All over the world, companies are increasingly providing remote working as an option to employees. It helps companies save money, while at the same time it provides flexibility to employees (we at e27 also have overseas employees, most of who are working from their home).
The infographic given below discusses every aspect of remote working.
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The fourth industrial revolution bought more than a few drastic changes with itself. We now live in a world that is driven by technological advancements. No matter where we look, we find the technology present and penetrating in every sector.
Most of the tasks are automated or digitised and we turn to Google for all answers. The internet is our go-to for everything we can think of. Booking movie tickets, checking show timings, finding locations, paying bills, getting online consultation along with plenty of other things.
Moreover, combined with the internet we have devices that we can’t live without. Whether it is our smartphone, wearable watches, home automation appliances or more.
As humans, we want to stay in a connected world. This connection need not be just with each other but also with our devices, home, vehicles and everything else in between. As a result, we are progressing towards a world of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The more we embrace IoT, the more we will be moving into a world filled with all kinds of new and smart devices. Statistics suggest that by 2020, we will have more than 20 billion devices that will be connected and running fundamentally on the principle of the internet of things.
Whether we choose to realise it or not, the expansion is far bigger than we can imagine. While last year experts could only conceptualise IoT and dream about it going mainstream, the day has finally come when it takes over the world.
IoT explosion
Everything, as we know today, will be impacted by the explosion of the internet of things. Be it web application development, testing, or devising practices for cybersecurity, all major industries will undergo a rapid transformation.
Moreover, the market size of IoT will reach 11.1 trillion by the year 2025, giving more than enough reasons for entrepreneurs and researchers to enter the segment and capitalise on it.
Also Read: From products to businesses: the hidden opportunities of IoT
It’s amusing to even imagine that the internet of things didn’t even exist a decade ago, but today here we are witnessing a world transform due to it. Be it the changing customer demands or the need for staying connected, the tipping point of IoT is finally here.
By 2025, we can expect more than 75 billion devices installed under IoT. This is also being fueled by the popularisation of technologies such as 5G.
The implementation of IoT solutions will play a crucial role in business applications throughout industries and societies. The IoT edge is closer than ever before, while the top tech enterprises around the world are on board with it, small and medium enterprises are still struggling and trying to find a middle ground amidst the market chaos.
Edge computing
In its latest mobility report, Ericsson predicts that by the end of this year there will be as many as 1.3 billion cellular IoT connections. By the year 2025, this is expected to jump to five billion.
Moreover, as enterprises embrace digitisation and enable more connected machines, the current computing power of the cloud will fall short enough. Organisations will, therefore, need to invest in computing power that can sustain a plethora of devices.
If we look at the current scenario, enterprises are mostly centralised or using cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft that perform all the computing at their specific data centers. But, with the changing implications of storing, utilizing, calculating and analysing data to the limit, IoT experts want the data to be transferred first to a local computing centre that is closer to the source or edge of the network.
Being referred to as edge computing, this offers a series of benefits such as reducing the traffic to a network, better management of large amounts of data, reduced dependency on the cloud along with lesser consumption of bandwidth. But Gartner predicts that by 2023 there will be a shift from edge computing to another form of computing which removes the dependency on the internet.
Also Read: The IoT opportunity is right outside your door
Moreover, 2020 will witness the emergence of mesh networking which will be a type of computing designed just for the needs of IoT. With this, the transmission of IoT messages will be done through a network topology of radio nodes, where every node transmits data to the next through flooding or routing.
5G will be a hit
The need for ‘on the edge’ computing provides an opportunity for communication service providers who are building and expanding the 5G network. The rapid deployment of 5G networks around the globe along with an uptick in 5G subscriptions will contribute significantly towards increasing the number of IoT connected devices, all across the globe.
The fifth-generation cellular network technology, along with giving faster speeds, better connectivity and lower latency will improve network responsiveness. This means it will allow connectivity on far more devices than 4G.
Finally, IoT innovations such as driverless vehicles among others will have a technology that can handle and sustain their needs. Considering the massive expansion scenario.
Moreover, the reduced power consumption will also unbridle energy and cost savings, thus, making IoT even more popular at a household level. In other words, the high capacity, speed, and density of the 5G network, when combined with cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, will allow enterprises to adopt and make shifts to their existing processes for a higher ROI.
This will also enhance node participation and decentralisation, enabling shorter block times and facilitating on-chain scalability.
Statistics suggest that 90 per cent of senior executives in media companies believe that IoT is crucial to their growth, while 80 per cent of retailers will use it to customise store visits in 2020. Similarly, 66 per cent of US cities are investing in smart city IoT technology and the healthcare industry has saved as much as 25 per cent from the adoption of IoT devices.
As we progress towards 2020, we will see the widest number of applications of IoT. From smart speaker displays to the product as a service ecosystem, smart cities, unified IoT framework, industrial IoT, there will be far smarter applications on the internet than there are people in the world.
For customers, it could mean the age of personalised and revolutionary services, while for enterprises it can be an excellent opportunity to jump into the opportune market.
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Thanks to growing internet connectivity, in addition to the increasing ownership of more sophisticated mobile devices that can stream high-quality video content, the OTT industry is on track to reach a sky-high value of US$52 billion over the next five years.
This growth is unsurprising as OTT can provide content to users when and where they want it– regardless of place, time, device or network– and as such content producers are focused on generating as many profits as they can from distributing content directly to consumers.
This is urging traditional content providers to rethink their strategy in this on-demand age; they need to evolve their marketing strategies to catch the consumers’ attention when their eyeballs are now on a wider variety of devices.
Also Read: 5 email outreach tips to aid your startup marketing efforts
At the same time, as OTT viewers also have the benefit of choosing what they want to watch at their own leisure, how these platforms contextualise their offerings to the viewers need to be laser targeted to be in line with their preferences.
However, all this needs to be done by balancing the line of understanding the consumer without making it appear as if they are too intrusive. Here are some ways in which OTT platforms can market their products to viewers with better contextuality to improve their ways of monetisation.
Customer is king
OTT platforms have upended traditional viewership, placing far more power in the consumers’ hands than ever before. Yet, while viewers now have greater control over how they want to watch content, addressability has become a greater concern.
This is as viewership has become more fragmented, therefore posing a greater challenge for marketing efforts as compared to their prime-time broadcast forebears. They now need to target different ads to different audience segments watching the same content.
To overcome this, OTT marketers need to gain a better understanding of their marketplace to determine the best messages that can resonate with this fragmented base. They need to do so by utilising richer data to create relevance amongst viewers in order to deliver the best possible customer experiences.
Messages should be present on all devices
OTT platforms were born in the digital age, and therefore many have been designed to be viewed on devices that can be connected to the internet. In regions such as Asia, traditional TV viewership remains dominant, however, most OTTs require smart TVs to be played or separate devices connected to more conventional TVs to power them.
However, portable devices such as laptops and smartphones seem more practical for many viewers, especially if they’ve subscribed to OTT services for their own personal use.
Mobile is already replacing TV as the go-to choice for video content and thus, marketers to rethink the channels they use to engage with customers. This is as mobile and desktop marketing require different engagement strategies than viewers; they need to keep in mind which devices are being used, as well as when and where they’re being used. Marketers, therefore, need to adopt a wider-reaching omnichannel strategy to reach as many consumers as they can throughout the day.
Minimising friction
Broadcast TV has traditionally been the medium for ads, and therefore viewers are more than familiar with the concept of needing to sift through a programme’s sponsors to be able to enjoy their content. However, OTT platforms – especially the on-demand kind – are perceived as a more attractive option as they’re typically less ad-heavy, or have no ads at all.
As such, when ads do appear, they need to be done by keeping viewing disruption at a minimum, which is best served by ensuring that the messages being receive relevant or well-targeted.
This is why understanding customers are paramount. By using the right data, marketers can better contextualise their messages according to the consumers’ viewing preferences so that they won’t seem disjointed at best, and at worst, intrusive.
Also Read: 6 strategies to give valuable feedback that sticks
It is the challenge of intrusion that marketers need to be wary of. While using data to laser target consumers can help marketers sift through the audience clutter and target may help to ensure that the outreach is effective, using consumer data that’s not relevant to the content at hand can be off-putting and may even alienate consumers from the OTT platform.
Sophisticated solutions for today’s on-demand viewers
The upside is that we now live in a digital age where we can leverage more sophisticated tools to reach customers effectively.
For instance, SilverPush are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which – when coupled with computer vision – help ups understand large droves of complex data to get the right messages out at the right time to the right people.
This is done by using our technology to identify the specific context in video content and serve in-video ads which align with the advertisers’ core messages without detracting the user experience.
To illustrate how our technology’s been applied, we’ve worked with iflix and HOOQ to disseminate ads based on specific metrics – namely TV and film genres. What this does is help us make better recommendations to viewers based on what they’ve already watched and positioned them in ways that enhance their viewing experience.
OTT platforms are bringing video content viewership into a new era, and therefore marketers need to understand how they work to reach audiences effectively.
While this task is definitely more complicated than before, marketers also have the choice to adopt technologies which are designed to do the tedious legwork that can support valuable human operations and, in turn, help them add more value when conducting their outreach strategies.
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Being named Asia’s Best General Insurance Company of the Year in just two years of starting operations, has been humbling and overwhelming for us. When we started the company’s operations in 2017 with a mission to simplify the insurance this was a dream that we did not imagine to be fulfilled so soon.
Now that we look back, we would like to share seven important learnings have helped us be on the track that can be helpful for changemakers and innovators in building a digital business:
Learning #1: Choosing a purpose
One of the key learnings to build any business is the importance of the company’s purpose. Everything you build, or your company offers should be an answer to the purpose and problem you are trying to solve. This purpose should be ingrained in each and everything the company strives to do.
We started with a mission to “Make insurance simple”. Our goal was not only pasted on our walls, but it was also the thought-starter for everything we did. And in that process, if we had to change the entire process or go against the tide, we weren’t hesitant about it.
For instance for our flight delay claims in Travel Insurance, we intimate the customers about their claims proactively. All they have to do is send us a photo of their boarding pass and their bank details. This not only makes it extremely simple for the customer but also ensures that when the customer is already frustrated, their insurance only gives them a sigh of relief.
Learning #2: Build a product like it was meant for you
This was one learning that completely changed our perspective and the way we build anything for our customers. We realised that understanding what the customer wants will naturally happen if we build a product like it was meant for ourselves.
Also Read: What startups can learn from the challenges and success of Uber
Hence, any product or service that Digit offers to the customer is first tested by the internal team and if it is something that we would buy for ourselves or our family members. We recognise the points that make our colleagues hesitate and simplify it to suit the needs, ending with a product that is completely in sync with the customer’s ask.
For instance, we found that 65 per cent of people accidentally damage the screens of their mobile phones. Hence, we thought of building a sachet Mobile Insurance product where people could protect their mobile screens for their new as well as old products. What better way to be relevant to the customer!
Learning #3: Making sure customers understand
With insurance customers, most of them often complain that they do not understand what they are purchasing and at the time of claims it is too late an understanding about what is not covered by their policy. This gave us an understanding of gaining customer trust by building products that are transparent and simple to comprehend.
We came up with a simple solution, to introduce a policy summary that gives a birds-eye view of everything that the policy includes and includes. To further understand the simplicity level of the document, we shared the document with 15-year olds and tested if they understood clearly the terms and conditions of the policy. And they did!
For our Health Insurance product, we went a notch higher where we invited kids to co-create the policy with us, simplifying it till the last word.
Recently we also launched a board game called InsuRace, that lets you learn about insurance while playing! Well, you always learn better when you are having fun!
Learnings #4: Building processes that build customer trust
The current market is such that customers want convenience and speed over everything else. So, processes should be such that empowers the customer, more so making it smartphone-enabled. Also, we believe that every good relationship stays only based on trust. So, as much as the customer trusts as, it is important that we trust the customers too.
Also Read: 11 easy strategies that are important for every start-up to succeed
Hence, we built a DIY smartphone-enabled self-inspection process for Car Insurance where the customer could shoot the damages using their phone and complete the inspection. This removed the need of waiting for a manual surveyor to come and check the car. This brought down our inspection time from 24 hours to seven minutes and also improved our TAT for claims! What more we got kids to test how fast the process is!
Learning #5: Use automation not to replace but aid humans
Technology should help humans and continually work towards making processes easier and removing redundancies. We looked at our value chain and identified repetitive tasks for our teammates and partners. We automated such tasks that helped in increasing the overall efficiency.
For example, we observed that we were spending 4 minutes 15 seconds post the approval of a claim to process the payment. This time was taken for manual checking and filling of data for all the parts of the vehicle that were damaged and for which the claim was approved. We felt this time could be shortened, so we now run a BOT for this, bringing down this time by almost 50 per cent, to two minutes 30 seconds!
Learning #6: Co-create with partners and customers
We firmly believe to grow we need to work in tandem with our customers and partners. This brings the need for empowering our partners with the right tools. So, we set out to build our partner’s knowledge on what we are trying to do, how they can contribute and take their inputs on how we can help them further to make the journey smoother.
One such tool was an “Endorsement and Cancellation Module.” This was built to help partners in cases of changes to the policy documents or if any policy requires to be cancelled. They do not need to send mails to us asking for the changes to be done. Instead, they can select the data fields that need to be changed, upload the relevant documents on the portal and the request is processed via a bot. This tool has seen a 100 per cent adoption and an improvement in productivity by almost three times!
Learning #7: Environment that supports continuous improvements
Building a digital business in this modern world would mean constant updates and constant updates means continuous improvements. We can’t build and invest in business thinking this is where it ends! There will always be a new update, a new way to look at improving the current performance. This is what will help the business grow and gain continuous momentum leading to a successfully built organisation.
For example, We publish a Transparency Report every quarter sharing all numbers and updates, any process delays or achievements. This helps us be more accountable to our customers thereby leading to continuous improvement. It also helps us in looking at our processes from a fresh perspective, find newer, faster ways of doing things and reinvent ourselves over and over.
It has been a fun journey building our dream brick by brick. The satisfaction of our five million customers and their happy reviews online with a 4.7 rating on Facebook gives us assurance that we are on the right path motivating us to continue to think differently to build our business around our core value – Simplicity!
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Mark Britt, co-founder and CEO of Malaysia-based online streaming company iflix has officially stepped down from his position after more than five years with the company. Marc Barnett, iflix’s managing director will take over the role, as reported by Marketing Interactive.
“A huge congratulations to him on his new appointment – a recognition of the massive contribution he has made over the past three years,” Britt said about Barnett, who now assumes overall responsibility of the business.
Britt added that he will be joining the board as executive director. He also will spend more time with his family following his decision, as stated in his LinkedIn post.
Iflix’s spokesperson also shared that Britt will lead iflix’s advertising business with a particular focus on Indonesia as executive director. He will also spend time between iflix’s key markets and Australia.
Also Read: Streaming platform iflix announces funding round, partnership with Indonesia’s MNC
Before running iflix, Britt worked at Nine Entertainment’s digital arm Mi9 as CEO. During his time there, he was responsible for its SVOD investments and portfolio of startup ventures.
Meanwhile, Barnett just got promoted to be managing director just in November from his position as COO. He first joined the company in 2016 as Chief of Staff.
Before that, he was director at The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology, and COO of Bohemia group.
The company also bid farewell to its Malaysia’s Head of Marketing this year. Awin Roslin left for Astro in September.
It also welcomed Kevin Liu as Chief Technology Office for iflix Advertising to spearhead the programmatic strategy.
Also Read: iflix gets funding from Japanese entertainment giant Yoshimoto Kogyo, establishes JV
In July, the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered company announced the closing of a new round of investment led by global asset manager Fidelity International, with participation from existing backers Catcha Group, Hearst, Sky, and EMC.
The final size of the round has not been disclosed, but the company said in a statement that the total size is in ‘excess of US$50 million’.
The money from the new round was reportedly used to drive growth ahead of a prospective IPO.
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Image Credit: iflix
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Among the most vibrant startup ecosystems in the world is Southeast Asia, a region that has established quite a reputation for churning out many promising startups in its folds. Being home to 26,000 startups, 3,000 investors, 13,000 events, and 8,000 jobs in 2018 alone as listed in e27’s media platform, the region is notable for being one of the best places to realize one’s startup dreams.
This, however, does not entail a perfect experience for those who are mounting their startup business plans in the region. By extension, this does not mean that founders are immune from risks.
In fact, there are three particularly overarching problems faced by startup founders in the region, specifically those who are still in their growth stages. These problems affect a slew of areas when it comes to fundraising such as access, credibility, and efficiency.
Founders often suffer from a lack of access to active and relevant investors due to the limitations of their respective networks. This is most apparent to new and young founders who are not yet fully immersed in the startup ecosystem.
As such, founders are often forced to accept funding opportunities that are not tailor fit for their startup needs.
Moreover, founders who have only been in the business for a short period of time have difficulty establishing their credibility to potential funders. This is because their limited experience often translates as uncertainty from the perspective of investors. This leads to a prolonged fundraising process that ultimately hurts the chances that startups have to truly take off.
More than that, founders deal with efficiency problems as a result of using multiple service providers across fragmented processes, with each one trying to get a share of the fees. The lack of visibility and analytics over investor activity and the entire fundraising process also poses problems that render any active attempt towards startup growth completely inefficient.
Startups from Southeast Asia dealing with these problems head on
Meracle Pte Ltd is a Singapore based company that develops and markets digital health technologies to help address suboptimal medicine delivery in chronic diseases. Their product, The Whizz spacer system, improves asthma control by addressing the issues of incorrect technique and low compliance concurrently.
Better asthma control requires addressing both technique and compliance. The Whizz spacer utilises a multipronged approach to provide a comprehensive solution to patients, caregivers and physicians.
Whizz is a spacer utilises advanced technologies to aid asthma patients inhale their medication correctly. This is done by providing immediate feedback via visual indicators that intuitively correct inhalation techniques. The accompanying mobile app stores data that doctors can access and analyse and to treat patients accordingly and confidently. Data collected eventually would allow analysis and studies of asthma patterns and prediction of probable asthma attacks.
In order to help sustain their momentum and give their brilliant product a much-needed boost, Meracle Pte Ltd connected with the e27 Fundraise Programme. Through the fundraise programme’s features, Meracle is granted access to e27’s network of investors, build rapport with the investor community through sustained engagement, and manage the entire fundraising process in a single online platform—effectively curbing the usual obstacles that hamper startup growth.
Joining them in this pursuit is Zeend.com Inc. Based in the Philippines, Zeend.com is an e-commerce platform that digitally transforms traditional business establishments. Local brick-and-mortar businesses, such as groceries, pharmacies, hardwares, and utility & bills payments, can create instant and free website/online store. After signing-up with Zeend platform, traditional businesses can instantly display their products and accept online transactions.
Merchants that sign-up with the Zeend platform will also be connected to specific suppliers/manufacturers in their category as part of the Supply Chain Model. Zeend merchants will have easy access to suppliers in their area and conveniently order online.
“Merchants in the platform will have two types of customers: the first one refers to those from the local area of the establishments who will shop online, and the second one refers to the remittance side. The sender of remittances can choose to directly buy goods for their family and loved ones instead of sending cash. The goods will simply have to be claimed by the recipient in the local store,” said Zeend.com Inc.’s Co-Founder, Rugy de Veyra.
With Zeend’s important brand of innovation, it is imperative that they gain access to potential investors that can contribute wholly to the startup’s growth, enabling them to help more people. Through this, the company is off to greater heights.
e27 Fundraise Programme and its three-pronged approach
There are several solutions out there coming from different facets of society that all do their part in minimising these regional obstacles. What makes the e27 Fundraise Programme particularly unique, however, is its three-pronged approach to solving common problems.
In order to democratise fundraising for startup founders, the e27 Fundraise Programme has come up with three umbrella solutions that accommodate the three pressing challenges in the region’s tech ecosystem. These three umbrella solutions are: increased visibility, sustained engagement, and digitalisation.
Through the programme, startups are empowered to let investors know that they exist. While most young startups find difficulty in carving a name for themselves, the programme—because of e27’s massive network of investors—effectively puts young startups within their radars making fundraising well within the realms of possibility.
The second prong is focused on establishing sustained engagement between startup founders and investors, thereby helping startups build rapport with the investor community. This is achieved by giving startups the platform to show investors their startup growth and progress over time.
Lastly, in a community whose lifeblood is digital innovation, the e27 Fundraise Programme makes use of digitalisation as a way to help startups manage the processes of their fundraising pursuits from end to end, and within a single online platform that they can keep track of over the course of their negotiations.
With this three-pronged approach, startups who sign up for the programme can guarantee better funding opportunities to come their way.
The e27 Fundraise Programme is in partnership with Wholesale Investor, Australasia’s leading venture capital and capital raising platform for sophisticated and accredited investors. For more information on the programme, you may enquire here.
The post How this fundraising programme helps these two startups access better funding opportunities appeared first on e27.
Aument is developing a solution for the increasing pressures on primary care healthcare resources across Europe which are negatively impacting patient outcomes.
With the use of advanced analytics and intelligence amplification, we provide a venue for primary care physicians to transpose their knowledge onto a cloud-based platform thereby equipping them with cutting-edge AI and machine learning based multitasking capabilities.
Using our innovative approach accompanied by our proprietary algorithms we believe Aument can increase patient diagnostic and assessment efficiency by up to 30 per cent.
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This article was first published on nfinitiv.
Image Credit: Sunyu Kim on Unsplash
The post Podcast: A conversation with Dhruv Mahta, Co-Founder of Aument appeared first on e27.
Laurent Bertrand, Founder and CEO of BetterTradeOff
Health, money, and relationships are the top three things that come to mind when we think of new year resolutions. From millennials to Generation X, baby boomers as well as the sandwich generation, the need to manage finances is compelling enough, whether it is for retirement or having sufficient savings for their children’s education and development needs.
Yet, securing one’s own financial future or helping your loved ones be financially ready has been a prevalent concern, especially with the lack of confidence consumers have towards the financial industry and the perceived complexity of financial planning.
In a move to enable people to plan their future with ease and confidence through better financial decisions, fintech startup BetterTradeOff (BTO) is tapping on advanced analytics and statistics to guide our financial choices. Their web-based tool called ‘Up’ leverages real-time data and analytics to provide consumers with a detailed analysis of their financial needs and goals, and elements impacting their financial situation.
Founded by Laurent Bertrand, with Up he aims to reshape the way financial planning is viewed and allow anyone, regardless of financial literacy or income level, to manage their finances and plan their future with trust and confidence in the process. Along with a wealth of international experience in transforming the financial services and technology industries, Bertrand is an MBA from INSEAD and also holds a degree in Aerospace.
Also Read: Swiss fintech incubator F10 enters Singapore, soon to kick off accelerator programme
e27 spoke to him just in time for my new year’s financial goal planning.
What’s your story?
I’ve spent the past four years turning a passion project into a growing business and an innovative company determined to transform the way people make financial decisions. It’s a topic I know well, and am deeply interested in, as the former Head of Data and Analytics at UBS Wealth Management (APAC).
What motivated you to start this?
I co-founded it with BTO Chairman Robert Lonsdorfer with the belief that we could leverage technology, to provide people with a means of making better decisions regarding their financial future. Making it possible for anyone, regardless of their financial literacy or status, to build a plan for achieving their dreams and goals.
It started as a sort of challenge to ourselves to see if it could actually be done and has now culminated in the launch of Up – our direct-to-consumer solution – a tool that allows people to build their own financial plan online in as little as 15 minutes.
What drives you to do this every single day?
Making it possible for people to not only achieve their dreams but inspiring them to dream bigger, by showing them what’s possible when they have the information and tools they need to make better financial decisions.
What were your initial challenges?
As industry insiders, we knew that bringing financial planning online in an easy yet holistic manner would be challenging. What was difficult was not knowing if and when we would crack the code to make it work with such a broad range of topics to be covered. We found many ways that didn’t work, but to paraphrase Thomas Edison– once feasibility was proven, we still needed to demonstrate that the solution provided the kind of experience end-users expect. Three years before considering commercialisation is a long time, but it also provided a strong technological foundation.
Also Read: Strengthening its expansion into fintech, Grab introduces GrabPay Card
How is financial planning evolving in the light of fintech?
Financial planning is nothing new and many financial institutions have tried to digitalise the experience to better understand and serve their clients. Similar to payment and robo-advisory before, fintech services such as BTO have been able to leverage technology to address pain points with existing industry practice.
What is unique with our solution is the ability to bring an inherently complex subject in a simple, interactive and educational manner that can help everyone make better decisions. We designed our solution so it incorporates all the rules, taxes, statistics for different countries easily to allow for global deployment. We believe that solutions such as BTO will empower advisors and clients alike to secure their financial future and achieve their dreams.
How do you manage your team?
As the saying goes, there’s no I in the team. From the very beginning, we discussed what kind of culture we wanted for our company: open, supportive, creative, customer-obsessed and outcome-oriented. We apply such principles not only internally but also with our external partners and our clients. The result (hopefully) is an environment where it is easy to work together while retaining the highest level of professionalism. While the company continues to evolve and grow, we make sure that we continue living these values on a day-by-day basis.
Also Read: Meet the 18 original founders of Alibaba
What was your funding strategy?
When we embarked on this journey, we knew it would be a difficult and long one with possibly (and it proved to be rather prescient) a very long time before going to market and monetisation. We decided to focus our resources internally on what was critical (to retain the IP) and externalise everything that others could do better and faster.
Our funding strategy was aligned accordingly, relying on enlightened angels and onboarding an institutional investor who could understand the value (in short, an initial client). Having deployed our solution multiple times in four countries and demonstrated our ability to scale quickly, we are preparing the next rounds with institutional investors who can help us accelerate and establish our solution as the standard of the market where our clients operate.
What are the key fintech trends in 2020?
There is a clear trend that should continue in 2020 to push for more pure digital players with digital licenses becoming available in banking, asset management, and insurance. Without the burden of legacy systems, fintech should enable further customer-friendly solutions. That said, we believe that beyond convenience and cost, providing a differentiated customer experience with seamless online-offline experience will become even more important.
The increased visibility of digital financial planning as a means to deliver consistent, customer-centric advice will grow even more in 2020. While fintech will continue to lower the cost to serve, allowing for greater inclusion and untapped revenue, we have seen strong interest from many players (traditional and purely digital) to differentiate themselves and avoid a race to the bottom.
What advice would you give aspiring founders?
Build the strongest team starting with the co-founders and make sure that you have industry insiders, especially with FinTech were regulatory considerations are critical to operating. Even with a well-identified problem to solve and a clear market, finding the right business model can take time and it will boil down to the ability of your team to deliver.
When working with large institutions, ensure that you jointly define and agree on the specific use cases you want to co-create/work on. It is time well spent to build relationships, focus effort and ultimately ensure a successful outcome.
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Image credit: BetterTradeOff
The post Meet the Founder: Being an industry insider is a plus in fintech, says Laurent Bertrand appeared first on e27.
Not many businesses prioritise cybersecurity, even as cyber attacks cost companies around US$200,000 (each) on average. One study by Accenture found that only 14 per cent of small businesses are ready to address cyber threats.
Despite the low rate of cybersecurity preparedness among businesses at present, it’s worth noting that things have changed significantly compared to the situation in the past decade.
In today’s highly connected environment, it’s virtually impossible to separate cybersecurity from business strategy. Securing computers, networks, and cyber resources is already an inevitable part of crafting a sensible strategy for doing business.
The World Economic Forum considers cybersecurity as the top concern for CEOs around the world as data breaches don’t only lead to reputation damage. They have a direct effect on the finances of a business.
The 14 per cent that prepares for cyber threats have a good grasp of what needs to be done. They adopt not only basic protection but also implement more advanced and targeted solutions in order to anticipate more aggressive attacks.
Automated security systems enable startups and small businesses to continue focusing on their businesses without needing to implement complicated methods and learn all of the technicalities of cybersecurity. Knowing and doing the following essential strategies is already a significant stride in fending off cyber threats.
Also Read: Meet the 10 cybersecurity startups graduating from ICE71 Accelerate programme
Intelligent solutions
At the workplace, having antivirus or malware defence tools installed is not as simple as it sounds. First, you need to make sure that you are getting the best option available, something that perfectly suits your needs. Generally, it’s not enough to rely on freeware security tools, let alone free software from dubious sources.
Free solutions may be great for baseline protection, but they don’t do anything beyond it. They can effectively detect, quarantine, and remove malware, but that’s all they are designed to do.
Cyber threats are not limited to malware transmitted through downloads, file transfers, or email attachments. They can also take other forms such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, DoS and DDoS, eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks, phishing, and social engineering.
There’s a reason why third-party security software and services still sell in the presence of free tools. For one, they offer functions and features that address threats other than traditional malware. They also offer services that address specific critical needs of businesses.
For startups, for example, targeted solutions such as automated penetration testing can significantly increase security especially for those that process a lot of data. Other security solutions that can be included in your arsenal are ransomware detection and prevention, password management, weblink scanning and tagging (for safer web browsing), and a more advanced firewall.
Also Read: Goldman Sachs invests US$147M in cybersecurity startup Acronis, gearing up for acquisitions
Educating users about cybersecurity
People are arguably the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Antiviruses or malware scanners can work ceaselessly to monitor attacks and prevent them in real-time. They do everything wirelessly and automatically. They may have instances of false negatives or failures in detection, but overall they get the job done efficiently.
People, on the other hand, are prone to deception, especially those who are new to the concept of cybersecurity. It’s not extremely difficult to make phishing schemes work. Some may even be convinced to temporarily shut down their malware defences to allow the installation of a supposedly harmless application.
The solution to this problem is to educate everyone in the business organisation about cyber threats and prevention strategies. It’s important to teach managers and employees about various forms of cyberattacks, especially those that involve social engineering. It is advisable to develop the ability to perceive possible phishing attacks, for example.
There should be clear cybersecurity guidelines, protocols, and procedures in the office or workplace, and these should be clearly conveyed to everyone. It may also be necessary to compel everyone to use stronger and different passwords for different accounts and devices.
Also Read: Imbalance between work and personal life is a cybersecurity issue
Data encryption
Stolen data may only be considered harmful if it becomes useful to the party stealing it.
Encryption as a cybersecurity strategy is done not only on files stored in the hard drive. It’s something that also needs to be implemented on data exchanged between a client device and a server, saved passwords, and inputs to online forms, as well as files stored on the cloud.
There are many tools that can be used for encryption. On Windows, there’s the popular BitLocker. On Mac, there’s a built-in solution that involves the conversion of files or folders into a disk image, or you can use FileVault. To encrypt data exchanged between a client device/app and server, the solution is to use https or SSL encryption.
Meanwhile, to help employees avoid data sniffing or other similar attacks, it is recommended that they use VPNs. When it comes to data stored in the cloud, most cloud service providers have integrated encryption tools. If you use a cloud service that does not provide this function, it’s better to switch to a different provider.
Encryption takes time and computing resources. Hence, it’s impractical to do it for all files. It makes sense to choose specific types of files such as business plans, project files, financial records, and confidential documents. This is something for the management to decide upon.
Also Read: Cybersecurity in the age of information warfare and IoT
Multi-factor authentication
Another simple but highly effective cybersecurity strategy for startups and even for established businesses is the use of multi-factor authentication or at least two-factor authentication. For the uninitiated, this means the addition of another requirement besides the username and password when logging in to an account.
It could be a code sent to a mobile number or email address, a biometric scan, or a physical device inserted into the USB or some other port in a device.
Multi-factor authentication ensures that even if cybercriminals successfully steal sets of usernames and passwords, they will still be denied access when they use the stolen login credentials. Just make sure that you don’t end up locking yourself out of your accounts because you lost the phone number (SIM card) or email address you use in setting up your 2FA or multi-factor authentication.
Update all software
Lastly, it’s a must to keep all of your applications and operating systems updated. Updates exist not only to add new features to software or OS. Often, they carry security patches to address vulnerabilities that may be exploited by emerging threats.
They are also released to address stability issues. Updates may raise bandwidth consumption, but it’s a small price to pay in exchange for a more secure and stable device or software.
Also Read: Cybersecurity in the age of information warfare and IoT
Takeaway
The threats startups face are not different from what larger and more established companies. After all, cyberattacks generally don’t discriminate. They focus on vulnerable entities—those that don’t have adequate protection installed and people who happen to be clueless about the different forms of attacks and strategies to counter them.
Except for cybercriminals specifically paid to attack specific entities, hackers and cyber attackers target companies not because they expect to get something highly valuable, but mainly because their initial random attacks were able to penetrate.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzzword on everyone’s lips and the technology is expected to almost double the rate of innovation and employee productivity by 2021, according to a Microsoft and IDC study.
AI has widespread business benefits, not only in automating time-consuming and resource-heavy tasks but also in using predictive wisdom to inform smart decisions and increase efficiency. It is particularly beneficial to digital advertising, where it is becoming an essential differentiator.
AI can be used in a variety of ways to enhance an ad campaign, from detecting fraud and powering the programmatic bidding process to delivering precisely targeted, highly personalised data-driven messaging that resonates with brand audiences.
Using AI to personalise and localise ad messaging is particularly beneficial in a region characterised by diversity, allowing brands and advertisers to dynamically tailor their strategy to individual markets rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. The use of AI in digital advertising is essentially joining multiple data points and interpreting the resulting patterns to identify and act on opportunities.
With AI for digital advertising still in its infancy in Asia, now is the ideal time for the industry to establish best practices and ensure its approach to implementing AI-powered ad campaigns allows it to make the best use of the technology as adoption inevitably accelerates.
Also Read: How to optimise adtech for the next decade
Implementing robust algorithmic architecture
The first step in implementing AI in advertising is to ensure robust algorithmic architecture. Traditional algorithms use step-by-step processes to achieve a particular result or solve a specific problem.
In theory, algorithms should be able to make better decisions than humans because they can factor in more variables and analyse them all in milliseconds to reach the right conclusion.
AI algorithms take this ability one step further because they have the capacity to learn from previous outcomes and therefore make smarter decisions, continually improving their performance through machine learning. Powerful AI can learn in real-time, refining processes, improving organically, training, learning and then adapting with minimal human intervention, enabling intelligent and accurate forecasting as well as data-enriched decisions.
For instance, a programmatic advertising AI– such as Adform’s Odin– can oversee the trading process, analysing when to bid as well as how much to bid, and learning from failed bids to continuously improve towards the perfect strategy.
Naturally, this ability to make increasingly intelligent decisions depends on the underlying structure or architecture of the algorithm. With AI, programmers do not need to code for every possible action and reaction as the system will identify all potential patterns for itself, but they do need to create sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that are fit for purpose, as well as impartial and free from unintended bias, which requires a high level of experience and expertise.
Also Read: AI-powered adtech platform ADBRO closes financing round with 500 Startups, eyeing APAC expansion
AI algorithms must be continually monitored, and their output verified, to ensure their function and subsequent learning does not become distorted.
Ensuring the quality and diversity of data
In addition to establishing robust algorithmic architecture, the advertising industry also needs to ensure data quality and diversity as the output from AI is only ever as good as the information that trains and feeds its algorithms.
AI algorithms become increasingly effective as they are exposed to more data, so the advertising industry needs access to large volumes of information that are typically held in siloes.
It needs the technological capacity and infrastructure to handle these vast volumes of data, ensuring information can be accessed, unified, aggregated and analysed quickly and accurately enough to provide actionable insight.
But volume alone is not enough; the information must be sourced from across the entire digital advertising and marketing ecosystem and should incorporate multiple data streams to make it as diverse and representative as possible, enabling powerful, broad-based decision making.
And of course, the data used to feed AI algorithms in advertising needs to be of the highest quality. In a world where misinformation, inaccurate reporting, fraud and obscured signals are all too common, it is essential data is accurate, ethically collected, sourced from reliable providers and free from the bias of all kinds.
Also Read: An industry insider’s analysis of Indonesia’s adtech industry in 2019
Data must be current and refreshed regularly to ensure recommendations are based on the latest intelligence, not information that is hours or days old, allowing effective, real-time optimisation.
The use of AI for digital advertising in the APAC region is still relatively nascent, but it is about to escalate. AI is key to advertising’s data-driven future, but to make the most of its many benefits, marketers need to implement best practices now, leveraging knowledge, expertise and technological infrastructure to ensure the algorithmic architecture is robust and the data that feeds it is plentiful, diverse and of exceptionally high quality
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