The inaugural Customer Intelligence Summit took place on 8 April 2025 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, gathering an exclusive group of senior leaders in customer insights, analytics, digital transformation, and marketing. It was an incredible day of knowledge sharing, forward-thinking discussions, and actionable takeaways, attracting over 180 senior professionals from top global brands, unicorns, and regional enterprises.
Who Attended?
We were honoured to welcome delegates from organisations such as DBS, NTUC FairPrice, Nomura, Johnson & Johnson, SHEIN, Standard Chartered, Singtel, Aspire, and Moët Hennessy, creating a powerful atmosphere of peer learning and industry collaboration.
Attendee Demographics:
Top Attending Industries
- Financial Services
- Retail & E-commerce
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
Attendee Seniority
- 80% C-level, VP, Director or Head of Department
Company Size
- 65% from organisations with 1,001+ employees
Summit Highlights
Our agenda focused on the evolving landscape of Customer Intelligence, covering core themes such as:
- Data Strategy & Customer Data Platforms (CDP)
- Real-Time Personalisation & Predictive Analytics
- Privacy, Ethics, and Data Governance
- The Future of AI in Customer Experience
Hot topics were explored via keynote presentations, panel discussions, fireside chats, and live polling, ensuring dynamic interaction and real-time feedback.
Key Topics and Takeaways:
- Building a Future-Ready CDP: Soumyajit Sarcar, Head of Data & Analytics Solutions at Nomura, emphasised that building a CDP is a journey. It must be contextual, relevant, and nimble to adapt to changing customer needs.
- Turning Complex Data into Actionable Insights: Adeline Ong, Advanced Analytics Lead, Commercial Excellence at Johnson & Johnson, highlighted that aligning analytics with business goals and simplifying complex models are crucial for driving stakeholder confidence and action.
- Humanising Data and AI: Brandon Ho, Regional Head of Retail & Customer Analytics at DBS, stressed that for predictive analytics adoption to grow, benefits must be communicated from a business perspective. Lawrence Loh, Digital & Omni-Channel Transformation Lead, Asia at Alcon, reminded attendees that staying connected with customers on the ground is essential even in a real-time decision-making environment.
- Responsible AI and Data Privacy: Gerald Mursjid Wiyatno, Legal Counsel (Director), APAC at UBS, advocated for embedding privacy by design and ethical AI practices from the outset, coupled with continuous monitoring to mitigate bias.
- Real-Time Customer Engagement: Angeline Hon, Vice President, Digital & Data at Mandai Wildlife Group, underlined that real-time, personalised engagement demands a fundamental organisational mindset shift towards data-driven decision-making and collaboration.
- Strategic Analytics: Shane Capron, Senior Director, International Marketing at PayPal, stressed the importance of co-building ROI models with marketers to ensure they trust and use the insights effectively.
- Privacy-First Personalisation: David Low, Director of Advanced Analytics at Singtel, and Kathiravan Manoharan, Regional Head of AI & Data APAC at Collinson, discussed the rise of zero- and first-party data strategies to future-proof customer engagement and build meaningful relationships.
Poll Results Snapshot
- Customer Data Platform (CDP) Associations: When asked what comes to mind when thinking of a CDP, attendees highlighted “Personalisation,” “Integration,” “Insights,” “Privacy,” and “360 unified view,” indicating the growing demand for consolidated, actionable customer data.
- Challenges in First-Party Data: Nearly 50% of respondents identified “data collection” and “data unification” as their biggest hurdles. Privacy implications, consent management, and difficulties in ensuring data cleanliness were also key challenges raised by around 15% of participants, underscoring the complexity of creating a compliant, accurate customer data ecosystem.
- Generative AI vs Traditional AI: 72% of respondents believe that traditional AI/ML and predictive analytics will not become outdated despite the rise of generative AI, suggesting a belief in the complementary role of both technologies.
- AI Adoption for Customer Experience: Over half (54%) reported using AI for basic automation like chatbots, while 31% have advanced to personalised recommendations. Only 4% are implementing real-time personalisation, signalling a significant opportunity for growth in advanced AI applications.
- Effective Promotions for Engagement: 67% of attendees indicated that real-time, personalised promotions based on customer behaviour drive higher engagement compared to ongoing discounts and offers.
- Customer Intelligence Importance: A strong majority rated the importance of Customer Intelligence at 4.1 out of 5, demonstrating its strategic priority within organisations.
Unique Summit Features
- Interactive Live Polls throughout the day brought real-time audience insights into the discussions.
- Networking Huddles: Industry-focused lunch tables for deeper peer-to-peer connections.
- Summit App: Enabled attendees to customise agendas, schedule meetings, and access speaker content.
Closing Thoughts
The Customer Intelligence Summit 2025 successfully delivered an intimate, insight-rich platform that explored how businesses can evolve from data collection to action, from AI hype to human impact, and from compliance to competitive advantage.
A heartfelt thank you to our speakers, attendees, and partners who made this event a resounding success. Let’s continue to drive the future of customer intelligence together!
We are excited to announce a series of upcoming events for 2025, designed to continue fostering innovation and excellence in MarTech:
To see more our upcoming summits in 2025, please visit: https://themartechsummit.com/events/
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We hope to see you at our future events and let’s continue pushing the boundaries of what it means to be marketers together!
Stay tuned for updates!
By: The MarTech Summit Team | April 2025
