Circles Global has launched its Circles-X R&D Centre in Singapore, touted as the most advanced tech R&D centre in the world and expected to help drive Circles’ ambition to become the first trillion-dollar global SaaS company.
Circles-X is supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information and Digital Industry Singapore, a joint office by EDB, ESG, and IMDA.
“As we build the future of telco right here at our Circles-X R&D Centre, we envision this as the cornerstone of the first global Singaporean SaaS company leading an entire industry,” said Rameez Ansar, co-founder of Circles.
The R&D Centre will blend three aspects — cutting-edge made-in-Singapore tech, a core of top local talent nurtured by the best leadership team in Asia, and real-life market experience gleaned from Circles’ owned and partner operations in Asia-Pacific.
The centre will further build on the strengths of the company’s proprietary cloud native, full stack telco operating system and enhance its position as the world’s leading telco SaaS platform.
These three aspects are critical to overcoming what Kearney terms the “trillion-dollar” problem plaguing the global telco industry. In a nutshell, traditional telcos worldwide are losing market share and revenue to internet companies and need to catch up on the right tech and capabilities for the future of connectivity.
According to McKinsey, despite the rapid digitalisation of global economies, traditional telcos have been struggling to keep up with their digital-native competitors for years.
As the first 100% digital telco in Singapore launched in 2016, Circles — powered by CXOS — was able to address this changing customer need for agile telco offerings and always-on customer support.
Circles has since replicated its model and created game-changing experiences for digital natives in Taiwan and Australia by launching its own consumer operations and digital telco Circles.Life there.
In 2022, Circles has set its sights on expanding into additional global markets including Asia and Europe, while deepening its success in its existing markets.
The Circles-X R&D centre is expected to create 120 new ICT jobs in Singapore this year, specifically in the areas of front- and back-end engineering and cyber security.
These roles include placements in Circles Labs — the company’s skunkworks team — to develop the next generation of telco digital services involving IoT, AI, fintech, gaming and other areas.
Circles currently has 265 staff housed in the R&D centre, some of whom were nurtured through Circles Academy, the company’s in-house development programme for software engineers, and the TechSkills Accelerator programme in partnership with IMDA.
