KUALA LUMPUR, 19 September 2023: Avanade, one of Microsoft Corporation's leading solutions providers, has announced that its first generative artificial intelligence (AI) lab for Southeast Asia is now located within the Avanade Malaysia office in Kuala Lumpur.
The lab marks another milestone in Avanade's commitment to foster innovation, enable industry transformation and grow local talent in the region, the company said in a statement.
The lab, which also acts as a centre of excellence, will help organisations accelerate their AI readiness through the opportunity to experiment and co-create generative AI solutions responsibly and build up their capabilities to extract business value from their data.
By demonstrating how the responsible and innovative use of generative AI can enable employees in different functions to achieve higher productivity, the Avanade statement noted that it also aims to help organisations adopt an AI-first mindset.
According to Avanade's Trendlines research, 85 per cent of organisations globally expect AI to increase revenue growth by 2025.
Almost nine in 10 respondents also indicated that they would broaden their use and sharing of first-party data with other companies to drive innovation and growth.
By providing immersive workshops and demonstrations, the lab intends to empower clients with tangible experiences that showcase the vast potential of generative AI-driven solutions.
The 'chatting with your data' functionality allows for seamless engagement with data, obviating the need for complex dashboards and fostering widespread data-driven decision-making across organisations.
Moreover, clients can garner instantaneous insights from real-time voice analytics, which capture crucial moments in customer interactions using tools like sentiment analysis.
The lab also showcases the potential of AI in creative fields with its image generation demo, wherein clients can create visuals simply using text inputs, paving the way for a fusion of technology and creativity in business operations.
Avanade managing director (Southeast Asia) Bhavya Kapoor said that with AI reshaping industries and redefining the relationship between people and technology, the lab serves as the ideal sandbox for clients to reimagine products and services for their customers and what the future of work looks like for their employees.
"This investment reinforces our commitment to unleash the potential of Malaysia and the Southeast Asia region by helping organisations to uncover the transformative capabilities of AI and data, and therefore positioning them at the forefront of the AI revolution," he said.
As a pioneer in AI innovation, Avanade has collaborated closely with Microsoft.
This deep, long-term relationship has enabled Avanade to develop AI-powered solutions on the Microsoft cloud to drive global industry and functional transformation.
Microsoft Malaysia managing director K. Raman said the emergence of generative AI enables organisations to be more creative, productive, and efficient.
"It functions as a catalyst that drives meaningful innovation.
"The establishment of Avanade's Generative AI Lab in Malaysia marks a crucial step in bringing to life the opportunities of this cutting-edge technology locally and across the region, and we are glad to partner with Avanade in advancing the adoption of AI for more people and organisations, in Malaysia and beyond," he said.
Avanade's Generative AI Lab is set to bring together best practices and innovative solutions under one roof to drive operational excellence and power a new era of innovation in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
