Accenture, a global professional service provider, has launched its new Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) in Bangkok to accelerate digitalisation among businesses, with the digital economy expected to account for 35% of Thailand's GDP by 2025.
"This new IOC is the latest centre among 50 IOCs globally, and it is a major milestone for us in Southeast Asia and Thailand," Divyesh Vithlani, senior managing director and Southeast Asia market unit lead at Accenture, said during the opening ceremony of the facility, located in the Sathorn Prime building in Bangkok's Sathon district.
The investment is part of the company's global multi-billion-dollar drive for R&D and innovation building.
The centre aims to help clients digitise faster and become data-led with real-time insights, enable them to scale innovation, reduce the transaction of work by increasing automation, and support customer value proposition.
The goal is to help businesses accelerate their capabilities in areas such as sustainability, circular supply chain, metaverse, and marketing and sales operations.
Patama Chantaruck, country managing director of Accenture Thailand, said Thai IT spending is expected to increase by 10% in 2022.
Accenture said the IOC supports the reinvention of enterprises by reducing costs and increasing productivity under the current economic circumstances while also building local talent in tech realms, including the metaverse, automation, e-commerce, and digital strategies.
The company can help businesses embrace the metaverse to level up their customer engagement and support for employee training.
"The IOC will support diversity and inclusiveness, including people with disabilities. We want to help businesses increase resilience, reduce costs, and grow the bottom line," said Ms Patama.
Ramachandran Ariyur, managing director and delivery and client experience lead for Accenture Southeast Asia, said businesses need to urgently gear up for value proposition by adopting advanced technologies, such as data analytics and processing, with skilled people.
The IOC will help businesses deliver strategic managed service and compress information, while also helping them to improve their efficiency by 10-40%, he said.
"Utilities, health, finance and security are future specific targets, as well as biotech and space tech," he said.
Attending the opening ceremony, Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the investment in the IOC indicates that Thailand is on the radar of foreign tech investors.
The government will support tax privileges for a skilled workforce, and expects Accenture to employ 20,000 skilled employees in the country over the next three years, Mr Arkhom said.
Sanan Angubolkul, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said his organisation stands ready to work with Accenture in Thailand's digital trade platform development.
