What Is A Technology Conglomerate?
A relatively new word, the term “techglomerate” is a portmanteau of the words technology and conglomerate. A techglomerate can refer to a startup tech company that has grown into a conglomerate or a legacy conglomerate that has used technology and startup culture to radically transform the way it behaves and operates. Based on the former definition, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are examples of global techglomerates. Aboitiz adheres to the latter definition and aims to be the first techglomerate in the Philippines.
Differences Between Techglomerate And Conglomerate
To better understand techglomerates, we must first learn about conglomerates, which are corporations made up of different independent businesses. By participating in many markets, conglomerates can diversify business risk. Some conglomerates acquire unrelated businesses.
There are many conglomerates in the Philippines. The Aboitiz Group is a conglomerate with various investments in different industries — power, banking and financial services, food, infrastructure, land, and construction. It is also gradually building up its presence in the data science and artificial intelligence space.
From its start as a hemp trading business in Leyte in the late 1800s, Aboitiz has grown to become one of the best-managed companies in the country with a diversified portfolio of businesses.
Throughout its corporate history, we have learned to constantly adapt to change at any time. As it embarks on its Great Transformation journey, its vision is to become the first Philippine techglomerate — or a conglomerate that operates with the agility, efficiency, and innovation of a life-changing startup.
According to Aboitiz Group President and CEO Sabin Aboitiz, conglomerates become techglomerates through accelerated and enhanced innovation, and by empowering their people through the embedding of a strong entrepreneurial mindset and spirit. “It all starts,” he says, “with open minds that allow ideas to come in and ideas to come out.”
Aboitiz Envisions the Future In Its Goal to Become Philippines’ First Techglomerate
Aboitiz has just begun one of the most important missions in its hundred-year-old history, its Great Transformation towards becoming the first techglomerate in the Philippines. Its history has shown how the company learned to adapt to changes at the right time and evolve in how we perceive, think, and act.
The New Aboitiz as a Techglomerate will:
01
Still be a legacy conglomerate with legacy businesses, but significantly more powered and enhanced by the maximum use of innovation, technology, data science, artificial intelligence, and the deeply instilled culture and mindset that drives all of these things. An elevated conglomerate that harnesses tech and innovation to create exponential advantages.
02
A conglomerate with a more diversified portfolio that is substantially invested in the incubation of innovative and disruptive new ideas, products, services, and actual startup companies positioned for success in the future.
03
A conglomerate that is the public’s Partner of Choice in modernizing and digitizing communities by doing everything to help tech-up government and institutions for more efficiency in developing the economy and society.
To be the pioneer techglomerate in the Philippines requires a Governance and Management Team (GMT) who will be driven, focused, persistent, and unafraid to take risks and accept failure. Aboitiz’s advanced approach to innovative and sustainable investments allows the Group to make a paradigm shift into a more modernized, inclusive, and technology-driven organization.
All businesses under the Group are working together to harness the benefits of technology and transformative innovation in order to add value to each other and create a Techglomerate Premium.
Power
AboitizPower is leveraging technology to pave the way towards balanced and sustainable energy in the country. The company uses data science and artificial intelligence (DSAI) and other technologies to reduce electricity costs and improve customer service. Projects include battery optimization, optimization and upgrade, visual anomaly detection, predictive analytics, intelligent account management and collection, and intelligent benchmarking.
Banking And Financial Services
Union Bank of the Philippines, one of the largest banks in the country, leads the industry in digital transformation. It pioneered data science and artificial intelligence in banking solutions in its forward leap to being a bank of enduring greatness. One of its major goals is for UnionDigital, its digital bank entity, to be operational by mid-2022.
Food
One Food Group has created Analytics Central, a one-stop portal that can improve the accessibility of data-driven solutions and data security. The applications available in this new tool include the retail meat shop “The Good Meat,” a Covid-19 Health Pass for the Food Group, and operational dashboards for the Feeds and Farm Divisions.
Infrastructure
To become the first techglomerate in the Philippines requires our infrastructure business leg to pursue and implement technology-driven changes in all areas. Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. and LIMA Water Corporation (LWC) are striving for more data-driven, innovative, and green solutions. One example is the installation of a Smart Water Network that integrates intelligent systems and water facilities, which is already operational at LWC.
Land
AboitizLand is transforming through its investments in technology, data science, and artificial intelligence. The company thrived in 2021 by improving its operational agility through digitization and strategic partnerships, resulting in the best sales performance in AboitizLand’s history.
Construction
Aboitiz Construction is expanding its operations as part of the Aboitiz Group’s journey to become the pioneering techglomerate in the Philippines. The company will utilize the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for AboitizPower’s Therma Marine, Inc., to ensure additional support for the Mindanao grid. The company also works on large-scale projects such as the rehabilitation of the Mariveles Grains Corporation (MGC) piers and facilities to improve the logistics of food products. To improve the efficiency of its construction operations, the company has begun the automation of its equipment.
Aboitiz aims to become the first techglomerate in the Philippines by focusing on more modernized, inclusive, and technology-driven operations. All businesses under the conglomerate are working together to harness the benefits of technology and transformative innovation. Explore our website for more information about how we help our partners.