Tag Archives: trends

Beyond the Now: Thrive in 2021 with These Five Trends

January 21, 2021 Frank Feldmann Leave a comment

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.

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.

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.

photo of people doing handshakes — Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

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, News

Malaysians Have Been Searching for Everything from Condoms to Yoga Mats during the COVID-19 Pandemic

May 12, 2020 Vivien Jane Kiong Leave a comment

Since early March, the high rate of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia has resulted in the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) nationwide. Soon after the official announcement, panicked purchasing increased drastically resulting in most daily necessities being sold out in most places.

With most Malaysians aware of the prolonged duration of the MCO, consumers are turning to online market places to obtain necessities and equipment to enable them to work-from-home (WFH). Thus, we investigated the search trends of more than 900,000 iPrice Malaysia visitors. The data has shed light on a number of interesting and unexpected findings.

The research was conducted by analyzing the online search behavior of close to 1 million visitors on iPrice Malaysia between 18 March 2020, when the MCO was first enforced, and 17 April 2020. All percentage increases displayed in this research were obtained by comparing the search impressions data with consumers’ online search behavior prior to the implementation of the MCO.

1. Satisfaction is important, but safety always comes first

In the medical supply category, it was unsurprising to see a 648% increase in search interest for face masks such as surgical masks & N95 masks. However, it seems like Malaysians are getting adventurous as there was also a rise in interest for sex related products such as sensual toys, vibrators, fertility test kits & condoms.

From their search behaviours, we saw the following percentage increase in interest:

347% increase in searches for sensual toys & vibrators
79% increase in searches for fertility test kits
61% increase in searches for condoms

While it seems like Malaysian could be indulging in self love and even more adventurous exploits, this also shows that Malaysians are being more cognizant of family planning especially with the increase in searches for fertility test kits.

2. Malaysians are running out of patience with their overgrown hair

The MCO began in the mid of March & has been ongoing for more than 6 weeks. This also means that most Malaysians probably have overgrown hair and are looking for ways to take care of it.

iPrice data reveals major increase in searches for trimming clippers. In fact, the increase was an averaged 17,652%! This trend can also be seen throughout various social media platforms, where people has been sharing the results of their DIY haircut attempts.

3. The MCO is potentially breading more MasterChefs

Malaysians are probably tired with packaged and delivered foods. As a result, they are turning to more home cooked food. Data reveals high interest in appliances such as bread makers, mixers, air fryers and ovens suggesting that people are showing interest in experimenting with various recipes.

This is supported by the increase in searches related to appliances including bread makers (7,587%), stand mixers (3,048%), ovens (1,058%) and air fryers (2,029%).

4. Malaysians Prefer the Nintendo Switch during the pandemic

The inability to go outdoors may have led to excessive boredom. As such, people are looking for ways to stay entertained at home. This could be driving the an increased interest in gaming. Data shows high search interest for gaming items such as the Nintendo switch, Animal Crossing game & board games such as Monopoly.

Nintendo’s latest game, Animal Crossing , saw a 17,427% increase in interest, while the Nintendo Switch saw an average increase of 1,064%. Board games, on the other hand, saw a 4,336% surge in interest among Malaysians.

5. Tablets preferred over laptops?

When it comes to preparing for WFH, Malaysians are probably looking to purchase tech that would allow them to be more productive; one would think that this would mean that they would be looking for laptops or PCs. However, the data indicates otherwise. In fact, it shows that Malaysian are turning more to tablets. On average, searches for tablets saw an increase of 1,125%, while laptops recorded a 299% increase.

This would suggest Malaysians are probably getting tablets for work or entertainment activities.

6. Staying fit indoors

Like many others on the internet, it seems that Malaysians are also worrying about gaining weight from being cooped up at home for too long. It’s all over social media! More people are showing an interest in working out at home. This is reflected in the data, there was a surge in searches for exercise equipment such as skipping ropes (4,528%) and yoga mats (2,016%).

Research methodology

Data featured in this study were obtained by aggregating thousands of product pages of more than 150 online merchants through https://iprice.my/. Data on the increase in searches were analyzed by comparing the impressions data recorded from March 18 – April 17, 2020 as compared to February 16, 2019 – March 17, 2020.

Business, Computers, Editorial

[Cisco 2019 CISO Report] A Good Year For Malaysia

February 3, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

CISO stands for Chief Information Security Officer. From that description alone, we believe you would know what this report is about then. If you still do not; Cisco did a study for the cyber security field for 2019 by interviewing about 2,000 Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) or security professionals all over Asia Pacific. You would be glad to know also that about 10% of the participants in the study are Malaysian. While that does not change the nature of the study, the sample size should mean that there is some accuracy in the general scheme of things.

The Big Numbers

The big numbers for Malaysia are 44% of threat alerts are investigated, 46% of the recognised threats are neutralised, and 27% have faced downtime of longer than 24 hours due to a cyber security breach or threat. There are some good things about these numbers, and some bad things too. So it is not all roses and rainbows for Malaysia’s cyber security industry in 2019.

The first of the numbers are the investigated threats. This does not mean alerts. Receiving cyber threat alerts and investigating them are two different things. You can have threat alerts of more than 10,000 and still not investigate any of them for a number of reasons. Still, investigated threats are escalated from reported threats.

According to the Malaysian numbers, 44% of threats reported in Malaysia are investigated in 2019. That is 4% more than 2018, Malaysian CISOs are busier by 4% last year 2019 than in 2018 then. That could be due to the raised number of serious threats. It could also mean that awareness to cyber threats have increased in Malaysia. So while it does sound like Malaysia is being attacked more, it also means that Malaysians are now better prepared for cyber threats or breaches.

Out of all the verified threats, nearly half of them were remediated at 46%. That number is higher than plenty of Malaysia’s neighbours and the average in Asia Pacific at 43%. The other half? Maybe those cases could be a little tougher. Still, that also means that Malaysians are capable of handling cyber security issues. This number is also an increase from 2018.

The next big number is 27% of companies declared a downtime of more than 24 hours when they get attacked. This is a large increase from 2018’s 9%. While this may not seem like a good thing, there is a bigger story that than. For one, this also means that Malaysia is plenty more digital in 2019 than 2018. This increase could also be because of the increased threat detection in 2019. The result was also a higher resolution to each identified threat.

More Vendors, More Problems?

It seems only yesterday that having multiple layers of security is a good thing. Like plenty of things, throwing money at something should solve a problem. Those were the days.

There used to be a time when organisations like banks would recommend having about 10 security vendors to layer security in all parts of their organisation. In some sense, it works; but it is very expensive, and very inconvenient for users. That is not yet considering the fact that having multiple vendors and that many layers of security increases complexity in controlling and managing the solutions.

The new way to think about cyber security then is to keep the number of vendors down to as little as required. This reduces not just complexity of workflow and simplifies management, but also increases the efficiency of managing cyber threats.

From the Malaysian numbers though, this seems to be a slightly new concept with more than 35% of the responding organisations having more than 10 vendors. While this is slightly lower than 2018’s 39%, there is still a need to reduce that number even lower. Malaysians realise that too, with 90% of respondents finding it hard to manage that many vendors at the same time. Some experts suggests that having five to six vendors at a time is enough for a holistic cybersecurity system to be in place for any organisation.

The Problem With Cybersecurity Malaysia

There are still looming problems for a country that is going through a major digital transformation though. While the progress toward a digital Malaysia and Industry 4.0 has been a steady one in the region, there are still fundamental problems that might hinder progress or create holes in the cyber armours that the CISOs have put up or tried to put up. One of these enemies to cyber security is budget.

There are times where companies might have a large constraint over budget. For most SMEs and startups, it is quite understandable. They would probably need to pool their money in things that they might find more useful to them in the shorter run. That is not saying that it is not a problem for them or the general cyber security state in Malaysia. It is still a problem, but an inevitable one.

There are cases with large organisations that has restricted their budgets to cyber security because they do not yet see the value in cybersecurity. This becomes a major issue for CISOs. Despite the consensus that more money may not mean more protection, cyber security still needs a pool of money to work with. If not enough money is being poured into the department, not much can be done. With less protection, larger organisations are more vulnerable and thus, might lose even more money.

The biggest problem with cyber security, not just in Malaysia but most of the world, is always personnel; both the lack of skilled workers and awareness of the main issue. Thing is though, CISOs all over Malaysia are also making efforts to reduce this number down with plenty of awareness and skill training of personnel all over the company. The number of skilled personnel in terms of cyber security in Malaysia is also growing continuously, which also means that it is a problem that can be solved in time.

So What do We do in 2020?

2020 is meant to be the year of progress, of near complete digital revolution. It is the year of 5G and WiFi 6, the year where data is meant to be all covering and seamless. That potentially means more cyber security risks with bigger data bandwidth and less latency. It gives software less time to react. Which means that a DDoS attack could be a big thing in 2020.

Still, awareness is key to combating cyber attacks. With the availability of data in today’s world, having a VPN no longer cuts it. The only benefit of VPN these days is to ensure that whatever that you have accessed is not tracked by your data or service provider. You are still at risk of a cyber attack even via VPN.

The fact that you have multiple devices that are connected to the internet and each other is already a threat on their own. At every point and turn, you really have to be aware of what you are accessing on the internet and what you are vulnerable to. That allows you to be more alert on things like phishing attacks, malicious links, email scams and what not. That should be enough as the first layer of defense against common cyber attacks, maybe even big ones like ransomware and what not.

If you are planning on getting an Anti-Virus software protection on your PC, consider spending a little more than what you would pay for a generic Anti-Virus program. You might want to look into find an Anti-Virus program that covers the whole lot from spyware, adware, to even malware. That way, you are ensured of a holistic protection, at least on your own end.

Business, Contributed, Social Media

The Social Trends Shaping Business in 2020

January 14, 2020 Nicole Tan Leave a comment

*This article is contributed by Nicole 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.

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].

[1] Department of Statistics Malaysia: Contribution of Digital Economy was 18.5 per cent to National Economy

[2] McKinsey: Future of Asia report

[3] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS?locations=MY

[4] https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/smes-yet-unlock-opportunities-internet

[5] Future of Business Survey H1 2018

[6] https://www.mcmc.gov.my/en/media/press-releases/online-video-and-voice-record-biggest-growth-among

[7] Facebook Q3 earnings 2019

[8] Mobile Unique subscribers, GSMA Intelligence, Oct 2019.

[9] https://www.facebook.com/iq/insights-to-go/63-63-of-people-surveyed-in-asia-pacific-messaged-a-business-last-holiday-season/?tags%5B0%5D=people-insights&tags%5B1%5D=asia-pacific&tags%5B2%5D=holiday-season&tags%5B3%5D=i2g_People_Insights_Type

[10] https://our.internmc.facebook.com/intern/tasks/?t=43243044

[11] https://messengernews.fb.com/2019/04/30/messenger-at-f8-2019-over-20b-messages-exchanged-between-people-and-businesses-every-month/

[12] Zero Friction Future Report: Malaysia Financial Services

[13] https://www.facebook.com/business/news/insights/conversational-commerce

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