a senior partner at the management consultancy Roland Berger. He holds a doctorate in economics. “Bosch began exploring the opportunities offered by the internet of things ten years ago, which has given it a technological head start,” said Fischer at the press conference. “Bosch is extremely well positioned to take on the challenges of digital transformation. I’m looking forward to being a part of that.”

Osotspa aims to help boost economic growth by teaming up with Thongfah (Blue Flag) Pracharat projects to offer consumers a wide array of products at discounted prices.

Osotspa Public Co Ltd, or OSP, has reinforced its commitment to support the government’s efforts to drive growth by teaming up with the Ministry of Commerce to offer Thais selected, high-quality goods through several initiatives.

The first initiative is the Thongfah “Blue Flag” Pracharat scheme, which sells low-price products to low-income earners using pre-loaded welfare cards. The second is the “New Year Grand Sale” project, present from the government to the Thai people. Finally, the Thongfah (Blue Flag) Fair, is an activity by the Thai government to help reduce the cost of living for low-income earners and connect the grassroots economy to the national economy by driving the local economies to boost domestic economic growth.

Wannipa Bhakdibutr, the Osotspa president, said, “As Osotspa is Thailand’s leading consumer products producer and distributor, we are showing our continued support for the policies and programmes that the government is implementing.”

The three project would, he said, “all in all, [give] people the opportunity to buy a wide range of products at prices lower than normal so that they can afford more of the products they need within a smaller budget.

This will help to improve cash flow for the country’s economy and promote economic growth.”

Wannipa said the company is pleased to provide a wide range of products at discounted prices. The New Year Grand Sale project will run until January 9, 2019 and would see prices cut by up to 50 per cent.

Mixt Chatuchak mall to go omni-channel

Mixt Chatuchak has signed an MoU with the Internet Service Provider AIS for a future intelligent telecommunication network to enhance SMEs for omni-channel and cashless payment.

Siam Piriya Development Co Ltd and Advanced Wireless Network Co Ltd, a subsidiary of AIS, signed an MoU to co-develop an intelligent telecommunication network and services in Mixt Chatuchak – a new shopping centre in the renowned Chatuchak Weekend Market. The AIS Fibre will boost the Internet broadband speed maximum to 650 Mbps.

The new mobile network services and technology will help to provide a seamless omni-channel experience for Mixt Chatuchak shoppers and the 700 SME merchants in the shopping centre, along with supporting a cashless payment experience, according to a press release.

Jack Miporn Chaiyupatumpa, executive director of Siam Piriya Development Co Ltd, disclosed that the company had recently signed the MoU with AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network Co Ltd, to co-develop the telecom services and network in Mixt Chatuchak.

The aim is for the centre’s SMEs and retail stores to seamless-support an omni-channel experience for local and foreign shoppers. It would promote cashless transactions to align with current consumer behaviour and digital trends, he said.

“A key opportunity for retail businesses in the digital era is providing a unique shopping experience and personalisation to meet customers’ demands,” said Jack. “In addition, taking an omni-channel approach that blends shopping in physical stores with the online world offers another important opportunity for SMEs and retail businesses.”

The new services will link more than 700 SMEs in Mixt Chatuchak mall to both local and foreign shoppers through WiFi and mobile phone services as well as future technologies, he said.

Patchara Samalapa, KBank President, and Peerapong Jaroon-Ek, Chief Executive Officer of Origin Property Plc, a property developer, signed a joint venture agreement to support Origin Property Group’s Digital Butler Co Ltd in developing the new app.

The new app will connect condominium residents with condominium juristic management via an online channel for every essential service, including repair notification, home maintenance, housekeeping, laundry and others. The app will also include support for online payment service and respond to the new lifestyle in the digital era.

And it was the main factor in The Nation’s Business team picking Peerapong Jaroon-Ek, chief executive officer of Origin Property Plc as our Businessman of the Year.

Peerapong, now 42, has succeeded in driving yearly double-digit growth from 2009 until now, as the company adopted digital technology and artificial intelligence to design its residential projects. He drew on the tech to meet customers’ demand for speeded up construction processes. And the company developed its after-sales services, creating a range of products that differentiate the company in the real-estate sector.

And it has paid off handsomely as the company under Peerapong’s leadership boosted total revenue to Bt10 billion this year.

Peerapong established Origin Property Plc in the year 2009 drawing on savings of Bt1 million to develop its first condominium project worth Bt198 million on Sukhumvit 109, and selling out within five months.

“At that time, I believed that although the property sector faced high competition, it had room for me to do business. I decided to use digital and technology to change the business model, thinking it would change the industries red ocean to a blue ocean for me,” Peerapong said in a recent interview with The Nation.

Under his business model, Peerapong established Primo Service Solution Co Ltd, as a business arm to invest in startups. Primo would also develop digital technology to transform its business model from that of a property developer of residential projects to instead serve with homebuyers as a “Smart Service Living Solution” property firm.

The key to being a smart service living solution firm is to research and develop a technology platform to serve the demands of homebuyers who not only want to buy residential property, but also need ever-more lifestyle services.

Primo Service Solution Co Ltd was initially set up to collaborate with startups in the development of a “digital butler” – a living platform providing a selection of services to the residents of the company’s projects.

The unit also serves as an office for property management, housekeeping, brokerage and rental services, he said.

He added that the digital butler concept is in line with the Smart Service Living Solution in that the service meets all demands of customers demand and not only the building services, with the butler also providing a platform for shopping, entertainment and other services.

“We also use artificial intelligence for design and to speed up our construction process, so we were able to speed up our income from strong growth, even though the property sector as faced high competition from several property market leader firms from 2009 till now,” Peerapong said.

Digital was Peerapong’s tool to drive its business growth and transform its business model from property developer to living solutions firm.

“In my view digital helped us to learn who our customers are through [analysing] big data, and also helped us to use technology to support our construction process and develop new service to serve our customers’ demand. This was the way to boost the strong growth of our business from a small property firm nine years ago to now be in the top 10 of listed property firms in the market,” he said.

Origin Property Plc saw aggressive growth after investing Bt4 billion in 2017 to take a major stake in Proud Residences Co Ltd, the developer of luxury condominium The Park Sukhumvit 24.

Then, the company set up a joint venture firm with Japanese based Nomura Real Estate last year and announced a business plan to develop condominiums worth up to Bt18 billion in Bangkok from 2018 through 2020.

It also set up a new company, One Origin Co Ltd, to develop and manage recurring income businesses such as hotels, offices, and retail, with an investment value over than Bt10 billion from 2018 through 2020.

With an aggressive investment starting this year to 2023, the company expects its total revenue will achieve Bt32 billion in 2023 – up 100 per cent from its estimated total revenue of Bt16 billion for this year’s end.

“We expect Bt5 billion of total revenue from recurring incomes in the year 2022, as we also plan to apply for the digital firm, Primo Service Solution Co Ltd, to be a listed company in the Market for Alternative Investment in the next three years from now. This will sustain our business growth for the long term and balance our business model to be a smart service living solution firm,” he said.

Origin Property Plc has announced a total revenue of Bt10.69 billion and net profit to Bt2.39 billion for the first nine months of this year, up 166 per cent and 148 per cent from the same period of last year.