Attending Alibaba Cloud’s ACtivate Philippines Online Conference
Cloud Services, Technical Certificates, Coupons, iPhone SE
On May 20, I attended an online conference called ACtivate Philippines, hosted by Alibaba Cloud. I registered mainly because of the iPhone SE giveaway but remained throughout the conference because of the free cloud services and technical certificates(who doesn’t want free stuff). I couldn’t estimate how many people were watching live, but I could say that the event was well organized and the user experience was great. Below are some of the topics I find interesting.
Lazada’s Technology Stack
Lazada has grown from a straightforward shopping platform into a shopping experience. Experience because not only can you shop, you also get entertainment with its games and live streams. I wouldn’t mind playing a game or two while canvassing for products on Lazada.
LazLive Technology
LazLive launched in Thailand in November 2018, leading interactions between brands, sellers, and consumers. Livestream content seems to be an effective strategy in selling products in the Philippines, especially for micro-businesses(businesses in Facebook live wherein people comments “mine” for the products flashed). Alibaba Cloud made live streaming possible using its ApsaraVideo and CDN.
ApsaraVideo Live & CDN
ApsaraVideo and CDN powers Lazada’s Live Streaming. ApsaraVideo handles Multi-Client Support and Security, while CDN handles Speed, Stability, and Scalability.
In my opinion, Lazada solidified the online shopping culture in the Philippines. Before Lazada, the closest thing to an online shopping platform was OLX, AyosDito, and the famous Hanap, Usap, Deal of sulit.com, which sadly didn’t survive the industry’s volatility.
Industry Innovation
For Albert Lau, who leads Innovation Solutions at Alibaba Cloud, innovation is out of the box solutions that deliver exceptional customer values to the business. This out of the box concept is evident in the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Shanghai, one of their global customers. Starbucks used Alibaba’s Digital presence in China, specifically its mini-programs, to innovate a retail experience.
Starbucks wanted to create a multi-sensory experience in their retail store in China, using the customer’s mobile devices. In comes their mobile app powered by Taobao and AR technology. This app not only integrates itself into the Alibaba apps, but it also engages AR features in different parts of the Shanghai Roastery, fulfilling the multi-sensory experience.
The Philippines also is no exception to Innovative solutions of Alibaba Cloud. Both PLDT Enterprise and GCash partnered with them to deliver value to their customers.
PLDT Enterprise
PLDT Enterprise wanted to ensure a seamless experience for the debut of eSports in the 30th Southeast Asian Games. To make this possible, they have partnered with Alibaba Cloud and leveraged their cloud infrastructure and connectivity solutions.
GCash
GCash partnered with Alipay and Ant Financial to create a remittance service that utilizes Blockchain technology. Blockchain not only gives transparency and security to the users, but it also transfers money in mere seconds. This is beneficial to Hong Kong based OFWs as they get both security(distributed ledger) and lower commission charges.
Alibaba Cloud Academy
The core of Alibaba Cloud Academy is training & certification. They offer different learning methods and professional certifications. They also support schools and local education centers to empower students in the cloud platform. As of now, there are about 110+ courses (called Clouder) that offer specialty certifications.
Clouder certificates usually cost around 1 to 10 USD, while Alibaba Cloud Professional certification costs around 200 USD. As of this writing, the Academy’s certification has 40% upto 99% discounts on its Clouder and Professional certifications.
Freebies
Sadly I didn’t win the iPhone😢, but on the bright side, I got 4 Clouder certificates and a 50 USD cloud product coupon for free. The 4 Clouder Technical Certificates are:
- Elastic Compute and Technology Behind It
- Cloud-native Introduction and Best Practices on Alibaba Cloud
- Serverless on Alibaba Cloud
- Alibaba Cloud Network Solutions
TL;DR: Went for the iPhone, stayed for the certificates and coupon. Also learned about Alibaba Cloud’s applications with Lazada, PLDT, and GCash.
