Timeline

As we grow over the years

Started as a software services company, we go back in time and highlight some of its milestones.

The starting up years

2002 . Ascentis was founded

Ascentis was founded in 2002 by Bryan and Hailey. And it was incorporated in 2003. Ascentis came from 2 words : Ascent + is. It represents it is always rising. It started off as a software services company focusing on stored value smart card solutions. Its first product was Cardsurf, designed for cyber cafes and arcade centers.

2006 . MatrixCRM - Our first cloud based membership and rewards solution

Cardsurf was enhanced to incorporate rewards programs features. This is a pivotal moment as the company began to focus on membership and rewards solutions. Subsequently, Cardsurf was retired and Ascentis' first cloud based solution called MatrixCRM was launched. HPL became the first customer to use the solution. With this, Ascentis gradually shifted its business to provide loyalty and rewards platform.

The growing up years

2007 . MatrixClient - Pioneering innovation in real time engagement with OCR

Ascentis saw opportunities in instant gratification for members but integration with Point of Sales (POS) was challenging. It is costly and time consuming. MatrixClient, developed by Mr Chai Choon Fong, one of its pioneer engineers and who is now the country manager for its Malaysia office, incorporated Optical Character Recognition to recognize receipt and sales amount in POS and support real time earn and burn of rewards. This was a breakthrough for Ascentis as it began to secure more food and beverage clients to use its MatrixCRM.

2008 . Pioneering electronic vouchers and cashback

MatrixCRM and MatrixClient continued to be adopted by many clients when Ascentis introduced instant earn and burn of electronic vouchers and cashback to add on to its points rewards feature.

2009 . First ecommerce project

Ascentis first foray into ecommerce and a bespoke website was developed for 12Buy.com, a site specializing in kids wear. The site was further enhanced to a mobile portal supporting early versions of Windows, Symbian and iPhone mobile OS in 2010.

2011 . Ascentis Malaysia was incorporated

Ascentis Malaysia was incorporated with Mr Chai Choon Fong leading the set up in Johor Bahru. Malaysia office started with 2 headcounts and now serve as a support and development center.

2012 . First overseas enterprise project in Philippines

A big milestone for Ascentis when it implemented MatrixCRM for Puregold in Philippines. Puregold is one of the largest hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores business conglomerate in Philippines. This marked the first enterprise project Ascentis won outside Singapore.

2014 . Meet Isaac was founded

Ascentis saw the need to value add to customers who use its platform for rewards solution with digital and social marketing services. Meet Isaac was set up as a digital agency and a subsidiary of Ascentis. Mr Terence Teo, Ascentis' 3rd staff, is its cofounding member. With the set up, Ascentis and Meet Isaac position themselves as a loyalty technology agency providing both platforms and digital services to their clients.

2017 . Asia Pacific Top 10 CRM solution provider

Ascentis was voted top 10 CRM solution provider in Asia Pacific by APAC CIO outlook.

2018 . Ascentis mall loyalty solution

Ascentis launched its SaaS loyalty platform for shopping malls. AscentisMMS (mall management system) has accelerated Ascentis' growth and expansion as it becomes one of the leading mall loyalty solution providers in Southeast Asia.

2019 . Vision 2025

Ascentis was growing fast but we were beginning to ask questions about our identity. What are our values and our vision? In 2019, we established our core values of PACT, 3Rs and "Grow our people to grow our company" mission. We also set up Vision 2025 - "To be a leading CRM solution provider in Southeast Asia by 2025".

Covid hits us

2020-2022 . Challenging period

The period between 2020 to 2022 was probably Ascentis' most challenging times during the pandemic. With 95% of its business linked to retail and food and beverage, its business came to a halt as many of its clients were trying to cope with the global pandemic. During this period, focus was shifted to development of new products such as Point of Sales and a new ecommerce platform. Fortunately, the strengths and perseverance of its people prevailed and we came out of the pandemic stronger and more resilient.

Reinvent and Reload

2022 . Ascentis launched its retail Point of Sales

Ascentis retail POS - Omni, is an enterprise cloud point of sales solution for retail was launched end of 2022. It has omni channel capabilities as it is part of Ascentis omni suite of solutions encompassing CRM, eCommerce and mobility. The POS solution was implemented in Tangs and Metro departmental stores. The Scan and Go mobility solution is one of the key features in the point of sales.

2023 . Year of transformation and Vision 2028

Ascentis was acquired by Fushi Technologies (China), a leader in point of sales solution and digital payment for small, medium businesses in China and Japan.

Incorporated ChapterVI, its second subsidiary, to drive its next-gen loyalty through a B2C app which feature eloyalty stamping, gamification, AR and avatars.

Establish Ascentis Consulting, Implementation and Support (CIS) services to ignite its foray into solutions and services for enterprises.

Set up Development and Science Center (DSC) in Shenzhen to drive its product development, innovations and software services.

Establish Vision 2028 - "To be a global technology leader, dedicated to improving our community where our future generations are safe, engaged and have meaningful purpose in their lives."