Doctor Jimmy launches new firm to cash in on big data

After turning Jimmy Software, established in 1997, into a success story at home and overseas, leading Thai developer Panutat ‘Doctor Jimmy’ Tejasen is now making another big move with the launch of his newest firm, Big Data Thailand, as an operator providing location-based and big-data solutions for business.

He sees the company, recently set up to cash in on the era of big data, as a combination of advertising business and operator business. 

Big Data Thailand is a joint venture between Click Connect – a software developer jointly set up by Jimmy Software and SIS Distribution (Thailand) – and a local telecom operator to provide the business sector with location-based and big-data solutions. 

The main technology behind the business model is called Bluetooth low energy (BLE), which enables instant and automatic communication between devices – mobile or wearable, with Bluetooth – and installed Bluetooth-enabled equipment. 

Panutat said this kind of technology, which is expected to see massive adoption in the near future, would lead to the creation of a new generation of business solutions, especially for the marketing and advertising industry. 

The new company’s business concept is to provide BLE equipment in areas such as communication infrastructure to enable them to automatically communicate with devices and gadgets via Bluetooth. 

The resulting network of BLE machines will play a role as a key channel for delivering content, in particular in an advertising or marketing campaign, instantly to people carrying a smart phone installed with the appropriate applications as they walk within a 30-metre radius of the equipment.

He added that the idea is to provide BLE equipment in shopping areas, where the device will be able to recognise potential customers of the brands in question who pass into the area by identifying them via their own device’s Bluetooth signal. 

“We will know them as potential customers for certain brands from the applications they store in their smart phones. The BLE equipment will communicate to the smart phone via Bluetooth 4.0, and will then activate brands’ apps for those who have the apps loaded. 

“We will push a marketing campaign or advertising to them via the app notification, when they are nearby the BLE equipment located in the shopping area,” said Doctor Jimmy.

Big Data Thailand has already installed more than 10,000 BLE devices in 16 buildings in Ratchaprasong – the major downtown Bangkok shopping area – and others at all Skytrain stations. 

Top brands across categories including fashion, beauty, health, restaurants and night life have confirmed their readiness to use its services, with more than 100 brand applications on its list, he added. 

“This is the new way of doing location-based marketing. It is real-time precision marketing. Our service is to deliver the marketing message [campaign and ads] to the right place, at the right time, and to the right person. This makes it much more likely to lead these people to make a purchase there,” said Panutat.

The success of this kind of business model also depends on the efforts of the brand owners, who need to design attractive campaigns or privileges and promote their mobile app to loyal customers, he explained.

Meanwhile, Big Data Thailand’s revenue stream comes from pushing notifications – sending the marketing message – to people’s smart phones. 

It offers three kinds of marketing message: sending directly to the smart phone; sending to the digital signage located in the shopping mall; and sending to the concierge’s tablet. 

“Our role is to manage the big data of brands’ marketing campaigns to serve the right potential customers in particular locations efficiently. So, we call ourselves a location-based and big-data solutions operator,” said Panutat.

Brands will be charged according to the number of marketing messages sent. However, in some areas, brands have to bid to send messages to potential customers, in a similar way that they have to bid the “key word” on Google AdWords in order to reach a target audience, said Panutat. 

“This kind of service will be officially launched in October this year,” he said. 

 

Open to more investment

The company is still open to a media agency becoming a partner in the joint venture, which for the moment is just between Click Connect and a telecom operator, he added.

“This kind of service is a marketing platform to not only help brands reach potential customers efficiently, but it also helps local mobile-app developers to develop applications to add on to the platform of communication. 

“We do not develop the mobile apps ourselves, but we develop the platform for communication between the place and the app in the smart phone,” said Panutat.

“Monetisation of a smart-phone application comes from the ‘3As’ – the application itself [as a paid app], advertising and affiliate marketing. This business model’s revenue stream is from advertising,” he explained.

Moreover, the company is also applying BLE technology into solutions for serving other markets, including the retail/hotel/restaurant/café sector, large corporates and government, and healthcare.

This is being undertaken via co-foundation and co-investment through three other companies: Incredible MOve, NSI, and MTrack Solution, respectively, said Doctor Jimmy.

By the end of the year, Big Data Thailand is expected to have generated Bt100 million in revenue after being in operation for six months, he said. 

Click Connect’s main services are to develop mobile software in accordance with the requirements of business enterprises.