This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia.
In a staggering feat of modern construction, crews in Wuhan, China built two emergency hospitals in 10 days shortly after the coronavirus outbreak began to relieve an overburdened hospital system for this unprecedented pandemic. For a small group of Lenovo employees, those days in late January will be forever remembered as a time of rapid and meaningful collaboration alongside colleagues and friends to meet a devastating technical challenge.
Emergency Construction Begins
As hospitals in Wuhan became instantly overcrowded with patients, construction began on January 23 of the Huoshenshan hospital and again on January 27 of the Leishenshan hospital. The day after emergency construction crews broke ground on the first hospital, Lenovo created an epidemic prevention and control team that decided to donate all the IT equipment needed by Huoshenshan.
Source: Business Insider
Delivering hundreds of computers, tablets, printers, and more to the hospital in such a short time—and in a way that would be safe for everyone involved—posed an incredible challenge to the team. Still, the scale and operational experience of Lenovo made the team optimistic they could contribute all the necessary parts within the aggressive 10-day timeline.“We just want to do something, to help by providing whatever IT equipment the hospital needed,” said Lu Yuan, General Manager of Lenovo’s Commercial Customer Business of Hunan and Hubei provinces (Wuhan is located in Hubei province).
Round the Clock Coordination
Source: Lenovo
Getting the products to the hospitals through a largely quarantined city was the first task, followed immediately by assembling IT and maintenance volunteers needed to make it all work on site. Lenovo’s after-sales service engineers from across the country, Xu Tan, Senior Manager of Lenovo Customers of Hubei and Wu Zhiyuan, Senior Sale Manager of Commercial Solutions volunteered and worked non stop to better equip the front-line medical staff for a better fight.
“The complex environment is far beyond imagination,” said Wu. “Under normal circumstances, with the speed of Lenovo, 15 people and 500 sets of equipment can be fully installed and commissioned in less than 24 hours. However, the 24-hour, non-stop construction requires coordination from multiple parts, such as communicating with the hospital’s organizer, establishing the on-site network, and syncing with tech experts at Lenovo headquarters.”
Wu continued, “In general circumstances, one PC is equipped with one printer, but for the hospital each medical PC needs to connect to three printers: a wristband printer, a case printer, and a receipt printer, which is a tough challenge for compatibility. Huoshenshan alone has 500 desktops, and if we install the equipment one by one, the workload is beyond imagination. But with the help of Lenovo IDV [a desktop solution that can quickly install thousands of PCs] we installed the desktops of 500 computer terminals at once, enabling doctors and staff to use them immediately. Also any problems can be handled remotely, which is not only extremely efficient but also reduces the frequency of entering any contaminated areas.”
A group of Lenovo engineers and hospital support completed the installation and commissioning of more than 1,400 pieces of equipment at both hospitals in only a few days to ensure that the hospitals would be able to provide services to patients on time.
By February 2, all IT equipment donated to Huoshenshan Hospital was delivered, updated, installed, and put into use—just one day before its doors opened to patients on February 3.
This was the beginning of Lenovo’s efforts to support employees, customers, and communities as COVID-19 spread. In China, Lenovo’s efforts continue, bolstered by the friends from Lenovo all around the world.
*This article is contributed by Kevin Reed, CISO, Acronis*
As authorities worldwide work to contain the deadly coronavirus and
try to keep it from spreading, the travel restrictions put in place are
causing many organizations to rethink their operations. Rather than
traveling to a region where their return flight might be at risk of
being quarantined, many are turning to videoconferencing, file sync and
share, and other remote work solutions to keep their businesses going.
In China, where the disease started and where remote work policies are
historically uncommon, the remote collaboration tool Zoom saw a single-day increase in downloads of 15%.
Source: Acronis
Remote work can certainly benefit a company, encouraging more
collaboration and knowledge sharing. That’s why its adoption has grown
significantly in the last several years. In fact, the global enterprise
file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) market is expected to reach $24.4 billion by 2027, up from $3.4 billion in 2018.
Yet the wrong solution can put organizations at risk if they don’t
address data security and privacy. To combat this predicament,
businesses need to implement secure file sync and share technologies
so that employees can work from home while also being able to access
and transfer data in a manner that is both secure and safe.
What is file sync and share?
File sync and share technology is designed with the modern
professional landscape in mind; a landscape where workforces rely on
multiple devices and location flexibility in order to maximize
productivity. File sync and share gives organizations the power to share
files across multiple devices and with multiple people using file
synchronization – allowing files to be stored in any approved data
repository and accessed remotely by employees from any of their IT
provisioned devices.
Security risks associated with remote work
Historically, remote work policies have been a sensitive topic for
organizations. While some employers might fear that remote work creates a
dip in employee performance, the larger concern is actually securing the proprietary and business-critical data modern companies rely on.
On a corporate network, IT teams can easily secure employee devices,
but this becomes much more difficult to do once an employee accesses the
system from outside the network.
Outside of the corporate network, devices are easily susceptible to
attacks from third parties and cybercriminals. Attacking these unsecured
endpoints can reveal the employee’s login credentials to cybercriminals
so they can access the company’s system, or even use ransomware to lock
company data – which happened to the NextCloud service last fall.
Benefits of secure file sync and share
Solutions that are built to deliver secure file sync and share give
organizations the flexibility to enable employee collaboration and
productivity while giving the IT department control over the protection
of company data. Here are some of the ways that secure file sync and
share technology protects and empowers businesses:
Secure File Sharing – It’s well known that when
a file sync and share solution isn’t provided, employees will often
resort to using their own personal devices and tools. Because these
tools and devices exist outside of the control of IT departments,
they’re inherently not secure and put sensitive company data at risk.
With secure file sync and share, employees can easily share and access
company files while IT maintains the privacy and security of the data.
Easy Anywhere, Anytime Access – Organizations
are beginning to see the workday less as a clock-in/clock-out office
environment, and have adopted an environment that supports the various
schedules and lifestyles of their employees. With secure file-sync and
share, employees are no longer constrained to a single corporate-owned
device to be productive.
Data Loss Prevention and Disaster Recovery – When
corporate data is centrally stored, it’s better protected against data
leakage. This includes data lost to a cyberattack, employee error, or a
lost or stolen device. With an enterprise-grade file sync and share
solution, sensitive corporate data is kept secure and protected.
Easy Collaboration – File sync and share services
are adapting to not only protect company data but to aid in remote
workplace collaboration. Some file sync and share tools now provide
users with tools to preview and edit files in-browser, search and find
specific company documents and versions, and keep all employees on the
same version of a document.
Final Thought
While global emergencies such as the coronavirus outbreak may
highlight the benefits of having a secure remote work policy in place,
the use of secure collaborative tools should be understood as part of a
larger cultural shift. As more organizations adopt remote work policies,
the IT teams, and MSPs that service these companies should adopt secure
file sync and share solutions.
To help organizations introduce remote work policies in a way that is safe and secure, MSPs can offer their business customers Acronis Cyber Files Cloud, a secure enterprise file sync and share solution that features end-to-end encryption, user controls, and an audit trail.
Similarly, organizations that do not rely on an MSP can choose Acronis Cyber Files Advanced, an easy, complete, and secure enterprise file sharing solution that makes users more productive and gives IT complete control over business content to ensure security, maintain compliance, and enable BYOD.
*This article is contributed by Myles Hosford, Head of Security Architecture, ASEAN, AWS*
Cybersecurity professionals see some threat
actors or outside-parties as the enemy. However, challenging this mindset is
important; you can better protect your organization against outside-parties if
you understand how they think and operate. With this in mind, businesses around
the globe have turned to hackers to test security infrastructure and develop
stronger, more robust security practices.
Before integrating penetration testing
into your security policy, it is important to understand the different types of
hackers that exist. Each group has differing motivations, and you must be clear
on which of their skills can be used to your organization’s advantage.
Black hat
Photo by Luca Nardone from Pexels
Black hat hackers are cybercriminals
motivated by personal or financial gain. They range from teenage amateurs to
experienced individuals or teams with a specific remit. However, over recent
years, several high profile blackhat hackers have refocused on using their
cyber skills to protect organizations. An example is Kevin Mitnick aka Condor,
who was just sixteen years old when he gained access to a Department of Defense
computer. Following this and numerous
other hacks, Mitnick spent five and a half years in prison. Upon his release
set up his own company, Mitnick Security Consulting, which now runs penetration
tests for clients.
The issue of whether to work
with a previous black hat hacker is a contentious one. Some, including David Warburton, senior threat evangelist at F5 Networks,
believe that hiring ex-hackers is critical in staying ahead of the threat
landscape. However, others are concerned about allowing this group access to
corporate systems and customer data. The latter group should, however, consider
other approaches to working with hackers.
White hat
Photo by Reza Rostampisheh on Unsplash
Often referred to as ethical hackers,
white hat hackers are employed by organizations to look for vulnerabilities in
security defences. Despite using the same tactics as black hat hackers, this
group has permission from the organization making what they do entirely legal.
While they use their knowledge to find ways to break the defences, they then
work alongside security teams to fix issues before others discover them.
Many of the biggest organizations in
the world, including General Motors and Starbucks, are turning to white hat
hackers to help identify fault lines and proactively enhance security posture.
White hat hacking can offer an interesting and lucrative career path for people
with technical skills. Drawing attention to the important role white hat
hackers play can encourage more talented individuals to take a positive path
instead of becoming black hat hackers.
Nurturing
talent
There are many programmes in place to
find, encourage and support the next generation of white hat hackers. An
example, supported by AWS, is r00tz Asylum, a conference dedicated to teaching
young people how to become white-hats. Attendees learn how hackers operate and
how cybersecurity experts defend against hackers. The aim is to encourage
people with technical expertise to use it for good in their career. By equipping aspiring cybersecurity
professionals with knowledge and skills, they can bake security into
infrastructure, from the ground up. AWS’s support for r00tz is our chance to
give back to the next generation, providing young people who are interested in
security with a safe learning environment and access to mentors.
Building on
solid foundations
Photo by Ramin Khatibi on Unsplash
For those responsible for maintaining
customer trust and protecting data, an end to end approach to security is
critical. As we have seen, working with ethical hackers is a powerful way to
view security posture from a cyber-criminal’s perspective to identify and
tackle vulnerabilities. However, it’s also important to remember that security
needs to be baked in throughout an organization’s infrastructure. This is where
partnering with a cloud platform can be beneficial; the best of these are
developed to satisfy the needs of the most risk-sensitive organizations. Cloud
platforms also offer automated security services, which can proactively manage
security assessments, threat detection, and policy management. In so doing,
these platforms take on a lot of the heavy lifting for security professionals,
including ethical hackers.
*This article is contributed by Myles Hosford, Head of Security Architecture, ASEAN, AWS*
As the world
becomes more interconnected, opportunities for companies and individuals to
interact and transact across borders, time zones, and channels grow quickly. To
make sure that these transactions run smoothly, proactive management –
specifically to ensure the minimization of cost, lowering of risk, and the
elimination of inefficiencies – is needed.
Distributed
ledger technology (DLT) such as blockchain helps simplify transactions and
conduct efficient, secure interactions with multiple independent parties around
the globe. All without the need for a third-party intermediary. These
transactions can vary from sending anything from farm data, to banking and
contract transactions.
Use case: Empowering farmers to sell field data
transparently
Farmers collect
large volumes of data with each step in the planting and harvesting process.
Licensed data – data that qualifies as intellectual property of the farmer such
as which crops to plant or how many seedlings – can be anonymized, sold to
third parties and offer the agricultural industry with real-time insights on
farms across the world. However, farmers are unsure how to monetize this crop
data.
As farmers are
unsure how to monetize their crop data, Farmobile addresses these challenges through a
blockchain-based exchange, built on AWS. The solution empowers farmers to licence
data to approved buyers and includes account set up, creation, confirmation,
execution of the offer, and delivery of the digital asset. They can seamlessly
sell single-use licenses while keeping their farm’s identity completely
anonymous. However, farmers have full visibility into the identities of
potential data buyers, such as agronomists, equipment producers, and retailers,
and are free to decline offers.
Use Case: Boosting financial inclusivity
Another case
study for Blockchain technology is the financial sector in the Philippines.
Here, rural banks lack the resources of larger banking institutions, making it
nearly impossible for them to thrive or survive. This has left a large majority
of rural-based Filipinos with little or no banking access.
Photo by David McBee from Pexels
UnionBank,
a pioneer in its use of blockchain technology, joined forces with ConsenSys,
an AWS Partner , to build a blockchain solution that would resolve this issue.
The new, blockchain-based solution created a decentralized, cost-efficient, and
near real-time network, allowing for the execution of domestic payments without
relying on existing banking infrastructure and intermediaries.
The blockchain
solution introduced means that rural banks no longer have to shoulder the
burden of manually processing back-office transactions, freeing up staff to
serve more customers. As such, the technology not only increased banking access
and inclusivity but drove sustainable, future banking practices.
Use case: Limiting contract disputes in the oil and gas industry
Another example
comes from the oil and gas industry. Moving resources through the oil and gas
supply chain involves many stakeholders, including landowners, governments, oil
and gas company operators, surveyors, and financial institutions. One critical
step occurs between those mining the oil and royalty owners on whose land the
oil is mined. Checking royalty transaction payments is a lengthy, manual
process where stakeholders must agree to contract terms upfront. However, those
terms are often interpreted differently on either side, often leading to
disputes.
GuildOne,
believed companies needed more efficient, secure, and cost-effective ways to
execute a royalty contract transaction. They developed a solution through which
contract terms are capable of being replicated, and consensus agreed using
blockchain technology. By doing so, they mitigated the possibility of disputes
and eliminated a large chunk of the expense of contract administration.
To build its
royalty ledger and to meet the stringent privacy and security needs of its
stakeholders, GuildOne chose to use R3’s Corda — a blockchain platform built for
business and longevity — on AWS. Believing that the security capabilities
gained would be vital in enabling rapid adoption of the royalty ledger solution
in the oil and gas industry.
The future of blockchain technology solutions
Blockchain
solutions are transforming the ways companies and individuals do business,
locally and globally, by simplifying transactions and increasing their
efficiency. Those looking to take advantage of the technology should partner
with cloud providers capable of scaling up while delivering cybersecurity controls
and standards to protect from external attacks. With Amazon Managed Blockchain,
it eliminates the overhead required to create the network and automatically
scales to meet the demands of thousands of applications running millions of
transactions. Once a network is up and running, Managed Blockchain makes it
easy to manage and maintain the blockchain network
by managing its certificates and letting customers easily invite new members to
join the network.
*This article is a contributed article byRavi Saraogi, Co-Founder and President of Uniphore, APAC *
2020 marks the transition into the great unknown. With the emergence of
new possibilities and challenges ahead of us, successful organisations must be
quick to identify and take advantage of opportunities through the power of emerging
technologies. Specific to the customer service industry, brands that utilise
Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies will improve business
operations and customer experiences.
It is estimated that about 70% of organizations will integrate AI to
assist employee productivity by 2021[1] to
meet the high demand of delivering faster, relevant and holistic services to
today’s customers. More often than not, customers today are frustrated that
broken customer service systems and poorly equipped agents don’t understand
their requests. To fix this, businesses must move away from a siloed experience
and approach service holistically.
Photo by mahdis mousavi on Unsplash
In terms of the adoption of the adoption of AI in Malaysian businesses,
it was revealed that only 26% of companies in Malaysia have actually begun
integrating AI into their operations, according to a survey that was conducted
in 2018. The low adoption rate is attributed to two key barriers that are
related to organizational culture on AI and limited employee skill sets2.
Thus, the time is now to blend the capabilities
of people and AI and better understand conversations in real-time for
businesses to stay ahead of the race.
New Power to Customer Voice
With technological capabilities, it’s about time we start hearing what
customers really want. Customers today are time poor, distracted and empowered
by lots of products and services to choose from. Instant gratification is their
modus operandi. With other factors like price point and product quality being at
par, superior customer service remains challenging and is often a deal breaker.
In a competitive landscape, customers demand a seamless experience when
interacting with a brand.
That said, poor customer experiences are not difficult to resolve at
all, more so today due to machine learning, AI and automation. This is because AI
is now helping brands to truly listen to the voice of the customer and
understand their needs in order to quickly resolve customer queries, deepen customer
engagement, and deliver superior customer experience at scale.
Making Headway with Conversational Service Automation
Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Gobind Singh Deo emphasises
Malaysia’s potential in the development of AI in both public and private
sectors, and the importance of ensuring the local government and industries
capitalise on the opportunities at hand.[2]
The use of AI is becoming more prevalent in the customer service industry as conversations become more complex. There is a small window of opportunity for brands to deliver personalised customer service, particularly when your engagement happens across diverse channels. Being equipped with an understanding of context, sentiment, behaviour and real intent, and being able to act on such insights in real-time becomes even more crucial.
Photo by Joseph Pearson on Unsplash
Conversational Service Automation is about enabling front office
automation in contact centres. Consider this scenario: A customer starts a
conversation with a chatbot for quick self-service. The bot is able to provide
some quick and valuable updates based on the customer’s previous interactions.
If the conversation gets more complex, the voice bot politely hands the call to
a human agent via a live transfer. The agent is assisted through real-time
analytics and chat transcripts to be able to make the next best offer which the
customer gladly accepts.
This automation backed by real-time analytics is continuously
self-learning, enabling real-time listening of conversations across channels
and then converting them into actionable insights. As a result, a win-win
situation is created where businesses can reduce work pressure on call center
agents, improve accuracy of information and greater customer satisfaction.
Getting Ahead of the Race with Voice and AI
We are in the midst of a customer experience transformation and
conversational AI technology is leading this change. There is a positive acceptance
from both businesses and customers to adopt newer conversational AI
technologies. This is driven by the try-before-you-buy and pay-as-you-go models
offered, which enterprises find appealing and less risky. Brands can take
smaller bets, test-and-learn and then scale up.
Automation has successfully allowed computers to respond to contexts
within queries, monitor customer behaviour and improve overall customer
service. Moreover, contact centre agents can now receive real-time alerts and
recommendations for upsell and cross-sell. The time is now for companies to
leverage conversational AI to deliver a quantum leap in customer service, in an
industry that is full of potential. It is good to note that brands that embrace
conversational service automation will be the ones who stay ahead of the
competition and thrive in the new decade.
*This article is contributed byNicole Tan, Country Director of Facebook Malaysia*
A fisherman who uses WhatsApp and Facebook to change his quality of life and keeps his community safe by alerting each other on weather and tide conditions, a non-profit that empowers the homeless towards financial independence by turning them into tour guides, a delicious sambal recipe made in Malaysia that gained acclaim across borders from Indonesia and the Philippines — these are real examples of business innovation previously unimaginable.
The year 2020 crowns a
decade of change that has upended traditional ways of starting, marketing and
growing businesses across the world. This is even more pronounced in Asia,
where entire countries have leapfrogged to the mobile internet, making the
region home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. According to the
Department of Statistics Malaysia, the nations’ digital economy contributed
18.5% to the national economy in 2018, while e-commerce contributed 8%,
highlighting digital transformation as a catalyst for expansion[1].
Source: Facebook
According to a
McKinsey report, by 2040, Asia could account for more than half of the global
GDP with global cross-order flows shifting towards Asia. The report shows how
these changes could shift globalisation towards regionalisation with 60 percent
of goods traded by Asian economies being within the region. In addition, 71
percent of Asian investment in start-ups is intraregional, and 74 percent of
Asian travelers travel within the region[2].
Malaysia’s exports
accounts for more than 71.5% of GDP[3].
Digital adoption in increasing productivity is crucial for SMEs to expand
further[4]
and digital tools give SMEs a boost in economic growth (revenue and sales 65%)
and go global (82% of exporting SMEs in Malaysia say that at least half of
their exports depend on online tools usage)[5].
Against this backdrop
of macroeconomic change, people’s expectations for the experiences they have
with brands and businesses is evolving fast. As we have seen over the last few
years, people adopt new technologies long before businesses do, and it
influences how they discover, research and finally make purchasing decisions.
We see this every day
on Facebook, where every day 1.62 billion people across the world come to
connect with people, products and services they care about. We stand at the
intersection of community and creativity where brands can identify, take
inspiration from and participate in the communities that people inhabit. At the
start of 2019, we shared three social trends that were on rise across our
platforms: ephemeral sharing, videos and messaging. As we head into 2020, these
trends have only intensified in our region. Simply put, Asia is about more —
more mobile, more video, more stories, more conversation and more commerce.
Malaysia is a truly
mobile-first nation with 88% owning smartphones. According to the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), 77.6% of Malaysians are
spending time streaming or downloading videos online[6].
Last year we saw how
people show preference for sharing photographs or video over typing out a text
update, the comfort of knowing what you post isn’t going to stick around
forever and the need to share everyday moments with smaller audiences.
It’s interesting to note that video on mobile is far from a homogeneous experience. Unlike traditional video, mobile video experiences are not linear and vary based on a number of factors. Through our research and experience over the last few years, we’ve seen two distinct categories of video experiences that have accelerated largely due to mobile: “on-the-go” and “captivated viewing.” As a result of these changing viewing habits, people are most drawn to brands that are easy to discover and use, whether it’s through their strong presence in online communities or their high-quality mobile content across platforms. With the continued growth in streaming services, people will be looking to brands that can clearly communicate their offerings and to those that can create a more personalised viewing experience.
We’re continuing to
see fast adoption of ephemeral sharing as each of our Stories experiences
across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp now have more than half a
billion daily users[7]. As more
and more people use Stories, we’re making it easier for marketers to adopt this
format and reach people where they’re spending their time.
The same goes for
messaging. At the start of 2018, we shared that over 8 billion messages were
sent between people and businesses on Messenger every month. That number has
more than doubled to 20 billion messages this year – which shows that people
expect to communicate with businesses in much the same way as they message with
their friends. As people increasingly use messaging apps, we’re helping
businesses make the shift too. There are now over 40 million monthly active
businesses on Messenger (i.e. sending or receiving a message on Messenger)[8]
and research shows that people in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific are more
likely than the global average to message a business. In fact, 63% of
people surveyed in Asia-Pacific messaged a business last Holiday season[9].
More than 5 million businesses are actively using the WhatsApp Business app
each month[10].
While last year we saw
the ability to message with a business made people feel more confident about
the brand and more connected to it and create a connection that fosters brand
loyalty, this year we see an interesting subset of this preference for
messaging; the growing use of messaging or online chat to buy and sell. A study
by the Boston Consulting Group in partnership with Facebook across nine
countries found that Southeast Asia outpaces other countries surveyed in both
awareness and adoption of conversational commerce. Of the nine countries
surveyed, the percentage of respondents who had undertaken a conversational
commerce transaction was the highest in Thailand and Vietnam, at 40% and 36%
respectively, followed by Indonesia (29%), Malaysia (26%) and the Philippines
(23%). The rate of adoption for other countries is still nascent – US (5%),
Mexico (6%), India (10%), and Brazil (11%), which shows substantial opportunity
for growth[11]. The
study unveiled a remarkable finding that discovery and spending behavior of
digital consumers in between Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities are very similar,
debunking the myth that Tier 1 digital consumers shop more online. Once a Tier
2 shopper adopts online shopping, habits and preferences become very similar to
Tier 1. Except for the discovery journey, where Tier 2 shoppers don’t know what
they want to buy even more, which means they are even more encouraged by
inspiration-shopping.
Source: Tech Crunch
All of these developments mean that the commerce landscape will continue to evolve with people opting to interact with businesses via experiences that are most relevant, personal, and seamless in their daily lives. With increasing affluence and access to the mobile internet, the ways people discover new products is very much about a connected experience. Therefore, ensuring that your business and brands are visible and discoverable is going to be an essential element to winning in the new era of commerce.
Today,
Most Malaysian consumers want everything almost immediately, making every step
or delay a chance for them to abandon their journeys. Awareness, information
gaps and the inability to optimise technology are some causes that contributed
to the friction[12]. So
what can businesses do to prepare for this new era of commerce? Bring
connection back to the equation.
Businesses can enhance connections by designing
mobile-friendly websites, apps, marketing and real-time communication to reduce
friction and establish the best experiences for customers[13].
