Category Archives: Contributed

Business, Contributed

Resilience in the wake of 2020: Red Hat’s path in 2021

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2020’s gone and it won’t be missed. For all of the chaos, confusion and change the previous year brought, it helped illuminate a critical facet of Red Hat, our associates, our partners, our customers and our communities. It showed that we are resilient. Not only did we weather it as a company, we helped those around us stand firm through the storm. That’s something to be proud of, and I know that as CEO of Red Hat, I’m thankful at how we as a business, as a pillar of the open source community and as a global organization kept a steady hand throughout. 

Red Hat was born out of community. It’s at the center of everything we do. When faced with uncertainty and when we see others in need, that’s when we pull together and show our mettle. Throughout the past year, Red Hatters showed a tremendous capacity for fortitude and humanity. When I first took over the role of CEO, I made the comment that I wanted every Red Hatter who was here at that point to still be here in a year. And I think we’ve held true to that. 

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At the time, that conversation centered on finding work-life balance when the lines became blurred. Without taking care of our personal lives and mental health, we’re not able to meet the needs of our customers. As associates became school teachers and caretakers, dealt with drastically reduced social interactions and grieved the loss of normalcy, they still served customers and helped them be successful. We didn’t just hunker down and wait for the storm to pass; we still moved forward and made ourselves available to help others.

No time to slow down

While the COVID-19 pandemic stalled many industries, the software industry raced forward. Technologies like cloud computing and automation became more important than ever. They are now firmly in the category of must-have, instead of nice-to-have. As a company, we turned our attention to products and services that our customers need to support remote work, expand digital services, scale to meet demand, become more resilient and keep innovating. I attribute our ability to continue to show strong growth throughout the year to this strategy and I’m so proud of the team for keeping the momentum going. 

With our biggest announcements last year, you’ll no doubt sense a theme – making sure that our customers can develop and deploy any app, anywhere. They want the choice and flexibility to use the innovations and technologies on a platform that makes sense for the job at hand, and we’re making sure they can do just that. Red Hat OpenShift is the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform and highlights a future where containers and virtualization, managed consistently across the open hybrid cloud, are helping customers maintain operations while still bringing new products and services to market faster. 

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We introduced Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, a new management solution designed to help organizations exert more consistent control over their Kubernetes clusters across the hybrid cloud — from bare-metal to major public cloud providers and everything in between. 

Once they can deploy anywhere, they need to be able to bring those mixed workloads together and that’s where OpenShift Virtualization comes in. An integrated component of Red Hat OpenShift, we’re giving customers the ability to manage traditional workloads alongside cloud-native services, letting them prepare for the future while retaining existing investments. This helps to break down technology silos that can slow innovation and impact the customer experience. 

For those wanting an increased level of support from us, OpenShift Dedicated is a fully managed service of Red Hat OpenShift on AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. We continue to enhance and refine the capabilities of this managed offering, providing an option for organizations looking to reduce the operational complexity of infrastructure management, but still get all the benefits of enterprise Kubernetes. This enables their IT teams to focus on building and scaling the next-generation of applications, rather than keeping infrastructure lit up.

One of the benefits of open source is our close connection to the innovation born in open source communities, where new ideas and concepts emerge and incubate. This is a direct link to IT’s future, enabling us to more readily see trends as they evolve. It’s this connection that enabled us to push the envelope in open hybrid cloud computing, and it’s now providing our launchpad for the next wave: edge computing. Edge brings its own challenges for administrators and developers alike, so we’ve delivered new capabilities for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift to help bring edge computing into hybrid cloud deployments. 

Coming together

The channel is what made Red Hat. Without our partner ecosystem, Red Hat would be a very different company. We have been successful because of our independence and our work across a broad spectrum of cloud and service providers, including Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft. As the saying goes: “actions speak louder than words.” Our neutrality is something that can’t change and you can see it in some of the moves we made this year. 

Red Hat and Microsoft have been working to co-develop hybrid cloud solutions for years, which ultimately led to Azure Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s first jointly-engineered, managed and supported OpenShift service on a leading public cloud. This year we continued our drive as a leading enterprise Kubernetes service on the public cloud with Azure Red Hat OpenShift on OpenShift 4, bringing the power of Kubernetes Operators to Azure along with the flexibility of Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS.

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As I’ve said, open source is about choice and about meeting customers where they are, on whichever cloud platform they prefer. With that in mind, we continued our work across the public cloud withRed Hat OpenShift Service on AWS, a jointly-managed and jointly-supported enterprise Kubernetes service on AWS. Red Hat OpenShift is now the common Kubernetes denominator on two of the world’s largest clouds but, most importantly, it’s now easier for our customers to consume OpenShift where it makes most sense for them without sacrificing operational flexibility or service levels. 

We’re also seeing the promise of our acquisition by IBM come to fruition, as we scale and work together for powerful world-spanning solutions. Schlumberger represents one of these moments. By collaborating with IBM, this initiative will support its business and provide Schlumberger’s associates global access to its leading exploration and production cloud-based environment and cognitive applications by using IBM’s hybrid cloud technology, built on Red Hat OpenShift. 

On the horizon

Just a month in and we’ve already set the tone for the year. All roads, whether it’s through edge computing, serverless or Kubernetes, lead to open hybrid cloud. That’s what we’ve worked to build and where our focus continues to be. We’ve been talking about it for nearly a decade because it’s not just another trend; it’s an enterprise imperative. It’s through the hybrid cloud that we help our customers solve dynamic challenges and keep Red Hat in innovation’s vanguard.

We announced our intent to acquire StackRox, a leader and innovator in Kubernetes-native security. Once the transaction closes, this move will allow us to enhance security for cloud-native workloads by expanding and refining the Kubernetes’ native controls already present in OpenShift while shifting security into the container build and CI/CD phase. 

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Having a seamless integration between our sales and services strategy and our technology vision is critical to our success, and it calls for the right leader. For nearly a decade, Arun Oberoi has led the team and transformed our go-to-market approach matching our expanding open hybrid cloud portfolio, through strategic acquisitions and new alliances. He will retire later this year and Larry Stack will step into the role of executive vice president of Global Sales and Services. What I appreciate most about him is that he embraces the Red Hat culture and the customer is always the focus. There is a huge opportunity in front of us, as we keep scaling, Larry’s strong experience and the strategic thinking that he brings are going to help us capitalize on it.

Just because we made it out of 2020, doesn’t mean we’re back to business as usual. The pandemic is still impacting the world and organizations are still feeling the effects. The challenges aren’t going away, but we’ve shown resilience and that needs to be a trait that we keep as we move through the year. While 2021 holds many unknowns, one thing that is not unknown is our path forward. 

Business, Contributed, Editorial

AWS Committed to Accelerating Malaysia’s Digital Transformation

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a part of Malaysia’s digital transformation journey since 2015 when we established our presence in the country with a local marketing entity, AWS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. The announcement by the Malaysian Government outlining the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint via MyDigital marks a milestone in the nation’s journey to transform to a digital economy, built on cloud computing. As part of this journey, AWS is delighted to be named as a Cloud Service Provider for the Government of Malaysia by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU).

With the right technology, governments, nonprofits, economic development organisations, and other entities can improve their internal operations, become more productive and, ultimately, focus more acutely on serving citizens. This can support business growth and help citizens enjoy improved quality of life. As organisations increasingly embrace cloud-based solutions, long-lasting effects can be realised in the form of community-wide collaboration, partnerships with local businesses, and increased innovation. These organisations can in turn wield greater influence on economic development and growth. The cloud also provides affordable IT services for entrepreneurs, helping them start and scale companies quicker and more reliably. These efforts pave the way toward building new businesses and a more productive workforce, which boosts local economic development.

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AWS works closely with state governments, education institutions, and not-for-profit organisations in Malaysia to accelerate innovation, increase agility, and drive cost savings through the cloud. Our Malaysian customers range from public sector entities such as Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU), Asia Pacific University, and other government agencies, to enterprises including Petronas, Maxis, Astro, and Boost (Axiata), to startups like StoreHub, FashionValet, and 123RF.

SSDU leverages cloud computing to transform government services

SSDU started working with AWS in 2018 when they first built a Citizens Electronic Payments Platform for Malaysians to access paid government services through a highly scalable and reliable central mobile and web portal on AWS. Using the centralised platform, SSDU was able to conduct data analysis in identifying trends with near real-time data generated across the entire Selangor state to forecast and optimise services, accelerating the development of new solutions without large upfront investments. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, SSDU rolled out an operation dashboard on AWS that provided critical data for making real-time decisions to enforce containment measures. Simultaneously, SSDU facilitated the shift of over 1,000 local traders to sell products from physical to online stores to enable business continuity.

Using AWS, SSDU gained the control and confidence they needed to securely run their platform with the most flexible and secure cloud computing environment available today. As an AWS customer, SSDU benefits from AWS data centres and a network architected to protect all customer information, identities, applications, and devices. With AWS, SSDU has improved its ability to meet core security and compliance requirements, such as data locality, protection, and confidentiality using AWS’s comprehensive services and features. We look forward to partnering with more government agencies, empowering them to transform their digital service offerings for citizens.

Optimising the educational experience with cloud

Education institutions, like Asia Pacific University in Malaysia, have gone all-in on AWS, moving their entire technology infrastructure to AWS in order to transform the teaching and learning experience. They are running a mobile application for a cashless campus, deploying IoT services for their student attendance and queue systems, and using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) for part of its learning environment. Asia Pacific University is delivering education resources to students 116 times faster than when they were using on-premises infrastructure, vastly improving students’ user experience. 

Upskilling the next generation of cloud talent

Additionally, AWS Educate programme provides students and educators with resources and content that focus on building cloud skills in education institutions in Malaysia such as Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), and Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation. In August-September 2020, AWS held the ASEAN DeepRacer Women’s League to encourage young women in higher education institutions to acquire skills in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and discover how technology can be used to create innovations to solve real-world problems. Two Malaysian students attained the first and second runner-up in the ASEAN League. 

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AWS has also been nurturing the local startups in Malaysia, and providing cloud skilling to develop the future workforce. Through AWS startup programmes, we have helped reduce cost of experimentation and accelerate innovation with AWS promotional credits. For example, the AWS Trusted Advisor online tool helps startup customers reduce costs, increase performance, and improve security by checking their use of AWS services, and making suggestions to help optimise performance. We further offer a variety of free online education and livestreamed or on-demand training events for startups across Asia at every growth stage, including AWSome Days and the AWS Builders Online Series for early-stage founders new to the cloud. To date, AWS has supported and helped grow hundreds of startups that are headquartered in Malaysia.

AWS is deeply committed to providing Malaysia with the best-in-class cloud technology. We look forward to building upon our worldwide experience in working with over 7,500 government agencies, more than 14,000 academic institutions and over 35,000 nonprofit organisations, alongside millions of active customers across other vertical industries around the world, to support the Government of Malaysia on its digital transformation journey.

Android, Contributed, Editorial, Mobile

A Deep Dive into One UI’s Design

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There isn’t much you can’t do with a smartphone these days, from filming content to banking online from anywhere with just a few taps. But there is always room for improvement, and Samsung Electronics is constantly seeking to make the smartphone experience more intuitive to help us do even more. This is why One UI was created.

Unveiled in November 2018, One UI improved smartphone usability for millions of users. After two years of further evolution, Samsung launched One UI 3 in December 2020, building on the design, efficiency, and user experience of the original across various devices. Now Samsung is raising the bar yet again with One UI 3.1. From February 18th, the latest One UI is bringing updates to support powerful functionality for some existing smartphones.[1]

So what kind of experience can users enjoy with One UI 3? Samsung Mobile Press sat down with the designers of One UI to ask them what we can expect.

The 4 Principles of One UI

1) Focus on the task at hand
2) Interact naturally
3) Be comfortable to view
4) Make things responsive

These four principles were established by One UI designers to give users the best experience possible.

▲ Jeonggun Choi, Principal UX Designer in the Core UX Group, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics

The fourth principle is a completely new principal introduced for One UI 3.1.

“From tablets to foldable phones and regular smartphones, the types of devices people are using has diversified, and the number of features and functions has also increased,” said Principal UX Designer Jeonggun Choi. “Following this trend, new principles were needed to provide the best layout for our users.” Whether an app is running on the Galaxy S21, Galaxy Tab, or the foldable Galaxy Z series, the UI is optimized for each device.

When using the Samsung Notes app on smartphones with regular sized displays, for example, users can access the app menu by pressing the navigation button at the top left side of the screen. But on the Galaxy Z Fold and Tab series, users can take advantage of the larger display by having the entire menu always in view, without having to press anything.

▲ Before (left) and after (right) views of the high contrast menu function

As part of the fourth principle, Samsung has also improved the accessibility experience by recommending features that complement the ones already in use. When someone with impaired or weakened vision has High contrast fonts turned on, for example, One UI suggests other features that improve visibility such as Bold font or Dark mode on the Recommended for you screen. One UI also reduces the hassle of having to sort through several menus by allowing users to turn off any accessibility features they are using from a single screen.

“Accessibility features are so diverse that it can often be difficult to use them to their full potential,” said Jeonggun Choi. “The ‘Recommended for you’ function increases convenience and helps users get more out of those features by identifying and recommending ones that users may need. We’ve also made it easy to use these features only when needed by allowing users to turn the features on and off while in use on one page.”

Galaxy Ecosystem Allows for Seamless Connectivity Between Devices

Another perk offered by One UI 3 is the ability to seamlessly switch between smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Taking into account the increased use of tablets and laptops spurred by a boom in remote learning and work, the new update provides a ‘connected device experience.’ This seamless ecosystem is paramount to enhancing study and work productivity.

“A new feature called ‘Continue apps on other devices’[2] has been added so that users can continue whatever they were doing on their smartphone – whether browsing a web page or working on a draft in Samsung Notes – on their tablet,” said Principal UX Designer Min-Young Chang. “Users can also copy text on their smartphone and paste it onto their tablet.”

In addition, users can connect their Book Cover Keyboard to both their tablet and smartphone with the Wireless keyboard sharing feature. The new Auto Switch feature also automatically connects Galaxy Buds to whichever device is playing media, so that users can seamlessly switch between their smartphones and tablets.

Connected device experiences are not only available with mobile devices, they are also available on home appliances such as TVs. Starting with One UI 3, users can use Smart View to enjoy multimedia content from their smartphone on their TV alongside the camera feed from their smartphone. This is especially beneficial for users who work out at home, allowing them to compare their movements with those of their virtual instructor.

“Starting with the One UI 3.1 update, users can cast their Google Duo video calls onto their TV with one just click,” said Jeonggun Choi. “With an increasing number of people connecting with their family via video calls and conducting virtual work meetings, this is an especially useful feature.”

A Customizable Galaxy Experience to Suit Your Needs

Smartphones are no longer just a tool that gives users the power to do various tasks—they’ve become a means of self-expression. Perhaps the best example is decorating the Galaxy Z Flip with stickers to create your own unique phone. But there are many ways to create a custom smartphone experience with the latest updates. “We have implemented a diverse array of features to let users use their smartphone as a form of self-expression,” said Jeonggun Choi. “Users can enjoy a customized Galaxy experience by choosing a video as the incoming and outgoing call screen or changing the wallpaper in the Messages app.”

▲ Before (left) and after (right) views of the quick panel. The design has been simplified and the most commonly used icons have been placed to speed up the search process. Users can add other icons by clicking the ‘See more’ button in the top right corner.

“We first analyzed the usage for each feature available in previous models,” said Min-Young Chang. “After ranking the features based on their popularity, we placed the most used features at the top while hiding the least used features to simplify the panel.”

Saving Your Time, Even if it’s Only 1 Second

▲ Min-Young Chang, Principal UX Designer in the UX Design 2 Group, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics

Another updated feature available through One UI 3.1 is the integration of the Clock app with Digital Wellbeing’s Bedtime mode.[3] After opening the Clock app, users can tap See More, then tap Set bedtime to set their sleep and wake-up times. Users no longer have to switch between two apps, making setting a daily sleep schedule easier and faster.

“Users might not be aware of all of the One UI design updates that have been made but these improvements combined help users recognize and react to various features quicker and in a more direct manner. Even if it saves 1 to 2 seconds of user’s time, I think it would have been worth the effort,” said Jeonggun Choi. “The One UI designers are going to continue coming up with designs that elevate our users’ happiness and satisfaction with Galaxy devices.”

[1] Features of One UI 3.1 may vary by device model. Updates may vary by carrier, country, and model.
[2] Both connected devices need to be running One UI 3.1 or above, have Bluetooth turned on, be signed into the same Samsung account, and be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
[3] The feature allows users to change the background to grayscale and mute incoming notifications in order to help them sleep better.

Computers, Contributed, Editorial

We’re in the Golden Age of Machine Learning, Tomorrow it will be Ubiquitous – Four Things We Need to Do Now

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Today, thanks in large part to the cloud, actions such as communicating over text or transferring funds digitally are so commonplace, we hardly even think about how incredible these processes are; as we enter the golden age of machine learning, we can expect a similar boom of benefits that previously seemed impossible.

Machine learning is already helping companies make better and faster decisions. In healthcare, the use of predictive models created with machine learning is accelerating research and discovery of new drugs and treatment regiments. In other industries, it’s helping remote villages of Southeast Africa gain access to financial services, and matching individuals experiencing homelessness with housing.

While the short term applications are encouraging, machine learning could potentially have an even greater impact on our society. In the future, machine learning will be intertwined and under the hood of almost every application, business process, and end-user experience. However, before this technology becomes so ubiquitous that it’s almost boring, there are four key barriers to adoption we need to clear first.

Democratizing machine learning

The only way that machine learning will truly scale is if we as an industry make it easier for everyone – regardless of their skill level or resources – to be able to incorporate this sophisticated technology into applications and business processes.

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To achieve this, companies should take advantage of tools that have intelligence directly built into applications that their entire organization can benefit from. For instance, 123RF, a homegrown stock photography portal, aims to make design smarter, faster, and easier for users. To do so, it relies on Amazon Athena, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda for data pipeline processing. Its newer product Designs.ai Videomaker uses Amazon Polly to create voice-overs in more than 10 different languages. With AWS, 123RF has maintained flexibility in scaling its infrastructure and shortened product development cycles and is looking to incorporate other services to support its machine learning & AI research.

As processes go from being manual to automatic, workers are free to innovate and invent, and companies are empowered to be proactive instead of reactive. And as this technology becomes more intuitive and accessible, it can be applied to nearly every problem imaginable–from the toughest challenges in the IT department, to the biggest environmental issues in the world.

Upskilling workers

According to the World Economic Forum, the growth of AI could create 58 million net new jobs in the next few years. However, research suggests that there are currently only 300,000 AI engineers worldwide, and AI-related job postings are three times that of job searches with a widening divergence. Given this significant gap, organizations need to recognize that they simply aren’t going to be able to hire all the data scientists they need as they continue to implement machine learning into their work. Moreover, this pace of innovation will open doors and ultimately create jobs we can’t even begin to imagine today.

That’s why companies in the region like Asia Pacific University, DBS, Halodoc and others are finding innovative ways to encourage and nurture more young talents to gain new machine learning skills in fun, interactive hands-on ways, such as the AWS DeepRacer League. It’s critical that organizations should not only direct their efforts towards training the workforce they have with machine learning skills, but also invest in training programs that develop these important skills in the workforce of tomorrow.

Instilling trust in products

With anything new, often people are of two minds – either an emerging technology is a panacea and global savior, or it is a destructive force with cataclysmic tendencies. The reality is more often than not, a nuance somewhere in the middle. These disparate perspectives can be reconciled with information, transparency, and trust.

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As a first step, leaders in the industry need to help companies and communities learn about machine learning, how it works, where it can be applied, ways to use it responsibly, and understand what it is not.

Second, in order to gain faith in machine learning products, they need to be built by diverse groups of people across gender, race, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, culture, and education. We will all benefit from individuals who bring varying backgrounds, ideas, and points of view to inventing new machine learning products.

Third, machine learning services should be rigorously tested, measuring accuracy against third party benchmarks. Benchmarks should be established by academia, as well as governments, and be applied to any machine learning-based service, creating a rubric for reliable results, as well as contextualizing results for use cases.

Regulation of machine learning

Finally, as a society, we need to agree on what parameters should be put in place governing how and when machine learning can be used. With any new technology, there has to be a balance in protecting civil rights while also allowing for continued innovation and practical application of the technology.

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Any organization working with machine learning technology should be engaging customers, researchers, academics, and others to best determine the benefits of its machine learning technology with the potential risks. And they should be in active conversation with policymakers, supporting legislation, and creating their own guidelines for the responsible use of machine learning technology. Transparency, open dialogue, and constant evaluation must always be prioritized to ensure that machine learning is applied appropriately and is continuously enhanced.

What’s next

Through machine learning we’ve already accomplished so much, and yet, it’s still day one (and we haven’t even had a cup coffee yet!). If we’re using machine learning to help endangered orangutans, just imagine how it could be used to help save and preserve our oceans and marine life. If we’re using this technology to create digital snapshots of the planet’s forests in real-time, imagine how it could be used to predict and prevent forest fires. If machine learning can be used to help connect small-holder farmers to the people and resources they need to achieve their economic potential, imagine how it could help end world hunger.

To achieve this reality, we as an industry, have a lot of work ahead of us. I’m incredibly optimistic that machine learning will help us solve some of the world’s toughest challenges and create amazing end-user experiences we’ve never even dreamt. Before we know it, machine learning will be as familiar as reaching for our phones.

Contributed, Lifestyle, Social Media

Dealing with the Digital Realities of the New Normal

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As we begin the new year and look back on 2020, it is undeniable that technology has played a crucial role in helping everyone, young or old, to stay connected with our loved ones as we experienced variations of lockdowns in the past year. However, are you aware that there are stark differences in people’s usage behaviours on social platforms, even between those who were born just a few years apart, such as millennials (currently aged 25 to 40 years old) and Gen Z (currently aged 24 or younger)?

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Most millenials are digital immigrants, meaning we remember a time before mass technological adoption. This is different from Gen Zs, who are the first generation to be considered true digital natives. They were born into a world of vast technological advances, with the internet as an integral part of their day to day. They don’t know a world without smartphones and broadband internet. Hence, how they think, communicate, use and don’t use the internet is different from the generations before them. 

Additionally, as people observe stay at home orders during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they are increasingly turning to indoor activities enabled by the internet; communication, commerce, entertainment, fitness, and learning now take place virtually. This will undoubtedly accelerate digital transformation across many businesses, which will in turn sustain the digital economy.

Gen Z is uniquely well-positioned to continue driving this transformation as they are digital natives familiar and comfortable with new technologies quickly. Digital technology has shaped them, and we should take a page out of the Gen Z book when it comes to some habits and practices.   

Value the importance of authenticity

According to Snap Inc. and JWT Intelligence’s “Into Z Future” study, when asked to develop a slogan for their own generation, Gen Z respondents overwhelmingly suggest some variation of “be yourself” – such as “just be you”, “just be yourself”, and “do what makes you happy.” This is a positive mentality to have.

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It is important that we value authenticity over ‘perfection,’ which takes courage and confidence. We should not fear judgement or being perceived negatively for being who we are, especially when we are among friends. Honesty is a value that the majority of Malaysians, regardless of their age group, want between themselves and their best friend. The 2019 Friendship Report found that Malaysians want their best friends to be more honest and open about their feelings.

Before we can demand honesty from our friends, we need to first be our true, honest, and authentic self! After all, friendship is a two-way street – Gen Zs seem to have figured that part out.

Not everything is meant to be shared

According to Snap Inc.’s 2019 Friendship Report, millennials come out on top as the most “share happy” of the generations. Millennials are the least likely to say “I wouldn’t share that” across most categories surveyed including their love life, mental health issues, and money concerns. However, oversharing can have negative consequences, such as safety issues, loss of jobs, or risking personal reputation.

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As digital natives, Gen Zs are likely to be more private, having learned from the mistakes made by the older generations. Gen Zs’ familiarity with these platforms means that they carefully choose how and where they share. They prefer ephemeral content that disappears, on social messaging platforms such as Snapchat. For example, they prefer to share details about their love life with their best friends over private messages as compared to millennials who would share about it on social media.

Gen Zs understand implicitly that just because we can share something with the world, it doesn’t mean that we should. This is a mindset that we should all adopt.

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to friendship circle

Gen Zs are adjusting their approach to friendship, which differs from millennials’ desire for a wide network. The former is looking for more closeness and intimacy with a smaller social circle, where they can be their unfiltered, authentic selves. In contrast, millennials are the most likely of any generation to want “as many friends as possible.”

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This is the same in Malaysia, where older generations gravitate towards forming friendships with as many people as possible, while Gen Zs (37%) are selective over the people they let into their close circle of friends.

While we all know the positive benefits of having close friends in our lives, a larger pool is not always better. According to friendship experts, a larger group of friends can take a toll on a person because there is greater pressure to open up to many different people and invest in those relationships. It seems that this is a life lesson that Gen Zs have already learned. Based on the above, we can see that there are a lot to be learned from different mindsets, and generation gaps do not just have to be a woeful reminder of “the good old days.”  Look at things in a new light and shed your preconceived notions

Business, Contributed

Beyond the Now: Thrive in 2021 with These Five Trends

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From shifting to work from home policies to customers’ increasing demand for better services and experience, organizations are finding that they need to transform faster to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect technology trends to only continue to evolve as reliance on technology becomes more critical in our current social and economic landscape. To ride out the wave rather than sink in it, forward-thinking organizations in Asia-Pacific (APAC) should rethink their digital transformation strategies based on these trends we expect to see in the coming year.

5G, IoT, Edge computing: The trio for intelligent connectivity

APAC will continue progressing on its 5G journey. While commercial 5G services are already available in nine markets in the region — including South Korea, Japan, and China — another 12 have officially announced similar plans. The increased availability of 5G will help drive the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing to deliver ultra-low latency, high bandwidth network, and effectively support large-scale distribution of endpoints. For example, 5G, IoT and edge computing can be applied to smart fleet management, wherein edge devices can monitor critical vehicle systems and access the 5G network to send alerts, track the flow of goods, plan routes, and facilitate communications between a vehicle and any IoT-enabled entity that may affect or be affected by the vehicle.

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We foresee more APAC organizations and cities adopting 5G, IoT, and edge computing in 2021 to become more connected and efficient. Emerging use cases for the three technologies include analyzing sensor data for predictive maintenance and quality control, augmented reality systems for remote operations, and personalized ‘connected experiences’ for customer and supplier engagement.

Security is a growing priority for hybrid cloud

Customers and employees alike now expect business applications and services to be highly available, on-demand and secure. To achieve that, we recommend organizations to embrace hybrid cloud in order to run workloads  across any environment (i.e., on-premises, private or public cloud) more easily and quickly. Red Hat’s 2021 Global Tech Outlook found that 77% of APAC organizations surveyed plan to use more than one cloud platform — be it private and public clouds — in the next 12 months, up from 53% in 2020. According to the survey results, the top three reasons for organizations to run their applications across hybrid cloud include improving data security, gaining IT agility, and addressing data privacy concerns.

Security will remain a focus area as organizations progress in their hybrid cloud journey — nearly half of the organizations we surveyed globally cited cloud security as their top funding priority next year. The challenge when it comes to security is that it is made up of different elements such as endpoint, network and data security. One way of overcoming this is by adopting an open security automation framework that unifies the different security practices using a set of automated workflows. By doing so, organizations can gain greater visibility across the entire security function, enabling them to identify threats or remediate cyber attacks faster.

Cloud-native will drive container adoption

Cloud-native applications can respond quickly to change, adapting and evolving with new features and functionalities released incrementally more quickly, reliably and frequently with less risk. As more organizations adopt hybrid cloud to increase the scalability and availability of apps, those that also embrace cloud-native development are in a better position to build and run responsive, scalable, and fault-tolerant apps on any cloud.

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Containers are a key technology for unlocking the benefits of cloud-native development. Containers enable applications to be packaged and isolated with their entire runtime environment, making it easier to move them between environments while retaining full functionality. With containers, developers can more easily release and update apps as a collection of loosely coupled services, like microservices, instead of having to wait for one large release. Recognizing that containers can help accelerate innovation, 45% of APAC respondents from the 2021 Global Tech Outlook expect more than half of their workloads to be containerized in the next 12 months.

Automation is on the rise

Customers are demanding more at a faster pace, while IT architectures are ever-changing and built on increasingly complicated technology stacks. Organizations also need to support a work-from-home productivity model during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address these requirements, APAC organizations are increasingly turning to automation to reduce complexity, improve productivity, and lower operating cost. However, they must have an enterprise-wide automation strategy instead of deploying automation in silos in order to fully benefit from the technology.  

More organizations are increasingly using automation in conjunction with artificial intelligence and machine learning to create an additional layer of automated insight to optimize business processes. Some APAC banks are already using robotic process automation (RPA) to approve credit card applications, automate payments, and validate claims. Because RPA can augment and mimic human judgment and behavior to replicate rules-based human action, it reduces the time taken for those tasks.

Open culture needs to complement technology modernization

According to a November 2019 study sponsored by Red Hat, 80% of APAC business leaders surveyed rank cultural change and technology modernization of equal importance for digital transformation. Cultural characteristics key for transformation include adaptability, inclusivity, transparency, and collaboration – all of which are open source principles. Organizations that have supported their cultural change initiatives with efforts to modernize their infrastructure and application architecture have been able to quickly develop and deliver new applications, respond rapidly to customer demands, and control maintenance costs.

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With APAC businesses recognizing that digital transformation is driven by a change in mindset, we foresee more organizations embracing open principles, processes, and culture next year. By doing so, organizations can nurture collaboration and empower employees to bring their best ideas and selves to work, which can help accelerate innovation and address changing customer and business requirements in an agile manner.

All in all, global events in 2020 have caused organizations to focus on near-term survival goals to support business continuity. As the business landscape continues to evolve, APAC organizations must prepare  for the future by adopting flexible, agile and scalable technology solutions. Considering trends such as 5G and edge computing, hybrid cloud and automation can help organizations as they develop or update their digital transformation plans in 2021.

Contributed, Editorial

Mastering Modern Photography with your Smartphone

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Photographs are the mighty connectors of the world today. You may not master any other language aside from your native tongue, but you know this much is true – a picture is worth a thousand words and having the right devices to capture these special moments are essential. Picture this: you’re exploring new views on hikes and the sun is just rising over the horizon. You scramble for your phone to capture the moment, but the image simply does not translate on your screen as pristinely as it is in real life.

In the nascent days of mobile phone photography, this was a common scenario. However, today’s smartphone cameras can capture professional-level images in any number of difficult lighting conditions. You no longer need to be a wizard with a camera to take high-quality photographs. Furthermore, these cameras even fit right in your pocket, enabling you to preserve memories in remarkable detail without the need to have a full camera set. Over the years, mobile camera technology has progressed more drastically than any other single feature in our smartphones. Learning to make use of the camera tech that comes with your phone can help you up your photography game.

Utilising the ‘Smart’ in your Smartphone to Capture the Best Moments

We have come a long way from the early, grainy photos taken on flip phones. Today’s smartphone cameras are capable of shooting in formats like wide-angle or telephoto, with crisp images boosted by high megapixels counts, and includes features like low-light functionality, fast autofocus capabilities, and optical image stabilisation for steady captures. Different exposure modes also allow photographers to now manipulate everything from the background of a scene to camera functionalities like shutter speed, white balance, focus, and ISO.

Once reserved strictly for DSLRs, these functionalities are now widely available, and sit comfortably in your hand and in your pocket. For many of us, taking the perfect photo now – whether it is for the books or for social media – is simply cranking up the camera settings to the highest-resolutions to capture quality and detailed images. For some devices, artificial intelligence can even now further assist our manual inputs to provide us with the sharpest photographs available at the push of a button.

While investing time in learning the full range of your smartphone camera’s features and functionality can help, getting the right setting for the perfect shot each time may require more time. In those instances, some phones come with powerful cameras that will save you the time and hassle of getting the ideal image. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra’s camera comes with a complex AI system – its Advanced Single Take feature will capture the best picture and clips behind the shutter, and you’ll have access to up to 10 photos and 4 videos in just one shot for your viewing and saving needs.

Making the Best of Manual Photography Apps and Other Features

For seasoned photographers looking to seize more control over how their photos look, they can also look towards their smartphones for access to finer capturing and editing needs. For some smartphones, the camera may have a manual mode feature built in to enable a greater range of options for the user. Whether you have experience with photography or simply exploring the possibilities available to you, making use of the manual photography mode on your smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra’s Pro Mode can help give you the extra perfect shot, with options to change your shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focus, and more, giving you more leeway and control in your shots.

Also, with basic settings available across nearly all devices – such as turning on the gridlines when taking photos to help you better compose your shots – wider shots can prove to be more challenging. Generally, the ultrawide sensor on any phone can be more difficult to work with. However, on the Galaxy Note20 Ultra, the dynamic range allows you to take better landscape shots. With the telephoto, its periscope system enables you to extend its optical zoom range to 5x, and with its “Space Zoom”, the combination of the optical and digital zooms lets you get into an impressive 50x for those ultra-distant shots.

Editing your Photos Digitally Through Your Phone

While you can throw on a preset filter onto your photos, sometimes you need to go the extra mile to create a photograph that is truly memorable, and uniquely yours. Learning the art of editing will help take your photography skills a step higher. A camera can take you only so far, after all. Some basic skills on photo editing, even ones you can pick up by reading or watching tutorials online can go a long way, forming the basis of the new skills you can pick up on your journey to improving your photography skills.

With the range of apps currently available on your smartphone, editing on the go has never been easier. Whether it is adjusting the exposure, saturation or touching up minor blemishes to make that photo picture perfect, the right smartphone can assist you with capturing the pixel perfect image that only requires enhancements to be professional and polished. Sometimes, a simple auto adjust will be sufficient in modifying the images contrast, brightness, and saturation. Other times, you will need to rely on your own eyes and build on your own experience to know if the image is good enough for your needs. Either way, modern smartphones can ensure you have good shots as you hone your skills further. Get creative with adjusting lighting and saturation and play around with editing to gain new perspectives otherwise unavailable on your device.

Ultimately, the first thing viewers see when looking at your images are what is in it, not how it was edited. With editing, less is often more – moderate adjustments combined with minimal use of filters can be used to beautify the photo. Finding the right device with a camera you are comfortable working with should take priority, with editing skills only used to further amplify areas of the image you want your viewers focusing on.

Smartphone Cameras and the Evolution of Modern Photography

Today’s smartphone camera technology makes it possible to capture practically any scene with the simple swipe of a finger. However, having the right tool can still impact your photo-taking journey, and the Galaxy Note20 Ultra is on par with the best phones out there, with additional tools still deeply imbued within its hardware and software to enable the perfect picture-taking experience. With a good eye and a powerful camera you can use anywhere, you’ll be capturing the best memorable photos without missing a good moment.

Business, Contributed

Four Steps to Accelerate Your Machine Learning Journey

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This is the golden age of machine learning­ (ML). Once considered peripheral, ML technology is becoming a core part of businesses around the world, regardless of the industry. By 2021, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and other cognitive technologies will exceed $50 billion.

Locally, 25% of organizations say they are setting aside at least 10% of their budget for technology, which includes investments in big data analytics (64%), cloud computing (57%), Machine Learning and artificial intelligence (33%), and robotic process automation (27%), based on the Malaysian Institute of Accountants’ “MIA-ACCA Business Outlook Report 2020″. [1] As more companies gain awareness of the importance of ML, they should work towards getting it in motion as quickly and effectively as possible.

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At Amazon, we have been on our own ML journey for more than two decades – applying it to areas like personalization, supply chain management, and forecasting systems for our fulfillment process. Today, there is not a single business function at Amazon that is not made better through machine learning.

Whether your company is just getting started or in the middle of your first implementation, here are the four steps you should take to have a successful machine learning journey.  

Get Your Data in Order

When it comes to adopting machine learning, data is often cited as the number one challenge. We found that more than 50% of time spent in building ML models can be spent in data wrangling, data cleanup, and pre-processing stages. Therefore, prioritize investing in the establishment of a strong data strategy to avoid spending excessive time and resources on data cleanup and management.

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When starting out, the three most important questions to ask are:

  • What data is available today?
  • What data can be made available?
  • A year from now, what data will we wish we had started collecting today?

In order to determine what data is available today, you will need to overcome data hugging – the tendency for teams to gatekeep data they work with most closely. Breaking down silos between teams for a more expansive view of the data landscape while still maintaining data governance is crucial for long-term success.

Additionally, identify what data actually matters as part of your machine learning approach. Think about best ways to store data and invest early in the data processing tools for de-identification and/or anonymization, if needed.

Identify the Right Business Problems

When evaluating what and how to apply ML, focus on assessing the problem across three dimensions: data readiness, business impact, and machine learning applicability.

Balancing speed with business value is key. Instead of trying to embark on a three-year ML project, focus on a handful of critical business use cases that could be solved in the upcoming six to 10 months. Start by identifying places where you already have a lot of untapped data and evaluate if machine learning brings benefits. Avoid picking a problem that is flashy but has unclear business value, as it will end up becoming a one-off experiment.

Champion a Culture of Machine Learning

In order to scale, you need to champion a culture of machine learning. At its core, ML is experimentation­. Therefore, it is imperative that your organization embrace failures and take a long-term view of what is possible.

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Businesses also need to combine a blend of technical and domain experts to work backward from the customer problem. Assembling the right group of people also helps eliminate the cultural barrier to adoption with a quicker buy-in from the business.

Similarly, leaders should constantly find ways to simplify the process of ML adoption for their developers. Since building ML infrastructures at scale is a time and labor-intensive process, leaders should encourage their teams to use tools that cover the entire ML workflow to build, train, and deploy these models efficiently.

For instance, 123RF, a homegrown stock photography portal, aims to make design smarter, faster, and easier for users. To do so, it relies on Amazon Athena, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda for data pipeline processing. Its newer products like Designs.ai Videomaker uses Amazon Polly to create voice-overs in more than 10 different languages. With AWS, 123RF has maintained flexibility in scaling its infrastructure and shortened product development cycles and is looking to incorporate other services to support its machine learning & AI research.

Develop Your Team

Developing your team is essential to foster a successful machine learning culture. Rather than spending resources to recruit new talent in a competitive market, hone in on developing your company’s internal talent through robust training programs.

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Years ago, Amazon created an in-house Machine Learning University (MLU) to help its own developers sharpen their ML skills or equip neophytes with tools to get started. We made the same machine learning courses available to all developers through AWS’s Training and Certification offering.

DBS Bank, a Singaporean multinational bank, employed a different approach. It is collaborating with AWS to train its employees to program their own ML-powered AWS DeepRacer autonomous 1/18th scale car, and race among themselves at the DBS x AWS DeepRacer League. Through this initiative, it aims to train at least 3,000 employees to be conversant in AI and ML by year end.

[1] MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), Business Outlook Report 2020, 2020

Android, Contributed, Mobile

Safeguard your Smartphone and Become a Cybersecurity Wiz

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The question of ‘hackability’ and the overall security of our smartphones is one of those issues that seems to pop up in the news. After all, we use our smartphones for just about anything – sharing photos, ordering food, shopping online, sending emails and messages, banking and financial services, etc. – without realising all of the ways we could be putting our device and ourselves at risk, allowing cyber-criminals to get access to our sensitive data.

While many of us are better informed today about the potential dangers of being connected on our smartphones, hackers and cyber-criminals are also changing their methods of attack. As the global pandemic have left many of us stuck at home and more reliant than ever on our mobile devices, cyber-criminals have also adapted new ways to target users. Over the Movement Control Order (MCO), cybersecurity cases spiked by 82.5% compared to the same time last year, with 18% attributed to attacks against local companies and the remaining linked to home users and others[1].

Recognising Cyberattacks and the Need for Cyber-resilience

Among the new waves of attacks brought on by the pandemic are COVID-19 themed phishing lures, high-risk fake domains, and scams[2]. These new methods employed by cyber-criminals are aimed at taking advantage of the public fear of the virus, combined with heightened stress levels from unfamiliar ways of working. The most common attacks in Malaysia can be attributed to phishing attempts, the spread of malicious code via untrustworthy websites, and passwords, as below:

  • Phishing Emails – Reports have found that 91% of all attacks begin with a phishing email to an unsuspecting victim, with 32% of all successful breaches involve the use of phishing techniques[3]. While many of us have been educated on recognising phishing emails, these attacks are still effective, and can fool even tech-savvy individuals.
  • Malicious Websites – Compromised websites is a main avenue for spreading malware infections on mobile devices. Limiting your browsing activity to reputable websites can reduce the possibility of infection.
  • Password Security – A survey revealed that 59% of respondents use the same password for multiple accounts, citing convenience and a fear of forgetting their password as the reason for this practice[4]. However, this allows cyber-criminals to access all your accounts easily through one single credential. Therefore, it is advisable to use different passwords across accounts.

Cyberattacks continue to grow day-by-day, and it is crucial that we learn to minimise risk, with good cyber habits being a pivotal and essential first step in combatting threats.

Defending your Smartphone, the Moment it is Turned On

As such, while it is important to take steps and measures to protect yourself online, it is also crucial to have a strong security platform on your smartphone, helping you encrypt and secure confidential data. Most smartphone breaches happen because they may not be equipped with advanced security measures, have outdated systems that may not be able to withstand current attacks. Similarly, smartphone owners may also not consider the importance of securing their phones or performing regular security check-ups. However, there are certain devices that come with a safe and secure in-built mobile interface to keep your personal data protected.

For example, Samsung Knox sets a foundation of security to users at both the hardware and software level as a security platform that’s integrated within Samsung smartphones, tablets, and wearables to protect it against malicious threats. Whether it is protection against phishing attacks or potential malware infections, the Samsung Knox platform has security integrated into its DNA, providing multi-layered security with data encryption and run-time protection within Samsung devices to keep sensitive information safe from online threats. Users can safeguard passwords, save private files under a secured folder, and even secure mobile transactions with Samsung Knox. Getting to know your security platforms is just as important when considering the range of services that is available to ensure that it is updated to meet global information and technology security requirements. This helps its users stay ahead of the modern-day threats with its game-changing security features.

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Given that smartphone usage has only grown exponentially over the past few years, it is important that we have more security platforms allowing us the freedom and peace-of-mind in staying connected. Similar to how Samsung Knox have.

On top of having a top-tier security platform for your data, having that protection extended to all the essentials in a mobile device is equally important. While many of us are familiar with installing apps on our phones, we may be unfamiliar with the authenticity of the sources producing these apps. Learning to identify unverified and suspicious sources can help users identify potentially harmful apps.

Similar to how Samsung devices come built-in with Google Mobile Services (GMS) to help ensure that your vital applications have the latest updates and patches from verified sources, using trusted sources from well-known app stores like Google Play can help protect you from downloading and installing apps that can harm your devices.

Staying Secure, Safe, and Savvy about Security

Cyberattacks are nothing new, the challenge is in identifying and combatting the updated approach that many cybercriminals are using when it comes to their targets and the frequency of their attacks. Whether it is a hacking attempt by a third-party app or a fraud email redirecting you to a malicious website, most cybercriminals have one common goal: exploit your personal data and use that data to make profit. As such, it is critical that we keep our sensitive information protected at all costs, with the help of a smartphone built with highly advanced security features to always keep you safe from unwanted threats.

[1] https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2020/04/12/cybersecurity-cases-rise-by-825

[2] https://home.kpmg/my/en/home/media/press-releases/2020/04/cybercrime-and-scams-have-been-successful.html

[3] https://www2.deloitte.com/my/en/pages/risk/articles/91-percent-of-all-cyber-attacks-begin-with-a-phishing-email-to-an-unexpected-victim.html

[4] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252440316/Password-practices-still-poor-despite-increased-threats

Business, Contributed

CFO, CIO Collaboration Is Crucial For COVID-19 Era – And Beyond

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In this COVID-19 global pandemic era, there is not a single CFO out there who isn’t scrutinizing their company’s spend. It has been very challenging for Malaysian businesses as well – with a weakening economy, supply chain disruptions, knock-on effects from troubled sectors and loss of jobs.

Fortunately, data’s role has exploded in the business world and is favourably impacting the situation. To properly assess a company’s financial position, a CFO needs to be able to effectively access data. The key is to take a large amount of information and narrow it down to action items. Effectively harnessing important data can be an issue.

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IT has evolved from being a background cost centre generating reports used to close the books, to a place where data is housed, manipulated and made available, which is key to running a successful business. IT is no longer in the background, carrying out mundane operations; it is capturing vital data and is now a strategic voice in running a business. When a CFO can effectively capture and analyse data, he or she can improve specific strategic areas. As a result, there is an increasing collaboration between CFOs and CIOs as IT formats data and provides insight into what might be most helpful to Finance.

The COVID-19 Challenges

While financial scrutiny is applicable to all areas, IT is different because most CFOs do not know all the specific technological nuances for his or her company. As the pandemic forces businesses to deal with unprecedented financial challenges and pressures, the CIO needs to help provide perspective to the CFO for necessary actions and what items might be able to be temporarily suspended without harming the business.

Buying IT equipment requires cash, and all companies are looking at actions to maximize cash flow and minimize expenses as COVID-19 impacts the global economy. Some expenditures are going to have to be delayed as cash is prioritized away from capital expenses. Most CFOs will not know what IT department costs to reduce without a collaborative conversation with the CIO.

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One strategy I consistently employ with our CIO, which has been extremely helpful during this crisis, is a regularly scheduled, detailed review of all ad-hoc expenses across the company, looking for technology items that should be aggregated or are not compliant with standards. This is an area that requires CIO input and experience.

Relying on Each Other

It is very difficult for CFOs to keep up with IT. It evolves so rapidly and requires specialty knowledge; generalists are left in the dust when it comes to technological progress. A CFO can measure costs but determining capabilities and staying ahead of what is on the horizon requires a specialist, a CIO. At the same time, technology often offers glitzy, fancy new toys, and it is imperative that IT professionals stay focused on what type of capital is available, what they want to spend it on, and how their values are aligned with the business.

Communication and collaboration with our CIO to work on business cases for development projects helps validate the financials of the project. A working knowledge of the ever-changing standards in technology protects financial projections and budgets.

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CFOs are focused on maintaining normal business activity without increasing expenses. Industry analyst Gartner has reported for many years that third party maintenance is less expensive than what OEMs offer. And the service is just as good if not better. If anybody came to you and demonstrated, “You’re paying $100,000 for this service; I can do it for $50,000-$60,000 and I’m going to do it better,” there’s not a CFO who wouldn’t take that deal, but it would require CIO scrutiny and knowledge.

I.T.’s Unique Contributions

In my collaborations with I.T. leaders, I have learned that I.T. is uniquely positioned to scan the entire company for technology-enabled improvements: revenue opportunities, productivity increases and cost savings. When the CIO and the CFO collaborate to find and implement these improvements, the company becomes more effective than if a siloed approach is taken on a per-department basis.

While COVID-19 is a challenge, it also presents an opportunity to identify improvements. As people are suddenly forced into working in a different model, the traditional ways of doing business can be challenged more quickly. A collaboration between the CIO and the CFO in looking at the results of the workforce being sent home may present opportunities in office utilization, software purchases, hardware deployment and other areas.

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While hardware and software expenses are relatively easy to monitor and measure against the company’s metrics, the implementation of IT projects is a key collaboration area for CFOs and CIOs. Every project brought forward to IT can have cost structures that include outside purchases as well as internal labour. Projects need to bring value to the company; and the calculation of that value, perhaps in the form of ROI, requires CIO and CFO collaboration to accurately calculate the value and measure the results after the project is in place.

With our CIO, I consult with an ongoing process analysis team that looks for cost reduction opportunities that won’t impact customer satisfaction. This input is key to make sure a potential financial decision that may benefit the company does not negatively impact customer service.

The Park Place Difference

CFOs will not know that value without CIOs sharing the information. For example, CFOs and CIOs together can protect their business revenues and their business-critical IT by “sweating” their IT assets longer through value-added life-cycle support services. Maximizing payback and ROI on hardware infrastructure can yield financial benefits for the longer term.

There is a new category to look out for: Discover, Monitor, Support and Optimize (DMSO), that Park Place Technologies is uniquely positioned to deliver for its customers. It is a fully integrated approach to managing critical infrastructure that can help businesses manage data centre remotely, optimise network performance with analytics, and simplify the management of complex hybrid environments while realising cost-saving.  

As businesses continue their digital transformations, they depend on data that resides on-premises, in public and private clouds, devices at the edge and networks, and operation centers that span the globe. Managing these complex environments is increasingly becoming more difficult. Exponential increases in time, labor and cost, as well as the complexity of navigating a maze of service providers to establish clear accountability and support, requires a more intelligent and flexible approach as DMSO. We are all hoping the COVID-19 era passes quickly. But the long-term necessity and benefits of CFOs and CIOs collaborating will continue well beyond the current crisis and will remain an ongoing part of any business’s evolution, strategy and long-term health