Large scale economic shocks like those that preceded the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 occur once every few generations, bringing about unforeseeable change that is both permanent and far-reaching in nature. In the race to curb mobility to contain the COVID-19 spread, the global economy had ground to a halt expeditiously.

Singapore’s GDP shrunk by 13.2 per cent prompting a reduction in the GDP growth forecast. Prior to co-founding TranSwap, I myself was no stranger to the implications of large-scale economic disruptions, having conceptualised this company during yet another relatively difficult period in Singapore: The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.

Having already experienced turbulent financial circumstances, the COVID- 19 pandemic was like history repeating itself albeit on a much greater platform. The only variable that changed was that this time around, there was technology on our side to allow operations to resume. Sure, there were initial kinks, but technological advances sanctioned a relatively greater degree of control and flexibility than matters were back in 1997. For many people, the uncertainty and initial response to COVID-19’s changing landscape set precedence for their ability to cope.

While globally it seemed to be that we were all in the same choppy seas, over the span of a few months, if not weeks, it was apparent that not all businesses were on board the same boat. The differences in the treatment to SMEs was glaring; Interest rates were slashed to new record lows with Central Banks channelling greater efforts into printing money.

The scale at which monetary interventions took place resulted in seemingly optimal financial conditions of the market and yet many companies are still suffering the repercussions of the whiplash brought about with the onset of the pandemic and. When it comes to funding, however, SMEs in the Southeast Asian region do not have access to the lion’s share but instead are at the mercy of the shorter end of the stick.

Also Read: Mekari acquires Qontak to strengthen its end-to-end offering for SMEs in Indonesia

SMEs contribution to the economy

SMEs comprise the largest numbers of businesses globally and are paramount contributors to generating employment opportunities and advancing global economic development. They represent about 90 per cent of businesses and generate at least half the employment opportunities worldwide.

In emerging economies, national income (GDP) constitutes 40 per cent of earnings by SMEs. In Singapore itself, SMEs gives rise to approximately 48 per cent of Singapore’s GDP and employs about 65 per cent of its workforce despite their vulnerability to the ever-changing business climates.

Gaining strength from numbers, just in the last half of a decade, SMEs have provided employment opportunities to 70 per cent of the workforce, thus providing a source of income for the skilled, semi-skilled and even unskilled. At the very core of an SME operations, is its dispensability and the only way that can be defeated is through innovation.

The government, too, attempts to catalyse SME operations through various schemes, grants and incentives such as the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) and Startup SG Tech that allow for companies that showcase the potential to develop proprietary technology solutions and incorporate a scalable business model.

Speaking from first-hand experience as a pioneer figure in the fintech scene in Singapore, it is clear to me that In a rapidly evolving digital world, speed acts as the key determinant of success. With the provision of innovative lending models and scalable funding structure, it is imperative that small enterprises be assisted to stay afloat during the crisis to better be able to position themselves to be innovative.

Furthermore, the fintech industry has a lucrative future and potential alliances have the ability to benefit SMEs in the coming years. After all, when technology finally caught up to complement our vision for easy and safe FX transactions at low costs, we leapt at the opportunity to found TranSwap.

Today, TranSwap is the leading cross-border payment platform for businesses and everyday people in Singapore. With its convenient solution reducing FX costs and complexity, TranSwap empowers businesses to grow globally. TranSwap is fully regulated and licensed in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia and currently facilitates FX payments in more than 180 countries.

Also Read: KoinWorks hits profitability, securing 100k SMEs as early adopters for its NEO product

Problems in SME Funding

One of the greatest challenges faced by SME when competing for funding resources, however, is the tendency to fall behind due to its limitations in size and the lack of reliability. As a result, SMEs across the region are not equipped with the necessary means to maintain or retrieve further finances. In addition, Southeast Asian financing is met with one of the most notorious financial inclusion in the world.

It is estimated that seven in 10 adults either have no access to long-term saving plans or credit cards and are underbanked or do not even have access to bank accounts.

Technology can bridge the gap between access to finance and business development. Fintech solutions are all about keeping up with the changing times and they have made it possible for people to make digital transactions a more mainstream method and the ease with which this can be done enables stronger insights into creditworthiness and better access to vital finance.

Why do some industries do better than others?

Due to the responsibility of SMEs to drive an economy forward, their operations cannot be left to chance and requires detailed and sound plans to be more aware of strategic operations and at a time like this, to make compelling financial decisions.

The lack of effective communication is a major determinant of SMEs failing post-COVID-19 pandemic as employee engagement took a nosedive. In a study conducted by McKinsey, it was found that 70 per cent of employees attach their sense of purpose to the work that they are required to do.

Companies that have failed to acknowledge the efforts of individuals in their workforce are jeopardising themselves as COVID-19 has subsequently caused members of the workforce to reflect on their purpose in life. The lack of purpose has led to reconsiderations of the kind of work they do, thereby compromising engagement and productivity, leading to further internal changes within the company.

To remain afloat, companies today have to channel efforts into appeasing their stakeholders. While certain industries such as Food & Beverage have flourished, others haven’t been quite as lucky. Global manufacturing has further declined, border controls and logistic service disruptions have dampened operations of international supply chains.

Furthermore, tourism and related businesses have been directly impacted by border closures and quarantine requirements, and some businesses will not survive this period without public support- financial or otherwise. An icon in itself, Singapore Airlines (SQ) has taken a reduction of 99 per cent of its passenger traffic due to COVID-19, efforts have fully throttled to maintain its responsibilities to stakeholders and employees alike; whether it’s engaging stewardesses as safe distance ambassadors or emulating in-flight experiences while grounded, sentiments of locals, staff and the government alike towards to SQ are highly positive.

Also Read: Post-pandemic, we are going to see a slim unicorn

The repercussions of COVID 19 is a healthcare-driven shock in which none of us are immune until everyone is immune. Industries engaging in myopic inertia instead of adopting more agile practices are more likely to compromise their operations. Stimulus packages encourage companies to simultaneously stay afloat and make necessary changes within the optimal span of time.

However, some SMEs have translated the stimulus package support into winding up businesses too quickly or expanding even faster than necessary, resulting in unsustainable growth. Companies need to maintain the balance between being realistic and optimistic as once there is a solution to curb the spread of COVID, the economy can move quickly.

Considerations to include in business models to reduce vulnerability

It is of vital importance that companies recognise whether they need to be focusing on measures to tackle temporary efforts or engage in stringent tactics to induce structural changes. Now, more than ever, making the right decision at the right time is highly warranted. Good decisions are fundamentally rooted in good decisions and despite uncertainties about what the future holds, businesses have to consider what the future could potentially look like.

TranSwap is experiencing this second wave of demand for business-focused solutions, as we are finding it easier to convince businesses to use our services as compared to the past when businesses would question if they can trust such platforms with their money.

Now, the businesses that we work with have made us an integral part of their payments system, incorporating 120 different currencies globally. This did not happen overnight but took a while for us to facilitate trusting relations with clients who appreciate knowing their money is in good hands.

Preparing for recovery allows for business leaders to systematically think through various possibilities and how their business could be affected by the onset of COVID 19 and the threats faced by the organisation in light of potential further deterioration. One of the most glaring disadvantage SMEs have when pitted against MNCs is the lack of data available.

Systematic planning allows greater insights into operations and better allocation of resources to be more informed of strategic decisions their businesses ought to adopt in order to successfully mitigate risks.

Also Read: Future-proofing Singaporean SMEs for a stronger digital future

Furthermore, being vocal about social impacts and honest engagement with stakeholders allows for all parties involved to be aware of the implications of business decisions, i.e investment and public policy.

This allows for businesses to have greater communication with their customers whose acknowledgement of responsibility towards their stakeholders can aid in making fruitful decisions while simultaneously tapping into a new market. This also shows the firm’s willingness and ability to adopt technologies and business models that are needed to be successful in the post-pandemic world.

Lastly, it is imperative to design frameworks that allow the monitoring and where necessary, the reviewing of programmes to ensure they continue delivering and achieving the intended income. Demonstrating an enthusiastic approach towards measuring and improving on impact is crucial for investors to garner the necessary confidence required to maintain investment levels.

While government initiatives are praiseworthy, some businesses also rely on non-governmental organisations who are often faced with challenging opportunity costs and adopting a far-sighted approach and identifying ineffective measures could be a critical element to boost investor confidence.

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From instantaneous translation to conversational interfaces, AI technologies are making ever more evident impacts on our lives. This is particularly true in the financial-services sector, where challengers are already launching disruptive AI-powered innovations.

To remain competitive, incumbent banks must become “AI first” in vision and execution.

If fully integrated, these capabilities can strengthen engagement significantly, supporting customers’ financial activities across diverse online and physical contexts with intelligent, highly personalised solutions delivered through an interface that is intuitive, seamless, and fast.

These are the baseline expectations for an AI bank– specifically when it comes to customer engagement.

By reimagining customer engagement, banks can unlock new value through better efficiency, expanded market access, and greater customer lifetime value.

Despite big investments, banks still lag behind

In recent years, many financial institutions have devoted significant capital to digital-and-analytics transformations, aiming to improve customer journeys across mobile and web channels.

Despite these big investments, most banks still lag well behind consumer-tech companies in their efforts to engage customers with superior service and experiences. The prevailing models for bank customer acquisition and service delivery are beset by missed cues: incumbents often fail to recognise and decipher the signals customers leave behind in their digital journeys.

Across sectors, however, leaders in delivering positive experiences are not just making their journeys easy to access and use but also personalising core journeys to match an individual’s present context, direction of movement, and aspiration.

Creating a superior experience can generate significant value. A McKinsey survey of US retail banking customers found that at the banks with the highest degree of reported customer satisfaction, deposits grew 84 per cent faster than at the banks with the lowest satisfaction ratings.

Also Read: Beyond marketplaces and motorcycles: Digital banks need to formalise ASEAN’s informal economies

Rising customer expectations

Accustomed to the service standards set by consumer internet companies, today’s customers have come to expect the same degree of consistency, convenience, and personalisation from their financial-services institutions.

For example, Netflix has been able to raise the bar in customer experience by doing well on three crucial attributes: consistency of experience across channels (mobile app, laptop, TV), convenient access to a vast reserve of content with a single click, and recommendations finely tailored to each profile within a single account.

Improving websites and online portals for a seamless experience is one of the top three areas where customers desire support from banks. Innovation leaders are already executing transactions and loan approvals and resolving service inquiries in near real time.

Non-bank disintermediation

Non-bank providers are dis intermediating banks from the most valuable services, leaving less profitable links in the value chain to traditional banks. Big-tech companies are providing access to financial products within their non-banking ecosystems.

Messaging app WeChat allows users in China to make a payment within the chat window. Google has partnered with eight US banks to offer cobranded accounts that will be mobile first and focus on creating an intuitive user experience and new ways to manage money with financial insights and budgeting tools.

Beyond access, non-bank innovators are also dis intermediating parts of the value chain that were once considered core capabilities of financial institutions, including underwriting. Indian agtech company Cropin uses advanced analytics and machine learning to analyse historical data on crop performance, weather patterns, land usage, and more to develop underwriting models that predict a customer’s creditworthiness much more accurately than traditional risk models.

Increasingly human-like formats

Conversational interfaces are becoming the new standard for customer engagement. With approximately one third of adult Americans owning a smart speaker, voice commands are gaining traction, and adoption of both voice and video interfaces will likely expand as in-person interactions continue to decline. Several banks have already launched voice-activated assistants, including Bank of America with Erica and ICICI bank in India with iPal.

If reimagined customer engagement is properly aligned with the other layers of the AI-and-analytics capability stack, it can strengthen a bank’s competitive position and financial performance by increasing efficiency, access and scale, and customer lifetime value.

Also read: AI and data will be the future of the M&A banking industry (Why I decided to merge with Finquest)

Successful integration across customer touch points

For banks, successfully integrating core personalisation elements across the range of touch points with customers will be critical to delivering a superior experience and better outcomes.

The reimagined engagement layer should provide the AI bank with a deeper and more accurate understanding of each customer’s context, behaviour, needs, and preferences. This understanding, in turn, enables the bank to craft an intelligent, personalised offering.

To craft and deliver intelligent propositions, banks must take an entirely new approach to innovation. First and foremost, they need to free themselves from a product-centric view, where they develop new products and features and “push” them to customers through product bundles and discounted pricing. Instead, they should adopt a customer-centric view, which starts with understanding customer needs.

Achieving this close alignment between bank capabilities and customer needs requires time and capital to develop a realistic, evidence-based understanding of actual customers’ time-critical needs.

The capability to gauge customers’ expressed needs and anticipate latent needs in real time requires that AI and analytics capabilities be integrated with diverse core systems and delivery platforms across the enterprise.

Customer propositions can no longer be one-size-fits-all

These days, customer propositions should be intelligent and tailored, and go beyond banking to address customer needs that may involve both banking and non-banking products and services.

The full report, Reimagining customer engagement for the AI bank of the future, demonstrates how a combination of intelligent propositions, seamless embedding within partner ecosystems, and smart servicing and experiences underpins an overall experience that sets the AI bank apart from traditional incumbents.

Also Read: How Bangkok Bank worked with Pand.ai to develop a conversational AI engine to better service customers

There are five capabilities that banks will need to develop in order to design and implement their customer engagement layer to become AI-first, so read on to learn more.

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The age-old adage, ‘if at first, you don’t succeed, try again’ is applicable to countless scenarios. However, in the startup world, trying new things until becoming successful is only half the story.

In the startup world, things move at a rapid pace and ideas alone do not bring success. Success requires implementation and the right implementation process requires different business experiments in order to test and validate those ideas.

Experimentation can be as small as tweaking the font on a website or as big as pivoting the entire business, as long as these are steps towards a predetermined goal.

As Dr. Bechara Saab, CEO and co-founder of Mobio Interactive, a digital therapeutics company, rightly puts it, “Ultimately, the truth is very powerful. And experimentation helps you identify what is most likely to be the truth.” The truth is indeed very powerful from any way that you think about it, but particularly in terms of understanding how the business will succeed.

Greig Charlton, CEO of 247, a Shanghai-based lifestyle company that uses data to make it easier and cheaper for consumers to purchase products and experiences in China, believes that experimentation is a privilege that startups have that corporations do not.

Most corporates are fettered by layers of bureaucracy as everything needs to be signed off at several levels. Speaking from his own corporate experience, he mentions how anything he wanted to get done required approval from the manager, and then the manager of the manager.

Startups are lean and can test things faster, which allows them to be able to find the right market fit much quicker than it would take an average corporate.

Also Read: A sneak-peek at the 28 startups joining Block7’s SEA Booster Programme

However, just understanding the fact that experimenting with new ideas is important is not enough. This begs the question, how do decide what experiments to run and what needs to be considered before experimenting?

Segment your audience

One of the keys to conducting a successful experiment is segmenting the audience. For a company that is just starting up, it makes sense to test out new features or tactics on the entire user base but as the numbers grow, it is pertinent that they segment the target group so as to avoid losing clients or customers if the experiment does not work out.

Woovly, a lifestyle shop that connects beauty, fashion and wellness brands to their customers, started out as a wishlist aggregator in the travel industry with 900,000 users before the pandemic hit.

As travel was one of the most affected areas, Woovly decided to move into the lifestyle segment but that would risk losing their existing customer base since they signed up for something completely different.

Venkat J, CEO and co-founder, explains that the company segmented the user base, applied several experiments to understand the user behaviour, and ran experiments on partitioned groups until the new market fit was achieved.

As a result of this mindful practice, Woovly now has over three million registered users – a growth rate of more than 200 per cent in just nine months.

Small tweaks can have a colossal impact

Experiments don’t always have to be big and in scale. Sometimes the smallest experiments can bring the biggest of impacts.

Understanding that brand mentions play a significant role in a brand’s value in the lifestyle industry, Woovly first experimented with their content creation platform by providing users with a new feature to add brand names to their content.

Also Read: These 9 famous startup failures have a lesson for you

This experiment saw successful results with almost 77 per cent of the users that tried the new feature. Next, they built on this experiment with better UI/UX, and within seven months, they managed to generate 750,000 brand-tagged user-generated content.

Have a good system in place

Trying and testing out new ideas does not guarantee success, but experimentation does minimise the probability of big failure. However, this is only true if the experiments are logically designed. Misguided (or even incomplete) experiments will often generate misleading results.

Indian healthtech startup Phable’s co-founder and CEO, Sumit Sinha, shares his experience wherein skipping some experimentation steps proved catastrophic for the company (but also a good lesson for future experiments). As the demand for teleconsultations rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, Phable experimented with this new feature offline first.

However, they made the mistake of moving quickly to bringing out to the public without getting any conclusive results from the experiment. Eventually, the company could not retain the new customers it had onboarded, which is why Sumit stressed having a good system in place and making sure all steps of the experimentation process are followed.

But the entire experiment was not a failure – ultimately the company is stronger as they realised where they went wrong and made the necessary changes.

247tickets conducted several experiments from the get-go. As Charlton mentions, they used to simply run experiments without any process in place. If the experiments didn’t work, they just forgot about them and if they did work, the team would double down on them.

Now, they have a “project brief template” which is essentially a procedure to define what the project will be. The person running the experiment fills out all the details including the hypothesis, budget, user groups, target users among other information which allows them to get a holistic view of the process. Having the right tools allows them to use the resources in a more optimal way.

Matthew Spriegel, CEO of Atiom – a mobile-first plug and play technology that elevates learning and engagement across organisations, also believes that experimentation is the key to figuring out how to generate leads.

Atiom uses a demo walkthrough that they send out to clients. This allows them to see how individual users interact differently with the walkthrough and make changes as required. 

Also Read: 5 ways for venture builders to reduce startup failures

Experimenting without a system in place, hence, is as good as trying to hit the bullseye with a blindfold in place: you are shooting your arrows, but you have no idea where they are going.

Don’t experiment only when things go wrong

Experimentation is not a quick fix or stopgap. Successful entrepreneurs continue to innovate to stay competitive. While it is pertinent to conduct experiments and try new options when things do not go your way, this isn’t the only time experimentation is valuable.

Charlton believes that the best thing to do is to experiment when things are going well because that gives you an added advantage. Unlike corporates who may be content with just growing 1 per cent or 5 per cent each year, startups do not have that luxury.

The startup ecosystem is extremely competitive and sometimes having a growth rate in higher two-digits also may not be enough. The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to think differently, run as many experiments as you can, and find the best growth techniques versus the number of resources or money spent. Experimenting only when things aren’t working will ultimately slow the company down.

Matthew also has a similar opinion, where he believes founders must definitely not break things that are working. It is good to reflect and make changes. Everything the company does must reflect the evolution of its products or services.

Dr Saab does not see any reason a company should stop experimentation either. Perfection does not exist and so from that perspective, there’s always room to grow and improve. If founders stop experimenting, then the competition may very well pass them. The only way to maintain the business and continue growth or even to stay the same size is to continue to experiment.

Build an environment that fosters proactiveness

Conducting experiments and trying new things at a frequent pace is taxing. A founder will undoubtedly have more drive and motivation to see the company succeed than the employees. This means it is critical to make sure that employees are as involved as possible. 

Mobio Interactive has a very “simple” approach to solving this – control the culture. All the founders put in a lot of time thinking about a unique corporate culture for their business that structurally ensures company-wide involvement and supports an idea-meritocracy.

Even before they hire somebody, they have that individual examine their corporate culture document and highlight what they feel are its strengths and weaknesses.

Also Read: Here are the most promising startups in the 5G space

This allows the founders to understand how to improve the culture, while also ensuring that every new member of the team buys into the culture, understands why it is the way it is, and knows what will be expected of them – before they join the company. 

Dr. Saab adds, “To run experiments and fail, is something we see as an opportunity. It is, because of its failure, in truth a success because we’re learning. So, our employees, for that reason, are not demotivated when an experiment fails, or when a favourite hypothesis proves wrong.

It is fully understood that the important thing is that we grow, and we can grow faster by focusing on our weaknesses. Weaknesses, after all, almost always represent our biggest potential to actually make a difference.”

Charlton believes in transparency to create a more conducive work environment. “If people see other people failing, and not getting into trouble, and in fact being celebrated, then it’s a really good way of inspiring people to be okay with failing. That’s probably the biggest thing that we try and do.

We’re not great at it, but we try to instill that transparency and make sure that everyone can see. In fact, I’ve run experiments before where we fail, and it’s about celebrating that failure. It’s about saying okay, here’s what we did, and it didn’t work, but what we’re going to do next time is this, and it’s going to work, and then maybe it fails again, and then we try again.”

This type of transparent culture reduces fear and lets everyone thrive.

Experimentation is not easy and is critical to every startup’s success. As Dr. Saab puts it, “If you’re not prepared to continue to fail and to learn and to be open to it with yourself and to be bold, then you’re going to have a real hard time. And if you’ve already taken the risk to start a company in the first place, then not taking additional risks becomes your biggest risk at all.”

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The core of modern civilisation lies in our mobility. Mobility impacts many aspects of life and as our lives grow more individual, it helps us in reaching towards the indispensable.

The next generation will see a transformative shift towards electrification in automobiles, moving away from internal combustion engines (ICE) that will likely be phased out.

The global electric vehicle (EV) market was valued at US$162 billion in 2019 and is projected to be valued at US$1,212 billion by 2027. An increase in demand for fuel-efficient, high-performance, and low-emission vehicles along with stringent government rules and regulations toward vehicle emission will supplement the growth of the electric vehicle market.

EV batteries remain the main barrier in the conversion to electric vehicles. Once only seen fit to power small consumer electronic goods such as alarm clocks and laptops, batteries are now moving upstream to power larger appliances from e-bikes to vehicles. Driving the move towards electrification is the rapid development of lithium-ion batteries.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 2020 Global EV Outlook highlighted that sales of EVs in 2019 grew by 2.1 million worldwide. This boosted total stock in the market to 7.2 million from 5.1 million in 2018.

Electric cars in 2019 registered a 40 per cent year-on-year increase, accounting for 2.6 per cent of global car sales – roughly one per cent of global car stock. The rise and adoption of EVs are a sharp contrast to 2010 where only about 17,000 electric cars were on the road.

As countries try to reduce their carbon emissions and footprint in line with The Paris Agreement, EVs and batteries will play a crucial role moving forward.

Also Read: “Singapore isn’t ready for mass adoption of EVs yet; hybrid may be better for the present”

An EV battery presently accounts for almost 30 per cent of the total cost of an electric vehicle. Thus lies the main pain point faced by battery manufacturers and automotive OEMs – the cost to manufacture these batteries.

Developments in battery technology and manufacturing capabilities have driven prices of lithium-ion batteries down from US$1,000 a kilowatt-hour in 2010 to an average of US$156 per kilowatt-hour as of the end of 2019.

Although prices of batteries have significantly decreased, it has yet to reach the price-parity ratio suitable for mass adoption.

With the future of electrification on the horizon, existing traditional automotive manufacturers are converting and diverting resources to develop EVs. Together with new and upcoming companies that are either developing EVs and/or other related EV components such as battery swaps and charging stations, this space is heating up.

While Chinese EVs are focused on the hybrid model of battery swaps and charging stations, Tesla and other manufacturers in the West are adopting the Tesla model of building charging stations with high-powered piles.

Chinese EV maker Nio pioneered battery swapping technology in 2014. It has surpassed two million battery swaps and has over 190 Power Swap Stations in 59 Chinese cities. Nio’s battery swapping station only requires three-minutes to swap a depleted battery with a fully charged battery.

In addition to the battery swapping stations, Nio provides charging stations similar to Tesla’s fast chargers dubbed “Power Chargers” – currently the world’s slimmest and takes half an hour to charge to 80 per cent from 20 per cent.

The biggest advantage of battery swapping is the reduction in costs and thus prices of cars.

Also Read: Grab, Hyundai launches their first electric vehicle service in Indonesia

That said, many battery experts argue that battery swaps only serve as a transitional solution for consumer vehicles at this point and may face scalability issues for large commercial vehicles.

Challenges remain in the production of lithium-ion batteries despite the drop in production costs as it is still in its infancy and many variables remain uncertain.

Production of lithium-ion batteries face environmental and structural issues and continue to fuel debate. Extraction of lithium results in energy and water wastage, with long term impact found in the surrounding soil and water quality.

On average, producing an EV contributes twice as much to its Global Warming Potential (GWP) and uses double the amount of energy compared to a standard combustion engine. The fabrication of an EV battery accounts for 70 per cent of the EV GWP and is likely to result in emissions of more than eight tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The world’s biggest EV battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) has invested in overseas plants in Germany and Indonesia. Growing appetite for batteries has led to higher demand for cobalt and other critical minerals important to battery manufacturing.

In a bid to fulfil the surge in demand and to reduce dependency on critical minerals, cobalt which was once seen as the heart of lithium-ion batteries is being steadily reduced in content.

This was in part due to the negative connotation attached to it. Cobalt comes predominantly from the Democratic Republic of Congo where workers exposed to terrible conditions mine and extract the mineral, earning it a nickname as “Blood Cobalt”.

Looking beyond the limitations of lithium-ion batteries, the commercial use of solid-state lithium-ion in EVs would mitigate a majority of the current issues faced and could fundamentally change the perception of EVs with the general public.

Also Read: ION Mobility secures US$3.3M to drive SEA’s 200M motorcycle users to use EVs, starting with Indonesia

A key concern with consumers is the range and distance at which the cars can travel. The Tesla Model S Long Range currently holds the longest range, going a maximum of 600km under ideal situations.

A recent study by Castrol noted that  469km is the minimum range an EV needs to cover to ensure the occupants does not succumb to range anxiety under daily operations.

The long-term future of EVs lies in the development of solid-state batteries. Solid-state batteries will be able to provide for a smaller battery pack, increase safety, and for higher energy density allowing EVs to travel further on a single charge.

Right now, only a single EV manufacturer has released a fully commercial EV with a solid-state battery. The Nio ET7 boast a solid-state battery capable of achieving a range of over 1,000km. QuantumScope and Toyota have already committed to developing solid-state batteries too.

Given the current technology and price of a full EV battery, it seems likely that automotive OEMs will continue to develop batteries with hybrid models instead of a full transition to EV. A full conversion towards EVs will gradually happen in time but is still a long road ahead.

Traditional automotive OEMs are simply not ready with the inherent transitionary risk especially when it comes to production, assembly, and roll out of EVs. Furthermore, majority of countries and cities lack the infrastructure to serve and maintain EVs.

Encouraging policy responses by the government is a way forward and can help with achieving a conducive ecosystem for EVs. The US recently unveiled a US$2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at encouraging Americans to switch their gasoline powered vehicles to electric ones and called for a national network of half a million electric vehicle chargers within the decade.

Also Read: Indian electric vehicle makers need to improve the perception on quality — Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta

Meanwhile, in Norway, where EV sales accounted for 42 per cent of the market in 2019, favourable policies and progressive policies such as the elimination of annual road tax, purchase or import tax, and reduced parking fees has proven successful in encouraging consumers.

It is inevitable that 10 to 20 years from now a car we own will be in some way or form largely electric. But for now, it is unlikely for electric cars to take the market by storm in light of all these kinks that need to be smoothened out.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The world has been wracked by a still-ongoing worldwide pandemic. It’s hard to make plans for the future, or even think about the prospect of growth when most businesses are already struggling to stay above the red line.

Yet, digital evolution is necessary for businesses to survive especially now when the way we live and do business has changed almost entirely beyond recognition. 

Despite Singapore’s renewed emphasis on digitalisation, it seems to be taking a much longer time for smaller businesses to catch up. Just last year, the Association of Small Medium Enterprises and Microsoft reported that up to 54 per cent of Singapore’s SMEs said that COVID-19 had set back their digital transformation, with over 84 per cent intentionally delaying plans for overseas growth. 

You cannot blame them. Tech innovations created to troubleshoot everything from labour-intensive marketing campaigns to the messiness behind multi-market rewards programs tend to not only be expensive but difficult to customise and manage as well. It is like handing an infantry soldier a tank and asking them to drive it into battle with no prior experience.

That is why tech tools need to evolve to keep up with the needs of smaller businesses. I am the founder of Stash, an incentive tech startup that’s changing the way businesses keep their customers loyal and committed.

We have been pioneering the forefront of the tech revolution with a suite of software products that include, among others a mobile-based platform that brings together over 1,000 reward partners onto a single screen. 

Smaller brands should have that option too. That is why I’m highlighting some of the ways businesses can scale sustainably and intelligently in 2021, to make the most of their digital transformation. 

Also Read: Tech for good: How Ula aims to facilitate the needs of small businesses in emerging market

Keeping customers in your funnel

Contrary to popular belief, it is just as important to secure new customers as it is to keep your old customers satisfied. Despite this fact, many businesses continue funnelling the lion’s share of their marketing dollar towards customer acquisition campaigns, creating new product and service offerings, or even amending existing operational structures to adapt to larger demographics. 

But the costs of acquiring new customers are high and the cost of losing loyal customers even higher. Studies have shown that the costs of acquiring new customers can cost up to five times more than the cost of retaining an existing customer.

In addition, building customer loyalty pays off– existing customers are five times more likely to procure your service or product, and increasing customer retention by five per cent can even increase your profits from 25-95 per cent.

Building a structured customer incentive programme, a system that rewards loyalty and repurchases to keep new customers in your sales funnel, also allows you to retain newly acquired demographics without experiencing a “customer drain”.

The problem is, it’s harder than ever to keep your customers in the loop with the massive variety of consumer choices that are now available online. Spoilt by the new generation of digital retail experiences, consumers have become less forgiving and more demanding of brands, with over 78 per cent of consumers changing their favourite brands during the pandemic last year.

Higher expectations for products and services have led to brands actively finding new ways to spice up their customers’ retail experience: from omni-channel retail, next-gen payment technologies, to on-demand same-day shipping. 

So how should brands today ensure that they have the correct systems in place to keep their demographics happy and engaged?

Also Read: What are the best marketing tools for early-stage tech startups?

Appeal to universal customer incentives

The trick is to build for your market. 

This is an especially important strategy for small businesses located in SEA given the massive cultural and geographical diversity of markets across the region. SEA is a hotspot for businesses right now and Singapore has recently been touted as the “next Silicon Valley of Asia,” a prime location for commerce, investment and expansion.

This news is all the more welcome for local SMEs which are in a naturally advantageous position to penetrate the neighbouring cities across shared waters. 

The problem is that it is difficult to penetrate new markets with a marketing strategy that’s flexible enough to target different demographics, yet robust enough to manage the scale of the operation.

From basic differences in national languages to nuances in customer behaviour and preferences for particular ad-types, the variations in market preferences have to be catered to for businesses looking to expand regionally.

Luckily, some similarities do exist among SEA countries. One of them is a clear shift towards mobile-first usage and a marked increase in mobile-first penetration in the region.

The pandemic has inadvertently created a “forced adoption” of digital platforms for more than 90 per cent of shoppers, and nowhere has that trend leaned more heavily towards mobile adoption than in Asia, where five of the world’s top ten countries with the highest smartphone penetration rates are located. The smartphone is where it’s at, and brands would do well to build marketing and sales channels that cater to the mobile-based preferences of those living in the region. 

The other similarities are universally appealing sets of customer incentives that can help you build customer loyalty. One such incentive comes in the form of customer rewards, such as gift vouchers, freebies, loyalty points and membership perks.

Regardless of the time or the place, it’s hard to argue against the power of a freely proffered gift, which is why so many of Stash’s partners have jumped aboard our Stash Connect incentives suite, where customers can pick and choose from incentives on merchants like Grab, Lazada and Dairy Farm.

Also Read: microLEAP raises US$3.3M to help small businesses raise funds via Shariah-compliant means in Malaysia

It’s all about automation

Building a marketing campaign that is specific and general at the same time seems impossible. How can we create campaigns that can target individuals, while running them across multiple markets? It sounds like a logistical and operational nightmare.

The trick is to adopt tech that can help you to automate individual marketing channels and support large-scale marketing outreach. Automation allows us to do everything, from issuing reward vouchers, collecting delivery addresses, managing customer profiles and more  with a speed and ease that would be otherwise impossible using purely human-managed operators and systems. 

For example, most tech platforms have in-built market localisations that can be turned on from a central system. Currently, Stash offers a range of more than seven language selections across 14 different markets, which can be adapted for the market preferences of your specific campaigns.

That means that there’s no need to hire translators or redo marketing materials to cater to different markets– the option is already there for you to instantly translate your value offerings to your intended audiences. 

Tech providers are also offering unprecedented autonomy for brands, with a range of back end services that allow you to do everything from create different customer tiers, manage reward redemptions and even collect and analyse customer behavioural data.

This allows you to build marketing campaigns that are not only customised for your desired audience, but to also extract the results of your efforts, analyse the data, and formulate next-steps to further optimise your marketing and sales strategies.

For example, you may find that customers aren’t responding well to the rollout of your incentive campaign – but a tiny demographic of particularly tech-savvy Gen Z audiences have consistently been using QR codes as payment channels to claim their rewards and make purchases on your store.

By leveraging that insider data and streamlining your QR code payment channels, you can use the data consolidated from online activity to rapidly respond to customer behaviour, staying one step ahead of your followers and competition. 

Also Read: 5 ways that will help SMEs scale even amidst a pandemic

Fighting for the underdogs

It has not been easy to stay ahead of the curve, even for major brands. That is why Asia’s biggest players brands like Amex, HP, Prudential, Microsoft and Simply Energy have become far more discerning with their choice of tech tools.

Our partners have elected for Stash’s suite of services because we offer a service that allows companies to have full control over their multi-market incentive campaigns while keeping their customers in the loop. 

At the same time, I personally hope to see more small businesses follow suit. Asia is a market with high potential for growth, and small businesses are as much a part of the race as their larger brothers.

By investing into tech tools strategically, in a way that can actively allow them to capture, retain and expand market share at an unprecedented pace, small businesses, which are built to be lean, quick and flexible, can not only hope to catch up with – but even overtake titans of industry.

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