“The separation of Kyndryl is one of many actions we are taking to sharpen our focus on hybrid cloud and AI, leverage a portfolio focused on technology and consulting, and achieve our growth objectives,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, and chief executive officer after the separation was completed.

The managed services industry has seen an increased demand in recent years, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. With most companies accelerating their digital transformation, the need for managed IT services and such increased dramatically as well.

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In fact, statistics show that the global managed services market is valued at US$ 152 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach around US$274 billion by 2026. While North America is the largest market, the fastest-growing market is the Asia Pacific region.

For Kyndryl, no market and opportunities are bigger than what is available in the Asia Pacific region. Despite establishing its managed services portfolio through IBM in the past, the company is now fully independent in how it manages and runs its business across the globe.

According to Susan Follis, Managing Director of Kyndryl in ASEAN, businesses have changed their timing and focus on their digital agenda in order to achieve their business targets. To achieve their digital agenda, businesses will want to expand their digital reach, which in this case would be their IT infrastructure and services.

“With Kyndryl, we’ve doubled our potential reach in ASEAN. We are independent and can go where our clients go and we are doubling down and investing in our personal growth. I think ASEAN is a fantastic opportunity and we will make it a reality. We will do this by focusing on our people, clients, and hiring, with our partner ecosystem in mind,” said Follis.

Despite being a former part of IBM, Follis pointed out that they are two separate businesses with different focuses and will only work together where it makes sense for their clients. IBM will be Kyndryl’s biggest client and there will be other clients as well who may have other ways of doing things.

Susan Follis, Managing Director, ASEAN, Kyndryl

“We have had a year to figure out how the relationship works. Some other clients may want to go in another direction not associated with IBM products. Therefore we are ramping up our certification on hyperscalers and investment in partner ecosystems. As that unfolds, we will have global partners, ASEAN-specific partners, and local partners within a given country.

And I think this scenario about growth is huge for us. We haven’t really expanded that local partner ecosystem. Each country is different and has its own unique advantages that need to be factored in. By having a local system as well as deeper ASEAN growth and focus on partners, it will make a difference to us,” explained Follis.

Interestingly, Follis also mentioned that the local partners are seeing Kyndryl as a real opportunity. Creating the true partner ecosystem within the region will be a focus for Kyndryl. This includes certifications within the hyperscalers and getting broader establishments on which partners play where especially on having the right partner model for each country.

Partnerships for managed services

One of Kyndryl’s first partnerships since its formation is with Microsoft. Combining their market-leading capabilities in service to enterprise customers, both companies will bring to market state-of-the-art solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud that will accelerate hybrid cloud adoption, modernize applications and processes, support mission-critical workloads, and further enable modern work experiences for customers.

Kyndryl also announced a strategic partnership expansion with VMware. The partnership will focus on app modernization and multi-cloud services and is expected to enable customers to enhance their digital innovation and business transformation with enterprise control.

This includes accelerating IT and business reinvention for customers through the combination of VMware solutions and Kyndryl’s design, build, and managed services. The companies also aim to help customers speed their digital transformations by rapidly building and deploying new, more secure applications designed and built for a world of distributed work.

Another partnership announced by Kyndryl is with Google Cloud. Both companies will unleash the power of data and analytics, apply AI and infrastructure modernization to help customers gain new insights and drive business outcomes. By running their most critical business systems on the global and sustainable Google Cloud infrastructure, customers will be able to seamlessly deliver applications and data across their entire footprint, from headquarters to the network edge.

Apart from partnerships, Kyndryl has also achieved SAP certification for operations capabilities in global cloud and infrastructure operations to further strengthen its capabilities and portfolio to offer managed services to SAP customers globally.

The digital agenda for ASEAN business  

As a managed services provider, Kyndryl will be offering several types of services to help businesses achieve their digital agenda and also build on their success. In ASEAN, the main growth area in ASEAN for Kyndryl will be for managed cloud services.

Follis believes that because of their experience in handling cloud services, they will be able to help businesses leverage the technology better. Businesses are now looking to have to multi-cloud and Kyndryl can help in setting up digital dashboards, leveraging data for better decisions, and such.

Apart from that, data and AI are another big area. They have been playing and leveraging with data to try and understand it, including mining it for a long period of time. This will be another huge growth area with their framework in ASEAN.

Network and edge will also be on the agenda. 5G will provide an opportunity to connect businesses to places they haven’t been able to connect in the past. Kyndryl will work will clients to identify new growth areas in the Edge to achieve their digital agenda.

Managing the competition

“We are coming from a position of strength. We are the number one managed services provider and we continue to be that. But this doesn’t mean we are sitting back. We are very focused on doing more for clients and going to new places where we have not gone before,” said Follis.

She adds that Kyndryll has a totally different strategy to get to different clients that they haven’t been able to get to up. And this is done by taking the skills and knowledge they have for their big clients and package them for a more customized environment. This enables Kyndryl to not only double potential growth but also provide offerings to a broader region to differentiate themselves.

“We are the biggest startup ever. We have been able to go on this journey and not impact our clients. We are seeing the difference already. We are faster, flatter, and more focused. We can go where our clients want us to go. We operate a leaner operation model, and we know exactly what we do well and we know where we need to go,” concluded Follis.

The post Will Kyndryl be the top managed services provider in ASEAN? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ransomware, everywhere

Tech trends in cybersecurity have generally edged towards targeting remote working victims.

The spike toward record ransomware attacks and data leaks in 2021 looks likely to spill over into the coming year.

Cyber-extortion heists break into a victim’s network to encrypt data, then demand a ransom, typically paid via cryptocurrency in exchange to unlock it.

A swathe of factors has fueled the trend, including the booming value of cryptocurrencies, victims’ willingness to pay and the difficulty authorities have in catching attackers.

Businesses and the most-at-risk retail sector should start now, rather than later, to prepare for the incoming onslaught.

James Forbes May, vice president for the Asia Pacific at Barracuda believes that there will be a renewed focus on governments prioritizing cybersecurity initiatives, building alliances with vendors, and sharing data with other countries.

More electric vehicles

We’ve seen how the devastating impacts of climate change exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic have wreaked havoc on lives in the Asia Pacific. 

One way nations here are looking to ameliorate climate change is to promote the replacement or at least, increase of zero-emissions vehicles on the roads. 

This picture taken on September 9, 2021 shows a Nissan Motor autonomous vehicle during a press preview for a field operation test of Easy Ride, a driverless mobility service, at the Minato Mirai business district in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Tech trends in the Asian automotive industry are definitely moving towards increased EV design, manufacture, but uptake may be fragmented, depending on the country.

Some nations with growing EV markets include India and Japan.

But the spotlight will be on China, a huge player in the Asian EV industry, whose government has pushed for more EVs to curb carbon emissions.

More Chinese automakers and players are collaborating, whereas home-grown Chinese stalwarts like Nio are targeting richer overseas markets.

As of now, a plethora of companies, even those traditionally in consumer tech, have put one leg into the proverbial electric boat to start production and sales of EVs. They include Huawei and  Xiaomi. Smaller countries such as Malaysia have made some semblance of headway into promoting EVs too, with taxation policies.

However, the biggest issue impeding its adoption in Asia is simply, the cost required to acquire EVs, which is especially true for the economically developing SEA.

Global leading automakers have, however, expressed interest in smaller markets such as Malaysia, though.

The semiconductor complexity will go on

Experts say the global chip shortage is like to continue until 2023 at least. 

Key chip supply chain player Malaysia may see increased competition from manufacturing leaders such as Vietnam, although more investments are coming in, such as from Bosch and Intel. 

Malaysia’s semiconductor industry may need time to recover, though, given the impact of not just COVID-19 lockdowns, but the recent flash flooding which has displaced tens of thousands of people and wrecked chip plants there.

China is trying to reduce its reliance on Taiwan’s TSMC to grow its home-grown SMIC. China is the largest buyer of 5G smartphones and also supplies a majority of consumer tech to the world.

Chinese big tech brands are moving to in-house design and manufacture of their own chips, one of the tech trends seen in the West too. They include Oppo and Alibaba.

More Big Tech regulation in China

In China, the big tech crackdown has been going full steam, as regulators have slapped fines and withheld licenses for a litany of charges that Chinese big tech have flouted.

At the same time, the state authorities have come up with draft after draft of legislation to govern the movements and operations of big tech in the country.

Even foreign firms aren’t spared, prompting some to even leave China. Some of these laws include anti-monopoly, data privacy, foreign IPOs, and more. 

Trade sanctions on China-sourced goods to the US have resulted in a trade war that has affected Chinese and global supply chains. This dynamic arguably underlies these recent actions by Beijing, particularly where it concerns the movement of citizen information or data across borders.

As a result, China has been expanding its influence into SEA, where some nations have a more favorable disposition towards Chinese tech.

Part of China’s strategy to avoid the US and move to trade in other markets has resulted in their interest in being a part of regional trade agreements. China is now part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which starts January 1.

They also aim to rejoin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in a post-Trump administration.

Meatless meat

Meat alternatives have become common in an increasing number of western households, thanks in part to Beyond Meat and Impossible Food plant-based products. They have improved taste-wise, and are cheaper now, partly because of increased awareness of the impact of meat production on the environment. 

In Southeast Asia, however, real meat still trumps plant-based or lab-grown meats — simply because it’s too expensive. 

Ironically, plant-based mock meat has been very popular in the region for decades, owing to a large number of vegetarians. Asia, is, after all, a region home to two of the world’s largest religions that eschew meat, namely, Buddhism, and Hinduism. 

However, most mock meat products suffer from sub-par texture, flavor, and closeness to real meat, which makes them unattractive to the mass market of meat-eaters. 

However, the demand is there — just not enough for manufacturers and developers to reach a critical mass production point where the prices match or even go lower than real meat products.

Producers are, however, taking stock of this trend as some Asian nations are already working on commercializing or at least, exploring these efforts, including Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Singapore-based Growthwell is one, and they aim to produce completely plant-based, nutritionally complete meat alternatives. 

With additional reporting by Joshua Melvin with Julie Jammot for Agence France-Presse

The post 2022: Five tech trends in the Asia Pacific appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

This potential is so great, Bain, Google, and Temasek predicted the GMV of ASEAN’s digital economy would hit US$1 trillion by 2030 — a mere eight years away. 

A new report by Mambu’s Findexable called the Asia Pacific Fintech Rankings: Bridging Divides has moved its two more ASEAN nations — Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Indonesia (Jakarta) — into the list of top 20 fintech hubs. 

Top 20 Fintech Hubs in Asia (IMG/Findexable)

This is quite a feat, given how both countries jumped double digits to join their existing ASEAN peers Singapore and Manila, in the top 20. 

Findexable also published the annual Global Fintech Rankings for the past two years, analyzing and comparing 264 cities in over 80 countries, with a total of 11,000+ fintechs. 

For its first regional fintech hub report, the company tracked fintech startups in 16 countries across the Asia Pacific, (except India and China) in order to establish the world’s leading, scaling, and emerging fintech cities and countries. 

Asia Pacific Fintech Nation rankings (IMG/Findexable)

Findexable also sought to understand how fintechs in their respective regions are solving local problems and responding to specific market structures. 

Southeast Asia’s impressive fintech market growth

ASEAN is now a digital powerhouse; a behemoth that won’t stop growing. Underlying a large part of that growth is the presence of fintech in the region. 

Last year alone, foreign investors invested US$1.6 billion in ASEAN fintech startups — an eightfold increase from US$0.2 billion in 2015. Fintech is also the largest venture capital investment category for startups in the region.

With strong market demand for fintech services, the fintech boom is clearly not showing any signs of slowing down — in fact, it’s only going to keep growing. 

And with this growth, we’re seeing surprising results emerge, despite the exceedingly tough times the region has had to deal with. 

Think the pandemic, natural disasters, and tourism-dependent economies crippled by global lockdowns.

Yet, the region has not just survived but thrived. 

Further supporting this growth is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); a proposed agreement between ASEAN nations and its free trade agreement (FTA) partners. 

Six ASEAN nations have ratified the agreement to better integrate the Asia Pacific through the RCEP, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Non-ASEAN signatory countries include Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

But most interestingly, all the three ASEAN countries in the top 20 except for Singapore, namely Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, have not ratified the RCEP, 

The RCEP, which will come into force on January 1, 2022, should serve as a key engine of trade and economic recovery for the entire region, opines Dr. Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy, a researcher with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, in The Diplomat.

The dance of the fintech ecosystem in ASEAN 

The Findexable report shared some pertinent observations viz how seven countries in the Asia Pacific would interact. There is a dynamic in place that appears promising — could it encourage further investment and growth in the regional fintech ecosystem? 

Or could it develop into something strong and unique, such as a cross-border fintech ecosystem? 

Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand present challenges viz a lack of a universal banking infrastructure — and as such, fostering financial inclusion is an opportunity for fintechs to resolve.

Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) — rich, well-developed, and with strong banking sectors come with fintechs that are capable of taking on markets in the US and Europe. 

And the bridge between these two distant worlds? It’s Singapore, according to Findexable — rich and well developed, but also patently aware and capable of helping solve issues its neighbors face.

Emerging business opportunities for fintechs

Fintechs and their solutions differ from country to country. Fintechs in developed countries tends to impact users incrementally. Conversely, in developing countries, fintech can “transform lives and unlock the economic growth potential of a nation”. 

This is true in countries with massive amounts of the underbanked and unbanked, such as the Philippines and Indonesia — fintech solutions such as digital payments, buy now pay later (BNPL), and microloans, among others, unlock opportunities for financial inclusion.

And payments — it is the core driver of the fintech ecosystem at large. In advanced nations, BNPL can serve as mere “consumer financing play”, whereas, in developing countries, it offers underbanked individuals and mSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) access to the working capital they would traditionally not be able to access. 

Digital payments are another area that may seem humdrum to the average Australian, but which are transforming the lives of the average citizen in a developing economy. E-Wallets allow users to transfer money via a smartphone without the need for a bank account — ultimately improving financial inclusion for the great unbanked.

Another observation is that cross-border barriers are increasingly being taken down, and this will especially be a highly watched space once the RCEP takes flight next month. 

Southeast Asia is heavily involved in cross-border trade due to the proximity of countries to each other. Similar cultures, environments, cuisines, and complementary resources also make cross-border trade all the more lucrative.

Lastly, localization is key. BNPL, for example, is much easier to implement for consumers in the west who need a little extra cash for that sweet new iPhone. 

But in Indonesia, where mSME merchants are increasing, it’s going to be a unique challenge to cover up-front food purchases for, say, a door-to-door fruit seller. 

This would be something that would-be fintechs need to pay attention to when it comes to scaling up because different ASEAN economies would differ greatly when it comes to achieving economies of scale.  

The post Fintech business opportunities in ASEAN appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Managed by Korea’s Hanhwa Asset Management Co, the venture-debt fund was established under the Dana Penjana Nasional (DPN) program under the Malaysian Ministry of Finance. It is also Hanhwa’s first venture debt partnership in Malaysia.

The initial size of the pioneer venture-debt fund is RM160 million (US$40 million), with Malaysia’s Penjana Kapital contributing a portion of the monies, together with “other institutional and high net worth investors”. 

Investment into Singapore agritech Growthwell Group

The Iris Fund chose to make its maiden investment in Growthwell Group Pte. Ltd (Growthwell Foods). 

Established in Singapore in 1989, Growthwell Foods and has 30 years of experience in producing meat-free foods in Singapore and 10 other countries in the APAC region. 

Currently, the Group is utilizing agritech techniques to produce completely plant-based, nutritionally complete meat alternatives.

The company claims it goes “full force” into R&D and food technology, working with food scientists, researchers, nutritionists, and chefs backed by its expertise in understanding the needs of the Southeast Asian food market.

“We are extremely pleased to have global investors like Iris Fund onboard Growthwell as we look to scale up our plant nutrition business beyond Southeast Asia,” commented Growthwell executive director Justin Chou. “We will continue to trailblaze plant nutrition in Asia.”

Growthwell produces vegan plant-based brand HAPPIEE!, egg-free cooking ingredients brand OKK, and plant-based ready meal brand Gomama. 

The company plans to use these investments to expand its manufacturing facility in the northern state of Johor, Malaysia. This expansion is projected to create more job opportunities for Malaysians.

The Iris Fund was part of the $22 million Series A funding round by the company alongside other renowned investors, including Temasek Holdings Limited, Creadev, GGV Capital, and DSG Consumer Partners. 

What are venture debt funds?

Venture debt funds allow for more accessible financing options for early-stage startups with validated business models and clear market growth opportunities, including minimizing shareholding dilution, enhancing financial liquidity, and providing support for fundraising rounds throughout the region. 

This allows companies to maintain more autonomy over their assets while providing access to financing that will allow them to grow significantly over shorter periods of time.

“While the Iris Fund isn’t limited to specific sectors or funding stages, we do look for companies with comprehensive business plans and projections that have clear strategies for long-term growth prospects. 

The Fund is aimed to diversify capital sources for startups and help strengthen the financing opportunities in South East Asia,” said Dato’ Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad, Chairman of the Iris Fund.

 “This inaugural venture represents the Group’s strong belief in the growth of the region. The fund will be the first of many partnerships with Iris Capital Partners as the Group is looking to invest more in Malaysia and Southeast Asia,” said Kimo Kim, Partner at the Iris Fund. 

“This fund aims to offer more accessible financing to startups and SMEs – while allowing founders to control their dilution better”, added Kim.

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Alibaba, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, have lately been doing all it takes to navigate a new regulatory environment amid Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s tech sector. It started with a recent biggest reshuffle and now the company is looking at accelerating its overseas expansion, targeting a long-term goal of quintupling gross merchandise value (GMV).

During the Alibaba Investor Day conference call last week, the company’s CEO Zhang Yong shared that the e-commerce giant is targeting a long-term goal of quintupling GMV, the sum of transactions across Lazada’s platforms, to US$100 billion. Alibaba is eyeing for Lazada to serve more than 300 million users eventually, according to a slideshow posted on its website.

Zhang also said that the company’s three strategies including domestic demand, globalization and advanced technology have progressed. To recall, based on the earnings report released by the company on November 18, Alibaba’s global business volume grew 41%, with extensive coverage in approximately 200 countries and regions around the world. 

To recall, Alibaba took over Singapore-based Lazada in 2016 and have ever since been the Chinese corporation’s main e-commerce business in the booming Southeast Asian market. Based on a Bloomberg report, Lazada has grown its GMV to about US$21 billion over the past 12 months, after enlarging its active consumer base by 1.8 times to 130 million from March 2020 through September this year.

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Lazada’s Zhang is optimistic and sees a “huge potential in the international markets” going forwards. “In Southeast Asia, ecommerce penetration is only 11%, and Lazada’s annual consumers have reached only 34% of regional Internet users. There’s tremendous potential in both the overall market size and our penetration,” he added.

Lazada, however, has been losing out to Sea Ltd. ‘s Shopee, which also operates in Southeast Asia and Taiwan over the last few years. For context, Shopee reported more than US$56 billion of transactions over the four quarters to the end of September. 

Alibaba’s incoming chief financial officer Toby Xu said during the presentation last week that its China commerce segment has faced “near-term challenges of a slowing macro-environment and a heightened level of competition.” That, he said, has resulted in slower GMV and the revenue growth in the most recent quarter, Xu said. “But we also see opportunities to tap into new addressable markets to grow new users that will position us well for the long term.”

The post Alibaba targets US$100 billion SEA e-commerce business appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Compared to normal computers, supercomputers are able to perform high-level tasks and are often used for research and development purposes. Today, supercomputers are available in most regions around the world.

As of June 2021, statistics show that 188 of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers are located in China, a figure which is a third more than that of its nearest competitor, the United States, which accounted for an additional 122 supercomputers.

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The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS). The most powerful public supercomputer in the world is Fugaku, developed by Fujitsu and Japan’s national research institute Riken. The supercomputer has beaten competitors from both China and the U.S.

IBM which runs several supercomputers recently announced its latest quantum computing processor, the 127-qubit Eagle. However, the company said that the processor was it is first to be too complicated to be simulated by a classical supercomputer.

The rise of supercomputers in SEA

In Southeast Asia, supercomputers are also present in several countries. Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Authority (NSTDA) is spending about US$ 17.8 million to buy the most efficient supercomputer in Southeast Asia, to promote science and technology. The Bangkok Post reported that the supercomputer is expected to start operations by the end of 2022, which is important for Thailand in terms of national disaster predictions and forecasts.

“The supercomputer will strengthen Thailand’s position in high-performance computing and research capabilities in ASEAN,” said Narong Sirilertworakul, president of the NSTDA.

Meanwhile in Singapore, which is already home to two national supercomputers, also recently announced plans to build its third national supercomputer to advance research in Covid-19 and other areas in healthcare. According to a Straits Times report, the new supercomputer is expected to train artificial intelligence (AI) to predict a patient’s future disease condition, such as Covid-19 and other diseases, within hours, instead of days as with standard computers.

The National Supercomputing Centre Singapore (NSCC) and National University Health System (NUHS) finalized an agreement to build the third national petascale supercomputer, which is expected to be ready by the middle of next year.

“NUHS sees a large number of patients per day and generates large amounts of data that can be used to train AI models that improve the quality of care. Normally, these could take days to process but the new supercomputer could help to cut our training times down to hours allowing our medical and para-medical staff to optimize patient trajectories and to improve the quality of patient care,” said Professor Ngiam Kee Yuan, Group Chief Technology Officer, NUHS.

With supercomputers enabling research in healthcare and other verticals to happen at a much faster pace, researchers will be able to come up with more use cases and solutions with supercomputers in the new future as well. For now, these machines are providing to be the best solutions to solving complex problems that no ordinary computers and technology can compete with.

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The growing need for digital skills is most acute in developing countries, especially in the ASEAN region. Meanwhile, the cybersecurity skills shortage is especially prevalent in Malaysia and Indonesia, seeing rapid internet adoption rates and a growing need to protect data from cybercriminals.

Cybersecurity is at the top of global leaders’ minds. For years, experts have warned about how digital vulnerabilities are placing businesses and governments alike at risk.

A recent report from Juniper Research found that investment in IT security will grow by almost 6% each year through 2020. The study estimates that this will lead to a need for 1 million more information security analysts than currently employed worldwide.

Despite organizations’ best efforts to find people who can fill roles, there are no signs of the cybersecurity skills shortage abating in the region.

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Lack of cybersecurity professionals

The cybersecurity industry is expected to be worth $170 billion by 2021, yet experts warn that businesses struggle to attract talent. Apart from the skills gap, other factors contributing are the growing demand for cyber experts. One way to solve this is re-skilling and upskilling. Many employees in traditional fields are asked to learn new skills. It is either because their existing roles will become obsolete or they need additional qualifications to fill cybersecurity positions.

Each ASEAN country has its own set of challenges. While Singapore and Malaysia have implemented new cybersecurity laws to help close the gap, there are still gaps in training and skill development. 

According to a recent study, there is a lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals, and the talent pool is expected to shrink further over the coming years. The study, commissioned by Oracle and conducted by IDC Asia Pacific, found that just 5% of IT professionals in the region have the technical knowledge and experience to analyze attacks on their networks.

The cybersecurity skills shortage is a growing problem for organizations finding highly-skilled engineers, IT security specialists, and other professionals, especially those trained to work with the latest technologies. With increasing demand from clients for high-end security services, some organizations are having difficulty recruiting competent cyber experts.

Skills shortage – job vacancies yet to be filled

A Digital Talent Survey released by SCMO and SERI highlighted the top two barriers to having adequate digital talent – skills gaps in the local labour market and the inability to attract specialized talents. 

Only 4.8% of respondents felt that the existing labor market fully meets their digital talent needs. Employers reported the most significant skills gaps in Big Data Analytics, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing.

According to the leading global jobs portal Indeed, hiring activity continued to grow throughout October this year in Singapore. It reached a new high despite the escalating rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. 

By October 30, job postings on Indeed were up 76% from their level on February 1, last year. Postings rose by 4.7% in October alone.  

The reality is, today, more than ever before, organizations are desperate to find skilled IT candidates. But it’s not just about hiring; companies need to keep training them.

According to a report commissioned by Amazon Web Services, the number of workers requiring digital skills in six APJ countries (Singapore, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea) needs to increase five-fold to meet the demand by 2025.

Investing in skills training can provide new employment opportunities as many workers across the region consider their career goals part of the ‘Great Resignation’ trend spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Several tech vendors are already working with organizations and higher learning institutes to develop more talent to address the problem. The only question now is, will they be able to do it fast enough to met the demand.

The post Massive cybersecurity skills shortage in ASEAN appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Cyber attacks are not just for Fortune 500 companies anymore. As a result of the availability and widespread use of computing technology, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have become attractive targets for cybercrime, with many having been compromised or suffering from data loss.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of the internet and computers for SMEs to keep and grow their business. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has increased malicious emails, phishing attacks, fraud and malware. Criminals target SMEs as well, knowing that many employees are now working remotely without adequate cybersecurity defenses.

The growth of this region is happening mainly in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. SMEs are at the forefront of this growth. However, they face unique challenges in cybersecurity. This is because they typically have less sophisticated infrastructure than larger firms with dedicated security teams. They also may not have the financial resources to cover cyber security vulnerabilities.

The majority of these businesses are unprepared to deal with cyberattacks, unaware of how to protect their data. They also simply do not realize the extent of the damage that a cyberattack can cause them.

The recent cyberattacks on the systems of several ASEAN countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, indicate that SMEs, businesses operating in the region should consider cybersecurity as one of their top priorities.

Cybercrime surpassing transnational organized crime

Cybercrime has surpassed transnational organized crime as the biggest threat to the global business environment, with an average of two data breaches per day in 2016. The surge in cyber-attacks against SMEs across ASEAN is expected to rise over the next few years. According to Kaspersky Lab, a security solutions provider, 40% of these attacks are conducted via email. 

The costs of cybercrime increase in scope and severity with the increasing “industrialization” of malware (or crimeware). For example, according to McAfee Enterprise & FireEye research, there was an 89% increase in cyber threats in Singapore amid smaller security budgets.

The Singapore Cyber ​​Security Agency (CSA) reported 89 ransomware cases, up 154% from the 35 cases reported in 2019. The cases affected primarily small and medium enterprises and emerged from the manufacturing, retail, and healthcare sectors.

Meanwhile, CSA’s SingCERT (Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team) handled a total of 9,080 cybersecurity cases in 2020, the second increase in a row.

In Malaysia, Kaspersky Security Network recorded some 767,000 business owners coming under attack from Internet-borne malware last year. Approximately 269,533 phishing attempts were targeted against Malaysian SMEs in the first half of 2020, 56% more than the first half of 2019 at 172,906.

Cybersecurity acts assisting ASEAN businesses

The implementation of the Cyber Security Act in 2018 provides clarity to ASEAN SMEs about their cyber liability and digital due diligence obligations. The law provides much-needed regulatory oversight on the cybersecurity practices of enterprises in Singapore and those operating here.

In 2019, the ASEAN-EU Statement on Cyber Security Cooperation recognized the increasing role and challenges of ICT in all sectors of society. It highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation to prevent and combat malicious cyber activity.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has also provided cybersecurity solutions to SMEs. The AEC’s Network Operations and Cyber Security Expert Group (NOCEG) was set up to provide cybersecurity standards to help protect its members from malicious actors and cyberattacks.

In addition, the National Cyber Security R&D Programme Office (NCRDPO) launched its short-term Consultative Group on Information Security (CGI) project, aiming at providing cybersecurity solutions for ASEAN SMEs.

SMEs are facing many challenges in defending themselves against cyber threats. Some may not have the financial capacity to deploy security solutions to protect their data and information systems. Meanwhile, others may lack the necessary expertise and human resources, however with a growing number of cyberattacks and data breaches against businesses; it is becoming more apparent that information security needs to be taken seriously.

The post Cybersecurity is still challenging for ASEAN businesses appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Earlier this month, e-Commerce companies in Southeast Asia made huge profits from the shopping festivals in the region. While many would say the e-Commerce companies have been successful due to the pandemic, the reality is, consumers in the region are preferring online shopping and the opportunities are only increasing.

In fact, Google’s SEA e-conomy report in 2021 stated that 8 out of 10 of SEA’s internet users are digital consumers. The report also indicates that 90% of Thai, 81% of Malaysian, and 71% of Vietnamese internet users have had an experience of shopping online. As online shopping becomes the norm, the market itself is predicted to reach between US$ 700 billion and US$ 1 trillion by 2030.

ASIA LEADS THE GLOBAL E-COMMERCE MARKET WITH DIGITAL PAYMENTS

Dashveenjit Kaur | 2 August, 2021

For e-Commerce companies, the market is still growing and the opportunities are aplenty. The only problem now is, how can be they be the top e-commerce platform in the region. Compared to other parts of the world, the ASEAN region is unique due to its diversity. While some e-Commerce companies have been successful in some countries, they tend to often play catch up in a neighboring country.

As such, e-commerce aggregator iPrice Group analyzed the performance of the top e-commerce companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to determine which e-commerce sites are holding the most of the market share, and which of them have been successful in drawing social engagement.

Interestingly, Shopee and Lazada are still dominant in most markets across the region. In Malaysia, Shopee holds 71% of the region’s overall e-commerce web traffic, followed by Lazada with 18%, and PGMall with 9%. Shopee Malaysia recently launched its Shopee food feature, which flooded both new and existing users with food vouchers and free deliveries. Meanwhile, Lazada Malaysia added a Chinese language option to cater to a wider market.

Homegrown e-Commerce companies making a mark

An interesting trend seen in some ASEAN countries is that local sites rank in the top three. PGMall (Malaysia), Central Online (Thailand), and Tiki (Vietnam) have done quite well in establishing themselves in their respective markets. These three rising e-commerce sites have carefully executed strategies to earn their top spot.  The cross-country collaboration between PGMall and JD Worldwide, for instance, has encouraged local sellers to offer unique local brands to the Chinese market. With access to China’s extensive market, PGMall’s platform has become one of the most prominent domestic online businesses in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Tiki, which holds 13% of Vietnam’s e-commerce market share. They signed an exclusive partnership with insurance company AIA Vietnam for 10 years. Due to this, policyholders may manage their insurance accounts and seek health insurance solutions and claims through the Tiki website. This resulted in garnering the platform’s well-deserved web traffic.

Central Online, on the other hand, has allowed its thousands of mall tenants to sell their products through its digital platform during the pandemic. This decision amounted to the diversification of online merchandise and average web traffic of nearly 2.6 million.

In Indonesia, which is the largest e-Commerce market in the region, Tokopedia is top of the list followed by Shopee and Bukalapak. This is probably due to both Tokopedia and Bukalapak being preferred among the local consumers for their e-Commerce activities.

 At the same time, social media is becoming an important tool in e-Commerce as well. iPrice reported that based on Facebook reactions, Malaysians engage the most with posts related to the top e-commerce sites on social media, which accounts for 44% of the total social engagements recorded. Vietnamese users account for 36% of the engagements while Thai users account for 20%.

With the industry expecting to see more sales in the future, the competition among e-Commerce companies is increasing as well. Most platforms are already providing new features like shoppertainment to keep shoppers hooked on their sites. Some have also reduced shipping fees or even provided more free shipping vouchers to consumers.

The reality is though, the merchants are the ones who are also benefiting from the increased sales. While the pandemic may have forced them to move their business digitally, these e-Commerce platforms have enabled them to reach out to more customers around their region, allowing them to not only increase sales but also branch out for more opportunities.

The post Mapping e-Commerce companies in Southeast Asia appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reaffirmed its commitment to advancing the digital transformation in the region at the recent ASEAN summit in Brunei, a couple of financial players are making headways in utilizing blockchain technology.

BLOCKCHAIN CAN HELP FILTER THE FAKE NEWS DILEMMA

Dashveenjit Kaur | 4 August, 2021

DBS Bank has become the first and only bank in Southeast Asia to join the Hedera Governing Council. It joins some of the world’s leaders in technology, corporate, non-profit organizations, and academia, including Boeing, Google, IBM, LG Electronics, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Nomura Holdings, Shinhan Bank, and Tata Communications.

The council oversees the Hedera network, the most used, sustainable, and enterprise-grade public network for the decentralized economy. As part of the council, DBS will explore the new technologies rewriting global commerce and banking.

“DBS is pleased to join some of the world’s most established organizations on the Hedera Governing Council as we collectively seek to uncover the vast potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT),” said Jimmy Ng, group chief information officer and head of technology and operations at DBS which is headquartered in Singapore and has a presence in 18 countries.

“We have been leveraging emerging technologies to reshape the future of banking and have in recent months brought to market several innovative offerings powered by blockchain to help our clients seize opportunities in the new normal. We look forward to joining our peers on the Hedera Governing Council in exploring further use cases that bring tangible benefits to our stakeholders,” added Jimmy.

Blockchain is the tech behind cryptocurrency and smart contracts. It works by recording information in blocks, which becomes a chain as more data blocks are formed throughout a business transaction journey. The blocks are assembled in chronological order, preserved through duplication and distribution across the entire computer network on the blockchain. The way the information is archived and lined up makes it difficult, or impossible, for the data to be tampered with or hacked. This makes the information immutable. A digital ledger documents every transaction with a low risk of unwanted manipulation, making it accurate and secure.

DBS’s blockchain adoption covers a variety of banking solutions from cross-border payments and settlements to trade financing. Meanwhile, Inception, a financial services company specializing in cross-border remittance in Southeast Asia, has announced its partnership with Velo Labs to replace its legacy systems in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore with a more efficient blockchain system. Velo Labs is a blockchain-based cross-border settlement technology company that makes moving money across the world faster, cheaper and more reliable for individuals and businesses.

“Inception and Velo Labs working together strengthens our shared commitment to make cross-border remittance easy, safe, and convenient for all individuals. With over 50% of the total population in Southeast Asia remaining unbanked, we are thrilled to be working with Velo Labs to focus on this underserved segment while in parallel helping to resolve the “last-mile” problem,” said Inception CEO Sumeth Damrongchaitham.

As the ASEAN leaders agreed to “deepen the commitment to promote quality, accessibility and affordability of digital connectivity in ASEAN, enabled by interoperability, which is critical for establishing a leading and competitive digital economy,” new financial technology, such as blockchain adoption and DLT, makes for a revolutionary development for the region’s more than 661 million people.

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