Melissa Mulholland (Crayon)
Digital transformation specialist Crayon has officially launched its data and artificial intelligence (AI) practice in Asia Pacific with the unveiling of a new AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore.
The Norwegian IT consultancy firm has been building its data and AI consulting presence for some time. Crayon’s global data and AI practice was established in 2014 and has since successfully executed more than 100 AI and machine learning projects worldwide.
The company started the project to build its Asia Pacific AI Centre of Excellence in 2018 and claims to have had recent AI offerings in the region, including a partnership with a “significant medical group” and providing support to non-profits.
The new Singapore-based centre is designed to provide clients across a range of industries and sectors with an end-to-end delivery service, from data assessment to AI model deployment and management in production.
Broadly, the centre aims to focus on creating innovative and value-based AI and machine learning solutions, and will see the company continue to provide data, AI and machine learning services, supporting customers through every step of their digital transformation journey.
“As we continue to guide our customers on their cloud journey, the promise of advanced analytics, AI and machine learning becomes more than just a vision, but something that can be realised,” said Crayon Asia Pacific senior vice president Rhonda Robati.
“Therefore, we believe that now is the right time for Crayon to establish this Centre of Excellence to share our global expertise in these innovative technologies with our customers in the Asia Pacific region,” she added.
After opening its offices in Singapore in 2014, Crayon has invested heavily in developing its competencies in the Asia Pacific region, with the new Centre of Excellence representing an expansion of its services portfolio offering, the company said.
"There is so much power in innovation to drive the greater good and we're excited to leverage our global success in data and AI to benefit the Asia Pacific region,” Crayon CEO Melissa Mulholland said.
Crayon noted that its Singapore expansion via the new centre was supported by Microsoft, a move that strengthens both companies’ long-term partnership.
"I love to see partners invest so heavily in the region and it really does align with our vision as company which is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more," Microsoft Asia Pacific chief marketing and operations officer Fiona Carney said. "I'm delighted that Crayon is going to help contribute to that to our shared customers."
In April, ULAP, a Manila-headquartered cloud, connectivity and managed services provider (MSP), partnered up with Crayon to deliver intelligent cloud solutions to the Philippine market.
The deal saw ULAP, which counts Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) among its vendor partners, continue to build upon its history of delivering connectivity solutions to clients looking for offerings outside of the traditional legacy options.
"Our clients expect premium quality connectivity and service, and we deliver every time,” ULAP CEO Dominic McDonald said at the time. “In this partnership with Crayon, we look forward to delivering world-class solutions to Filipino companies as they continue to rise from the pandemic.”
