Samsung SEAO Executive Byline Series: Creating New Experiences for the Digital Future

By Sangho Jo, President & CEO of Samsung Electronics, Southeast Asia and Oceania

COVID-19 has catalyzed an acceleration of our digital lives. In a COVID-normalized world, evolving needs and changes in lifestyles have led today’s consumers to seek unique digital experiences that combine both convenience and customization.

As 2022 marks the gradual reopening of borders and resumption of economic activities, we – as a global leader in technology – are committed to continue putting users at the heart of our business and laying the groundwork for a new digital future for our consumers, partners and everyone in the region.

Enabling smarter digital lives

With growing expectations for digital devices and services to work seamlessly together to fit individual lifestyles, preferences and needs, we have sharpened our focus on providing people-first products and services that better serve these post-pandemic expectations of consumers and organizations.

Homes are now multifunctional spaces, where customizable and intelligent technologies come together to create productive workplaces, home gyms and entertainment hubs – all within the same space. Our ecosystem of connected smart devices such as the Galaxy smartphones, Smart Monitors, and TVs have become even more important tools for productivity and collaboration today. Meanwhile, our SmartThings app and smart home appliances enable busy individuals to automate house chores seamlessly from their Galaxy smartphones.

To enable truly seamless and personalized experiences, we created an open and inclusive ecosystem that allows users to integrate their Samsung devices with favorite products from our partners, offering opportunities for creativity and consumers with endless possibilities.

Creating new customer journeys

The past two years have also spurred us to rethink how we can serve our customers better, while making our devices and services more accessible. COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce growth, making online shopping a necessity. Meanwhile, the increasingly global outlook and entrenched social sharing habits of consumers have spurred our foray into new brand and retail experiences.

To that end, we have doubled down on efforts to expand and improve our retail channels and experiences. Today, our devices can be experienced and purchased directly from Samsung online stores, through online shopping partners, and even live commerce channels.

We have also invested in new and immersive ways for customers to experience our products online and offline. For example, we have launched augmented reality capabilities to better imagine how our home appliances can fit into homes. This will provide consumers the confidence to purchase our products online and help home owners who have visited our retail showrooms with space planning.

Empowering our younger generation

Recognizing the importance of youth in the Southeast Asia & Oceania (SEAO), which is home to more than half of the world’s young people¹, we have furthered our efforts in understanding and catering to their values, aspirations and needs. Being digital natives who grew up with the internet, these young people are optimizing connected devices and driving online services to shape the digital economy, both as consumers and innovators.

As a champion of innovation, we want to do more in empowering the next generation through our technologies and initiatives. To achieve this, we are running several programs to provide the necessary tools that help to optimize opportunities for youths, and tap into their collective energies as well as insights to shape our products and services.

For example, our team of Future Generation Lab members, consisting of our young employees, actively develop new enticing marketing content and collaborations to better engage with millennial and Gen Z consumers. We also run the Samsung Innovation Campus, which provides youth with training in information and communications technology skills and soft skills, as well as Solve for Tomorrow, a competition that encourages students to create tangible solutions that can solve societal issues – reaching more than 80,000 students in SEAO in 2021.

Here at Samsung Electronics Southeast Asia and Oceania, we constantly strive to be the trusted brand in creating new experiences for work, play, learning, and everything in between. For the rest of 2022 and beyond, we will continue to push our boundaries and grasp new opportunities, working closely with partners to empower the communities that we operate in.

[1]UNDP, Regional Human Development Report 2016