Day: December 25, 2019

Use modern technology to improve daily business activities. Many medium-sized and small businesses are tapping into the new technology to help them come up with a more innovative, more efficient, and more productive workforce. Similarly, the rise in remote workers has led to an increase in the demand for on-demand data. Below are ways that technology can help you increase efficiency in your business.

Using the right technology

Ensure that your business utilises the appropriate technology to increase its productivity. Depending on how you use technology, it can build or destroy your business. Therefore, evaluate your business and come up with areas that need a boost in productivity and conduct research on the right technology to employ to realise the results.

Automate

Research and come up with the tools that will aid in the automation process. Use tools that will help you from bill paying and scheduling to updating your contact list and responding to customers’ emails. Similarly, find the technology that will help you in digitising the manual production processes to increase efficiency and minimise losses.

Additionally, you can train your workforce to use these technologies to ensure maximum production.

Password Management

When you have a password or manual logging into the system, phase them out and replace them with biometric authentication. Ensure that you manage the business passwords and data well by installing and regularly updating the security software. 

 The issuance of passwords in the process of production is both financially and operationally costly. You can manage the business credentials in any device by using tools such as 1Password and Google Cloud Security to track all your passwords from external threats.

Also Read: 7 ways to build a successful digital business

Collaboration

Although collaboration is vital in business, your employees should not be enclosed in a room to achieve it. Your remotely working staff members can share documents and collaborate easily using free applications from Google’s range of cloud products. You can use customer cloud solutions to solve your production problems and secure sensitive data. 

Your business can use Unified Communications systems that offer various worker interactions such as phone calls, video chatting, conferencing, or sending instant messages.

Additionally, your workers can use Customer Relationship systems such as Insightly, Zoho, or Salesforce to keep track of their engagement with prospects and store them in one location. When you use these systems, the consistency in prospect relations will be boosted, thus increasing profitability and productivity.

Organisation

Often, a lot of time can get wasted in searching for vital information stored in large sets of data. These data frequently get accessed through one device. When you invest in the database system, you will enable your employees to access and add any vital data easily. Your remotely working employees can use ClickTime to keep track of their expenses, mileage, and working hours.

 Employing such technology will help you in keeping your critical data accurately in one place. When implemented, your clients, employees, and managers will be productive, well-informed, and compliant.

Also Read: 2020 ready: Smart investments to help your business grow

Ease of access

Provide your remote workers with the support solutions and the updated mobile devices to ensure that they are well-connected throughout. You can think of investing in a phone solution with service providers to ensure that all your employees stay connected.

Similarly, use worker caller ID, softphones, find-me-follow-me, and voicemail to email features to ensure that your employees maintain professionalism and never miss any business opportunity with a client.

Employ virtualisation

When your business has old desktops, you can extend their lifespans through virtualisation of their operating systems to offsite servers. Conducting this will help you reduce the cost of capital expenditure, and hardware maintenance as the regular updates and the cost of service upkeep will get minimised.

When your business is already practicing redundancy, you can add your phone system to save more costs. You should task yourself with managing your office. Ensure that your employees get focussed on their jobs. Similarly, source anything that is outside the scope of your expertise and trust the hired experts to do their jobs. Use the appropriate technology and watch your business increase its productivity.

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Hong Kong’s TravelFlan raises US$7M in Series A – Press Release

TravelFlan, a Hong Kong-based travel and lifestyle AI digital solution provider, today announced a US$7 million Series A investment led by Sogong PinPoint Kclavis AI Travel Tech Fund (SPK Fund), with the participation of Artesian Capital, Linear Venture, Construction-Radiant Tech Ventures Fund, Hong Kong Government ITVFC Fund, SOSV and its accelerator Chinaccelerator.

“Closing this round will put TravelFlan to a new level of commitment, and to motivate the team to strive more,” said Abel Zhao, CEO and Cofounder of TravelFlan, in a press statement.

“Since we launched our B2B2C-focussed AI digital solutions at the beginning of 2018, we have seen an increasing demand in the region. TravelFlan aims to bring their solutions to a much broader audience and adopt in-depth local strategies to provide more high-quality service to our clients,” he continued.

TravelFlan provides AI chatbot and backend simultaneous auto-update data processor (SADP) services for its clients. Its core solutions include text-based/voice-enabled AI personal concierge, supply chain or inventory management system, big data analytical engine and inventory aggregator/processor.

Currently, the startup is working with industry leaders including China Mobile, Samsung Group, SITA, Hong Kong Airlines and many more to tackle their revenue and customer experience issues.

Travel unicorn Yanolja eyes IPOs for Korea, Singapore units – Maeil Business News Korea

South Korean travel tech unicorn Yanolja is considering to list its local and Singapore business unit over the next two years to gain traction for its global stretch, Maeil Business News Korea reported.

“We are considering listing Yanolja’s subsidiary in Singapore in the overseas market next year or 2021 thanks to the high growth potential in the global market,” said chief executive Lee Su-jin.

“We aim to achieve KRW70 billion (US$60.2 million) in global sales in 2020, more than twice as high as this year’s KRW30 billion.”

In June, the startup raised US$180 million in Series D funding from Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) and Booking Holdings.

Also Read: Chinaccelerator announces 9 startups in the 16th Demo Day, to bridge China to the world

Electric vehicle startup Rivian gets US$1.3B investment from T.Rowe Price, others – Reuters

US-based electric vehicle startup Rivian announced that it has US$1.3 billion funding round led by fund manager T. Rowe Price, Reuters wrote.

It also included the participation of Amazon, Ford Motor, and BlackRock Inc.

Prior to this announcement, Rivian had raised US$2.2 billion from investors (according to investor website PitchBook) and was valued at an estimated US$5 billion to US$7 billion.

Its total valuation in the wake of the latest investment round was not immediately clear.

ByteDance denies rumours of TikTok stake sales to address US pressure – SCMP

Following an earlier report, Chinese tech giant ByteDance denied that it is currently considering to sell a majority stake in TikTok as an option to deal with mounting pressure from the US over national security and privacy concerns, South China Morning Post reported.

A ByteDance spokesperson said there have been no discussions about any partial or full sale of TikTok, calling the rumours “completely meritless.”

The platform has been coming under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators recently. Last month, the US government launched a national security review of ByteDance’s US$1 billion acquisition of US social media app Musical.ly.

The US Army also banned the app from government-issued mobile devices this week.

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Image Credit: bady qb on Unsplash

The post Today’s top tech news: Hong Kong’s TravelFlan raises US$7M in Series A funding round appeared first on e27.

Some people thrive in a 9-to-5 day job setup while some flourish when they work on their own pace and in their own space. If you belong to the latter category, freelancing can be a lucrative option.

But becoming a successful freelancer is easier said than done. Many professionals jump into the path of becoming a freelancer head first and often get frustrated when success eludes them. 

Working as a freelancer is not always a piece of cake, it demands exceptional will power and self-discipline. In addition to being self-motivated, freelancers also need to strategise to make it work.

If you thought being your boss would be easy, trust us, it’s not. But while all this may feel a bit overwhelming, we have 10 great tips to your rescue. Add a bucketload of hard work and sincerity to these tips and you will enjoy being a freelancer while earning a good sum of money of course. 

Consider this your business enterprise

The first step towards a successful freelancing career is considering it a business. Approach building it as you would any other business. Create short term and long term goals for your business.

This will help create a road path so that you can create set actionable tasks for your business. As you consider yourself a business, look for tasks beyond your paid projects. When you are between projects, utilise the time to market and advertise your business. 

Often new freelancers lose the direction needed to deliver on time and cover all the bases. Hence, list out what services you would be providing, the scope for these services and a practical workflow. 

Grow your network

As you plunge into the market as a freelancer or rather as a business enterprise, make sure you don’t forget about the other major component to your success. Yes, it takes more than a freelancer to become successful, you need clients.

Start building your network even before you leave your day job or finish your course. Your connections may not give you work directly but they may refer you to their contacts. Or in other cases, your past clients may talk about your work to their connections. This is word of mouth advertising and it goes a long way. 

Also read: 5 freelancers share how to thrive in the gig economy

Most of the freelancers work from home, this may feel a little lonesome at times. As humans, we crave social interactions at one point or the other.

Join networking groups with people from your industry, attend workshops or venture out to a coworking space once in a while. Such socialising is great for freelancers growth and you never know, you may strike gold and find more clients at such events. 

Build an online presence

Even when you are between gigs, create tasks for yourself for each day. One of these tasks should be creating a strong online presence. Start with setting up a powerful website, it will be your virtual sales pitch to all the prospective clients.

You need not meet each one of them, your work on your website should do that for you. 

Create professional social media accounts. Stay in touch with your industry experts through these media and build your strong profile in the meantime. This can also be a great platform for networking while working at home. 

Find your niche

Everyone has one field they can specialise and excel in quickly. And we are not talking about skills. For instance, a good graphic designer can prove to be a spectacular logo maker or a content writer can be a mindblowing fictional writer. Therefore, identify your niche and cultivate it into an in-depth service for your clients.

As you find your creative niche, you will discover that you are delivering better to your clients while enjoying the work more. And that’s exactly what you became a freelancer for. A specific specialisation also helps freelancers narrow down their clientele and market their work better.

Set up some smart numbers

Being a freelancer often requires you to be a master of multiple arts. You would not only be building your business, carrying out marketing tasks, maintaining client relationships but taking care of the numbers as well. You cannot just pull out arbitrary numbers out of thin air when sending a quote.

You would be competing with other freelancers as well and hence can’t take the risk of underselling or overselling your rates. 

Test the waters and check out what the competition is charging for similar services. You should also invest in an invoicing tool to keep your number game strong and sorted in the long run. 

Create your unique style

A unique style or flair sets you apart from others. Creating a specialisation with a unique flair will help you stand out in the industry. A unique style is building upon a certain niche.

If your niche is designing logos, then you can make designing certain kinds of a logo your unique style. Once you have refined this style, people looking for such work will prefer your services rather than hiring just any other competitor. 

Know your clients

Your clients can make or break your business enterprise. Don’t consider them as temporary employers. Build and nurture relationships with each of them. Even if you are not hired by them again, they may refer you to others. 

Create a database of all your past and potential clients. You may even need to send out cold emails in between gigs to keep them apprised of your presence in the industry. 

Collect client testimonials

As you set up your online presence with a good website and social media, showcase your client testimonials in addition to your work portfolio. This adds a personal touch and makes your past clients evangelists for your business. 

Also read: Freelancing is a new norm, but it still faces a massive problem

Testimonials also work as referrals, with each of these testimonials, potential leads are motivated to hire you for the project. Some clients may not be too enthusiastic or eager to set aside some time and write reviews for you. You can offer some incentives to get those reviews posted.  

Stay organised

Freelancers often struggle with devils of their own making. You may have left the 9to5 job to enjoy work on your leisure but that does not mean throwing up your schedule into the winds. Set up time structure for your tasks for a good work-life balance. In addition to the time management, keep an organiser with all your deadlines, work deliverables to stay you on top of things. 

Build your brand

Building your business as a freelancer goes beyond a good website and an active social media profile. Write blogs for your website as well as others in the form of guest blogging. Invest a little amount in running some adds for your target demographic on social media pages. 

The key to a successful freelancing career lies in strategic thinking and strong marketing. With the help of these tips, you can build yourself a reputable brand that is known for professionalism and quality of work. When you are starting out in the industry on your own, it all may seem daunting but staying positive as you plan and put your energy to work will go a long way.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.

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When practicing for a job interview, most people concentrate on answering typical interview questions in a dry run. This is an essential part of your interview practice, but to really make a connection with the interviewer, it’s important to practice other things such as your voice projection, tone, and conversational skills. 

Asking questions is just as important as knowing how to answer them.

Not only does it help to create a natural flow of dialogue between you and your potential employer, but it shows them that you care about the role and take a special interest in their company. Here are some things to ask the next time you’re invited to attend a job interview:

What’s a typical day for someone in this role?

If you’ve read the job description, it’s very likely that you’ve seen the outline of the role and your responsibilities as a whole. But it’s important to find out exactly what you’ll be doing day-to-day. Ask about a typical working day and what’s expected.

You can even ask about non-role specific things such as where you’ll be sitting, who you’ll be interacting with, where the team tends to have lunch. Show an interest in the social elements of work too – employers want interesting, well-rounded individuals, not just a workhorse. 

Also Read: 4 key steps to the perfect startup job interview

Is there an opportunity for progression?

Employers love candidates who are ambitious. Ask them about progression or where they see this role in a few years’ time.

Then follow up with the question of, “What can I do to achieve that?” It can even be interesting to discuss topical issues such as how AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation may affect roles of the future.

Talking about current trends such as technology will show them your understanding of the industry and will place you as a forward-thinker who is moving with the times. 

How do you measure success?

Ask the interviewer about one-to-one reviews, appraisals, team and individual targets, and the general management structure affecting your role.

It’s important to understand how your success will be measured, and by asking this you will be showing them how keen you are to be good at what you do. 

What characteristics do you look for in employees?

This not only shows how much you want the role, but it also gives you a chance to fill in any missing gaps in your interview. It presents an opportunity to redeem yourself on certain areas, clarify certain aspects of your personality, or come back with a final statement of why you’re perfect for the job. 

What is the company culture like?

One of the most important questions to ask is about company culture. Raising this doesn’t just show the employer that you’re ready to invest your time and hard work into their business, but it also gives you a better insight into what it’s really going to be like.

The company has to suit you, as much as you have to suit them. For instance, startup culture is known for being lots of fun, with social events and great office perks. But it’s also a culture that breeds hard work and sometimes long hours.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.

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The year 2019 belonged to gojek. The Indonesian ride-sharing giant hit headlines for a few good reasons — its Co-founder Nadiem Makarim quit to join the government and become Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture. It also raised a significant amount of investments from top VCs and tech behemoths like Google and Tencent.

The year also belonged to several other companies and people. They hit headlines and drew eyeballs for a variety of reasons.

This article discusses the 10 most-read news stories of the year.

honestbee describes CEO Joel Sng departure as resignation

While gojek grabbed headlines for all good reasons, honestbee, another popular startup in Southeast Asia, made it to the first pages of startup portals for wrong reasons.

After a great run until 2018, the company started showing the signs of deterioration when it suspended/shut operations in the Philippines in the early months. This was followed by the shut-down of its operations in Malaysia. This resulted in the firing of its CEO Joel Sng (the company, however, described his departure as resignation).

honestbee’s fall has been spectacular; it has a deep pocket with about US$46 million in funding. But the company burned US$6.5 million per month, which was unacceptable for its stakeholders. It also struggled to pay suppliers and was experiencing payroll delays.

VinaCapital Ventures invests in Vietnam-based UrBox and Wee Digital

In March, VinaCapital Ventures, the VC arm of the asset management company VinaCapital, made an undisclosed amount of investment into digital gifting platform UrBox and AI- and biometric-powered fintech startup Wee Digital.

UrBox has partnered with more than 3,000 retail outlets across Vietnam, as well as e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Tiki, Adayroi, and Grab. It received pre-seed funding from Vietnam-focussed accelerator and seed fund VIISA prior to this funding round.

Wee Digital, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Christian Nguyen, is the first fintech that applies financial biometrics.

This story also drew readers in large numbers.

Consumer credit company Experian invests in Grab’s Series H round

In July, Experian, a global consumer credit company, invested an undisclosed amount in Grab’s latest financing round, making it Experian’s fourth investment in Asia.

The investment also opened a partnership in which the two companies will see the use of technology and data analytics to support Grab’s customised offerings for its users, such as improvement in access to loans for aspiring entrepreneurs in the region.

Until July, Grab had in its kitty US$1.46 billion from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund and added another US$300 million from existing investor Invesco, a US-based investment manager.

Grab introduces 4 new services to its core app in Singapore

In April, Grab announced the introduction of four new services to its core app in Singapore — namely hotels bookings, video on demand, movie ticketing, and trip planner.

The introduction of the new features followed the launch of GrabPlatform in July 2018, which enable partner companies to integrate their services into the Grab app.

Any story about Grab, a popular startup in the region, always grabs eyeballs.

Women-powered organisation she1K invests in drone startup

In June, Singapore drone startup, Performance Rotors, raised undisclosed funding from she1K, a women’s corporate executive network that champions, funds, and boards startups. In its first-ever investment, she1K said that it’s syndicating angel investments from its members.

Performance Rotors is a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) solutions company focussing on confined spaces inspection. she1K invested in the startup after selecting it during the first she1K private pitch to its members and co-investing partners that are held every 2 months, both in-person in Singapore and Hong Kong and via Zoom calls globally.

“We’re burning money,” says Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady, selling 70 per cent stake in the omnipresent e-wallet OVO

Indonesian e-wallet company OVO made headlines when Mochtar Riady, Founder of Lippo Group, the major shareholder of OVO, disclosed in November that it sold 70 per cent of the stake in OVO.

The reason? The fintech firm was burning about US$50 million per month and that it cannot afford to inject any more money.

“They continue to burn money, we cannot afford it,” he said. “How are we supposed to be strong?”

OVO, one of the five Unicorns of Indonesia, was launched by Lippo Group, which also has stakes in ride-hailing firm Grab. Ovo is the second-largest digital wallet in Indonesia after Gopay, based on an iPrice Group ranking that looks at monthly active users.

Malaysian salestech startup SalesCandy sets foot in neighbouring regions

In May, Malaysian slaestech startup SalesCandy announced its entry into Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The company struck multiple contracts across Southeast Asia in the first quarter of 2019 and is readying up operation in the said countries.

SalesCandy’s product is SalesCandy LMS that features a mobile app action-based Lead Management System (LMS) with a real-time routing mechanism. This allows a salesperson to respond to enquiries coming from multiple online and offline channels within five minutes.

gojek acquires majority stake in Philippines’s blockchain fintech company Coins.ph

In January, gojek announced that it “is making a substantial acquisition of shares” of Philippines-based blockchain-powered fintech company Coins.ph.

The companies also announced a partnership, under which gojek’s payments platform Go-Pay and Coins.ph will work together to encourage cashless financial transactions in the Philippines by combining Go-Pay’s technological expertise, scalability and experience in Indonesia with ​the blockchain firm’s deep local knowledge.

honestbee names Ong Lay Ann as new CEO

As it went from bad to worse, honestbee in July announced the appointment of Ong Lay Ann as its new CEO. He replaced interim CEO Brian Koo, who was appointed in May after Joel Sng’s departure.

The company also announced the departure of its CTO and Co-founder Jonathan Low.

gojek CEO Nadiem Makarim resigns to join Cabinet

In October, following long-time growing speculation, gojek Group CEO Nadiem Makarim confirmed his resignation from the company to join President Joko Widodo’s new Cabinet (he was later appointed as the Minister of Education and Culture).

Speaking to the press at Merdeka Palace, Makarim expressed his commitment to serve Indonesia as a mission that he has been pursuing with the founding of gojek.

This story was widely covered by the media across the globe. While he is not the first tech entrepreneur to join politics, his elevation is the first such development in Southeast Asia.

Google, Tencent, JD.com to inject more than US$900M in gojek

Tech behemoths and existing investors Google, Tencent, and JD.com agreed to invest around US$920 million into gjek, the ride-sharing startup from Indonesia. The funding was meant for regional expansion and fintech development.

The post 10 most-read e27 news stories in 2019 appeared first on e27.