PLDT and Smart Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, fourth from left, led the signing for the pivotal partnership with Amdocs officials. With him are, Amdocs Phils. Inc President Aviv Sneh, Amdocs Hungary Managing Director Weiming Li, Amdocs Divisional President for Asia Pacific Dror Kalush, PLDT Chief Corporate Services Officer Ray Espinosa, and PLDT Business Transformation Office Group Head Ricky Vargas.

Leading Philippine telco and digital services provider PLDT (PSE: TEL) (NYSE:PHI) and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications (“Smart”) today announced that they have entered into agreements to establish a strategic relationship with Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX), under which this leading global provider of software and services to communications and media companies will upgrade and manage business technology systems serving PLDT and Smart customers, with the integration of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other advanced technologies. 

“Our strategic collaboration with Amdocs is a key component of our digital transformation to enhance customer experience, engagement and product delivery. With this agreement in place, we can focus on our core mission of serving our customers in the best possible way through powerful, pervasive connectivity, and relevant cutting-edge digital products and services created by ourselves or with partners like Amdocs and others who are leaders in their fields,” PLDT and Smart Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.   

Under a seven-year agreement, PLDT and Smart will undertake a business-led, technology-enabled transformative program through a US$300 million partnership with Amdocs. These agreements will: (i) modernize business IT systems serving PLDT and Smart’s customers through the introduction and adoption of advanced digital technologies and solutions; (ii) improve business processes and service levels aimed at enhancing customer experience; (iii) accelerate revenue growth by introducing new digital tools that will enable the business units to innovate their digital products and services in a timely manner; and (iv)  introduce intelligent operations to bring efficiencies in delivering IT services which will result in OPEX savings during the term of the engagement. 

The Managed Transformation Agreement among PLDT, Smart, and Amdocs involves transformation services which include the development of state-of-the-art, digital capabilities for Convergent Sales Operations, Digital Customer Experience across multiple channels, and Service Fulfillment and Network Rollout Systems, amongst others. The Agreement also involves managed services that cover the operation and modernization of the IT environment of PLDT and SMART encompassing application development and maintenance across critical IT components, such as Customer Relationship Management, Billing, Subscription and Campaign Management, amongst others.   

“This milestone engagement will help boost our growth, and position us to take the lead in the next wave of digital innovation brought by new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and automation technologies. It is a partnership in real terms. And since this engagement takes the form of managed transformation services, certain manpower from our IT units would be offered career opportunities in Amdocs as regular employees. This represents a unique chance for these IT people to further build their careers in one of the leading software and services companies in the world,” Pangilinan added. 

“PLDT is focused on delivering compelling customer experiences for their wide range of telecommunications and digital services across fixed line and cellular networks,” said Gary Miles, Chief Marketing Officer at Amdocs. “Our digital solutions and services will enable them to further enhance customer experiences across their brands for Home, Wireless and Enterprise services; while improving overall efficiencies to quickly innovate and launch new services to grow their data business.”