Meet the three startups selected for VIISA’s new accelerator programme

Vietnam’s startup accelerator VIISA has selected three startups for its 7th batch.

These startups were selected from nearly 100 applications after over 40 interviews. Instead of traditional face-to-face meetings, a large number of the interviews were conducted through conference calls due to the Covid-19 fears.

These three startups are from traveltech, edutech and medtech.

The three-month programme provides startups with investment in cash plus an undisclosed amount of supporting services such as co-working space, Amazon Web Services, HubSpot, Google Cloud, Digital Ocean, Mapbox, Zendesk, etc.

Also read: Meet the VC: Stephanie Strunk of Amadeus Ventures on why women should support women

Startups that graduate will have a chance to get a follow-on funding of up to US$200,000 from VIISA Investment Track when they secure a new round of funding from other investors.

Below is the description of the three startups:

AskVietnamese: It focuses on tourist mapping services. Its mapping platform integrates traditional paper maps with the online map infrastructure to provide authentic experiences for independent travellers.

AskVietnamese maps help tourists navigate around their desired destination by promoting local culture, traditional delicacies and unique experiences.

Medigo: It provides remote healthcare 24×7 for everyone. The team started with a mobile app where users can upload doctor’s prescriptions, search for pharmacies, be advised by pharmacists and have medicine quickly delivered to their doorstep.

Since its launch, Medigo has been serving customers in most areas of Ho Chi Minh City. The team is working on expanding to major cities in Vietnam and providing online consultation with doctors via telemedicine.

Testuru: An online testing platform, it is currently focusing on IELTS test. The test includes all parts of an official IELTS test which are listening, reading, writing and speaking. The test results also come with feedback for test takers to improve and better prepared for the later attempts.

AISing secures US$6.5M to strengthen AI platform used in robots and self-driving cars

Japan-based AISing has announced the closing of a US$6.6 million Series B funding round from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, according to DealstreetAsia. Sparx Group, Dai-ichi Life Insurance and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital also participated in this round.

The capital will be used to further enhance the developmental system of the Algorithm Development Group (ADG) and train human resources to develop and commercialize new edge AI.

The company is known for its AI technology which used in industrial robots and self-driving cars.

Unicorn India Ventures makes the final close of Fund II at US$12M

Mumbai-based early-stage VC fund Unicorn India Ventures has announced the first close of its second fund at US$12 million.

The second equity fund of INR 400 crore (US$13 million) was announced last year. Unicorn India has raised funds from domestic investors comprising of family offices and investors from the first fund.

The Fund expects to reach final close in next 12 months, which is expected to see participation from large institutional investors.

With the first close, Unicorn India has also announced its first investment in a Trivandrum -based startup SaScan Meditech.

The fund will exclusively focus on seed and Series A stage enterprise startups, including SaaS, fintech, health tech, robotics, gaming, and digital content sectors.

Also Read: For the startup ecosystem, profitability is a gender equality issue

Indonesia’s VC East Ventures seeks US$609K for COVID-19 detection, cure

Venture capital firm East Ventures is targeting to raise a total of US$609,000 to produce 100,000 coronavirus test kits and finance a vaccine research project in Indonesia, says a Dealstreet Asia report.

East Ventures will be working with its portfolio company Nusantics on the project. Nusantics is a genomics tech company which recently raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from the seed company. 

The money will be raised through a crowdfunding donation campaign that will begin on March 30, 2020. Anyone can contribute to the campaign by accessing Indonesiapastibisa.com to donate money, equipment, or skill.

Ezay raises US$200K for e-commerce platform

Ezay, a Yangon-based e-commerce platform for rural retails outlets, has raised US$200,000 in funding from Japanese impact investor Seiji Kurokoshi, according to a statement.

The capital will be used to continue the rapid expansion of its retail and wholesale network within the region. 

Ezay connects rural mom ‘n’ pop retailers to wholesalers via its platform and provides same day delivery (more than 90 per cent of these shopkeepers are women).

Previously they would have to leave the shop to travel to town or convince their spouse to do the same, but with Ezay they receive deliveries to their store and get a wider selection and better prices of products.

Ezay currently has over 1,600 retailers.

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Image Credit: Ezay

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Storehub’s cofounder and the team were extremely excited to move into their new, swanky office. And just when they did, the COVID-19 lockdown struck Malaysia. Unfortunately for the Storehub team, the much-awaited new office suddenly became a make-shift desk at home.

The COVID-19 mayhem not only forced their team –spread in four countries– to transition from work-from-office (WFO) to work-from-home (WFH) but also instantly pushed them all into a war zone. The team launched a new feature from their own respective homes, Co-Founder Wai Hong asserted on the e27 Webinar: How to manage remote teams last week.

The global pandemic is intensifying each day and while businesses adapt to WFH setup, the worry of an economy driving towards recession lurks on. This is no less than a war zone kind of a situation for most, especially for companies that were fully working from an office.

At such times, it is even more important for managers and founders to keep their employee morale high and keep the ball rolling. WFH sure comes with its perks. One can save even the few minutes to go from one meeting to another when doing so virtually, spend time with family and take afternoon naps.

But the homely comfort also runs the risk of working all day and forgetting to take a break. Lack of social interaction with colleagues also affects productivity levels (after all, we miss those casual watercooler moments) and disturbs trust and credibility amongst team members.

Also Read: 3 things cybersecurity startups can do to reinvent business amid COVID-19

Decode what is better with Sean Liao, CEO and Founder of Imaginato and Wai Hong, Chieftain and Cofounder of StoreHub in this webinar re-telecast and make the most of their remote work tips and business best practices to help your teams stay connected and coordinated.

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The e27 Webinar series is an effort to share actionable insights with the startup community to improve their day-to-day work life. These interactions are laced with advices, inspiration, and productive human connection for learning and development and sharing the best practices with the e27 community in Southeast Asia.

Next webinar: Join e27 for a live meditation session with Bjorn Lee, founder of mental wellbeing startup MindFi, and learn to keep your cool through the COVID crisis. Register now!

Image credit: NeONBRAND on Unsplash

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In the world of hyper-speed, dramatic scale-ups and connectivity, social media can now be categorised as a mature marketing channel. Although the popular belief is that organic is dead, there are still ample opportunities, especially for brands that do not rely only on paid approach and prefer conversation over the interruption.

However, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are largely focused on driving short-term campaigns. This leads to a temporary boost in numbers and often comes at the cost of revenue. In the long run, these campaigns have minimal effect on actually growing the brand.

With all the latest research supporting the impact of emotionally driven, personalised campaign strategies, there is a steady rise of private channels or messenger apps such as WhatsApp.

These channels make your audience be themselves and comfortably share recommendations, opinions on product or service with a closed group of individuals, which in other circumstances they would not have gone public with.

When a pandemic strikes and the world leaders and analysts forecast the crisis will have a long-term financial after-effect globally cause of the unabated spread of the virus, what role does a brand marketer play?

Also Read: Why every startup needs to embrace video marketing in 2020

The economy of marketing

The major advantage of digital marketing, besides the fact that it does not require face-to-face interaction and thus in tandem with social distancing practices, is that it is measurable. Marketers can obtain which of their activities generate the highest quality leads and at what expense, in other words, they know the ROI.

Let’s look at a few activities happening around brands and digital media now as we speak:

• Airlines and cruise industry have either reduced, postponed, or paused their advertising campaigns given the current climate. Does it make sense to pay for traffic if consumers aren’t buying travel … eh?

• With the “act of going outside” heavily discouraged, any advertiser driving traffic for brick-and-mortar locations is likely seeing a decline in effort.

• If the economic downturn as forecasted realises along with widespread fear of health, pharma, healthcare, and vices (i.e. alcohol) will thrive and grow.

• An uptick for e-commerce, especially for CPG is definite, although, that would have a big impact on digital marketers as they compete for the purchases of not-so-frequent online shoppers.

• Supply chain and logistics will be stressed with delivery windows stretched back to pre-Prime days of five to seven-days. In some cases, the new releases – be it movies or new product lines, will have to wait it out.

• With several tradeshows getting cancelled, businesses that saw a surge in leads and activities during events participation are diverting their spending into digital media to make up for the missed opportunities.

• Remote work policies are fuelling investments in work-flow automation or project management tools such as Slack and Trello, e-learning platform subscriptions and telecommuting tools such as Zoom, Skype, etc.

Also Read: I tried TikTok out and now I get why it is the future of digital marketing

Being responsible and not an opportunist

As grim as it looks, in times of crisis, people look towards their leaders and institutions for information, reassurance, and guidance.

Increasingly, they also look to brands, thus making it the primary duty as marketers to take ownership and channel communication.

Let’s start by reinforcing the sentiment of Alex Josephson, global head of Twitter Next and Eimear Lambe, director of Twitter Next’s thought that “this is not a ‘marketing opportunity’ to capitalise on, and we do not recommend brands opportunistically linking themselves to a health scare.”

Trying times do highlight gaps. Now is the time to move the efforts online and dig potential opportunities in the business’s sales and marketing channels.

Start with these four insightful questions to map out your next marketing action plan:

What are the current offline marketing channels you have?

Repurposing a number of outdoor advertising billboards, swiftly issuing messages of support, donations for medical supplies and engaging in community building activities to interact with consumers are some of the prompt recalibration done by the luxury brands around the world during this crisis situation.

How can you port your offline channels to the online space effectively?

Increasingly, marketers will need to be sure to target and optimise their content so that heavy-lifting ATL awareness campaigns, some of which are already in play, run at the same time as easy-to-share digital content, which consumers will then be free to use and discuss in their own time.

Also Read: Branding is fundamental to digital marketing, and here are 7 rules to live by

While having great customer service and e-commerce experience is imperative, the alignment of sales and marketing teams to successfully execute virtual events and digital engagement will be the difference-maker in maintaining growth rates.

Which online platform reaches out to your most relevant target audience and how to improve company’s visibility and promotion strategy?

Saving commute time? Take this opportunity to fine-tune your digital assets:

• Website content – Ensure that it contains the right marketing messages with the right call to action.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Check your current website organic search rankings. Benchmark with competitors. Optimise for search engines to improve the quality and quantity of your web traffic.
• Content marketing – Generate ideas for new blog posts, video storyboard and start writing the next newsletter for your customers. Build marketing material that can be part of social conversation and is easily shareable.
• Press releases and articles – Build topics you can inform the media and your clients about e.g. measures in place to fight the current situation.
• Social media engagement – Exploring social and search channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Adwords, LinkedIn and strategising how you can improve engagement.

What is a comfortable budget to test when advertising on each medium?

Start small, experiment a lot, optimise, analyse and plan your next move. Whatever is your budget, you should always be able to extract value out of it.

Also Read: 10 digital marketing strategies for startups

Having said that, at the start of business, with little to no money, you can only get creative and partake in guerrilla techniques of using word of mouth, organic social media and key networks to sell your product or service. It’s time to get back into that mentality.

SEO is ongoing while keeping your momentum at it, be more creative with respect to your marketing expenses and look for ways to use marketing tactics that don’t have a significant cost.

Co-existing with COVID

Once the precautions are in place, do your best to maintain a “business as usual” stance. Survival matters more than market domination at this point. Let’s keep calm, be tenacious, support other businesses in any way possible and take the necessary steps so that you come out of this disruption stronger than ever.

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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 and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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As of March 18, daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Korea have dropped from highs of over 900 to manageable levels of around 90.

More encouraging is that the death rate has dropped to less than a per cent. Korea is winning the battle and it is largely thanks to fast action and the use of technology, including smart city technologies that have been in development for years.

Smart city technology is not just a way to realise the gleaming metropolises of science fiction dreams. It can also be mustered in the fight against new and dynamic threats to urban society.

Smart City curbs COVID-19

Last week two Korean government ministries announced that they would use smart city technology to support epidemiological investigations in a bid to contain South Korea’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Though the KCDC (Korea Center for Disease Control & Prevention) has been trying to track outbreaks and trace transmission paths, its agents find themselves overwhelmed in areas with mass outbreaks such as the southwestern city of Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, the epicentre of the disease in South Korea.

To help, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport developed a system to support epidemiological investigations using the “Smart City Data Hub,” a tool to analyse urban data the ministry has been co-developing with the Ministry of Science and ICT since 2018. 

Using the data hub, epidemiological investigators can request, obtain and confirm data about coronavirus cases and people they have come into contact with, through a single platform. This has greatly simplified what had been a tedious and time-consuming process.

The new system went into operation on a trial basis from Monday, March 16. 

Also Read: Smarter Cities will help, but not solve, global pollution crisis

In the last week, daily confirmed cases of coronavirus have dropped from highs of more than 900 to manageable levels of around 90 per day in Korea. That was without the need for city-wide lockdowns, blanket travel bans or widespread self-isolation tactics that are now being implemented elsewhere in the world to curb the spread of COVID-19.

‘Smart City Data Hub’  is a dramatic example of how the so-called “smart city” technology is improving the lives of South Koreans.

Promoted by the South Korean government as a key sector of the brewing Fourth Industrial Revolution, smart cities use cutting-edge information technology such as artificial intelligence and IoT to make urban administration more efficient and give residents more fine-tuned control over their lives.

Smart cities are also providing government entities, big corporations, and startups alike a new space in which to innovate. They may even offer a path for inter-Korean reconciliation.

Government fosters innovation

In 2017, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in organised a special committee to develop a set of recommendations to help propel the nation forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Spanning multiple ministries and 13 sectors of industry, the initiative largely focuses on how technological progress and innovation can be fostered in different industries.

One of the key projects is a “smart city growth engine” which will kickstart the process of incorporating a variety of technological enhancements across multiple Korean cities, including (among others) Seoul and Busan, turning them into smart cities.

The project identifies a ‘smart city’ as one that is deeply connected via a wide range of telecommunications and information technology working in synergy, bringing many benefits to all citizens who live, work or travel there.

Also Read: COVID-19 is a serious wake up call for sustainable innovation

This is not Korea’s first attempt to build a smart city. The nation is credited with the construction of the world’s first smart city, Songdo, south of Incheon. The new city was built to be energy-smart with a lower cost of living and ICT connectivity throughout. Construction completed in 2015, and while the city’s population is still only 100,000 — a small town by Korean standards — it is growing.

Nearly US$93 million will be invested to build a 4,237 km ‘self-communication network’ that will provide free public wifi to 300 terminals in public facilities, a huge wifi network in 24 large parks comprising over 100,000 square meters, as well as supplying Wi-Fi to all 7,400 city buses and 1,499 village buses operating in and from the city.

“It is the first project in the world to establish a public telecommunications network in a big city like Seoul without having to borrow from its previously established network or the commercial telecommunications network of a mobile carrier,” said Seoul Information and Communication Officer Wan-Gip Kim. “Through this, we will provide public Wi-Fi service throughout Seoul, and further expand to various services by applying real-time data.”

Startups bringing in innovation

While the Korean government is doing a good job organising public projects, it is the startups that are cashing in by bringing their technological innovations to bear.

With one of the biggest benefits of living in a smart city is the connected home environment, IoT companies are in a prime position to reach a wider audience with President Moon’s four-year initiative.

One such company is N.thing, which brings internet connection to your home garden with sensors for plant monitoring. Another example is Luple, who uses AI to identify the link between lighting and human behaviour for better control of reactive lighting.

They are by no means alone.

Also Read: How Vietnam’s e-commerce firm Tiki is tiding over Covid-19 crisis

Founded in 2016 by former employees of the local software firm ToBeSoft, Gractor specialises in AIoT platforms, that is to say, IoT platforms that integrate artificial intelligence.

Its smart city platform collects, analyses, applies and shares all sorts of city-data. Its platform also links the police, fire department and other government agencies with one another and existing devices to provide better, more stable services.

A startup that operates the on-demand valet service Itcha, is taking part in the Seoul suburb of Bucheon’s smart city project to resolve a parking shortage in the city’s old downtown.

Many smart city projects entrust startups to handle the management of residential spaces. One such startup is APTNER, which automates tasks between apartment residents and managers and offers digital services related to apartment management, including payments, community reservations, repair applications, electronic voting, vehicle entry control, and real-time notifications.

South Korean startups have been especially active in developing technology for self-driving automobiles, a key smart city project. Bitsensing, a radar technology startup for smart city and autonomous driving, can not only replace the traditional method for speed and red-light enforcement but also through its ability to collect real-time traffic data to resolve urban congestion issues.

Also Read: COVID-19 is a serious wake-up call for sustainable innovation

Another startup, SOS Lab, is one of the world’s leading developers of LiDAR sensors that function as the eyes of autonomous vehicles. It recently signed an MoU with US-based semiconductor supplier ON Semiconductor to develop and commercialise LiDAR technology for automobiles and smart factories.

Smart city technology might even open a path to permanent peace on the divided Korean Peninsula. KAIST professor Jeong Jae-seung, the master planner of the Sejong City smart city project, said smart city projects could be a win-win for the two Koreas. He said, “We will be able to achieve great synergy if we cooperate.”

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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 and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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The recent COVID-19 outbreak has exposed one of the most integral elements of modern society – the schooling system. UNESCO reports that at least 290.5 million students’ educations have been thrown into disarray due to the outbreak.

Parties most vulnerable to this shock would be those suffering from inadequate schooling systems in the first place – a segment that much of Southeast Asia unmistakably belongs to. As students are forced to stay home, schools have started to experiment with alternative education delivery methods, largely spearheaded by the region’s startups.

We must first address the elephant in the room: the poor quality of education in Southeast Asia. Take the Indonesian government, which has made education central to its agenda. Indonesia boasts an impressive 93 per cent net enrolment rate for schooling, yet 55 per cent of Indonesians who complete school are functionally illiterate.

This can be attributed to factors including overcrowded schools, inefficient teaching methods, and the mismanagement of public schools. The COVID-19 outbreak did not induce any new failures in the education system – it simply provided the trigger for other parties to step in and provide meaningful and innovative alternatives for learning.

Edutech startups are not new, nor are they few and far between; in Vietnam alone there are at least 87 different edutech startups. Indonesia’s Zenius and Vietnam’s Topica Group are among the older edutech startups, being founded in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

However, the two received large funding rounds only very recently, with Zenius raising US$20 million in 2019 and Topica Group raising US$50 million in 2018, largely fundraising on the back of improving digital infrastructure and high internet and smartphone penetration rates.

Also Read: Edtech requires certain distinct help that’s different from other verticals: StormBreaker’s Pat Thitipattakul

On the policy front, Indonesia has started to forge ahead in terms of devising new policies to address these developments, as evident by the founder and CEO of Indonesian edutech behemoth Ruangguru being recruited by the President of Indonesia to serve as one of his Special Staff. In an attempt to leverage technology to better collate student data, the Ministry of Education has introduced the e-rapor, a system of collecting and disbursing end-of-semester report cards digitally instead of printing out hard copies.

The concept of live streaming a class is by no means a new concept. However, the outbreak has turned distance learning into a popular topic of discourse, as students are forced to attend classes online from their homes. Teachers thusly turn to startups such as Malaysia’s FrogAsia, which takes the classroom to the cloud, bringing online distance learning into reality.

A convenient side effect of this is that teachers are now free to teach without the constraint of a packed classroom, giving them the ability to reach larger cohorts. This unique advantage addresses issues that are fundamental to the region’s education system –  the glaring shortage of teachers and classrooms.

Given a generation that is increasingly digital-savvy and willing to adopt new technologies, entrepreneurs are progressively identifying addressable pain points and developing new and creative methods for students to receive their education.

With the closing down of schools, a centuries-old education system has been thrust into what could be a new normal – the mandate of social distancing forces teachers to be creative with how they deliver their lessons, whilst making sure the experience seamless and efficient.

Also Read: These Indonesian edutech startups are helping students cope and thrive during the COVID-19 crisis

The environment surrounding the education system in Southeast Asia has been long overdue for disruption, and with governments largely being inactive, we believe it is up to entrepreneurs to step in and pick up the slack. The Southeast Asian edutech scene is largely at its early stages, so expect the COVID-19 outbreak to be the tipping point of the industry’s break out.

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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 and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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The coronavirus outbreak has already caused a plethora of issues around the globe and forced public and private companies to rethink their operations and switch to remote work in an attempt to stop the pandemic.

This does make sense and can indeed help to stop the spread of the deadly virus offline, but are millions of people who now have to work from home prepared to face online viruses and threats?

How many companies have adapted to the new environment by strengthening their perimeter which now includes employees’ home devices? For long or not, the world has clearly entered a whole new realm, which requires reassessing the approach to securing corporate digital space.

Fighting cybercrime for nearly 17 years now, and studying hackers’ tactics, tools, and attack vectors, we can clearly see that they are making most of the current situation, using all available methods from social engineering to attacks on VPNs.

We predict an increase in the number of cyberattacks on computers, equipment (routers, video cameras), and unprotected home networks used by employees who have switched to remote work due to the spread of COVID-19.

Employees of financial institutions, telecom operators, and IT companies are, particularly at risk. We believe that the goal of cyberattacks will be the theft of money or personal data.

Our digital forensics specialists have been engaged in several incident response cases, in which an employee working remotely was an initial point of compromise. For example, in 2017, cybercriminals compromised a bank by attacking a system administrator who accessed banking servers from a home computer.

Also Read: Singapore-based Group-IB opens inaugural CyberCrimeCon to public for the first time

With the home office now becoming a new norm, rather than an exception, we have decided to look at just a handful of scenarios for security teams tasked with establishing remote work capabilities to consider. 

Amid this difficult time, cybercriminals capitalise on coronavirus fears and panic. We detect hundreds of corona-related phishing emails masked as alerts, advisories, and guidelines sent out by “international organisations”, “local authorities” etcetera. Not long ago, ESET warned about phishing emails purporting to be from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The recipients were prompted to click on malicious links to receive “extremely important information about the virus”.

The links can install malware, stealing personal data and user credentials. The most recent phishing campaign, detected by our computer emergency response team, was disguised as an app purportedly from UNICEF to track updates about the virus. The app was nothing but a keylogger and RAT designed to spy and steal user data.

So just imagine what happens if an infected user device is connected to a corporate network via an unprotected channel. The email accounts have to be at least protected with two-factor authentication. Moreover, it is required that malware detonation systems are implemented to analyse incoming and outgoing emails.

VPN is a common and generally good practice for establishing a secure connection to a corporate network. True, but only when properly deployed. Even though there are a lot of guidelines on how to install and use VPN, the risks are still high to misconfigure it and end up with a home device, not covered by the organisation’s perimeter security tools, connected to the network’s critical segments – a sweet spot for attackers.

Also Read: On threat hunting and cybercrime: How Group-IB is helping the region in cybercrime prevention

Not only for the financial gain but for espionage purposes as well. Network segmentation and access right differentiation are both required. Not to say that VPNs have to be protected with two-factor authentication.

Finally, banks’ – a prime target for financially-motivated cybercriminals – shift to remote work might result in security teams’ failure to respond promptly and effectively to emerging threats, which, in turn, is likely to lead to the growth of successful attacks on card processing systems, ATM networks, and payment gateways.

As a result of the learnings, Group-IB has just launched the StayCyberSafe campaign to support millions of people who now have to work from home and IT/IS departments. It includes recommendations for employees and security teams on how to organise resilient remote work infrastructure by Group-IB’s experts.

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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 and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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Coronavirus has plunged many global businesses into a paralysis. Most of the labour-intensive businesses such as architecture and interior design firms, manufacturers, aviation operators, and travel agencies are hit the hardest.

Experts are suggesting a resilient approach to ensure longevity and surviving the crisis. This is not the time to use the situation and health hazard as an opportunity.

It is for community building and giving back in any way possible, to ensure, when this all is over, people invest in your brand.

Technology has been the biggest salvage in the given situation. Speaking from personal experience, while the design part of the business can be easily moved online using cloud tools such as Autodesk BIM 360, Graphisoft, BIMcloud, the execution and realisation of the designs in the physical world has come to a standstill for the greater good.

Parallell with mass quarantines and complete lock-downs, the epidemic has re-ignited and amplified the debate over the future of work.

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the traditional office typology?

The short answer – No!

The virus definitely won’t kill the concept of working in standard office buildings. However, the new normal will have businesses come back with an open mind of alternative spaces for working.

This definitely isn’t the first time in history that structures and buildings will be reimagined or redesigned in response to an increased understanding of the disease.

Also Read: Coworking office spaces are a better investment for startups and entrepreneurs

Right now we are forced to staggering work schedule or working apart; But if virtual working is successful, and we’re in fact more productive, it will fundamentally change the value proposition of shared workspace.

The time and situation will speed innovation in the design industry, and we will see the advent of “deep-work pods”. The concept will be a balance of isolated concentration and productive and meaningful collaboration.

This, together with empathetic policies businesses will see designers advocate the use of antibacterial fabrics and finishes, carbon-neutral flooring and energy-efficient collaborative space for a more holistic form of employee engagement that looks beyond the hours of work and commensurate bonuses.

In addition to all types of touch-less technology—automatic doors, hands-free light switches, voice-activated elevators, and temperature controls, the future workspace will be immersive and put employee well-being and engagement in the forefront.

It sure is a rough start to the new decade, but difficult situations are also opportunities for businesses to go back to basics they may have let slip. So let’s concentre on our core missions, build products and spaces which will be needed and loved, be tenacious, practice good business sense, and most importantly act with empathy towards customers, employees, and community alike.

And beyond the precautionary quarantine, social distancing and pandemic, well, we still have a lot of work to do.

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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 and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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The post What your workplace will look like in a post-COVID-19 world appeared first on e27.

Financial institutions around the world are facing greater operational and compliance risks with the emergence of the recent pandemic, COVID-19.

Financial authorities and organisations everywhere are acknowledging these difficulties with the US Securities and Exchange Commission offering relief and guidance to registered funds and their investment advisers. In the EU, financial authorities have provided initial guidance to ensure continuity of business under financial stress.

In Singapore, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has rolled out a US$5 million care package to provide support and relief measures amid the outbreak. The SGX care package will benefit Singapore-listed companies as well as SGX employees and contract staff. The move was introduced by the financial community to reinforce the city-state’s resilience as a global marketplace.

According to a Verint whitepaper, Financial Compliance in 2020: Asia Leader’s series, the Singaporean government is recognised by the industry at large as being particularly supportive of proven financial regulatory technology (regtech) offerings.

By contrast, the UK government was found to be comparatively reluctant to promote regtech offerings, tending instead to identify issues without offering specific solutions.

Also Read: Singapura Finance is the latest to join digital license race, partnering digital payment startup MatchMove

It is expected that Singapore will continue to live up to its reputation as a first-class financial hub during this time and is showing every sign of being committed to ensuring uninterrupted operations.

The city-state is taking the global lead to proactively manage the COVID-19 situation by supporting people who are putting their lives and jobs at risk, as well as helping companies survive while maintaining compliance with regulations, even when they are focused on unprecedented events that are changing operating business models forever.

Compliance in these troubling times

To cope with the current demands, Singapore banks have unveiled packages to help companies and other customers with relief assistance to help tide them over the impact of the outbreak. These packages are aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to ensure business continuity while maintaining their standard financial operations.

Banks such as OCBC are mitigating the fallout from the outbreak by helping their partners see through this challenging period in their business operations and by maintaining their quality and compliance.

Multinational banks such as Standard Chartered are currently introducing measures for clients who ask for financial assistance to cope with these challenges.

DBS also unveiled the second round of relief measures to help businesses in Singapore cope amid the virus outbreak, encouraging companies to go digital. These measures include financial relief packages and digital initiatives for companies to fast-track their digital adoption and rely less on physical processes.

Also read: Why there is no better time to upskill than this COVID-19 crisis

As workforces shift to remote-working, DBS has prepared its back office and deployed home agents to assist with the expected increase of more customers online.

The top concern for most companies is ensuring consistent cash flow to cover ongoing operating costs when revenues are under pressure. These measures include extending the due date of the affected business’ trade finance bills as well as extending bridging loans in the form of more working capital financing to affected businesses.

However, as the banking sector does what it can to mitigate the fallout from COVID-19, there are still many competing priorities for leaders to juggle. In all of this, compliance must not be forgotten.

Data quality, reporting accuracy and timeliness cannot be compromised no matter the circumstances. Centralised governance procedures must be in place, including documenting and clearly articulating decisions by authorised personnel if faced with potential variations from ordinary levels of monitoring and control due to the global crisis.

How can companies continue to champion compliance during times of crisis?

Leaders must navigate these challenging times without compromising a focus on compliance.

Here is our five-point action plan for any leader juggling business survival and compliance:

• Make compliance a centrepiece in your business continuity plans (BCP). As you build your BCP ensure that you factor in how you will manage compliance remotely, what security will look like and how you will continue to meet your obligations in these unprecedented times.
• Prioritise the compliance conversation even in times of chaos by engaging with compliance staff and understanding the processes instead of dismissing them as just another round of work or as something that can wait until later. Keep compliance visible.
• Adopt regulatory technology solutions (regtech) that can help your enterprise achieve and maintain financial compliance, better serve your customers while gaining your business a competitive edge.
• Embrace automation as it can ease the burden of expanding and often stringent and demanding regulations, freeing skilled staff from low-value, repetitive tasks improving reliability and performance. Automation is also key as businesses shift to remote workforces.
• Continue to train employees with the right skills, information, tools, and mindsets for them to understand compliance and what role they play according to their geographic boundaries now and into the future.
• Adopt a coordinated approach with clearly defined rationales and targeted timelines to effectively practice compliance and ensure it is not lost in the conversation. This is necessary for audits, regulator inquiries, market stability, and health crises.

The best way to protect your business from future compliance risk is to do everything that you can to ensure that compliance remains active, visible, and assertive during the current crisis. This way, you can ensure that your organisation is well-positioned to successfully tackle the post-COVID-19 wave of business activity.

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Baby products e-commerce startup Kyarlay snags US$750K from EME, United Managers Japan Inc.

Kyarlay, a Myanmar-based baby products e-commerce and delivery provider, has raised US$750,000 in funding from Myanmar-based VC firm EME, United Managers Japan Inc., which marked its largest investment to date.

The company was co-founded by husband and wife Soe Lin Myat and Nang Mo while expecting their first child.

Both Soe Lin Myat and Nang Mo previously worked for SEA Group; they implement a balance between the tech giant’s standard and localised approach in their new business.

Through its app and contents, Kyarlay claimed to have created a strong community among young Myanmar parents. It recently started to develop their own branded products for the Myanmar market with the intention to offer quality items for a lower price to their customers.

Kyarlay marks EME’s eighth investment in Myanmar since launching in October 2018. EME is a VC firm based in the country and provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies to help them scale.

Singapore-based mobile ordering startup Eatsy halts operations

Singapore-based mobile ordering platform Eatsy has announced that it will halt all operations from April 1 until further notice in a push-notification to all users yesterday.

Also Read: Ex-Oway employee’s rural e-commerce startup Ezay secures investment from EME Myanmar

Claiming negative business impacts resulting from COVID-19, Eatsy informed all customers that they must redeem any cashback they have accrued by March 31.

Tim Davies, COO of Waitrr, another mobile ordering and payment service in Singapore, commented on the matter: “We are saddened to hear the news. This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Eatsy’s restaurant partners who we know are all suffering as a result of COVID-19.”

Waitrr allows the automation of order taking and payment processes that enables restaurants to increase the capacity of their staff so they can provide personalised, premium service to their guests.

Home interior startup Shadez receives US$100K funding from Inflection Point Ventures

Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) has invested US$100,000 in the Mumbai-based interiors startup Shadez.

Shadez claims to be India’s first paint company to deliver a painting job in a day’s time with the liberty to choose paint of your choice.

For the seed round, IPV said it will provide incubation support to the team with expertise in business strategy, expansion, and risk mitigation.

According to co-founders Adarsh Anand and Amit Tiwari, the funding will be used to expand to other metro cities and scale up operations by adding manpower and focussing on marketing and machinery.

Jignesh Kenia, an IPV investor said, “Shadez is changing the game with respect to painting services by considerably reducing the delivery time through efficiency, planning, and well-trained labour. They literally take away the pain out of the painting job with their one-day turnaround for repainting jobs.”

Robo-advisor startup Smartly shuts down operation, citing intense competition

VinaCapital, Vietnam-based asset management firm that owns Singapore-based robo-advisor Smartly, has shut down the latter’s operation due to “intense” competition in the digital investment advisory space, DealStreetAsia reported.

Founded in 2015, Smartly was acquired by VinaCapital in 2019. Through a notice on its website, the startup said its decision to wind down operations was guided by its parent company’s strategic considerations since weeks ago.

Also Read: Vietnamese VC firm VinaCapital Ventures officially debuts with US$100M

“After evaluating the investments that would be necessary to continue to build the platform in terms of both technology and talent, we arrived at the decision that this business in Singapore no longer aligns with our group’s strategic objectives,” the firm said late Wednesday.

Smartly’s portfolio includes more than 20 exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and the startup charges its customers annual management fees of 0.5-one per cent, and the underlying ETF fee charged by the ETF providers (0.1-0.25 per cent per year).

Smartly said it has arranged the return of all funds held in customers’ accounts and informed them of another service provider with whom it has negotiated a special arrangement, according to VinaCapital.

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Image Credit: Kyarlay

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What is evident is that technology has changed the way customers buy. However, before we delve deeper, let us first understand the typical customer journey of someone who is purchasing a product or service, regardless of whether it is a B2B, B2C, offline or online business.

Businesses need to evolve to adapt to changing customer behaviour brought about by the digitally evolving world. The traditional customer journey has been disrupted and although most companies know how crucial it is to evolve with technology and create digital processes and solutions, successfully implementing them is a different story. Regardless of the nature or set-up of the business, the most basic customer journey sees the customer go through four stages: awareness, consideration, purchase and advocacy.

The journey can be represented as what is known as a sales funnel.

Awareness

In the awareness stage, the prospective buyer learns about your product or service through exposure to your brand. This could have been through traditional marketing efforts like word of mouth, referrals, newspaper, magazine, television or radio advertisement, event participation and flyers.

Or, in today’s digitally evolving world, the prospect might become aware of your brand through a Google search, a photo posted on Instagram by someone they follow, a sponsored story on their Facebook feed or a targeted email you sent to them through an email list.

Also Read: The essentials of mapping a customer journey across digital assets

The hope is that with awareness comes interest, and the prospect is curious to learn more about your product by visiting your website or heading down to your retail store. By creating awareness, you are starting a relationship with the prospect. The more the prospect gets to know you, the more likely the prospect will buy from you. If you push your product or service from the beginning, you will turn off prospects and chase them away.

The goal here is to establish your expertise, offer to help them in any way you can and move the prospect from the ‘awareness’ stage to ‘consideration’ stage.
Consideration
At this stage, the prospect is evaluating whether she wants to buy your product or service.

She might also be considering other options, including competitor products or even the DIY route.

The prospect will be gathering as much information as she can by scouring your website to read product descriptions or watch demo videos, looking for online reviews, following you on social media or asking friends or family for opinions.

Well-timed attractive offers such as free shipping, a discount, bonus product, money-back guarantee or a 1-year warranty can tip the scales in your favour and convince the prospect to buy your product. Social proof like testimonials and reviews posted on a social media platform will also contribute to the decision-making process.
Purchase
At this stage, the prospect is becoming a customer by finalising the deal with you.

The purchase is formalised by signing a contract or clicking the ‘buy’ button. And, of course, making payment.

The customer’s journey should not end after making the purchase. You will want to move her from being a customer to be an advocate (supporter and evangelist of your brand).

Also Read: Two babies and US$45M Series A in tow: A female entrepreneur’s journey to dominating the global payroll industry
Advocacy
Advocacy is the stage where the customer is retained, and brand loyalty is built so that she comes back as a returning customer and skips the ‘awareness”’ or even ‘consideration’ stages and moves straight to ‘purchase’.

Your after-sales service programme and post-purchase marketing efforts are designed to keep her stay engaged with your brand. You want to focus on keeping her happy so that she returns as a repeat customer and becomes a brand advocate. Word of mouth is a powerful force, and no one can do it better than a happy customer.

Of course, this assumes your product or service solves the customer’s problem or fulfils her needs.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY (SALES FUNNEL)

Once you understand the journey of your customer, you must map out the typical journey for your business and how your business is set-up to attend to a customer’s needs at different stages of the journey.

Also, if you are an existing business, think about how different the customer journey was before and after the world digitally evolved. If your business is new, think of how your own buying journey has changed over time when buying a product such as a new pair of shoes, smartphone or insurance plan.

Let us have a look at two scenarios to put things into perspective.

Imagine that a customer wants to buy a vacuum cleaner soon as hers is starting to give problems. She does not have an immediate need for it but changing vacuum cleaners is on her mind.

The Customer Journey (Pre-digital Age)
Traditionally, a customer’s journey may look something like this:

Awareness
Annie first learns about the new Acme Appliances vacuum cleaner through an advertisement in the newspaper. The next day, she hears an advertisement on the new vacuum cleaner on the radio.

Consideration
Annie calls up the telephone number that was promoted in the advertisements and is invited to come down to the Acme Appliances store nearest to her for a demonstration.

Also Read: Collaborate to innovate: New age mantra for creating a sustainable startup journey

She heads down to the store and is introduced to a salesperson who explains all the new features of the vacuum cleaner, gives her a brochure and demos the product to show how silent and effective it is. Annie asks to see if other models or options are available. She even goes to another store nearby to compare similar products and prices.

Purchase
After looking at the options and evaluating the different features, the customer decides to buy the Acme vacuum cleaner. She fills in her information on an order form and makes payment.

Advocacy
Annie brings the vacuum cleaner home to use it and is happy with the purchase. She tells her friend about the Acme vacuum cleaner and recommends it as a worthwhile purchase.

A month later, the customer gets a printed brochure in the mail highlighting a new attachment for the vacuum cleaner that will be released soon. She is also reminded that she can bring in her vacuum cleaner for free servicing in six months.

The Customer Journey (Current)
Now, consider the customer’s journey for the same product today.

Awareness
Twenty years ago, Annie bought an Acme Appliances vacuum cleaner that served her well. Several years later, she bought an identical replacement, but now she needs a new vacuum cleaner, and Acme Appliances is no longer in business.

So, Annie does a Google search on the latest and most popular vacuum cleaner. She comes across the new vacuum cleaner from Stark Enterprises in several search results. Clicking the various links, she learns more about the product, its features and benefits.

Also Read: Why fintech companies should learn about customer retention from e-commerce companies

Consideration
After doing some online research, Annie narrows down her choices to the Stark vacuum cleaner and a competitor’s model made by Wayne Industries.

She does more research by watching reviews of both vacuum cleaners on YouTube and reading reviews on blogs. She also checks the ratings on popular online marketplaces. As she is re-reading the information on the Stark vacuum cleaner product page, a pop-out window opens at the bottom of her screen letting her know that a Sue from Mont Kiara had purchased the same product one day ago.

After comparing offerings from both brands, she decides to buy the Stark vacuum cleaner. While the features are similar to the Wayne model, she was attracted by Stark’s three-year warranty, free shipping and bonus dust-trap device that came with the purchase.

Purchase
Annie clicks on the “buy now” button, fills in her order info and makes payment through PayPal. She receives an order receipt in her inbox that informs her that the product will be delivered within five days.

Advocacy
A week later, a courier delivers the Stark vacuum cleaner. Annie tries it out for the first time and is happy with the results.

She takes a photo of the vacuum cleaner with her clean living room in the background, adds a filter and posts it onto her Instagram account, which is automatically shared on her Facebook account. She adds the hashtag #starkvacuumcleaner with a short positive review. Her post gets 29 likes, two shares and eight comments, one from Stark Enterprises community manager.

Also Read: Why reciprocity is key to building deep customer relationships

A day later, Annie receives an email thanking her for her purchase. She is given a referral code and the email states that if she shares the code with her friends or on social media, she will receive a US$20 voucher each time someone buys a Stark Vacuum Cleaner with her referral code. Every month, she also receives an email on tips on how to maintain the Stark Vacuum Cleaner and suggestions on how to keep an apartment dust-free.

I am sure you can relate to Annie’s customer journey that takes place in today’s digitally evolving world. If you are above the age of 35, you probably can relate to Annie’s journey from two decades ago.

While the scenarios given were for a B2C order, many B2B customers would follow a similar journey. If not, the experience would be a hybrid of both scenarios.

The fact is, the customer journey has changed and will continue to change as the world evolves digitally.

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This story has been excerpted by courtesy of the publisher from Evolve, Adapt or Collapse by J C Sum (Evolve&Adapt, 2020).

To purchase the book, please visit this site.

Image Credit: Cam Morin on Unsplash

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