Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational technology company co-founded by businessman Jack Ma, expects to get a bigger share of cloud computing and storage services market in the Philippines following the activation of its data center in Manila in October 2021.
Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, already supports e-commerce and financial transactions in the country. Among its customers are Lazada Philippines, GCash, Kumu and ABS-CBN.
Kumu, in particular, leveraged Alibaba Cloud Live Streaming solutions to develop its short video app. Alibaba Cloud also supports CIBI Information Inc., one of the Philippines’ leading credit reporting agencies, to digitalize its anti-fraud business and enables Binangonan Rural Bank to launch an e-Money digital app called “E-pon”.
“We have been witnessing fast business growth thanks to increasing demand for cloud-based digitalization from Philippine businesses,” says Allen Guo, country manager for the Philippines at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in a news briefing at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.
“Alibaba Cloud aims to be a trusted cloud service provider and partner in the Philippines. We have established a local team and business coverage in the Philippines and will continue to grow and strengthen our digital ecosystem in the Philippines,” he says.
Alibaba Cloud’s new data center in Manila expanded its footprint in Asia-Pacific where it is now the leading infrastructure-as-a-service provider. It is also one of three biggest cloud service providers in the world, according to market research firm Gartner.
The data center empowers local businesses in financial technology, e-commerce, education and media to adopt and implement cloud technologies. Cloud computing technology allows businesses to use digital resources stored in the virtual space, enabling them to save on cost without building or investing in their own computer storage networks.
“We can see in the Philippines that cloud adoption continues to grow, and there is still a big potential demand from Filipino enterprises. In order to support the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud is definitely committed to continuing to invest in infrastructure, services and talent,” says Guo, who led Alibaba Cloud in the Philippines in the past four years.
Alibaba Cloud is also expanding its services from cloud computing, storage and network services to security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and Internet of things services.
It now has more than 200 customers in the Philippines, including international and local companies, according to Guo. The target, he says, is to support 5,000 enterprises, train 50,000 talents and certify 10,000 individuals by 2023. “We are committed to continue investing in the Philippine market,” he says.
“We can see in the Philippine market that the cloud adoption and also the cloud services keep on growing. We see a big potential in the Philippine market,” he says.
The company, in an international summit in Thailand in September, committed $1 billion in investment to boost its ecosystem capabilities and support its partners’ technology innovation and market expansion in the region—a commitment that will likely benefit the Philippine market.
Guo says its eco-friendly data centers in the region, including the one in the Philippines, will run entirely on clean energy by 2030, starting with upgrades to five of its hyper-scale data centers in China.
Security compliance
Guo says Alibaba Cloud adheres to international information security standards and best practices when it comes to security compliance.
The company provides highly scalable, robust and secure infrastructure and AI-powered applications to businesses from retail to finance and logistics. Alibaba Cloud is also a cloud services partner of the International Olympic Committee.
It has launched over 200 products over the past 10 years, including those related to core cloud offerings, security, data intelligence and AI applications.
E-commerce support
Guo says Alibaba Cloud also supported the world’s largest retail event—the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival which concluded on Nov. 11.
Alibaba Cloud’s cloud-native database products significantly expanded the capacity of consumers’ shopping carts from 120 items to 300. The ApsaraDB for Redis Enhanced Edition (Tair), a cloud-based in-memory database service for enterprises, supports new functions such as product grouping and sorting, enabling consumers to organize their shopping cart according to their own preferences.
They could also make use of the ‘select’ function to enjoy cross-merchant discounts, to pre-order goods and use vouchers for a more rewarding shopping experience.
“This year’s 11.11 pushes the new boundaries for Alibaba Cloud, from innovations in green technology to continuing to trailblaze in cloud computing. We know how significant 11.11 is in e-commerce and one of our yearly benchmarks is to make the festival as efficient and green as imaginable. We are looking to introduce more proven technologies that have successfully support this year’s 11.11 to Philippine businesses,” says Guo.