In recent years, rapid technological advancement and shifting societal needs have evolved the educational landscape significantly. Technology now plays an integral part in revolutionising traditional learning methods, offering new avenues to enhance teaching and learning modes.
Schools must comprehend and effectively utilise technology to fully harness its benefits. In line with this, Malaysia’s Ministry of Education (MoE) has introduced the Digital Education Policy, which aims to seamlessly integrate digital technology into the learning environment, cultivating a generation of digital-savvy students and educators.
However, the key to effective technology-based learning and teaching lies in schools’ adept approach to integrating technology with the right strategies. It’s not just about adding new gadgets or software in classrooms; rather, it’s about thoughtful planning and implementation to ensure technology enhances educational outcomes.
What Does Digital Strategy for Schools Mean?
A digital strategy for schools encompasses a holistic plan that outlines how technology will be leveraged to elevate and transform various aspects of the educational process. It involves strategically integrating digital tools, resources, and technologies into the education ecosystem to refine teaching methods, enrich student learning experiences, streamline administrative processes, and foster a future-ready learning environment.
Central to this approach is identifying specific goals and objectives of the institution, understanding the needs of educators and students, and aligning technology initiatives to address them effectively.
Preparing Schools for a Comprehensive Digital Strategy
As we embrace a new era in education, preparing schools for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow has become a paramount priority. Key components of a digital strategy for schools include:
Infrastructure and Technology Integration
A robust IT infrastructure stands as the cornerstone of any successful digital strategy within educational institutions. It requires essential hardware such as computers, tablets, and interactive displays, alongside establishing a secure, high-speed network, to effectively support digital initiatives in schools. Investing in technology can be costly; however, teaming up with technology vendors like Lenovo, who provide device seeding for cutting-edge products like the Lenovo K14 G2 Intel-powered by the Intel® Core™ i7 U Series processor (13th Gen), can help.
Technology integration must also go beyond device presence, strategically including digital tools across classrooms and administrative functions. From interactive whiteboards to educational software, schools should purposefully integrate technology to improve teaching methods and student learning.
Digital Literacy Development for Educators
For digital strategies to be successful, educators must be empowered with the necessary skills and knowledge to utilize technology in classrooms effectively. Digital literacy development initiatives are essential in providing teachers with the confidence and expertise to integrate digital tools into their teaching methodologies.
As a trusted partner in the transformation journey, Lenovo has established the Lenovo EdVision Community program in Malaysia to hone technological literacy and digital skills among students while providing resources and support for teachers to prepare them for a more digital educational landscape. Our program offers IT-enablement product training and webinars for teachers, along with easy-to-use total education solutions encompassing hardware, software, and services to ensure a seamless education experience. Malaysian teachers can register on the Edvision Community website to be part of the community for free.
When teachers are well-prepared, they can craft engaging, and dynamic learning experiences tailored to meet the needs of 21st-century learners.
Collaboration and Communication
Digital strategies should prioritize seamless communication and collaboration among students, teachers, parents, and school staff. Technology tools like virtual classrooms and parent-teacher communication platforms facilitate real-time communication and promote engagement.
Furthermore, strategies should extend collaboration beyond schools by leveraging technology to connect with experts and resources globally.
By adopting these digital strategies, schools can equip students with the essential skills and competencies needed to excel in a technology-driven society.
This article is contributed by Ms. Joanne Weng, Sales Director at Synology
In today’s business landscape, managing extensive amounts of data has become crucial for enterprises across various industries. Whether optimizing manufacturing operations, analyzing consumer behaviour in retail, safeguarding financial data, or dealing with rapid data growth in the media sector, the challenges of data management persist. To address these challenges effectively, businesses must seek cost-efficient solutions that offer scalability, ease of use, and robust security measures.
Synology, a leading provider of data management solutions, presents a comprehensive approach to addressing the demands of data storage and protection. Leveraging insights gained from serving over 150,000 clients worldwide, Synology offers tailored solutions that precisely meet the needs of businesses in Malaysia. Here are three crucial aspects for evaluating costs when implementing massive storage solutions:
1. Scalability: Anticipate Data Growth Patterns
Businesses must assess their current storage needs and anticipate future growth to select appropriate hardware without overspending. Synology identifies two main types of companies—those with substantial existing data or clear estimates of future storage needs for the next 3-5 years, and those with limited current data and uncertain growth rates, requiring gradual capacity expansion based on actual needs.
2. Ease of use: Prioritize Ease of Management and Software Integration
After selecting hardware to accommodate future data growth, businesses must also assess software compatibility and user-friendliness for both current and prospective IT operations and maintenance.
Numerous businesses opt for large-scale storage devices as their file servers or centralized data repositories for endpoint protection. These solutions necessitate diverse management features, login mechanisms, and platforms for user access or backup services. Nonetheless, not all solutions seamlessly integrate hardware and software, and some may incur additional licensing or subscription expenses, which can accumulate over time.
Synology tackles this challenge by crafting user-friendly data management and protection software applications, specifically designed to streamline the learning process for IT professionals. Furthermore, these applications come bundled with Synology’s hardware purchase, offering both budget flexibility and alternative deployment options for businesses.
3. Robust security measures: Ensure Comprehensive Data protection
Lastly, when storing large and critical data volumes, businesses must ensure the security mechanisms to prevent breaches or loss due to accidents or malicious attacks. Synology emphasizes two key aspects: hardware availability and data protection measurements.
Businesses should consider whether the solution offers high availability mechanisms, multi-path redundancy, and support for Out-of-Band Management for remote access. Additionally, comprehensive backup solutions and advanced security features like Synology offers, Write Once Read Many (WORM) and immutable backup technology, are imperative to meet evolving cybersecurity requirements.
Toyota Motor Vietnam Selects Synology As Its Data Management Partner
The partnership between Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) and Synology serves as a testament to the highlighted benefits of implementing Synology’s solutions. By upgrading its data storage system to a petabyte scale, TMV enhances operational efficiency, data recovery capabilities, and system stability while significantly reducing data protection costs.
“Synology’s storage solution has increased our business resilience” Mr Bui Ta Hoan, Head of Information Technology at TMV, attests to the effectiveness of Synology’s storage solution in enhancing operational efficiency and data protection. Through Synology’s technology, TMV ensures continuous production line operation, secures sensitive data and achieves substantial cost savings.
In an era driven by data, businesses in global as well as Malaysia require robust and cost-effective solutions to manage their expanding data volumes efficiently. Synology offers a comprehensive suite of solutions tailored to address the unique challenges faced by enterprises across various sectors, empowering them to thrive in the digital age.
This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager at Lenovo Malaysia.
Those of us in the manufacturing industry have already come to terms with a difficult truth: manufacturing output is set to shrink by 3.2% this year. Stringent regulations and decreased consumer demand are proving very trying in a recessionary environment.
And many manufacturers still find themselves short-staffed. They are tasked with doing more with less. Upping output without the talent and financial resources they relied on in the past.
I see only one way forward: doing whatever we possibly can to create a streamlined working environment. Organizations that get hung up on what they don’t have will fall behind. Smart organizations think laterally. They understand that they have the means to effect change on their environments. And that seemingly small changes quickly add up.
Creating a streamlined, productive environment is the way forward. Increasing operational efficiency has never been as crucial as it is at this moment in time. Organizations that take action to create this kind of environment now will reap the rewards and come out stronger.
The three building blocks of an efficient environment
1. Making the most of your assets with IT and OT convergence
As a reminder, IT is Information Technology, tools that process data. OT is Operational Technology, tools for managing physical assets. IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) technology can bring IT and OT together. With IIoT tools like smart sensors, digital twins, and machine learning, physical assets come to life in the IT space. When leadership can see crucial data and insights on how machines are doing, they can ensure that they make the most of them. A great example of a product that can assist with making the most of your assets through IT convergence is the ThinkPad® X1 Carbon Gen 11, powered by Intel® Core™ i5-1335U processor (13th Gen), built for what IT needs and users want.
Utility consumption monitoring is a great example of the benefits of converged IT and OT. Electricity, water, and gas make up a significant part of any manufacturer’s budget. Sensors on the factory floor can detect when a process consumes more power than necessary. This data is then acted on in real time – and the process is automatically adjusted until it’s optimal. For example, temperature and water use can automatically be controlled to create an environment that supports efficient energy use. Where equipment needs to be warmer to operate, they can automatically be switched on when the time’s exactly right – eliminating the wastage that comes with guessing the wrong timing. Sensors that detect compressed-air leaks allows leadership to act before more energy goes to waste.
The cumulative savings tend to make a profound difference to utility bills. Even better: IIoT helps manufacturers get closer to their ESG goals and safeguard the environment.
2. Staying a step ahead with predictive maintenance
The technological advances in predictive maintenance are some of the most exciting I’ve seen in my career. Instead of waiting for machines to break down, we can now proactively prevent them from reaching a state of disrepair. There’s now no reason for manufacturers to be wrong-footed by ‘cranky’ or ‘moody’ machinery.
In order to reap the benefits of predictive maintenance, manufacturers need to have the right solutions in place. High-quality sensors, reliable and fast connectivity, and servers that can process asset data and allow it to be analyzed, fast.
Naturally, I’m a big advocate of Lenovo’s ThinkEdge servers, powered by Intel® and enabled by AI. These servers have the processing power required to make quick work of asset data. They are rugged and sturdy and can withstand extreme temperatures, dust, and vibration. My clients store these servers on the floor, close to where data is generated. This reduces latency between data collection and a resulting insight – allowing leadership to act fast when an AI alerts them of a potential issue or a worrisome trend.
3. Keep quality high with virtual inspection
In manufacturing, high-quality products are what we live for, and inspection is a crucial process for any manufacturer. More and more, I’m seeing manual quality assurance become a thing of the past.
Continuous, virtual inspection means that manufacturers can track every process, part, and final product. If a quality issue arises on the floor, IIoT technology means that a real-time notification will trigger necessary corrective actions for related processes or down-the-line tasks – including dynamically adjusting product runs.
This kind of intelligent inspection leads to time and money saved. Fixing potential issues before they lead to defective products is obviously much less costly than tossing out goods that are not up to standard. But it’s more than that: a smart factory floor with integrated IT and OT means that AI is continuously learning to improve and streamline processes. This allows manufacturers to create products they can be proud of, keeping their customer experiences high while boosting their productivity. It’s a win-win.
This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager at Lenovo Malaysia
Production and manufacturing processes are becoming more complex and demanding as customers expect higher quality, lower cost, and faster delivery of products. To meet these challenges, manufacturers need to leverage the power of advanced technologies, such as high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and spatial computing. In this article, we will explore how a workstation can increase productivity for production and manufacturing processes by using spatial computing solutions, data science and client AI solutions, NVIDIA Omniverse, and remote workstation solutions. Examples of noteworthy workstation options include the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 G2, Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tower and the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Tower operating on Windows 11 Pro. Use Windows 11 Pro for Workstations to blaze through workloads with lag-free multitasking across your most demanding applications.
Spatial Computing Solutions
Spatial computing is a technology that can digitize the spatial relationships between machines, people, objects, and environments, and enable and optimize their operations and interactions. Spatial computing can help manufacturers with product design, quality control, safety, and efficiency. For example, spatial computing can enable digital twins, which are virtual replicas of physical assets or processes that can be used for simulation, testing, and optimization. Spatial computing can also facilitate augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications, which can enhance the visualization and collaboration of design and engineering teams, as well as provide immersive training and guidance for workers. A workstation that can handle spatial computing tasks should have a powerful GPU, a large memory, and a high-resolution display. A possible choice is the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Mobile Workstation, which has an NVIDIA® RTX 5000 Ada graphics card, an Intel® Core™ i9-13950HX processor, and up to 192GB of memory.
Data Science and Client AI Solutions
Data science and client AI solutions can help manufacturers analyze and utilize the vast amounts of data generated by production and manufacturing processes, such as sensor data, quality data, customer data, and market data. Data science and client AI solutions can help manufacturers with demand forecasting, inventory management, process optimization, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and customer satisfaction. For example, data science and client AI solutions can help manufacturers create and fine-tune foundation models, which are large and versatile AI models that can perform multiple tasks, such as natural language processing, computer vision, speech recognition, and more. Data science and client AI solutions can also help manufacturers interact with and explore data through conversational interfaces, visualizations, and summarizations. A workstation that can handle data science and client AI tasks should have a fast and reliable processor, a large and expandable memory, and a flexible and scalable storage system. A possible choice is the Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tower Workstation, which has a 13th Gen Intel® Core™ processor, up to 128GB of memory, and up to 32TB of storage.
NVIDIA Omniverse
NVIDIA Omniverse is a platform that enables the creation and operation of complex, AI-enabled virtual environments, or digital twins, for factory and warehouse design. These virtual replicas facilitate real-time collaboration among teams and are the key to unleashing operational efficiencies with predictive analysis and process automation. NVIDIA Omniverse allows manufacturers to import and export data from various sources, such as CAD tools, simulation software, and IoT devices, and create realistic and interactive simulations of production and manufacturing scenarios. NVIDIA Omniverse also supports ray tracing, physics, and sound rendering, which can enhance the quality and realism of the virtual environments. A workstation that can handle NVIDIA Omniverse tasks should have a powerful graphics card, a high-performance CPU, and a large memory. A possible choice is the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Tower Workstation, which has up to 64 cores CPU, a 10Gb Ethernet port, and plenty of storage capabilities.
Remote Workstation Solutions
Remote workstation solutions can help manufacturers access their physical workstations from virtually anywhere with rich graphics acceleration via leading remote visualization tools. Remote workstation solutions can help manufacturers with remote design, engineering, and collaboration, as well as reduce the cost and maintenance of physical workstations. Remote workstation solutions can also provide security and compliance features, such as encryption, authentication, and auditing. A workstation that can handle remote workstation tasks should have a low-latency frame encode, accelerated desktop capture, headless graphics support, and leading pro-ISV certifications, like the majority of the Workstations from Lenovo. The Lenovo remote TGX solution is the best way to connect to your Workstation cluster from anywhere in the world.
Wrap up
A workstation can increase productivity for production and manufacturing processes by using various technologies, such as spatial computing, data science and client AI, NVIDIA Omniverse, and remote workstation solutions. These technologies can help manufacturers improve their design, engineering, simulation, production, and collaboration workflows, as well as reduce their costs, risks, and environmental impact. A workstation that can support these technologies should have a combination of hardware and software features, such as a powerful GPU, a fast CPU, large memory, flexible storage, and a reliable network. Lenovo offers a range of workstation solutions that can meet the needs of different production and manufacturing scenarios, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Intel (16″) Mobile Workstation, the Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tower Workstation, the Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Tower Workstation, and the TGX Remote Workstation.
This article is contributed by Márton Kiss, Vice President of Product Success at Graphisoft
Today, the once-solid blueprints of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) have morphed into fluid sketches, adapting to the evolving customer needs and technological advancements. As we march into 2024, the industry is expected to become more digital, data-driven, and sustainable. Every innovation, from the most intuitive design software to the most earth-friendly material, is bound to fill the canvas of buildings for a better future.
Here, we will delve into the vibrant palette of trends and key areas that may help navigate this transformative path in the AEC industry.
1. Bridging the digitalization gap
Despite being slow to embrace digital transformation, the AEC sector has shown promising signs in recent years, with technology adoption and awareness of its benefits steadily rising. However, a noticeable gap emerges when transitioning from the design to the construction phase. While current tools enable detailed digital models, the actualization often relies heavily on on-site workers, creating a disconnect in the integrated workflow.
Bridging this gap and driving the push towards greater digitization and automation requires a two-pronged approach – first, fostering a demand for digital design practices, and second, reducing legal and regulatory barriers that impede the implementations. Additionally, a global trend towards collaborative building lifecycles is gaining momentum. As the integration across the building lifecycle strengthens, so does the impetus for comprehensive digitalization, highlighting the critical role of quality design in this process.
2. Unlocking the potential of BIM
While Asia Pacific trails developed nations in Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption, progress is evident. Governments like Malaysia, aiming for 80% adoption by 2025, are actively driving its implementation due to proven productivity and competitive advantages—however, BIM’s true potential lies beyond mere data and 3D models.
It is about integrated design, where architects, engineers, builders, owners, and technology providers collaborate within a single model, eliminating the inefficiencies of traditional handoffs and discrepancies. This ‘single source of truth’ fosters early alignment of building systems and informed decision-making across disciplines. At Graphisoft, we champion OPEN BIM, a future-proof approach to AEC collaboration. OPEN BIM ensures workflow transparency, longevity, and data accessibility for built assets. Recent developments, like seamlessstructural engineering integration andcloud collaboration, reflect our commitment to this collaborative future.
BIM will continue to see greater interoperability and capabilities. However, the key to maximizing what it can offer eventually lies in fostering a culture of openness and information sharing.
3. Driving the shift towards sustainable design
The green buildings market is expected to cross USD1,948 billion by the end of 2036, with Asia Pacific estimated to account for 32%[1] Sustainability pressures are pushing the industry towards innovative materials and energy-efficient design. Net-zero buildings will remain a focus, achieving energy savings through renewables, smart design, and storage. Building performance and management will also be key, tying into the digitalization trend for optimal efficiency.
Cost-effectiveness, however, remains crucial. While adopting these practices might seem daunting, firms can start small. Explore concepts, experiment with materials, and utilize BIM as a bridge between elements. Integrating building systems, structures, and architecture early on makes informed decisions about materials, shapes, and even programs possible. Ultimately, the effectiveness of this shift requires a closer alignment between design decisions and long-term outcomes, driven by the overarching goals of sustainability and efficiency.
4. Making the most of AI and other emerging technologies
The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) goes beyond automation. It is becoming the industry’s secret weapon, empowering professionals across the project lifecycle. From design optimization with photorealistic visualization to predictive analysis and BIM integration, AI transforms how we overcome challenges and make informed decisions.
The future is not just about scratching the surface with AI. We see a convergence of technologies, where Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) enhances collaborative BIM workflows, and digital twins evolve beyond virtual models, becoming real-time data oracles. This will redefine our standards for efficiency, accuracy and profitability, allowing designers to focus on their true value – creativity. Graphisoft remains at the forefront of this revolution, investing in emerging technologies that assist and empower, not replace.
5. Emphasis on continuous learning
The future sprints, not strolls, and therefore upskilling is an essential ticket to the ride. But it is not a solo journey. Organizations must be bold co-pilots, investing in the latest tools, processes, and training. Fear of the unknown is natural, but the changing roles of AEC professionals are inevitable. Technology like AI excels in crunching data and optimizing processes but still lacks the human touch that breathes life into novel designs. And that is the true power of real architects – crafting beauty that is not just aesthetically pleasing but also functional and meaningful. Technology is the hammer, but people are the architects of change. Those who embrace continuous learning will be the ones shaping the future of AEC, brick by innovative brick, pixel by inspiring pixel.
The future of the built environment demands active participation. Architects, engineers and contractors must embrace digital tools and progress alongside advancements. BIM will be their blueprint, green principles their guiding star, and emerging technologies their canvas extension. The opportunity to create great architectures is boundless when we successfully integrate people, workflows and real-time information.
[1] Green Buildings Market Size & Share, Research Nester (Nov 2023)
In an era marked by swift technological progress which is often seen as disruptors to jobs, it’s time to shift our perspective. As the job landscape undergoes transformation, many individuals find themselves standing at a crossroads in the evolving workforce. Instead of fearing obsolescence, people are embracing the new era of technology-enabled learning and reskilling. In Malaysia, 96% of employers are either currently using or planning to use GenAI technology in 2024. This means that employees will now need to further build their skills to keep up with evolving job descriptions. Fortunately, a wide array of online courses, skilling content, AI-guided career counselling, and virtual reality simulations are readily available to assist employees in advancing or pivoting their career paths.
Welcome to the era where technology is spearheading a reskilling and upskilling revolution that transforms careers. To access this, you don’t have to go to a university and attend classes in person – today, there are a variety of options, from online courses to complimentary upskilling apps available to anyone seeking it.
Unlocking the potential of upskilling and reskilling in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and is home to the third-largest labour force which is predominantly young. In Malaysia, the labour force makes up 16.97 million persons, indicating that there is an enormous potential for skilled labour. Yet, job participation, skill development and productivity levels are still lagging behind. Over the past decade, labour force participation in some Southeast Asian countries has gradually increased, while others have seen their rates fall significantly. What’s more, high rates of informal employment and a lack of support for older workers has slowed the region’s shift to a knowledge-based economy.
Research by PwC indicates that upskilling and reskilling, with a focus on digital-first capabilities, can potentially boost Southeast Asia’s GDP by 4% by 2030, creating nearly 680,000 new jobs. Importantly, it helps to create an agile and resilient workforce in the face of economic uncertainty and geopolitical strife.
Technology as a learning tool
In light of these circumstances, we urgently need to rethink our approach to upskilling. Lifelong learning programs, utilising technology to deliver online content, offer greater benefits to adults and older professionals seeking fresh challenges beyond the limited courses offered by traditional education institutions. In markets like Malaysia, digital skills are the top focus for employees, with most still prioritising basic digital skills (83.1%).
Technology empowers learners, giving them control and personalisation. This allows them to set their own pace since lectures and materials are pre-recorded, or they can participate in virtual lessons via online platforms such as Jobstreet’s Career Hub powered by seekMax, eliminating the need for in-person attendance. Through online platform learning such as this, the learner will be able to focus on gaining the skills they want to prioritise to be more suited for their next job.
In comparison to full-time universities that emphasise rigorous academics, upskilling and lifelong learning institutions provide easily digestible, bite-sized content for rapid knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, these modern educational models are designed to accommodate busy schedules and shorter attention spans, placing a strong emphasis on accessibility and convenience.
What’s particularly significant is that these accessible platforms empower learners to develop both hard and soft skills. For instance, individuals in today’s workforce can equip themselves with essential skills such as salary negotiation and leadership.
Enhancing the upskilling experience
Once considered staid, lifelong learning platforms are continuously innovating to improve the social aspects of their programs. To do this, many programs promote learning through collaboration and communication. Talent embarking on a lifelong learning journey can engage in group learning activities to interact with course material, forums, quizzes, masterclasses, or online discussions.
With the rise of online communities, it’s easier than ever for a working professional to gain relevant and practical insights from like-minded peers or industry experts who can help them navigate their careers by providing tailored advice.
This is exactly the sort of positive learning environment we’re creating with Jobstreet’s Career Hub powered by seekMAX, SEEK’s free innovative in-app learning and community platform that’s designed for on-the-go learners – with access to a wealth of content as well as industry experts. Since launch, nearly 1 in 3 monthly active users of the Jobstreet platform have already started using seekMAX as a tool to learn new skills and share insights amongst the community.
As the world’s workforce continues to evolve – lifelong learning platforms are crucial to personal growth and professional success. Lean into the opportunities they offer to stay relevant and competitive. The public and private sectors must also encourage this mindset in order to build a future-proof workforce.
This article is contributed by Lim Paik Wan, Country Manager of Wise Malaysia
As the world rekindles its wanderlust post-pandemic, a silent revolution has begun beneath the surface—a digital renaissance reshaping every aspect of our travels.
Recent data reveals that 7 out of 10 Malaysians use digital tools to meticulously plan their travels. They rely on websites and apps to arrange nearly every aspect of their journeys, from booking flights and accommodations to planning activities. This isn’t just a fleeting trend, from the moment plans are conceived to the final steps of the journey, technology is shaping every aspect of travel, including birthing a new era of digital nomads who work remotely and simultaneously travel whenever, wherever they want.
This paradigm shift reflects a desire to maximise time off, achieve greater work-life balance, and redefine the conventional boundaries of traditional employment.
Rise of the Digital Nomad Lifestyle
The term ‘digital nomad’ is not anew concept, but the pandemic has certainly flipped the way that employees work.As organisations become more accepting of where, when and how people work – we’re seeing an influx of digital nomads heading to getaways with only a laptop, a backpack, a smartphone, and a sense of adventure. There’s a noticeable surge in demand for places that cater to remote work, beyond traditional tourist hotspots. Typically, these places offer travellers the opportunity to go exploring after work hours or set up their workspace at desirable locations, like the beach.
Several countries are proactively responding to this shift by introducing digital nomad visas, including Portugal, which has issued 2,600 such visas, and Greece, with 1,693 granted. Closer to home, Bali recently announced a collaboration with Airbnb, allowing visitors to work remotely for six months, without paying income tax. Not to be left behind – even Malaysia has introduced its version of the visa called De Rantau which allows foreign and local talents to work and live in the country for three to 12 months. Employers are also offering flexible, work-from-anywhere options. Wise, for example, has a Mobile Wiser programme that lets employees work remotely from almost anywhere in the world for up to 90 days.
However, the possibility of all this freedom presents challenges for businesses and employers, including payments, legal, tax and cultural issues. Any first step requires businesses to restructure themselves around roles, employee locations, travel durations and employee education. A well-designed global mobility plan is essential for employers to navigate complexities and avoid unintended payments and tax issues – and business leaders must stay updated on global tax and compliance laws.
The Power of Technology
Despite these considerations, it appears that remote work is here to stay, with one study of 3,000 remote workers revealing that 90% of them would like to continue working remotely. In the face of technological advancements, this is entirely possible today – tools like Google Drive, Figma, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams give workers remote access to data and files to complete their tasks and collaborate across different functions.
Traditionally, managing money across borders has been challenging because there isn’t a truly international bank account in place. But now, with strong digital payment solutions like Wise, remote workers can receive and send money all over the world, without any hassle. Furthermore, freelancing platforms like Fiverr and Upwork provide tools and features that allow them to manage their work, including invoicing.
When it comes to handling currency differences, Wise stands out by offering low, transparent fees and using the fair, mid-market exchange rate. Digital nomads can access account details in 10 different currencies via their Wise account, enabling them to receive funds in these currencies from any location and send funds to over 160 countries – an ideal solution for individuals constantly on the move. Additionally, they can hold over 40 currencies & transact in the local currency with the Wise multi-currency account and prepaid card, allowing users to move, spend and manage money in different currencies within one platform.
As digital nomads lead increasingly borderless lives, the need for faster, cheaper and more transparent solutions that transcend geographical boundaries becomes paramount, especially when it comes to payments. Businesses need to prepare for this shift by actively harnessing the available technology that enables it and putting in place cultures and processes to adeptly meet the ever-growing demands of a digital-nomad workforce. Ultimately, business leaders need to recognise that the digital nomad trend is here to stay and to obtain the best talent, one needs to open their horizons to new ways of working.
This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia
While I think most of us would expect large organizations to include forward-thinking technology in their overall business strategies, we’re starting to see this with SMBs as well, including relatively small companies, to different degrees around the world.
Not only do customers expect customized on-demand services, so do employees.
Businesses therefore seek to leverage technology to drive faster results and adapt to new market trends. At the heart of this strategic thinking is understanding the new roles emerging technology has around taking on the tasks of time-consuming day-to-day activities so that high-value and skilled executives and employees can focus on driving growth engines.
In a way, we are back to where computing first started, which was to automate processes and make them simpler and faster. What is different today of course is that technologies are so much more advanced, and are continually improving and increasingly embedded into strategy development – very different from the older business model where technology was a cost assigned to operations.
This is therefore about taking teams to the next level in our increasingly AI and digitally-driven world, requiring businesses to find a balance between implementing emerging technology and providing personalized experiences for their customers.
In assessing which technologies perhaps play the biggest parts, I suggest the following.
Hi-speed network infrastructure
Connectivity is clearly essential to any distributed workforce. Without it, device technology is expensive and inefficient, collaboration breaks down, productivity drops, and customers and employees go somewhere else. Wireless technologies like Wi-Fi 6E and 5G will be instrumental in delivering high bandwidth, ultra-low latency connectivity, and power to devices all over the world and will expand the landscape of solutions for businesses that want to grow.
Design and engineering teams must also offer new possibilities for thinner and more flexible designs for mobile employees working in hybrid workspaces. Companies like Lenovo are designing unique laptops with a built-in secondary e-Ink screen in the top cover or foldable displays that extend versatility and mobility. An example is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold operating on Windows 11 Pro. Use Windows 11 Pro for Workstations to blaze through workloads with lag-free multitasking across your most demanding applications.
The key here is technology equipped with always-on, always-connected capability.
Personal AI transformation
In the near future, PCs that currently provide AI-enabled enhanced video, audio, and security capabilities will transform into full AI PC devices. They will not only have the power to provide a personalized digital assistant experience but also learn over time, adapt and predict tasks, and offer solutions for improving workload management using intuitive natural language interaction.
Personal AI technology is expected to be instrumental in helping workers maintain high levels of productivity while also promoting healthy and sustainable work habits. By assisting with task prioritization and workload management, Personal AI can offer more predictive and insightful answers to questions or tasks.
While Cloud LLMs and Personal AI may differ in functionalities, they can offer diverse and complementary benefits to different users. Used together, they can provide a more comprehensive and personalized smart assistant experience that will accelerate speed and efficiency at every stage of workflow, ultimately helping businesses gain a significant competitive edge.
AI-enabled services and products
The last six months have seen the world wake up to the opportunities of AI-enabled services. For example, some workplaces have incorporated AI chatbots to provide employees with resources around the clock, adding convenience for those seeking answers to common questions about employee benefits, scheduling, insurance, vacation availability, and sick time. By allowing some HR processes to be accomplished without human intervention, chatbots offer a better allocation of HR staff members’ time toward addressing more complex employee inquiries. The use of such AI chatbots however has raised concern in some areas. Since most are public cloud-based resources, the issues of data integrity, security, and privacy are crucial considerations. AI services can help assess and guide the appropriate solutions and areas of investment in regard to Cloud, Private, or Personal AI models.
And we are already seeing that companies that smartly adapt to incorporating AI-enabled services and products have a competitive advantage. AI and machine learning can enable targeted data analysis, so employees can focus on creative and social tasks that AI simply cannot.
To take organizations to the next level, businesses must strategically implement technology such as infrastructure, cloud, and AI tools that will help them scale. Businesses need the ability to integrate new technologies and workloads efficiently and seamlessly, often within resource, budget, and capital restrictions.
That in turn requires new strategic thinking around the impact and opportunities that emerging technology enables.
This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia
The manufacturing industry is shifting from hands-on to virtual with AR & VR, to increase efficiency, enhance employee training & cut costs.
As augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies expand beyond the gaming world, they are seeing increased awareness and adoption across a variety of industries – particularly manufacturing. In an era dominated by data and one that is constantly shifting to adapt to the needs of the new workforce, emerging technologies have the opportunity to completely disrupt the manufacturing industry as we know it.
AR/VR enables a new generation of workers to be smarter, faster, and more capable by connecting people and computers in real-time, hands-free scenarios. This new wave of immersive computing enables workers to access technical knowledge and data on the go, interact with 3D models to collaborate and innovate with peers and dive into digital experiences that enhance engagement and learning. By empowering employees to do more, AR/VR technologies allow enterprises to solve problems in unexpected and inventive ways.
Lenovo’s ThinkReality solutions are making it easier than ever to build, deploy and manage enterprise AR/VR solutions. ThinkReality is a scalable cloud and device-agnostic software platform supported by Lenovo’s expert consulting, deployment and support services. As the global manufacturing industry prepares to adjust to new challenges and opportunities, ThinkReality is ready to support it.
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Manufacturing’s New Reality
The manufacturing industry now has approximately 2.72 million workers in Malaysia, accounting for about 18.1% of the workforce, and continuing to grow. With a transitioning workforce, globally, the manufacturing industry is forecasting a deficit of 7.9 million workers by 2030, resulting in an unrealized economic output of $607.1 billion (RM 2.8 trillion) if current initiatives remain unchanged.
According to Korn Ferry’s Future of Work study, “Developing countries with strong manufacturing centres may begin to struggle due to significant talent shortages – by 2030, Brazil could suffer manufacturing worker deficits of 1.7 million and Indonesia could see worker shortages reach 1.6 million. The United States already struggles with shortfalls in highly skilled manufacturing talent and this deficit is expected to increase over the next decade, reaching a 2030 shortfall of 383,000 such workers, equivalent to more than 10% of the highly skilled workforce.”
As a result, the manufacturing industry, which has traditionally been slow to evolve, is moving at rapid speeds towards AR/VR integration to help solve for the skilled workforce gap. IDC forecasts worldwide spending on AR/VR will reach $160 billion (RM 759.7 billion) this year, up significantly from the $16.8 billion (RM 78.8 billion) forecast for 2019, with the five-year compound annual growth rate for AR/VR spending reaching 78.3%.
The uptick in AR/VR enterprise growth will be a direct result of manufacturing’s growth, where companies are using technology to boost productivity, increase security and ensure accuracy in the industry.
Hands-on Training
According to Deloitte, the number of new jobs in manufacturing is expected to accelerate and grow by 1.96 million workers by 2028. This job surge calls for the industry to keep up with the demand for new talent and to quickly adapt and integrate new technologies—to boost both revenue and employee productivity.
Technicians need to quickly adapt to this environment and determine efficiencies across their entire operations. One such way is by enabling new technologies that enhance employee training.
In most manufacturing environments, hands-on training is difficult because shutting down equipment or a production line to brief new employees is unrealistic. Additionally, there are certain pieces of equipment that might be too expensive to purchase just to dedicate solely to training new hires.
However, with VR, on-the-field training is possible, as new employees can be placed in a virtual environment that mimics the work they would be doing on the ground. Allowing employees to learn through real-life experiences leads to increased knowledge retention and gives them the ability to practice complex scenarios they would normally not have access to in traditional training environments. The technology also allows employees to absorb the information through real-time application, save time in traditional forms of training and equip them with the expertise they need to fill the industry skills gap. Companies also benefit because virtual training prevents disruption in normal operations.
Safety & Maintenance
Being able to train employees from a distance boosts learning, saves employers money long-term and, most importantly, provides a safer environment. While company manuals and training courses exist, there needs to be other resources employees can take advantage of to effectively prepare for the variety of high-risk situations they might face over their careers. With AR technology, employees are able to experience potentially dangerous scenarios repeatedly, helping to avoid injury and equipment damage.
As an example, aerospace manufacturers are using AR technology to increase efficiency and improve quality control at their installation and inspection facilities. Employees use augmented reality glasses to see digital mockups over images of real systems to identify faulty parts which helps ensure safety and speeds up the maintenance process. AR helps ensure accuracy while also speeding up the process of daily inspections.
Worker Productivity & Business Efficiency
The result of a more experiential onboarding and training process is employees who are more prepared for their daily tasks, which leads to increased productivity. Beyond training, AR/VR solutions help businesses work smarter and more efficiently. For example, manufacturing company leaders can use VR to reskill their employees to learn new skills, or alternatively, AR solutions can give engineers access to interactive 3D renderings to more quickly assemble a specific component.
Additionally, over the years these technologies have evolved to help businesses be even more efficient. For example, to adapt to the increasingly mobile and technologically-driven workforce, these solutions now come in the form of hands-free head-worn devices that can be used to deploy both simple and complex AR solutions for enterprises – reducing error rates, improving time to build a system and minimizing costs.
Looking Ahead
ThinkReality is conceived for today’s world and the future. The Lenovo ThinkReality platform provides a proven, scalable, and streamlined path from proof of concept to productivity for enterprise AR/VR applications. The platform is a complete solution that lets you focus on problem-solving by working across diverse hardware and software. Build, deploy, and manage applications and content on a global scale, with global support.
While AR/VR technologies are still facing integration roadblocks in the industry, they hold a substantial role in propelling the manufacturing industry forward in the coming years. Ensuring employees are properly trained, productive and safe is just the starting point for the future of AR/VR in the manufacturing industry. As we look ahead, enterprises will continue to see the value of AR/VR in enhancing operations. By building in smarter technologies into the enterprise ecosystem, businesses will transform the manufacturing industry as we see it today.
New technologies can take many forms. Often, they come from generally straightforward, incremental product advances over the course of years; think the Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) process shrinks that underpinned many of the advances in computing over the past decades. Not easy, but relatively predictable from a high-level enough view.
Other shifts are less straightforward to predict. Even if a technology is not completely novel, it may require the right conditions and advances to come together so it can flourish in the mainstream. Both server virtualization and containerization fall into this category.
What’s next? Someone once said that predictions are hard, especially about the future. But here are some areas that Red Hat has been keeping an eye on and that you should likely have on your radar as well. This is hardly a comprehensive list and it may include some surprises, but, it is a combination of both early stage and more fleshed-out developments on the horizon. The first few are macro trends that pervade many different aspects of computing. Others are more specific to hardware and software computing infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)
On the one hand, AI/ML belongs on any list about where computing is headed. Whether coding tools, self-tuning infrastructure, or improved observability of systems, AI/ML is clearly a critical part of the computing landscape going forward.
What’s harder to predict is exactly what forms and applications of AI will deliver compelling business value, many of which will be interesting in narrow domains, and will likely turn out to be almost good enough over a lengthy time horizon.
Much of the success of AI to date has rested on training deep neural networks (NNs) of increasing size (as measured by the number of weights and parameters) on increasingly large datasets using backpropagation, and supported by the right sort of fast hardware optimized for linear algebra operations—graphics processing units (GPUs) in particular. Large Language Models (LLMs) are one prominent, relatively recent example.
There have been many clear wins, but AI has struggled with more generalized systems that interface with an unconstrained physical world—as in the case of autonomous driving, for example. There are also regulatory and legal concerns relating to explainability, bias and even overall economic impact. Some experts also wonder if broad gaps in our collective understanding of the many areas covered by cognitive science that lay outside the direct focus of machine learning may (or may not) be needed for AI to handle many types of applications.
What’s certain is that we will be surprised.
Automation
In a sense, automation is a class of application to which AI brings more sophisticated capabilities. For example, Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed with IBM watsonx Code Assistant is one recent example of a generative AI service designed by and for Ansible automators, operators and developers.
Automation is increasingly necessary because hardware and software stacks are getting more complex. What’s less obvious is how improved observability tooling and AI-powered automation tools that make use of that more granular data plays out in detail.
At the least, it will lead us to think about questions such as: Where are the big wins in dynamic automated system tuning that will most improve IT infrastructure efficiency? What’s the scope of the automated environment? How much autonomy will we be prepared to give to the automation, and what circuit breakers and fallbacks will be considered best practice?
Over time, we’ve reduced manual human intervention in processes such as CI/CD pipelines. But we’ve done so in the context of evolving best practices in concert with the increased automation.
Security
Security is a broad and deep topic (and one of deep concern across the industry). It encompasses zero trust, software supply chains, digital sovereignty and yes, AI—both as a defensive tool and an offensive weapon. But one particular topic is worth highlighting here.
Confidential computing is a security technology that protects data in use, meaning that it is protected while it is being processed. This is in contrast to traditional encryption technologies, which protect data at rest (when it is stored) and data in transit (when it is being transmitted over a network).
Confidential computing works by using a variety of techniques to isolate data within a protected environment, such as a trusted execution environment (TEE) or a secure enclave. It’s of particular interest when running sensitive workloads in an environment over which you don’t have full control, such as a public cloud. It’s relatively new technology but is consistent with an overall trend towards more security controls, not fewer.
RISC-V
While there are examples of open hardware designs, such as the Open Compute Project, it would be hard to make the case for there having been a successful open processor relevant to server hardware.
However, major silicon vendors and cloud providers are exploring and adopting the RISC-V free-to-license and open processor instruction set architecture (ISA). It follows a different approach from past open processor efforts. For one thing, it was open source from the beginning and is not tied to any single vendor. For another, it was designed to be extensible and implementation-agnostic. It allows for the development of new embedded technologies implemented upon FPGAs as well as the manufacture of microcontrollers, microprocessors and specialized data processing units (DPUs).
Its impact is more nascent in the server space, but it has been gaining momentum. The architecture has also seen considerable standardization work to balance the flexibility of extensions with the fragmentation they can bring. RISC-V profiles are a set of standardized subsets of the RISC-V ISA. They are designed to make sure that hardware implementers and software developers can intersect with an interface built around a set of extensions with a bounded amount of flexibility designed to support well-defined categories of systems and applications.
Platform software
Perhaps one of the most intriguing questions is what happens at the lower levels of the server infrastructure software stack—roughly the operating system on a single shared memory server and the software that orchestrates workloads across many of these servers connected over a network.
It is probably easiest to start with what is unlikely to change in fundamental ways over the next decade. Linux has been around for more than 30 years; Unix more than 50, with many basic concepts dating to Multics about ten years prior.
That is a long time in the computer business. But it also argues for the overall soundness and adaptability of the basic approach taken by most modern operating systems—and the ability to evolve Linux when changes have been needed. That adaptation will continue by taking advantage of reducing overheads by selectively offloading workloads to FPGAs and other devices such as edge servers. There are also opportunities to reduce transition overheads for performance-critical applications; the Unikernel Linux project—a joint effort involving professors, PhD students and engineers at the Boston University-based Red Hat Collaboratory—demonstrates one direction such optimizations could take.
More speculative is the form that collections of computing resources might take and how they will be managed. Over the past few decades, these resources primarily took the form of masses of x86 servers. Some specialized hardware is used for networking, storage and other functions, but CMOS process shrinks meant that for the most part, it was easier, cheaper and faster to just wait for the next x86 generation than to buy some unproven specialized design.
However, with performance gains associated with general-purpose process shrinks decelerating—and maybe even petering out at some point—specialized hardware that more efficiently meets the needs of specific workload types starts to look more attractive. The use of GPUs for ML workloads is probably the most obvious example, but is not the only one.
The challenge is that developers are mostly not increasing in number or skill. Better development tools can help to some degree, but it will also become more important to abstract away the complexity of more specialized and more diverse hardware.
What might this look like? A new abstraction/virtualization layer? An evolution of Kubernetes to better understand hardware and cloud differences, the relationship between components and how to intelligently match relatively generic code to the most appropriate hardware or cloud? Or will we see something else that introduces completely new concepts?
Wrap up
What we can say about these predictions is that they’re probably a mixed bag. Some promising technologies may fizzle a bit. Others will bring major and generally unexpected changes in their wake, and something may pop onto the field at a time and from a place where we least expect it.
