Celcom Axiata Berhad will become the first operator in Asia to offer Koble, a leading global digital business-to-business matchmaking platform, to enterprise customers. The launch of the Koble app follows the newly enhanced Celcom Business portfolio for digital enterprise focused products.
In August 2018, Xpand, an enterprise solutions and IoT business of Axiata Group Berhad, signed an exclusive licensing agreement offering the Koble platform in Asia. Celcom’s launch today is the platform’s debut in Asia; providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) a digital business matchmaking service to meet buyers and suppliers that are a perfect match for potential commercial opportunities.
By integrating Koble’s app into the Celcom Business portfolio of services, the platform creates a network of business opportunities for enterprises in Malaysia at an unprecedented size and scope. Via this partnership, all Celcom Business customers will enjoy exclusive benefits such as preferential rates on Koble packages and tailored campaigns.
“I am pleased to add Koble to our suite of solutions for SMEs and enterprises,” said Mohamad Idham Nawawi, Chief Executive of Celcom Axiata Berhad. “Celcom and Axiata, with a wide LTE coverage and a suite of solutions, are excited to play a major role in assisting both small and large businesses to increase productivity and potentially grow their business in the digital market.”
The Koble platform enables business professionals to discover, connect and facilitate business deals with buyers and suppliers from around the world. Recognising the need to improve current business-to-business (B2B) networks which are solely designed for building personal brands, the Koble platform combines the power of social networking with the intelligence of anonymous and artificial intelligence (AI) powered matchmaking, improving relationship management for both qualified buyers and sellers who are looking to grow their businesses.
“We are thrilled to make our entry into the Asian market with our launch in Malaysia with Celcom, helping small enterprises across the country to solve their number one business challenge — finding new customers,” said Fabrice Saporito, Koble Founder and CEO. “I believe the Koble app and platform will quickly become the go-to business social network for Malaysian buyers to discover new customers for their businesses and ultimately close deals with them.”
Although B2B purchasing online is more than double B2C buying, the current USD300 billion digital advertising market is primarily geared towards consumers and dominated by platforms such as Facebook and Google. The lag in B2B advertising spend behind purchasing is largely due to the complex nature of B2B sourcing and buying.
Koble is eliminating the friction of B2B buying and selling online by blending consumer networking for faster adoption with the requirements businesses need, such as authenticity and privacy. In doing so, it makes it easier for professionals to meet each other for mutually beneficial business conversations by removing these issues:
- Frustration from supplier search and access to qualified buyers leads
- Nuisance and discomfort from cold unsolicited outreach and rejection
- Wasted resources from time spent searching, and high marketing cost
Members of the Koble network now have access to free and premium features including:
- Targetting: Allows businesses to pick the exact group of professionals or companies they want to start conversations with for their business – whether it’s a specific company or buyers of a matching interest.
- Readometer: Helps businesses to know how much time people have actually spent on their profile and content. It applies to pictures, PDFs and embedded videos.
- Anonymous Chat: Enables buyers to hold their personal identity from their company ID and reveal it whenever they want to in the business relationship.
- Peer Performance Comparisons: Gives businesses the ability to compare their engagement and potential leads against the performance of peer vendors.
- TrueReview: Offers a Yelp-like element to B2B buying. Suppliers and buyers are ranked based on their reviews; which means the better the recommendation, the higher the ranking.
With a monthly subscription starting at RM40 per user, Koble reduces to the cost of a qualified lead to a fraction of the cost Malaysian businesses are paying for qualified leads today. A Google Survey commissioned by Koble in July 2018 found that Malaysian businesses are currently paying between RM300 to RM900 for a qualified lead.
Celcom customers, existing and new, will benefit from exclusive pricing and special campaigns:
- 3 months Koble Pro Plan for free for an annual commitment to the plan
- 50% off Koble Starter and Pro Plan list prices