In a triumphant moment for the Philippine IT and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry, Pointwest, a pioneering company with humble beginnings, has been honored with the prestigious Sariling Atin Award at the HIMSCON (Healthcare Information Management Services Conference) ceremony on the 20th of October 2023. This recognition serves as a testament to Pointwest’s outstanding contributions as a prominent player in the global IT-BPM market deeply rooted in Filipino values.
A Journey Rooted in Filipino Excellence
Pointwest’s journey began with the ambitious vision of creating a Filipino icon in the global IT-BPM market. Over two decades, the company has evolved into a powerhouse with a team of over 500 talents. The Hall of Famer award for Best Filipino-Owned Company from the International ICT Awards Philippines is a testament to Pointwest’s commitment to delivering quality services and taking it further for both global corporations and local businesses.
Driving Positive Change in Healthcare
Pointwest’s impact on the healthcare information management services sector is significant, with a nearly two-decade presence in the healthcare BPM industry. The company supports top Pharmacy Benefit Management firms in the US, enabling patient access to prescription drugs for a substantial portion of the American population. Leveraging this experience, Pointwest provides local employment for pharmacists, nurses, and healthcare-allied graduates.
The company has also played a pivotal role in improving the digital capabilities of a Philippines-based Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), automating member enrollment, and providing efficient access to medical services. Through solutions like iPatientCare and Skriba, Pointwest has facilitated the digitization of healthcare processes, ensuring compliance with the Universal Healthcare Act of 2019 and aiding the Department of Health (DOH) in optimizing COVID-related procedures.
A Filipino Icon in the Global IT-BPM Industry
Pointwest’s commitment to being a Filipino icon in the global IT-BPM industry, coupled with its dedication to providing meaningful employment to local talent and contributing to the collective goal of providing timely and adequate healthcare to all Filipinos, makes it a deserving recipient of the Sariling Atin Award at HIMAP 2023.
As Pointwest continues to redefine how it brings value to its customers and stands resolutely by its motto, the company’s achievements serve as an inspiration to the entire IT-BPM industry and a source of pride for the Philippines on the global stage.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – December, 5, 2022 – Pointwest, a wholly Filipino-owned IT-BPM company, is pleased to announce it has been named the SEA Breakthrough Partner in the Tricentis Partner Awards 2022.
The annual Tricentis Partner Awards 2022 honors and showcases Tricentis partner success stories focused on bringing continuous testing solutions leveraging the power of leading technologies. These awards are a testament to the test innovation and recognize partners for
expanding the ecosystem to deliver quality software at speed. This year the winners were selected in multiple categories that include innovation, delivery, and implementation competencies to drive exceptional impact across the globe.
“We are very honored and proud to receive the Tricentis SEA Breakthrough Partner Award 2022. This award is a testament to the talent and dedication to innovation that Pointwest brings to our partnership with Tricentis. This also serves as an inspiration to push the envelope further in empowering businesses and organizations to expand their digital transformation efforts up to speed without compromising quality,” said Rey E. Untal, Pointwest President & Chief Executive Officer.
Pointwest is one of the pioneer IT-BPM companies in the Philippines with a wide range of digital service offerings that helps businesses transform and streamline their existing processes.
Pointwest has worked hand-in-hand with Tricentis through joint webinars on testing, automation, and how it can be applied to digital transformation and modernization.
“Our partners are champions of innovation and excellence, and we couldn’t deliver the value we provide without them. We’re thrilled to recognize partners across our global and regional ecosystem who achieved unprecedented results,” said Chaim Frenkel, Vice President of
Strategic Alliances, Tricentis. “Congratulations to our 2022 Tricentis Partner Award winners! Together, we’re changing the game in continuous testing.”
Read the official announcement here: Tricentis Partner Awards 2022
Learn more:
Automated Software Testing Services
Automated Testing Meets Legacy and Modern Applications
About Pointwest
Pointwest is a fully Filipino-owned IT-BPM company founded in 2003. Pointwest engages, empowers, and enables businesses by providing top-notch digital transformation, information technology, and business process management services backed by international-standard methodologies and innovative practices. We work with clients around the world – Global 2000, Asian conglomerates, governments, and leading start-ups and SMBs in financial services, insurance, healthcare, telecommunications, retail, and other industries. Pointwest transforms businesses for the fourth industrial revolution with digital offerings in Intelligent Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Analytics, User Experience, Enterprise Mobility, Omni-Channel Solutions Development, Robotics Process Automation, Cloud Computing, and more. Pointwest supports its strong presence in North America, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, with its global delivery centers in Metro Manila and satellite offices in the United States. For more information, visit www.pointwest.com.ph or send an email to ask@pointwest.com.ph
About Tricentis
Tricentis is a global leader in enterprise continuous testing. The Tricentis AI-based, continuous testing portfolio of products provides a new and fundamentally different way to perform software testing. An approach that’s totally automated, fully codeless, and intelligently driven by AI. It addresses both agile development and complex enterprise apps, enabling enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation by dramatically increasing software release speed, reducing costs, and improving software quality. Widely credited for reinventing software testing for DevOps, cloud, and enterprise applications, Tricentis has been recognized as a leader by all major industry analysts, including Forrester, Gartner, and IDC. Tricentis has more than 2,500 customers, including the largest brands in the world, such as McKesson, Accenture, Nationwide Insurance, Allianz, Telstra, Dolby, and Vodafone. To learn more, visit www.tricentis.com.
Media Contacts
ask@pointwest.com.ph
For the first time, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Pointwest, and UiPath came together for a hybrid event that can help modernize and transform numerous processes in various industries.
Titled “Unlock the Power of Automation in the Cloud: Revolutionize Your Employee Onboarding with AWS and UiPath”, the event was held at the AWS Philippines office in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on August 24, 2022. The event was also streamed simultaneously online via Amazon Chime.
The two-hour event featured subject matter experts from the three renowned companies as speakers to discuss the topic. Pointwest President and CEO, Rey E. Untal, graced the event to deliver his welcoming remarks.
Veck Basinang, Pointwest Chief Technology Officer, mentioned in her talk that automation should come top-down in companies and 63% of organizations see automation as something that can help accelerate digital transformation. Furthermore, she added that automation provides elasticity, boosted productivity, and adds more value to personnel.
Matthew Tan, Director of Sales Engineering at UiPath, demonstrated what their company automates with robots–from document handling in the Know Your Customer (KYC) process to HR services including recruitment, compensation and benefits, and employee relations. He also mentioned that they leverage citizen development in which they encourage employees to innovate and automate processes themselves using a low-code/no-code platform to drive automation at scale. One of the use cases he mentioned was the DHL virtual delivery center in Europe and India in which they were able to have 515 virtual FTEs and redeployed 425 employees for other tasks. Another use case was for a company where they had over 450 automated processes and 170 employees trained in UiPath and robotic process automation.
UiPath also has a collaboration with AWS called Amazon Connect, a 100% Cloud-based solution for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies that has helped reduce average handling time (AHT) by 30% and reduced call volume by 40-50%.
JP Alcala, Partner Solutions Architect from AWS, spoke next about the advantages of moving to the Cloud. He said this provides a company with agility, cost savings, and elasticity wherein a company can scale as quickly as it can. Companies can also start to innovate faster and focus more on business differentiators and go global in a matter of minutes. One example he mentioned was Amazon Workspaces is the perfect solution for the modern workforce. It works like a virtual laptop and proved itself useful to address remote work during the pandemic.
One of the use cases he mentioned was with a local telecom company where they employed Robotic Process Automation on Amazon Workspaces for payment processing, which saved up a lot of setup time and created a better and simpler user experience for their subscribers.
Derek Andallaza and Alo Leceta, both RPA specialists and developers from Pointwest demonstrated how RPA on Cloud works using Pointwest’s own new employee onboarding process. They showed the time saved when the document handling process is automated versus manual handling as well as lessening the risk of errors in filing.
In addition to that, the speakers also talked about various pain points when it comes to modernizing an organization’s processes and how Robotic Process Automation in the Cloud can help address those challenges. They also touched on the various capabilities of the same innovation, intelligent optical character recognition (OCR), SaaS, and Customer Managed Environment.
Veck Basinang closed the event by reiterating the benefits of using RPA on Cloud in onboarding new employees stating that it makes the process 10% faster, gives a 40% increase in employee capacity, and clients achieve 0% error rates in compliance. She also stressed that automation through the Cloud allows automation at scale (smallest to largest, complex processes), simplify infrastructure provisioning, better integration with other digital technologies, and makes intelligent automation more convenient and cost-effective. By harnessing the power of RPA on Cloud, she said it helps take the robot out of your employees, reduces the handling times of cases or service requests by enabling self-service options for the customers, and empowering employees to deliver personalized service thereby improving customer satisfaction and loyalty and boosting employee productivity.
If you’d like to know more about how RPA in Cloud can help benefit your organization, send us a message at ask@pointwest.com.ph.
In celebration of Leader’s Month, The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) held a webinar on March 21, 2022, titled “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. The webinar featured prominent women in the IT-BPM and creative industries with Pointwest’s Senior Advisor and Board Director, Ma. Cristina “Beng” Coronel as a fireside chat speaker.
Ahyee Campos, the IBPAP Board Trustee & CCAP Board Director, delivered the welcome remarks. In her message, she acknowledged that gender equality is a human right but we are faced with a persistent gap in accessing opportunities and decision-making powers between women and men. Campos said that by empowering women, they can contribute to the health and productivity of their families, societies, and countries, and create a ripple effect that benefits everyone.
The keynote presentation was delivered by the Program Manager of WeEmpowerAsia at the UN Women China, Jialei Lin. She mentioned that according to the World Economic Forum, gender gaps are likely in sectors that require disruptive technical skills such as Cloud Computing, Engineering, and Data and AI. Lin also quoted a McKinsey Global Institute study saying that gender equality boosts the GDP of Southeast Asia by $4.5 trillion a year by 2025. The study also states that companies with inclusive cultures have 22% lower turnover rates, 22% greater productivity, 27% higher profitability, and 39% higher customer satisfaction.
Industry leaders provided their own perspectives and insights regarding gender equality in the workplace including Don Rae, Senior Advisor for Enterprise Group of Globe Telecom, who provided a counterpoint and said there has been a huge progression in equality and empowerment in the Philippines in the past 20 years. He mentions Globe as a case study where the culture is gender-blind and they select the best person for the job.
“It’s the culture of the company that gets you to the right results,” Rae said. He also stressed the need to work with individual companies and thought leaders in the industry who can influence other companies to follow suit to make sustainable change in terms of promoting gender equality in the workplace.
Other industry leaders who gave their takes on the keynote message were Kaye Bondoc-Dela Cruz, Corporate Relationship Management Head of PLDT Enterprise, and Celeste Ilagan, Chief Policy & Regulatory Affairs Officer of IBPAP. A series of conversations followed this among industry practitioners of women’s stories and experiences in the various industries they belong to. Among those who shared were Vina Vicente of B&V People Business Co., Haidee Enriquez of Microsourcing and BEEPO, Natalie Lim-Ang of P&G, Grace Dimaranan of Top Peg Animation, Alexis Gerogna of GameOps, and Maria Roma Perez of the FEU Institute of Technology.
Industry stalwart Jonathan De Luzuriaga and Pointwest’s Beng Coronel had a fireside chat encouraging women to join highly specialized and technical careers. Coronel related her life journey from her college years stating there was gender bias for chemical engineer jobs for women in those years. She also said that women see education as a path for advancement citing data from CHED’s website that as of 2017, there were more women enrollees for both STEM and non-STEM courses at 55%. There were also more women graduates at 59% compared to men and there were more women pursuing higher education at 67%. For STEM courses, however, only 35% of women enroll in them. She postulated that the reason for this is the implicit stereotyping on STEM courses and women tend to shy away from it. She also mentioned that we need more women influencers and role models for these fields to create more awareness and encourage other women to pursue these courses and convey the message that you can be a successful leader in these industries even if you are a woman.
Coronel mentioned that there is parity between men and women in Pointwest, whether they are designers, architects, testers, project managers, or QAs. According to her, any job that you give to a woman, she can do it, and she can do it well. It’s not a matter of a woman doing it, but more of the organization giving out the opportunity to them to fulfill these roles and is proud to say that Pointwest provides equal opportunities for their employees regardless of gender.
When asked by De Luzuriaga if there ever was a time in her life when she doubted herself and her capabilities, Coronel said that the challenge is more of harmonization between her role as a career woman and her role as a mother and wife. To encourage women to study and establish a career in STEM, Coronel said, “There are a lot of opportunities for us… Women who take on STEM courses and establish a career in STEM are part of nation-building and we become more competitive as a nation. STEM is the way to go as we move towards a digital economy.”
To cap off the fireside chat, she offered this practical advice: “Have that learning ability. Learning is the most important skill that you need as you move forward. If you can learn, you can survive.”
For inquiries, contact us at ask@pointwest.com.ph
Contact:+632 8814 1100 (Trunkline) +1 (888) 210-9078 (US Toll-Free) ;
The Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry in the Philippines has been one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing sectors in the country since 1997. The country attracted a lot of foreign companies and investors in the sub-sectors of knowledge process outsourcing and back offices, call centers, software development, medical transcription, engineering design, game development, and animation. With its exponential growth, the industry has become a major player and contributor to the economic development of the Philippines.
The country has expanded its capability to provide non-voice IT and BPM services to a broader global clientele and has established itself as one of the top-tier destinations for high-quality services at more competitive price points. The expansion also went to horizontal BPM services in areas like finance and accounting, as well as vertical-focused solutions such as healthcare information services.
US-based companies have outsourced part of their services and business processes such as customer service centers, financial services, legal, research and development, learning management, and non-clinical healthcare services to name a few.
Industry Outlook
According to a recalibration study conducted by the Everest Group, the Philippine IT-BPM industry’s revenue growth picked up by 8% with headcount growth at 12% in 2021 and is expected to still be in the double digits in 2022. This will be led by digital transformation with top trends including Big Data Analytics (BDA), Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud Computing. Global In-house Centers (GICs) and Health Information Management Services (HIMS) are poised for growth despite the ongoing pandemic.
Rising Wave of Healthcare Information Management Services
Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP) President, Vincent Remo, said in 2021 that the growth forecast for HIMS was on an uptrend with a projected growth of between 5-10%. He attributed this to countries such as the US as they continue to outsource their operations here for the rich talent pool and cost advantages. Other factors that attract HIMS investors are the flexible working arrangements, more reliable telecom and internet infrastructure, and availability of digitally-skilled healthcare professionals that can offer high-quality services and new concepts of care delivery models.
On the Crest of the Wave
Pointwest Technologies Corporation, a fully Filipino-owned premier IT-BPM company, is at the forefront of this uptrend with innovative and tailored solutions and services. By providing their expertise with automation-enabled healthcare BPO services such as Pharmacy Benefit Management, Pharmacovigilance, Clinical Trials, and Revenue Cycle Management, Pointwest can help companies implement business transformation through technology.
One of the top Philippine Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) was able to benefit from Pointwest’s modernization of their online services with a fully digital member self-enrollment system for their customers. The new system has fully automated features that maximized efficiency and ease of use and led to a 31.40% reduction of support tickets received by their internal team. This partnership with Pointwest was built on a shared vision of growth and modernization, consequently securing the HMO company as an industry pioneer that currently services over 1.5 million members and has affiliations with over 2000 hospitals in the Philippines.
“Here in the Philippines, we’ll see the convergence of talent, strong infrastructure, and an enabling business landscape that will welcome you as you bring your business,” Rey Untal, Pointwest President and CEO, said in a webinar as an invitation for foreign businesses and investors to take advantage and explore what the Philippines’ IT-BPM industry offers. “It is really upon us, and with the partnership of the audience we now have, to really push for selling and make a compelling value proposition because anybody who comes here and works with us is simply delighted,” he adds.
The Philippines still remains one of the top-tier destinations for IT-BPM services and a leader in the global IT-BPM industry. The current upward trends and conditions, as well as the ready availability of a highly-skilled talent pool all contribute to a perfect business environment for companies to outsource their business processes and services.
Sources:
2021/22 Philippines IT & BPO Industry Performance and Outlook
PH construction, IT-BPM industries see expansion amid pandemic
PH remains an attractive location for health info management services, targets 10% growth for 2021
IT-BPM sector seen growing 8% this year
Everest Group. Executive Presentation – Industry Trends. January 2022.
IBPAP. Recalibration of the Philippine IT-BPM Industry Growth Forecasts for 2020-2022. December 2020.
For inquiries, contact us at ask@pointwest.com.ph
Contact:+632 8814 1100 (Trunkline) +1 (888) 210-9078 (US Toll-Free) ;
The HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition 2022 was held last March 14-18 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. This healthcare banner event is where various professionals from all industries of the global healthcare system meet — CIOs and senior executives, providers, information and technology professionals, government officials, innovators, consultants, market suppliers, and more.
Pointwest joined the Philippine delegation in HIMSS 2022 as an exhibitor to showcase Pointwest offerings and services in transforming healthcare and enabling different health and wellness providers to deliver the best solutions and services to their customers.
Pointwest US Senior Executive, Cora Agbayani, and US Sales Executive, Mel Basa, along with Pointwest Philippine Business Development for Healthcare, Juanloz Botor, were present and spoke to many attendees about Pointwest’s solutions and services tailored to the customers’ needs in Clinical Trials, Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM), Pharmacovigilance, Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), Claims Management, Care Management, and IT services and solutions.
Despite the pandemic, the 2021 forecast for the Healthcare Information Management Services stood at 5-10%. Some factors that attract other countries, like the US, to outsource to the Philippines are lower cost advantages and a highly skilled workforce. They also stand to benefit from the flexible working arrangements and more reliable internet and telecom infrastructure compared to other countries.
The Pointwest team is currently in San Francisco for a roadshow. They will head to Los Angeles later this week.
Send us a message at ask@pointwest.com to chat about how we can help you!
Pointwest joined HIMSCON PH 2021 with the theme, Challenging the Changing Times From Resiliency to Excellence, held on November 10, 11, and 12. Organized by the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP) and co-presented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of the Philippines, this year’s conference highlighted the dynamic play of global opportunities, local trends, and emerging challenges facing the sector.
Pointwest leaders took part as moderators and panelists throughout the three-day conference besides serving as a sponsor.
President and CEO Rey Untal moderated the panel discussion on “A Global View on Outsourcing, Investing and Partnering with the Philippines.” He was also a panelist in the Day 2 CXO Forum: Challenging the Changing Times – From Resiliency to Excellence when Rey shared this advice to “keep in view the global and local trends and focus on a few high-impact priorities” to remain resilient and move towards excellence.
Beng Coronel, our Senior Advisor, moderated the panel discussion on “Global and Local Opportunities in the Emerging Markets – Health IT, RCM, Life Sciences, and Clinical Research”. Panelists from healthcare, property consulting, and BPO industries took up different opportunities seen in emerging markets.
Vladimir Manuel, Chief Growth Officer, moderated case study presentations on “Delivering Health IT projects and solutions to local and global companies”. The lively discussion centered on innovation, government regulations, and how companies such as Pointwest can speed up the large-scale adoption of new technologies.
Mac Aydinan, Head of Artificial Intelligence, talked about how AI plays in healthcare today in the panel discussion on Disruptive technologies in Health IT – AI and Automation. He shared AI uses in digital onboarding where AI will lift the information from the photographed IDs of patients and encode it into the system. He also shared natural language processing, enabling machines to understand what people are saying as used in voice and chatbots.
Juanloz Botor, Business Development Manager for Healthcare and Insurance, moderated Day 1 panel discussion on “Building a culture of confidence and excellence amidst the uncertainties in the global market” with the different Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) representatives from Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. He also sat as Co-Chair of the Events and Marketing Committee for HIMAP and HIMSCON PH 2021.
iPatientCare, a Pointwest technology partner, also contributed as speakers in plenary and breakout sessions for Day 3. Milind Gadhari, Vice President for HIS Product Management, spoke about “Opportunities in Emerging Markets for HIMS”. Tejhas Vyaas, Vice President for Revenue Cycle Management, discussed “Work Automation in Revenue Cycle Management: How AI and RCM platforms help in faster coding.”
HIMSCON PH 2021 was exciting and informative with its theme and the contributions from Pointwest.
We look forward to the next conference for lessons and insights and a chance to share what Pointwest and our partners offer.
About Pointwest
Pointwest is an IT company in the Philippines. Founded in 2003 by pioneers of the Philippine Global Sourcing industry, Pointwest creates value for its list of satisfied clients — including top Fortune 100 and local companies — with world-class digital innovation and IT modernization services backed by international-standard methodologies, and innovative practices.
For Inquiries, contact us:
+632 8814 1100 (Trunkline)
+1 (888) 210-9078 (US Toll-Free)
Pointwest is proud to announce and welcome Rey Untal as our new President and CEO.
Rey Untal, new Pointwest President and CEO
Prior to joining Pointwest, and in the last four and a half years with the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), Rey has served as the voice of the sector, and is one of the strongest advocates of the Philippine IT-BPM industry.
Rey brings with him over 30 years of experience in IT consulting and outsourcing, most notably close to two decades with Accenture, as well as key roles in renowned firms like Nestle, Cargill, and ICTSI. His experience and varied expertise also previously led him to a three-year expatriate assignment in Australia and Singapore.
We look forward to Rey’s leadership and vision on digital transformation, expansion of the company’s local and international footprint, and adaptation to rapidly changing business models and customer needs.
These are very exciting and promising times for Pointwest as we look ahead to a reimagined future with Rey at the helm. His deep understanding and vast network in the industry, including his perspective on the global marketplace, will enable him to steer Pointwest towards greater heights and continue to uplift the Filipino talent in the global IT-BPM landscape.
For inquiries, contact us at ask@pointwest.com.ph
Contact:+632 8814 1100 (Trunkline) +1 (888) 210-9078 (US Toll-Free)
Document Digitization through Artificial Intelligence technologies was the focal point as Pointwest, one of the leading IT companies in the Philippines, officially launched smart Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Platform Skriba last October 24, 2019, at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Office in Arthaland, Bonifacio Global City.
Skriba is an intelligent OCR platform that uses cutting edge Artificial Intelligence technologies to digitize any document image and extract information from them. The platform converts both printed and handwritten documents into digital form, making it ideal for business processes involving large amounts of paper documents such as accounting, human resources, healthcare, and many more.
Artificial Intelligence Capability Head Mac Aydinan headlines the launch of Skriba.
The product launch was lead by Pointwest Artificial Intelligence Head Mac Aydinan. Skriba is the brainchild of Aydinan and his team. The product garnered interest from over 50 attendees from media, banking, and other industries as they asked questions on the capabilities of Skriba. The forum was hosted by Pointwest Human Resource Business Partner Spam Silag.
To show the platform in action, booths with Skriba were present at the venue. Attendees witnessed firsthand how the platform digitized data from their identification cards, receipts, and forms and converted them to a format that could be used in various applications like in spreadsheets.
The official launch was held at the event “Empowering Humans at the Age of AI” sponsored by Pointwest and AWS Philippines. Principles of human-centered AI are manifested in tools such as Skriba which makes work easier by saving hours of manual work for transcribing the document contents.
The event started with a Welcome Address from Jerry Bongco, Head of Enterprise for the Philippines of AWS. Afterwards, Pointwest President and CEO Ma. Crisitina “Beng” Coronel delivered the Opening Remarks.
Clockwise from left: Pointwest President and CEO Ma. Cristina “Beng” Coronel; AWS Head of Enterprise for the Philippines Jerry Bongo, Pointwest Head of Data Group Nicco de Jesus, and Energy Development Corporation Head of Transformation Office Joy Santamarina
The event proceeded with a talk on AI trends in Asia. This was delivered by Pointwest Head of Data Group Nicco de Jesus. He shared how East Asia, the Pacific, the EU, and North America are anticipated to be the fastest adopters of AI. Industry-wise, AI adoption is expected to happen fastest in banking, retail, tech, and entertainment. “First to adopt wins”, Nicco said, highlighting the advantage of early adopters in leveraging tech as a competitive advantage.
The next speaker was Joy Santamarina, Head of Transformation Office at Energy Development Corporation, who presented “Human-Centered AI in Companies from a Transformation Leader’s Point of View”. She started her talk with what the world had before AI and after AI; for example, from physical maps, we now have apps such as Waze and Google Maps.
Joy also tackled the anxiety people feel about AI advancements, reflecting people’s doubts on whether such progress will be good or bad for humans. But she stressed AI as “a crucial part of transformation” as the technology empowers businesses. “At the core of any advancement is people.”, Joy stated, emphasizing the synergy of people, process, and technology to achieve transformation.
After the presentation on Skriba’s capabilities and a demo of how it works, the event proceeded with a presentation by Chief Technology Officer Veck Basinang on the other AI solutions offered by Pointwest. Besides intelligent OCR, Veck shared other AI solutions such as Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, Sound Processing, Fraud Analytics, and Forecasting, which are applicable across industries. She ended her presentation with a thought-provoking question: “What social problem would you like to be solved by AI?”
AWS Solutions Architecture Lead for ASEAN Partners Daniel Bucherer and AWS Senior Manager of Solutions Architecture Joel Garcia during the fireside chat.
The next part of the program was allotted for the AWS Fireside Chat which featured AWS Solutions Architecture Lead for ASEAN Partners Daniel Bucherer and AWS Senior Manager of Solutions Architecture Joel Garcia. The fireside chat was moderated by Partner Success Manager Marnie Tolosa, who helped keep the conversation going by asking questions to the two speakers.
The conversation focused on how AI helps humans, the boundlessness of technology, and AWS as a customer-centric company. On the question of AWS’ take on human-centered AI, Daniel responded with “starting with the customer and working backwards”, advocating a deeper understanding of customers to serve them better.
The event ended with a raffle and a sumptuous lunch, as attendees went around the Skriba booths.
Prior to the official launch, a soft launch was previously held for the platform (under its former name Eskriba) on July 16, 2019 at Pointwest Pasig Office at Rockwell Business Center Tower 3, Pasig City.
From left to right: AWS Manager for Partner Success Marnie Tolosa, Pointwest AI Capability Head Mac Aydinan, Pointwest Pointwest Head of Data Group Nicco de Jesus, Energy Development Corporation Head of Transformation Office Joy Santamarina, Pointwest President and CEO Ma. Cristina “Beng” Coronel, and Chief Technology Officer Veck Basinang.
About Pointwest
Pointwest is an IT company in the Philippines. Founded in 2003 by pioneers of the Philippine Global Sourcing industry, Pointwest creates value for its list of satisfied clients — including top Fortune 100 and local companies — with world-class digital innovation and IT modernization services backed by international-standard methodologies, and innovative practices.
For Inquiries, contact us:
+632 8814 1100 (Trunkline)
+1 (888) 210-9078 (US Toll-Free)
Pointwest, leading IT company in the Philippines and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the brand of the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, conducted a lunch forum “Re-envisioning Digital Healthcare” held on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, at The Bellevue Manila, Northgate Ave, Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
