Conglomerate to employ data science to advance

CEBU, Philippines — Capitalizing fully the power of sophisticated technology in doing business under the new normal, the Aboitiz Group launched a new unit called Aboitiz Data Innovation (ADI).

The Cebu-grown listed conglomerate is poised to make use of data science in advancing its businesses moving forward, said Sabine Aboitiz, president and chief executive officer of Aboitiz Group during the virtual launch of ADI held April 29, 2021.

“We are taking the substantial stride in fully integrating [data science and artificial intelligence] into our operational capacity to develop and support business models and facilitate decision making,” Aboitiz said.

This move in creating a dedicated unit Aboitiz is seen to open up newer and bigger opportunities to increase productivity, improve revenue streams and expand business value for the group.

Aboitiz Group is tapping the expertise of Singaporean talents to help technology transfer in the fields of data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Introducing data science and other forms of sophisticated technology to each if its business, is the Group’s aggressive stance to pivot adjusting to the new way of doing business post-pandemic.

This time, Aboitiz said is the sensitive time for the Group’s team members to upskill and learn the needed skill requirement under the technology-driven environment.

The new Aboitiz Group unit, headed by Dr. David Hardoon, is seen to provide direct and indirect impact to the economy, in general.

During the briefing, Hardoon cited a report by Forbes 2019, which highlighted that AI is projected to bring US$15.7 trillion to the world economy in the next 10 years.

“In this era, it’s either you digitize or perish,” Hardoon said explaining further this estimate is expected to balloon further with how the pandemic has disrupted the global economy.

In 2018 alone, AI contributed a whooping $2 trillion to the global gross domestic product.

ADI is placed under Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) International. It will play a dual role in the group’s operation “as a service provider and governance center.”

Significantly, ADI’s major responsibility is to transform data into business outcome, exploit information to enable decision making, reinvest business models and develop high value solutions to create new processes, products and services.