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Lazada Pledges to Cultivate Eight Million eCommerce Entrepreneurs and SMEs by 2030

“Our vision is to help small businesses globally.”

Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba

Lazada Group, an South-East Asia based e-commerce company that Alibaba acquired, has pledged to support eight million eCommerce entrepreneurs and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia to grow and thrive by 2030. The company also announced its commitment to create an inclusive and sustainable eCommerce ecosystem in the region and champion opportunities in technology and logistics infrastructure to benefit its ecosystem of sellers, consumers and local communities.


At the opening speech of a panel discussion hosted by Lazada on the state of eCommerce in Southeast Asia, Lucy Peng, Executive Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer, Lazada Group, said: “Having overcome the early challenges of building up the business and industry in a nascent landscape, we now want to lead our ecosystem through the era of robust digital transformation. Our focus is on creating a trusted platform connecting sellers to the Southeast Asian consumers. By enabling sellers with our technology and logistics capabilities, we want to help sellers flourish, to become sustainable businesses that will contribute to Southeast Asia economic growth in the long run.”

 

Building entrepreneurs into thriving businesses in the digital economy 

 

As the region’s leading online shopping and selling platform, Lazada is committed to establishing eCommerce as a prolific facet of the evolving digital economy. Healthy and flourishing SMEs are key components of a thriving eCommerce ecosystem – their existence helps unlock the full potential of Southeast Asian nations, allowing the region to digitize.

 

An area that came under spotlight during the panel discussion was SMEs’ eCommerce knowhow and access to local consumers. To help sellers reach more customers, Lazada has developed various initiatives, comprehensive tools and dedicated trainings that enable sellers of all sizes to attract, engage and convert more consumers into sales.

 

That being said, Lazada continues to aspire to do more. “New generation of sellers no longer view eCommerce as a good-to-have, but a necessity in order to drive success. And eCommerce players like Lazada can be strategic partners to sellers who are committed to their professional and business growth.

 

 

On cross-border trade, another common challenge faced by SMEs raised at the panel, Simon Baptist, Global Chief Economist and Managing Director, Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) in Asia, said, “Singapore has led the way in actively pursuing an agenda for open trade borders. However, there are still challenges for SMEs, especially in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, due to a lack of access to financial and support services, as well as a need to develop capacity in e-payments and eCommerce.”

 

Supporting digital consumer growth with improved infrastructure

 

Faced with limited fulfilment players, a small and fragmented transportation sector, as well as vastly different infrastructure landscapes, logistics remains a huge challenge for eCommerce players big and small across Southeast Asia.

 

“Our research showed that logistics is a challenge, particularly in archipelagos like Indonesia and the Philippines. Road networks, as well as the retail and distribution network, came up as higher-risk areas for eCommerce firms,” said Baptist.

 

On customer experience, data and technology are the two key factors that will dynamically evolve the experience for online shoppers, due to Southeast Asia’s heterogeneity.

 

eCommerce businesses that can leverage data to navigate specific local consumer tastes and direct consumers to take desired actions are well-poised to succeed.

 

 

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Singapore-based Speedoc Wants To Disrupt House Call Services

A House Call is a visit to the patient’s home by a doctor and this practice used to be very popular in the early 20th century. However, betterment in transportation and more availability of medical services have led to a decline for the needs of such service in recent years. Ironically, this has not deterred a Singapore-based startup to bring this practice back.

 

Prided itself as a health-tech company, Speedoc aims to build a complete end-to-end system for doctors and patients, so that house call doctor services can be provided with ease and minimal burden to people in the community.

How it works

The Speedoc mobile app brings a house call doctor directly to the location of

A standard medical tool kit issued by Speedoc which GP will bring along during a house call.

your choice, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Doctors can be requested via the app, or by calling the patient support line. Speedoc offers a full suite of affiliated patient care services, including fast access to Farrer Park Hospital’s (FPH) Emergency Clinic and immediate consult with their specialists. Users can benefit from online, synced patient medical records for all visits, trustworthy home medical care when it is inconvenient to visit a GP clinic or hospital, and priority access to partner clinics.

 

During a patient call, patients are matched with a Speedoc doctor, an SMC registered medical practitioner, whose name and picture will appear on the app. Patients can contact the doctor through in-app messaging and calls, to communicate questions, concerns and relevant medical information. During a Speedoc house call, the doctor will diagnose a patient’s condition, and prescribe medication on the spot or provide a prescription to pick up at a pharmacy of choice.

 

Speedoc services are available island-wide in Singapore. Consultation fees are $150 from 8am-8pm, $200 from 8pm-12am, and $250 from 12am-8am. These prices exclude the cost of prescribed medication. There is also a $30 surcharge for house calls to locations like Jurong Island, Sentosa and Changi Airport.

 

Ever since its soft launch on1 Jan, 2018, the startup has seen 3,490 downloads, with 3,051 users, 671 consultations, and 524 unique patients, and sees an average of 8 patients per day.

The future of Speedoc

On September 11, Speedoc announced that it is now part of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) regulatory sandbox – Licensing Experimentation and Adaptation Programme (LEAP). As one of the first mobile medicine providers to participate in the regulatory sandbox, Speedoc will work closely with MOH to review workflows, understand service models, and work through risk identification and mitigation strategies in healthcare, while promoting innovation in Singapore’s healthcare landscape.

 

Under the regulatory sandbox, Speedoc patients and caregivers will benefit from early access to new healthcare models consistent with the regulatory ethos of MOH. Speedoc will also be able to introduce new healthcare models or evolve its current models in a safe manner, with early visibility over the eventual regulatory environment. This will also help them to meet patient safety and welfare requirements, and transition more seamlessly into the eventual regulatory framework.

 

“In the future, we want to make Speedoc into a medical super-app; besides being a platform for booking house calls, we are working to implement in-app follow ups, and have plans to open up a chat and video-call module by early 2019,” says Dr Shravan Verma, MD & Founder of Speedoc. “For now, our main priority is to grow our customer base through hospital and insurance partnerships, and to prepare to scale up our business when more customers come on board, as we plan to grow by two or three times by the middle of next year.”

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Singapore Company goGame Collaborates With The Walt Disney Company; Developed Mobile Game Disney Epic Quest

 

At GameStart Asia 2018, goGame and The Walt Disney Company (Stock Quote: NYSE.DIS) Southeast Asia revealed a first look at the gameplay of Disney Epic Quest, an original mobile title that brings Disney and Pixar characters into one action-packed digital experience for all ages. Developed and published by the Singapore-headquartered goGame, Disney Epic Quest is the first Disney mobile game to debut in Southeast Asia. The free-to-play game will be available on both Android and iOS devices and will launch across the region in 2019.

David Ng, Founder and CEO, goGame

David Ng, founder and CEO of goGame, said “As a mobile game company with a strong Asian presence, it’s a great honour to work on a Disney game that’s developed by, hosted in and published for our fastgrowing Southeast Asia region. And as fans of Disney and Pixar, we’re proud to be able to bring the magic of their characters from the movie screens to mobile screens and ultimately, to the heart of our players.”

 

Dan Dossa, VP & GM, Consumer Products Commercialisation The Walt Disney Company South Asia

“At the heart of everything we do at Disney is great storytelling, and we draw upon the most beloved stories and characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars to create high-quality interactive game experiences for fans of all ages,” said Dan Dossa, Vice President & General Manager, Consumer Products Commercialization, The Walt Disney Company South Asia. “Our collaboration with goGame underpins our commitment to our Southeast Asian fans to deliver games unique to local tastes and preferences”.

 

Disney Epic Quest is an action role-playing mobile game that brings together Disney and Pixar characters in a digital universe. Players will assemble a squad of three Disney and Pixar characters who embark on a journey to save their digital realm from a menacing virus that has infected the land.

 

The game will launch in 2019 in Southeast Asia, and will be available in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Simplified Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese.

 

Starting today, fans from around the world can pre-register their interest on the official website at www.playdisneyepicquest.com to be notified when Disney Epic Quest is available in their region. Those who are eager to try the demo for themselves may also visit the Disney booth at GameStart Asia 2018, Suntec Convention Centre from 13–14 October 2018.

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Super X-Fi is cool! But What’s Next For Creative?

This is the follow-up post on the article I have written in March (If you have yet to read the article, you could access it from here). The Creative stock (stock quote: C71.SI) has sky-rocketed since then. In Oct 2018, the first Super X-Fi Amp launches exclusively in Singapore. The market response is overwhelming. 600 units sold within the first 20 minutes. This is a huge success for Creative considering this is only the sales number from the small Singapore market. Given the amount of press coverage on this product, I believe this product could also sell well in the region. Now, the next multi-billion-dollar question is,” How is Creative going to unlock the value of Super X-Fi technology?”

 

Super X-Fi AMP – A Good Head Start

3D immersive sound is not something new in the headphones market. In fact, a lot of brands has jumped into the bandwagon but after so many years, we didn’t see a clear market leader in this space. Creative manages to rejuvenate the market interest with their Super X-Fi technology. Tapping on the success of the Super X-Fi Amp, I believe the upcoming Super X-Fi Air wireless headphone which is targeting at the Apple users will be doing well too. In the short term, I am rather confident to see a minor positive impact on the Creative’s financial.

 

 

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I was not entirely correct when I said Super X-Fi Amp works only with Android Device. If your computer supports USB Type C, it should work as well! Once plugged in, your PC will recognize it as speakers automatically. For early adopters, you could get Super X-Fi certified #Aurvana SE Headphones worth SGD99 for free!! While stock lasts…. Access through my referral link, you will get $20 off from the purchase price! Now you only need to pay SGD199!!! My referral link http://sxfi.refr.cc/weewun Upon check out, you should see promocode FRIEND-RH6L72K applied. If not, you could apply manually. #instagadget #Singapore #instatech #sgtech #creativetechnology #promocode #audiophile #instamusic #instaaudio #headphones🎧 #headphones #sgx

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That’s the juicy business story of Creative in the short term. On the flip side, the big boys are not going to sit there and do nothing. They are going to response as well. Selling a Super X-Fi branded headphones is the way to go? Personally, I don’t think so.

 

Audio is not a product. It is an experience!

Most consumers won’t have any idea of what a good sound is, and they are largely dependent on what has been marketed to them by the brands. That’s the reality of mass production. What sets Super X-Fi apart from others? It is giving control to user to do personalization for their headphones. At present, none in the market could personalize sound profile like Creative. The Super X-Fi App maps the structure of the user’s ears and head and the information is then transmitted to the Super X-Fi Chip that is embedded in the product (Headphone or Amp). In another words, the product is personalized to you and to you only. That’s the kind of experience other brands cannot offer but on the flip side, how does Creative going to stay ahead in the market before other brands do the same?

Mapping on Super X-Fi App

Focus A Specific Group of Users and Build a Community

Super X-Fi has aroused the market and the media coverage has brought Creative stock back into the radar of the investors. It is a good start but here comes the real challenge for Creative. Once the product is out, it is as good as opening door to your competitors to see what’s inside your house. This is unavoidable and now, the best thing Creative could do is to place focus on specific group of customers – the early adopters.

 

The early adopters are usually the one who are technically inclined and to some extent, they are what the market called “audiophile”. These are also advance users who demanded the most and because of that very reason, they are also very willing to provide feedbacks on how the product could be further improved. Engaging these users and keeping them interested in the community will help to build a strong brand attachment towards Super X-Fi. These are also influencers that could help to sell the products. It may not come as the surprise that the most powerful salesperson comes from this community.

 

I am pretty sure Creative has thought of this before. The launch of Super X-Fi Amp is well-planned with meeting sessions to educate the consumers who have just bought the product. That level of engagement should continue.

 

Super X-Fi App is More Than Just An App

The core of Super X-Fi lies on the data and that’s the only barrier Creative has against their competitors. The strategy that Creative has adopted is to make the Super X-Fi App available to all; that helps Creative gather a wider spectrum of database which could further enhance Super X-Fi experience in the future update. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any benefits of keeping the app installed in my phone after I have set up my Super X-Fi Amp.

 

It is a pity. I believe the Super X-Fi App could do much more than just setting up my device. First, it could be a way for community to discuss about their experience with the products. Second, the app could equip with advance features that targets specifically at audiophile. Back to the earlier part of the article, I have mentioned that those early adopters are probably audiophile. They would love to explore more about the product and Super X-Fi App could be the channel for them to do so. For instance, Super X-Fi app could also be a tool to fine-tune their sound profile after the mapping process. It may sound counter-intuitive but giving the control back to user may not be necessary a bad thing. These data could be valuable and form an important customers’ insights that could further be used in future product development.

 

Build a Brand Around Super X-Fi

During my interview with Nikkei Asian Review, I said, “Creative as a brand is not selling very well. It is seen as value for money rather than a name for high tech equipment”. Although the Super X-Fi Amp is selling well, my view on Creative’s branding strategy remains unchanged since then. I believe it is important to run SXFI Pte Ltd like a startup and dissociate it from any Creative’s branding strategies.

 

Things look positive for Super X-Fi. There is no need to tag along Creative’s brand and worse, it might backfire Super X-Fi’s branding strategies in the future.

 

Making Frienemy is the Way to Go

The goal is to make Super X-Fi a standard in the headphone market. In general, consumers switch brands because they just love to have choices. Keeping Super X-Fi proprietary to only Creative’s products won’t stop consumers from switching; instead, forming partnership with other headphone makers to bring Super X-Fi’s experience to the mass makes make more commercial sense for Creative.

 

The idea is to establish new standard in the audio product market. Once that is established, Creative can spread its tentacles to even wider spectrum of industries be it music, movie or gaming.

 

Key Takeaway – Users’ Experience and Data

Data is the only way for Creative to fend off competition in the headphone market. Imagine a use case of an XXX brand headphone that is Super X-Fi certified and it must be activated by Super X-Fi app on the phone.

 

Community-based marketing builds brand value through interaction with the users. This interaction provides data of what customer wants. Engage, Entice & Empower users in the community is the only long-term branding strategies for Super X-Fi.

 

 

 

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Are We Seeing X-Mini’s Turnaround?

Poor financial management & failure to adapt to market dynamics are by-far the most serious mistakes that we learn to avoid in Business 101. However, we still heard established companies making these mistakes. Few years back, X-Mini committed all these mistakes.

 

Now, they are making a comeback with their latest range of products. In September 2018, XMI, the company that shocked the world in 2007 with their ionic capsule speakers X-Mini, made a global debut of their first earbuds series. This is their latest product development after XMI’s parent company Insonotech took over listing status of Technics Oil & Gas (stock quote: 5CQ.SI) . The latest round of SGD 5m funding also sees the reshuffling of the key management in XMI – Mr Hoong He Hin takes over from co-founder and former CEO, Ryan Lee, who now serves as the brand’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).  Mr. Keith Wong is appointed as the new Chief Operations Officer. The share (5CQ.SI) is still suspended pending for the Exchange’s approval at the point of writing.

 

Formerly, the Group CEO of Onwards Media Group Pte. Ltd., Mr. Hoong brings with him 16 years of business development experience in content distribution signaling a change in X-mini’s business direction away from a pure audio speaker maker to an audio specialist in consumer space.

 

“X-mini became a success story for Singapore consumer technology and innovation when it launched its groundbreaking capsule speaker in 2007,” says Mr. Hoong He Hin. “We look forward to taking X-mini to new heights by expanding into new product categories, as well as providing more digital content to our customers in the future. We also plan to double total staff strength from 20 to 40 to build our engineering, product management and sales and marketing teams, in order to meet market demand for new product offerings.”

 

Change For Better

Few years ago, XMI was struggling financially and mostly, it was the management’s fault. In the interview with Straits Times in 2017, one of their co-founders Mr. Ryan Lee admitted that they have overspent and didn’t save enough during the good days. In 2010, they started their own factory in China and revenues has been good averaging SGD 30M a year from 2011 to 2014. However, they got arrogant – overpaying their executives, over-expansion of offices and manufacturing facilities and overproduction. These are some of the oversight from the management.

 

No doubt, Mr. Ryan Lee is a visionary leader but afterall, he is a tech guy who might be more suitable in developing new products. Placing Mr. Ryan as the CTO is the right move, at least in my opinion. His role as CTO will see him continue the core DNA of how the brand first made their name – innovation – across X-mini’s range of products. The brand’s founder says, “We are excited about exploring new technologies for X-mini: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) provide a treasure trove opportunities for the brand, as we continue to innovate by leveraging on our expertise in audio engineering and delivering great sound to consumers moving forward.”

 

Diversity is Good but Lacks Focus

XMI is taking steps to rebuild the business and expand its product range, with new staff and management to drive the business forward. Since the fund injection in 2017, the company has turned a corner in terms of getting a whole new product range on the market and made significant inroads in re-establishing a market presence in this region.

 

This time, XMI launches 8 different earbuds; each of them selling at different price positioning themselves as a brand-for-all. You could get a good-quality, entry-level earphones slightly less than USD 15 (I am referring to the newly launched X-Mini Nova). The better model, the X-Mini Xtlas which supports Hi Res audio, is selling not more than USD 100. Marketers who are reading this part may have noticed this – the price difference between the high and the low-quality is a mere USD 85. In terms of pricing strategies, X-Mini is trying to sell different models to different market segments within this narrow price band of USD 85 and that could “confuse” the market value of the brand. Think of this scenario – the 15-dollar earbuds may sell well in developing economies, but the market will label “X-Mini” as a cheap brand and when that happens, how is the market going to response when XMI is also selling high-quality X-Mini earbuds but comparatively cheaper than similar products of different brands?  On top of that, how about the profit margin when you are selling below market price?

 

Market has changed even in our neighboring countries. The rise of middle-class presents an opportunity as they are demanding more and have the capacity to spend. Streamlining your product ranges and consolidating your resources to create one or two killer products to capture this market segment may be a better bet than trying to capture all. I have my doubts on the feasibility of their current strategies.

 

Being a tech writer, I am lucky enough to get first-hand information of the latest gadget in town. I know how to sniff out good product. Standing as a consumer’s point of view, X-Mini sells good products at attractive price-point. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t have the level of knowledge and usually make buying decision based on what they see, hear and feel about the brand. To put it in another words, X-Mini as a brand has yet to stand out against competition from the big boys. From a marketing prospective, I can’t identify the positioning of X-Mini.

 

Looking At The Bright Side

On the positive note, there are people in the market still believe in X-Mini. In

X-Mini Debuts Their First Earphones Series

2015, Polaris Ltd (Stock Quote: SGX:5BI) is one of the early investors who extended their help to XMI by investing 30% of equity interest through an unsecured loan of USD 1.5M. During the same period, XMI’s founders also sought help from 3Fs (the common term used in the business world to describe the kind of investors of a startup – 3Fs namely Friends, Family & Fools). In 2016, they managed to raise USD 8M. In the same year, they parted way with Polaris.  This year, they received a further SGD 5M.

 

If the funding round continues, XMI should be able to overcome their financial woes and even further entrench their business footholds in the region. Judging from their corporate action with the SGX-listed Technics Oil & Gas, I believe potential investors in Singapore or perhaps South East Asia will be interested in the company. I am expecting more fund-raising activities from XMI which I think it is by far, the most important factor to determine whether the company could be turned around.

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Realme, OPPO’s sub brand, Looks To Enter Southeast Asia Market.

OPPO has joined the fight against Huawei to capture the youth market. Similar to Huawei’s Honor, Realme is a separated brand under OPPO that targeted at global youth to deliver advance technology features at affordable price range.

 

Established in May 2018, Realme aims to bring performance and design that the young generation need from a smartphone. They launched their first smartphone Realme 1 in India during the first half of the year. Sales has surpassed business expectation. The Realme1 was sold out two minutes after it was made available, making it onto the Amazon ‘Best Seller’ list. 400,000 units of the Realme1 were also sold just two months after the launch.

 

The company never stop to continue the good momentum. Realme’s latest series, the Realme2, set a new record during its launch in India when a total of 200,000 units were sold in under 5 minutes. “With very few options available in the market to meet the ever-changing customer demand, Realme is focusing on bridging the gap by providing products with the latest innovations along with strong performance and stylish designs. As Realme is targeting the global market, we aspire to inject fresh momentum into the global smartphone industry,” said Sky Li, Founder and Global CEO of Realme.

 

Speaking at the launch of the Realme2, Madhav Sheth, Chief Executive Officer, Realme India said, “Being a young smartphone brand in the most diverse and thriving market in the world, we have witnessed unprecedented demand for our smartphones since launching Realme1. In just 30 days, we gained 4% of the online market share, and were ranked 4th in the fastest growing online smartphone market. As a youth-centric brand, we will always thrive to offer customers with the best at optimum prices.”

 

The Realme2 is expected to exceed the Realme1’s achievement. The company has never given a clear time length on when the phones are coming to Southeast Asia but promises that consumers will soon be able to get their hands on the smartphones and enjoy a lot more at surprising prices. Afterall, consumers in this part of the world will have one more choices when comes to budget smartphone.

 

 

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Put on your tinkering caps at Tinkercademy’s first Open House

The Open House promises to be a fun-filled day for the whole family as you try your hand at console games that you can programme yourself with Tinkercademy.

 

Tap your feet to the beat as you play Washing Machine Revolution, an arcade rhythm game.

 

Feeling a little competitive? Take control of a tank and face off against your friend on the battlefield.

 

And if you ever had dreams of being the master of the universe, you don’t need an Infinity Gauntlet. With the proper coding, you can be the Supreme Leader of your own Minecraft world!

 

For a preview on the above, check out the Tinkercademy Open Hous. Check the video below

 

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Collier’s Latest Research on Blockchain Application In Asia’s Commercial Real Estates

Blockchain technology is the backbone of “Smart Contracts” which leads to the rise of cryptocurrencies. Every transaction is a contract and the beauty of the technology lies on the capability of eliminating intermediaries via distributed nodes or ledgers. Each node also needs to be authenticated making the transaction more secured.

 

Colliers International (NASDAQ: CIGI; TSX: CIGI), launched a new research report assessing the impacts of blockchain technology in the context of commercial real estate (CRE) in Asia.

 

Sam Harvey-Jones, Managing Director of Occupier Services Asia at Colliers International, commented: “Real estate is ripe for blockchain-based disruption due to the complexity of the typical transaction. Moving land registries, for example, onto blockchain promises to create tamperproof records, enhancing the clarity and security of property ownership.”

 

Blockchain-powered Smart Contract Promises Speed, Transparency and Decentralisation

 

Speed: The list of parties involved in many real estate deals extends well beyond owner and occupier (or buyer), to brokers, banks, law firms, governments (via stamp duties or land registries) and utility operators. Blockchain could provide a secure platform for all parties to verify each other’s identities — as well as the history of and data on the real estate asset being acquired or leased almost real-time

 

Michael Bowens, Executive Director, Regional Tenant Representation Asia, explained: “Blockchain could be used to build ‘smart’ contracts in which terms and related transactions are automatically, and near-instantly, recorded and immutable.”

 

e.g. Propy, the decentralised property registry that facilitated a Ukraine Property transaction via a Blockchain network set up for the cryptocurrency Ethereum

 

Transparency: Blockchain could also play a role in boosting the security and transparency of real estate markets — particularly those where data quality or availability is at times lacking, as is the case throughout much of emerging Asia.

 

Mr. Bowens added: “One of the applications generating the most excitement is in land registries, which in their current form are often out of date, incomplete and/or prone to manipulation. Moving land registries onto the blockchain promises to create automatically updated, tamper-proof records, ultimately enhancing the clarity and security of land and property ownership.”

e.g. Japan is using Blockchain technology to tidy up the nation-wide property-related data. See news here

 

Decentralisation: Beyond its direct technological applications, blockchain may have wider impacts on how CRE assets are traded and managed, and the broader structure of property markets in the region.

 

In combination with the spread of artificial intelligence and other technological trends, we also expect that blockchain will lead to lower staff requirements in back and middle offices and reductions in office sizes (or at least greater efficiency in office use). Blockchain should thus help accelerate a decentralisation process in the financial sector in particular, and to increase demand for flexible workspace.

 

Andrew Haskins, Asia Head of Research at Colliers International, commented: “A definitive industry shift towards smaller, remotely connected or flexibly deployed teams could encourage migration to non-CBD locations and the adoption of flexible workspace models, with clear consequences for markets where financial firms have a heavy presence.”

 

E.g. Primalbase is using blockchain to allow clients to use, sell or rent flexible workspaces via digital tokens.

 

Practicalities & Challenges

  • Regulation will inevitably lag the technology’s adoption, potentially leaving real estate applications in a grey area or thwarted, if, for example, registries or digital identities aren’t able to garner official recognition.

 

  • Standardisation: Developing shared standards will be a particular challenge in Asia given the region’s diversity of assets, markets and regulatory regimes.

 

  • Vested interests: Blockchain-based solutions could simplify, eliminate or replace some of the roles or tasks currently performed by agencies or legal professionals, such as title searches or the registration of transactions, which may discourage adoption in some segments of the market.

 

  • Infrastructure limitations: Blockchain solutions may not interface easily with legacy systems, as a result many end-users will need to invest substantial time and funds to support a transition.

 

To view a copy of the full report, visit here

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Malaysian co-working space Colony offers RM10,000 in referral fees for new hires

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – Feb 5, 2018 – In another sign of the battle for scarce talent in Malaysia, Colony Co-Working Space is offering RM10,000 in referral fees for each successful hire the company makes. This is supported by the growing demands the Company has in its aggressive expansion plans in the coming years.  The referral fees will be paid out to anyone who recommends a candidate to the company who is hired and is confirmed after the probationary period.

 

The Company that counts Maybank, Microsoft, and AIA among its customers have plans to expand to at least 4 more locations this year, is actively recruiting for Community Managers, Sales Representatives, and Project Managers. Service is a crucial part of the company’s identity as Colony places a strong emphasis on hospitality, ensuring the happiness of its tenants, and having a team that knows how to go above and beyond.

 

“At Colony, we believe that our success lies in our ability to revolutionise our guests working experience, which ultimately comes down to the people we have working both behind the scenes and at the front of the office day-in and day-out. Getting talented and passionate individuals who fit our culture has always been a core focus for us, which is why we’re excited about this initiative to help us find the best people who will drive Colony’s success going forward.” – Colony Co-Founder and Executive Director, Timothy Tiah

 

A recent study by TalentCorp and the Institute of Labour Market Information and Analysis (ILMIA) found that two of the biggest difficulties that companies faced in filling up critical positions were that the candidates did not possess the required technical experiences, or possess a satisfactory level of soft and interpersonal skills. According to recruitment expert, Hays, these struggles account for 97% of employers. Despite the Malaysian workforce becoming increasingly educated over recent years, and the size of the labour force with tertiary education growing to 4.1 million, the lagging number of employed persons in high-skilled occupations of 3.9 million indicates that a significant skills gap still exists in the labour market today.

Colony will be introducing this initiative for a period of one month, and in the event that it is successful, the company is prepared to look into extending the offer once again in the future. 

 

About Colony
Colony is a luxurious co-working space founded in July 2017. With the ambition of challenging the conventional concept of office, Colony touts facilities such as nap rooms, kids areas, gym, swimming pool and Espressolab Coffee within its spaces. The company is backed by Oak Drive Ventures and a number of Family Offices from around the region and is among the leading co-working spaces in Malaysia. www.colony.work

 

Source: Media Outreach

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Interview with Regional Director (South Asia Pacific), Unity Technologies – Mr Quentin Staes-Polet

Everybody is into VR now and it is evident that this sector has grown tremendously in 2017. All the tech giants are increasingly investing more into this space and people are watching this closely for the next breakthrough.

 

But will this trend going to continue in 2018? Today, we have Mr Quentin Staes-Polet, Regional Director, South Asia Pacific Unity Technologies to share with us his view on South East Asia market.

 

What business Unity Technologies (“Unity”) is in and the strategic goals that it hopes to achieve in this S.E.A region?  

Unity Technologies is the creator of a flexible and high-performance end-to-end development platform used to create rich interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences.

 

70 percent of all VR/AR content today is created with Unity and we are also working with the world’s biggest players in the world like Facebook, Microsoft, Xiaomi and Samsung to develop VR/AR content for their platforms. Although Unity was born from the gaming space with about 50 percent market share in the mobile games market, it is now being used across several industries outside gaming itself, a testament to the growing success of Unity as a creative platform.

 

Unity aims to “gamify” industries by making game technology, design and methodology, accessible to users beyond gaming – bringing the concept of games into industries by creating more engaging, more immersive experiences for customers and employees alike. That involves applying all that AR/VR can offer to make businesses more innovative, effective, and efficient. Ultimately, this technology can bring them much closer to their customers.

 

We enable anyone and everyone to develop games or applications. We do this through solving hard problems, such as the coding and scripting elements of development, so that today’s creators don’t have to. They can be freed from the worry of complicated back-end processes and focus on building beautiful and creative designs and experiences in their work.


You have built a successful business before. What’s in Unity that wants you to go back to the corporate life?

The game industry is where art and technology meet and interact with each other, which is why I was interested in joining the industry. Gaming continues to be one of the most creative industries and has been fast to adopt and leverage new technologies in engaging ways. Community tools like video conferencing, blogging, and online streaming were all leveraged on early in the industry. Even now, many new technologies are finding their first mass implementations in gaming, resulting in the industry constantly being invigorated, which is always exciting to me.

 

What are your personal goals you wish to or have already achieved in Unity?

When first joining Unity, I wanted to help lay the foundations and build a dedicated team of high performers who possessed a drive for excellence and fun. This has been successful so far with the team here in SAPAC, albeit at a small scale, and I am looking forward to building on this success moving forward.


So far, what’s the most challenging problem you have faced in South East Asia?
Given how young the developer scene is in the region, there has been a recruitment challenge due to the scarcity of experienced talent with the set of skills that Unity is looking for. However, given how the scene is growing exponentially, largely due to the rising interest in games and development from youth within the region, I expect it will only be a matter of time before this challenge is overcome.


Any details of the expansion plan in Singapore?
As one of the strongest economies in the Asia Pacific, Singapore has a huge market potential for the AR and VR technology. While Unity is still used largely for gaming, we are already seeing game technologies being increasingly used across several sectors, from the likes of architectural visualization, film and entertainment, engineering and manufacturing companies, as well as the government sectors.

 

We are always interested to see how others use our technology and other advances, especially within government organisations and smaller tech startups. We have been supporting them wherever we can, especially in the areas of education and training. We have already partnered with some organisations to help build a solid foundation of developers to support the growing industry here, and continue to move forward with helping further build the development ecosystem here where we can.