Microsoft AI changes the game for Thai businesses, empowers Thai professionals with intelligent, trustworthy technology

  • Microsoft partner Sertis presents insights on the impact of AI on food and energy industries through collaborations with CPF and PTT ExpresSo
  • Only 0.13% of Thais are IT professionals, but Microsoft is looking to drive the other 99% to develop tech solutions for their own use with the Power Platform

A gallery of additional photos from the event is available here.

Bangkok, 12 November 2019 – Microsoft is encouraging Thai businesses to harness the power of AI to tackle challenges and develop new capabilities in four key dimensions across the organization. The company shared a number of success stories and experiences from partners and customers in Thailand during the Microsoft Envision Summit 2019 seminar – the biggest event of the calendar year by Microsoft Thailand – with more than 2,000 professionals and members of the press in attendance.

Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited, said, “The Thai business sector has always shown an interest in embracing cutting-edge technologies. Over the past year, we have also seen organizations move towards a more considered approach in choosing the right technologies to benefit the business. AI in particular has been adopted to address a wide variety of challenges under strategic directions that enable better integration of technology into the human workflow and consumer behavior. Above all, the business impact is the key factor to consider – not the level of technological advancement at hand.”

4 key dimensions behind game-changing AI innovations for business

Microsoft has categorized the impact of AI adoption on business into four key dimensions:

  • Engage – Reaching out to your target audience, both within the organization and beyond
  • Innovate – Unlock new business possibilities
  • Work – Change how we work and achieve superior productivity
  • Solve – Overcome challenges and improve society

“In enabling engagement, technology does not only provide ways to analyze marketing data but also enhances communication and collaboration on every level,” added Dhanawat. “Microsoft Teams, for instance, is the collaboration hub for the digital age with new AI features constantly being introduced. One of the latest additions is the Content Camera, which makes video conferences even more convenient and natural thanks to the AI’s ability to read drawings and writings on a whiteboard and project everything as an on-screen overlay. This allows the presenters to move freely without any concern for the whiteboard’s visibility on the camera. Live Captions, meanwhile, will launch later this year to offer live subtitles during conference calls – initially for English speakers.”

Partners and customers reaffirm AI impact on effective business innovations

On this occasion, Microsoft invited partner Sertis, a leading technology and digital solution expert specializing in AI and data science, to share their experiences in bringing the Microsoft AI platform to customers in response to innovation and working needs across the food and energy industries.

Thuchakorn Vachiramon, Chief Executive Officer of Sertis, said, “Sertis’ mission is to develop truly intelligent technologies that transforms industries in line with the best interests of our customers. Microsoft is a major partner for us, and their world-class platforms for AI, cloud, and data are more than capable of supporting further development and addressing business needs. Our successes in developing AI solutions for CPF and PTT ExpresSo underline the technology’s ability to fulfill different business requirements in each industry, enhance business performance, and open up new opportunities for the future.”

Rewat Hathaisattayapong, Chief Operating Officer – Livestock Feed Business for CPF, said of the CPF-Sertis collaboration on Microsoft’s platform: “CPF worked with Sertis to initiate and develop the CPF AI FarmLab Powered by Sertis project to introduce AI and Computer Vision innovations into farm management systems. Our first implementation focuses on disease prevention for livestock and employee monitoring within a farm’s premises. By analyzing footage from CCTV cameras, the system is able to automatically determine if an employee has entered a forbidden area, alert related personnel, and record statistics for such occurrences. This gives the management more information to consider in farm management, effectively reducing the risk of animals coming into contact with diseases from the outside world by improving the farm’s ability to respond to these events.”

Tun Liangpaiboon, Venture Lead for PTT ExpresSo – PTT’s technological development unit focused on driving change for people and society – said: “The Smart Energy Platform by ExpresSo x Sertis project began with our determination to support the use of alternative energy in an efficient way. We brought together blockchain, AI and solar rooftop power systems to provide instant, precise visibility of power production and consumption in each building within the system. We can also analyze energy usage patterns to predict future demand, while the blockchain-based platform paves the way for the trading of surplus power generated by the solar rooftop setup to other buildings.”

AI and Thai innovators: from embracing machine intelligence to creating genuine wisdom

In addition to these successes at large organizations, Microsoft’s AI and cloud platforms have helped realize the ambitions of many startups and independent developers. Their successes have contributed significantly to the solving of challenges in society at all levels.

Developed by a Thai startup, the PharmaSafe app functions as a personal medical assistant for patients and caretakers. With Microsoft AI, the app is able to determine the type and properties of each medication through photos, minimizing the risk of incorrect medication usage in the process. Easy Rice, meanwhile, developed an AI-infused machine that grades the quality of rice grains using its camera setup. The machine can grade as many as 1,200 grains in 10 minutes – a task that would otherwise require hours of painstaking human effort. Tiny Epic Brains has taken QR codes to a new level with Video QR – a deep learning technology that embeds invisible QR codes into video content to ensure that content is fully visible to the viewer without the obstruction of standard QR code visuals, yet easily scannable as usual with a smartphone camera.

“These success stories and the increasing use of AI in Thailand reflect the importance of digital skills – a matter that still requires further development in our country. Today, only 0.13% of Thais are IT professionals. Microsoft is still committed to the development of digital skills at all levels – from coding basics for young children to the Power Platform, which enables business professionals to create their own apps and tools at work without requiring coding expertise. Additionally, we recently entered into a partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHSRI) and 25 universities nationwide to improve technical education and elevate the standards of Thai scientific research. With technology and people in full alignment, we are confident that the other 99% of Thais can develop into ‘Citizen Developers’ and help drive Thailand forward from a nation that uses AI to a creator of true wisdom,” Dhanawat concluded.

For the latest movements and updates from Microsoft in Thailand, visit https://news.microsoft.com/th-th or contact us at https://aka.ms/ContactMSFTTH.