Malaysia-based Glueck Technologies developed an AI product in 2015 that measures customer emotions through CCTV technology to improve customer service in retail settings. Its founding CEO Alberrt Alexander describes how he expects the invention to shape business in the region
Why did you start Glueck Technologies?
We wanted to solve a particular problem on customer insight where we found there was a gap, so we started developing the technology on that basis.
Tell us about your product…
We innovated and trained a machine using images of about five million people across the world in 65 countries. When you see a smile, whether you are in Africa or China, it is the same. So what we do is we pick seven common emotions that people always exhibit, like fear, disgust, surprise, happiness or neutrality… and what we do is track the entire duration of your face’s emotions from the time that our camera locks onto you, because we measure all of these emotions within milliseconds.
How will your product shape retail service?
The moment you walk [into a store and CCTV scans your face], we create a template and digitalise your image… Then we track your waiting time… We also track your emotions: whether you started the journey being neutral or happy and then at the end of the service encounter whether you are angry or still happy… Using the face ID we’ll be able to track and see whether there are known felons or there are very VIP customers that need to have special treatment by the management.
What comes next for Glueck Technologies?
We are trying to get more market traction. Currently we are expanding [across] Southeast Asia first and also to India, and we have some traction coming from Australia as well. So that’s where we are in the market… We would like to work with some serious partners in the region who will work with us and also have some kind of a profit-sharing arrangement where it’s a win-win for both.
This article was published in the April edition of Southeast Asia Globe magazine. For full access, subscribe here.
