The Singaporean business landscape proves to be continuously thriving due to the number of tech companies and startups in the country encouraged by pro-business policies. But due to the relatively small population that equals limited market size (despite the high spending power of Singaporeans), there is a need to diversify business options for growth and profit. Tapping into a bigger arena would contribute to improving this potential, meaning Singaporean businesses should start considering expanding into the international market. 

Japan is a possible market these businesses can look into, as the country’s consumer market is among the largest in the world. According to the International Trade Administration, Japan is the third-largest economy in the world next to the US and China, making it an exciting place for business.

Specific contexts in the country also make Japan a lucrative hub for developing certain technologies like pharmaceuticals and robotics. At the same time, the Japanese market is diverse in terms of industries. In 2018, Japan covered a broad range of local startups with a market worth of USD3.7 billion. 

Expanding ambitions from Singapore to Japan

The ​​Singapore Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) is one programme that offers an opportunity for the most innovative and ambitious Singaporean startups to expand to markets like Japan. As an established network of Singaporean and overseas partners specialising in crucial demand markets, GIA opens opportunities for startups to exchange knowledge, technology, and skills to create an international community of innovation. 

For its Japan network, GIA’s partner is Leave a Nest, an innovator among deep tech platforms in the Southeast Asian region. Leave a Nest, in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, screens and guides successful applicants in the process of expanding and establishing their startup in Japan, particularly in Tokyo.

Also read: Market Access Taiwan: Traversing the Taiwanese startup landscape

GIA will walk participants through a visit to the host country, exposing them to potential partner companies, the investor, as well as the research institute during the third month of the programme. This gives startups ample time to make up their minds and strategise on how to gain a foothold in the market. 

The programme’s graduates have become notable across most fields. For example, Wavescan, which was among the first startups to participate in GIA, had been mentioned by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat for its success in the Japanese market. Another programme alumni, Sentient.io, has managed to gain a foothold in the Asia Pacific market through investments from Real Tech and SEEDS capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore. The two startups present just a few of the possibilities for potential participants upon coming out of the programme.

→For application to the “Enter to Japan Market” programme, please apply HERE

Singapore as Japan’s entry into Southeast Asian markets

Another ingenious component of GIA is its reciprocity of opportunities. For instance, it’s not just Singaporean startups that are encouraged to expand to Japan; Japanese startups are also very welcome to explore business opportunities in Singapore. Japanese startups will find that Singapore has a strategic location to be an entry point and PoC to the ASEAN market.

For reasons already mentioned, this would be beneficial for both inbound and outbound companies given Singapore and Japan’s track records and consumer trends, once again contributing to building a global innovation network. Aside from their economic similarities, however, both Japan and Singapore face similar kinds of issues, particularly in terms of their ageing society, making the sharing of technologies between Japan and Singapore a welcome exchange.

Also read: From experts: Tips to improve operations and maximise ROI

For the “Enter SG Market‘‘ programme, Leave a Nest will recruit high-calibre early- to mid-stage startups in the field of deep tech and applied tech to seek business opportunities in Singapore. This process leverages the EntrePass Scheme to penetrate other Southeast Asian countries using Singapore as a base. 

→For application to the “Enter to SG Market” programme, please apply HERE

A customised process for startups

The conduct of the GIA programme is interesting in that it’s customised for all participating startups. Through a series of training over the course of four months, startups who pass the screening are mentored to understand their needs. The businesses are then pitched in one-on-one sessions with Singapore partners to see what works best for them. 

The same process is replicated for Singaporean startups looking to enter the Japanese market, with a focus on finding manufacturing partners in Japan for these companies. A small cohort of participants are selected from the pool of applicants and the process is highly customised to cater to their needs, noting where they currently are and what aspect of the market they can best connect to. The result is evident in the success rate of the GIA programme. Apart from Wavescan and Sentient.io’s successes, other programme alumni have found their niche in their respective target markets. Crown Digital and Profile Print, both dealing with artificial intelligence, are among the startups that have found investors for their business. 

Prototype manufacturing partnerships for startups

In the past, Leave a Nest ran a successful project specifically geared for ASEAN startups looking for state-of-the-art manufacturing partners in Japan. Dubbed as the Prototype Manufacturing Project (otherwise known as the Ota City Program), the project helped match startups with corresponding partner manufacturers in Ota City, which is home to several specialised factories that take care of the prototyping needs of different companies.

Also read: Looking to scale your company? Hong Kong is open for business!

With its reputable track record of building partnerships and connecting ecosystem players, Leave a Nest is partnering with Enterprise Singapore to once again offer the Prototype Manufacturing Project. Startups’ need for precise manufacturing can be challenging to find in Southeast Asia. Even in Japan, where GIA participants’ target market would be, one major challenge to establishing a partnership with a manufacturer would be the language and knowledge barrier. It would be best to work within an existing network like the Prototype Manufacturing Project and GIA to ensure an ideal outcome for startups and manufacturers alike.

To get an idea of how well the Ota City Program has worked for GIA startups, one needs to look no further. In 2018, three startups from Southeast Asia successfully entered the Ota City Program’s pilot run, paired with major Japanese firms to move to the next stage of their entry into the Japanese market. For 2022, another call for applicants has been released, especially for companies who are keen to work with Japanese manufacturers for their startups.    

→For application to the “Manufacturing Program,” please apply HERE.

→For application to the “Enter to Japan Market” programme, please apply HERE

→For application to the “Enter to SG Market” programme, please apply HERE

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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This article is published as a part of a partnership with Recruitery. Recruitery is an all-in-one hiring platform that provides headhunt, payroll, taxes, and compliance solutions for remote teams in SEA.

Talents are the determining element in the success or failure of a business; hence every leader wants to recruit them. 

Elon Musk, the millionaire CEO of Tesla, does not depend on credentials and schooling to locate people, as do other leaders. Instead, he thinks that talents are far more essential. 

And most recently, Musk continues to polarise the global HR community with his assertion that a degree, even a PhD, is unimportant!

Why doesn’t the degree matter for Elon Musk?

In a 2014 interview, Elon Musk said, “The selected candidate does not need a college degree or even a high school diploma.” A degree from a prestigious institution indicates that a person can accomplish great things, but that is not all. 

The billionaire also said that getting into Tesla, degrees, and education are not as significant as a tweet, “PhD is not required. I could care less whether you completed high school or not.” 

However, this does not imply that anybody, from interns to directors, may be accepted into his enterprises. Although each application is identical, there are three crucial aspects to consider when applying.

These are the personnel taken by this company: They must show their originality by acts rather than words if they are passionate about improving the world and expressing their personality. 

Elon Musk, a millionaire, developed Tesla to expedite the adoption of sustainable transportation by electric cars and popularise it as quickly as possible. Therefore, applicants must demonstrate their commitment to the purpose to confirm that they are an excellent match for our organisation. 

Also Read: Why Musk’s remote-work policy at Tesla does not apply to tech startups

There are four guiding principles at Tesla: originality, direction, collaboration, and reliability. Therefore, possessing unique abilities will be advantageous when applying to this organisation. Moreover, applicants must have a comprehensive knowledge of artificial intelligence.

The world increasingly requires genuine skill as opposed to degrees

In April, the official jobless rate for Chinese employees aged 16 to 24 reached an all-time high of 18.2 per cent. 

In the first six months of the year, the average unemployment claims in the United States fall below 200,000. However, the average number of jobless claims has grown to 232,500 over the last four weeks. 

As of December 2021, the Centre for Economic Monitoring of India (CMIE) reports that this South Asian nation has around 53 million jobless individuals. Over 10 million individuals lost employment with the second wave of COVID-19 infections alone.

In February 2022, the unemployment rate in India increased to 8.1 per cent, CMIE said. Previously, the unemployment rate in India had fallen to 6.6 per cent in January from 7.9 per cent in December. 

Notably, the majority of jobless people possess degrees. For example, a few days after the government of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India announced the recruitment of 15 jobs for housekeeper, driver, and security guard posts at the end of last year, 11,000 young people from Madhya Pradesh and nearby states registered. Although most positions need a high school diploma, many candidates possess bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and even engineering and legal certificates. 

These are all numbers that speak! 

According to the 2018 Freelancing in America poll, freelancers put more importance on skill development: Among freelancers with a four-year college degree, 93 per cent believe skills training is beneficial, compared to just 79 per cent who think their college education is relevant to the work they do today.

In addition, 70 per cent of full-time freelancers had attended skills training in the last six months, compared to 49 per cent of full-time freelancers. 

Rapid technological progress and growing educational expenditures have rendered the old higher education system obsolete and hazardous in the present day. 

Too often, a degree is still seen as a permanent mark of professional skill. They perpetuate the notion that activity and the information it needs are static. It is impossible. 

For instance, according to a 2016 study by the World Economic Forum, “in many sectors and nations, the most in-demand jobs or majors did not exist ten or even five years ago, and this pace is poised to accelerate.” 

At our company, what workers can accomplish is considerably more significant than where they went to college; therefore, we often question candidates about their years of experience, talents, and managing difficult situations.

In reality, applicants with more excellent experience do better than those without experience. Therefore, we do not exclude people with strong academic credentials but prefer those with job experience.

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Taiwan is a growing powerhouse of startups in the Asia Pacific region, and investors and aspiring entrepreneurs are taking notice. The 2021 Taiwan Startup Ecosystem Survey conducted by PwC and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research shows that there are high hopes for entrepreneurship in Taiwan, with two-thirds of the survey’s respondents from the startup ecosystem composed of first-time founders. As such, while some have expressed their concerns about language and cultural barriers, the environment is leaning more towards encouraging growth rather than hostility for small to medium businesses, especially for those in tech. 

These concerns and opportunities, among other topics, were discussed in the Taiwan leg of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners. Three panellists — Jun Wakabayashi, Associate and Investor at AppWorks; Kuan-Yu Lin, International Business Development Director of NiEA; and Charles Ferguson, Asia Pacific General Manager at Globalization Partners — discussed their takes on the Taiwanese startup ecosystem, its market, and how to get started. 

Site for a Lucrative Business Expansion

Before companies expand to Taiwan, they need to have a solid reason to do so. Kuan-Yu addresses this by noting that Taiwan produces quality engineering talent yearly, which is in line with rapid global deployment. Despite this, what makes the talent in Taiwan truly remarkable is most of its talents’ willingness to take risks in smaller companies. Kuan-Yu connects this with the notion that most talents prefer to see their workplace as their own, and not just function as a cog in a bigger corporation. 

Adding to that, the Taiwanese government has several key policies encouraging work on the Internet of Things, Green Energy, and Artificial Intelligence. The tech manufacturing industry in particular has seen quite some growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic due to the demand to carry forward digital transformation on a larger scale. Because of this, the government has been looking at collaborating with startups in these areas.

Also read: Looking to scale your company? Hong Kong is open for business!

At the same time, blue-chip companies aren’t blindsided by the resources available in Taiwan. On his end, Wakabayashi shared that Taiwan is like the “Wakanda of Asia,” a small and hidden, yet incredibly resource-plenty part of the world. He noted that big conglomerates have also set up their R&D hubs in Taiwan due to Taiwan’s rich technological landscape. Wakabayashi explained that Taiwan is one of the biggest markets with a GDP rivalling that of Indonesia in Southeast Asia. 

Business and fundraising considerations

Given these reasons, one may feel more at ease in placing their bets on Taiwan. Still, certain considerations need to be made, particularly in terms of business and fundraising opportunities for startups. When asked about this, Ferguson outlined a few of the advantages of setting up a company in Taiwan including its strategic location in the entirety of the Asia Pacific region, and its incredible connectivity within its city and provinces, as well as with the rest of the region and the world.

Ferguson also shared that Taiwan’s policies, both through its economic partnerships and agreements and its recent New Southbound policy which has made it more connected to 18 countries, including the 10 ASEAN member-states and 8 other countries in South Asia and Australasia, have made it easier to secure preferential arrangements in terms of trade. 

In terms of fundraising, Wakabayashi gave an honest picture of the situation. Although Taiwan struggled in 2010 back when startups were still finding their way into the mainstream, its startup system has since grown tremendously. Certain paradigm shifts have placed Taiwan in the global limelight, attracting a pool of global investors, especially for industries such as AI and blockchain. 

Scaling quickly and effectively

All three panellists agreed that scaling can be effectively done by teaming up with a local partner. Ferguson takes this a step further by explaining that gaining the trust of a local partner would lessen or even completely remove certain cultural and language barriers that make startups second guess Taiwan as one of their destinations. To do this, startups must be able to foster smart and genuine relationships by offering value from their works to these partners. Kuan-Yu builds on this by noting that as in any expansion, a local partner or team is necessary.

Also read: Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion

Regarding the anxiety of setting foot in uncharted waters for some startups expanding to Taiwan for the first time, Ferguson added that logistical concerns should be the least of entrepreneurs’ worries. As Taiwan is an extremely business-friendly climate, startups should focus on more practical concerns, such as looking at product-market fit, tapping into the local talent pool, and finding the appropriate entry points for business.

The key is also to focus on areas where one’s business would have the most impact and gain the most traction in a “post-pandemic” world. Ferguson calls this TTV––time to value––and commented on how fast startups can infiltrate their chosen market to make a difference if they were more circumspect. 

Challenges to market access and tech’s role

This doesn’t completely remove a few considerations for investors and entrepreneurs alike. One of the questions that had been raised during the open forum of the panel was regarding the tensions between mainland China and Taiwan. Ferguson responded to this, explaining that putting politics aside, the two are not necessarily on opposite sides of the fence in terms of economic goals. 

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Pointing to other apprehensions about going to an unfamiliar market with possibly different demands that may pose a challenge to a new startup in Taiwan, Wakabayashi draws attention to technology as a point of leverage. He explained that technology allows entrepreneurs to probe the market without necessarily setting foot in it first, noting that this has been a strategy of some of the startups they’ve worked with out of Taiwan.

Technology allows remote basic market validation and the conduct of online surveys. Afterwards, startups can get a product-market fit or hire an engineer or a local team there.  

Final words of advice

To cap off the discussion, the panellists shared a few final words of wisdom. While the panellists acknowledged that doing a startup can be a long journey especially if they are expanding to foreign territory, it was also noted that for Taiwan specifically, the government has plenty of resources to assist even foreign startups. There are also mergers and acquisitions in the local landscape, and, as Ferguson explained, if the talent pool in Taiwan is deep enough for blue-chip companies to invest in, startups could also learn a thing or two by looking in that direction.

To learn more, view the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Singapore-based unicorn Advance Intelligence Group announced the acquisition of Jewel Paymentech, a financial risk technology company specialising in merchant due diligence and fraud and risk management solutions for the financial services and payments industry.

Acquired for an undisclosed sum, the addition of Jewel Paymentech is aimed to strengthen Advance Intelligence Group’s capabilities in the Web3, fraud and risk management space.

Following the acquisition, Jewel’s 30-member team (including its leadership team) will join the group.

In a press statement, the companies stated that Jewel would remain an independent business entity under the group’s enterprise business unit ADVANCE.AI with CEO Sean Lam, co-founders Lee Wooi Siang and Sandra Cheim, and CIO Goh Ser Yoong joining its senior leadership team.

“Being part of the broader Advance Intelligence Group ecosystem will not only serve our current clients better but will allow us to tap on deep investor relationships, capital and technology base. Our staff will also be able to develop their career journey further, so this coming together of our two companies is a win-win for both our existing team and client base,” Jewel Paymentech CEO Sean Lam said.

Also Read: Artificial intelligence has been flourishing incredibly in these 5 Southeast Asia technology hubs

Based in Singapore and Malaysia, Jewel said it has an established track record of onboarding businesses and monitoring fraudulent transactions, specifically in Know Your Business (KYB) and Know Your Transaction (KYT) monitoring.

Founded eight years ago, it also provides automated solutions to large merchants such as marketplaces to identify illegal and counterfeit goods as part of their KYC process. Its technology is used by regional banks, fintech companies, and payment networks.

Advance Intelligence Group was founded in 2016 and considered itself one of the largest independent technology startups headquartered in Singapore.

It has built an ecosystem of AI-powered, credit-enabled products and services, including Asia’s leading Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform Atome, SaaS enterprise solutions provider ADVANCE.AI, and omnichannel e-commerce merchant services platform Ginee.

The company raised a US$400 million Series D funding round from SoftBank and Warburg Pincus in September 2021.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

Image Credit: Advance Intelligence Group

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There was a time when startups, especially in the product space looked at community building as just a ‘nice to have’ option for marketing. That time has passed.

Over the past few years, changing dynamics of audience engagement and go-to-market strategy have led to incredible results for product-led businesses that engage actively in community building. Audience and community are two different things, many organisations are realising the difference post-pandemic.

Products evolving from community feedback amidst COVID-19

Since COVID-19 took over the world and physical interactions effectively disappeared, product companies took to various forms of community building to engage in real conversations about their product, find comparisons, and discuss possible new features with an engaged group of developers, creators, and product managers.

Such communities thrived on platforms like Slack, We Work, Telegram and even Clubhouse, which itself is a great example of a product that evolved from community-led feedback. Entrepreneurs are finding that a community-led approach could not only lead to selling their products to a more targeted market but also help develop future products.

Among the investor faction too, a community-led approach has replaced the existing ideas of a ‘lean startup’. Some have even re-defined the lean startups of this age as those who build a community first and develop software afterwards.

Clubhouse is a great example, where the founders took the beta version to their own community of VCs and founders before introducing new features.

In between lockdowns and restricted social interactions, the platform grew like wildfire globally bringing on board creators, business leaders and even developers who actively engaged in open conversations about the features and problems of the platform giving the team real-time insight into user preference.

Social media is cluttered, but dedicated community channels are shedding new light on the effectiveness of having an engaged group.

Co-working spaces have fostered collaboration and built niche communities

Think of co-working spaces and the reason why they became such a popular concept. People from different backgrounds started working under the same roof, and eventually found ways to collaborate with each other to build exciting things.

Graphic designers found brand marketers, technical writers found newfound startups, and product discussions happened over lunch with strangers.

Also Read: For Heartbreak Bear, community is key to the success of their NFT project

Co-working spaces fostered an environment of creative development with industry peers who are not really colleagues or employed by the same company. Niche communities like these have led to superior product feedback and ideation in real-time, from real users.

Investors today also believe that this approach could be a game-changer for the world of startups. According to Jacob Peters of Launch House, a community platform that represents a virtual Silicon Valley, building a successful community depends on two key factors:

• A good reason for people to gather
• A reason for users to re-engage

We believe another important factor that determines the rise of a great community is the quality of content being shared. If these three areas are not carefully monitored and managed, the initiative will fail eventually.

Identifying true influencers is key to developing a smart community

In the app-based world of technology, product development cannot be reverse engineered to fit into a go-to-market strategy. The time has come for businesses to truly identify their influencers; it is no longer the C-suite employees but actual developers whose personal opinions and recommendations of software can make or break the market for a product.

It is not an easy transition from the traditional thinking of sales cycles, product development, feature introduction, processing bug reports and providing customer and user support. Even the employees need to relook at the methods of engaging with a smart community for the best results.

Ultimately, considering the shift in purchase decision dynamics, companies can sell better with an engaged community.

Therefore, the investors are lining up for companies that get their communities right, even before they build new products. Companies must acknowledge this now and start investing time in identifying where their communities lie and tap them at once.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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An increasing focus on using digital channels poses both exciting opportunities and challenges for businesses everywhere, especially where innovation matters. In this webinar, executives from WhatsApp and leading Voice AI company, Curious Thing, discuss the latest technology and channels to improve engagement, efficiency, and ROI of your business-customer communications.

The topics tackled in the webinar included the value proposition of new communication channels for businesses – how leading companies are improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their communications without driving up costs; understanding the shift in communication channels – How new technologies benefit customers and how businesses can meet evolving customer expectations; and getting the most out of new technology – a deep dive into lessons learned from companies using these solutions. 

The panellists for the webinar were Adam Bowden, APAC Head of Client Management (Business Messaging) at Meta; Sam Zheng, CEO and Co-founder at Curious Thing; Rik Johnson, Head of Solutions at Curious Thing, and was moderated by Jean Alfonso-Decena, Founder & Executive Director at InSilence AI.

Paving the way for a higher level of customer service

Customer experience is a key focus in every company. Moderator Jean Alfonso-Decena kicked off the webinar by asking the audience if they had incorporated any communication channels in their business to streamline operations and improve the experience. The audience poll revealed that 80 per cent of those who answered ‘not yet’ were soon making this a priority.

Commenting on how emerging channels or innovative technologies are helping pave the way to a higher level of customer experience, Bowden explained, “We look at customer experience as being able to give customers a seamless experience, being able to engage with them at all stages of a customer journey. Whether that’s discovery, marketing, lead generation, transactional, or customer care, I think what is important now is to have that one seamless experience and to provide that experience where the customers are, not where businesses expect customers to be.”

Also read: Looking to scale your company? Hong Kong is open for business!

Johnson echoed this by explaining that customer experience is an inherently personal expectation that each of us has which is part of the challenge in the communication space. “It’s about how to make it seamless and easy and how to meet people where they want to operate, but that doesn’t mean that everybody wants to have the same experience,” Johnson explained.

“There have to be options, channels and variety there for people who want to interact in different ways. So in many ways, it’s a very personal relationship with a business,” Johnson added.

To this, Zheng added that “Building trust is essential to delivering on the ‘what’ and ‘how’. You can also invite customers to help shape their experience – decide what the best timing is for them. That’s my view of what good customer experience is.”

Connecting with businesses in today’s landscape

According to Bowden, the way people communicate with businesses is changing and that’s been accelerated because of the pandemic around the world. Now, people are messaging businesses of all sizes. Not just in enterprises but in SMBs as well – communication is happening for a variety of reasons. “People want to engage for different reasons and they want to do it in the same way that they chat and communicate with their friends and family. They want businesses to come to them wherever they are, rather than reaching out to businesses to start the conversation.” 

Zheng added, “When businesses think about touch points, they think about key customer milestones. Today, thanks to lots of technology companies, the definition of touch points are massively changing. Most businesses are required to create touch points more intelligently. You need to be proactive and very responsive at the same time. This is the trend we have seen in a lot of businesses, especially B2C. It’s a challenge and also a great opportunity for large businesses like Meta and smaller organisations like Curious Thing.”

Larger platforms like Meta have found their way around this. “We don’t have independent touch points with customers at Meta. You do not have one single touch point for customer care, sales, product information, or discovery. A customer chooses their stage of the journey and none of those is in isolation,” explained Bowden. According to him, customers that want to speak to a business with a support issue are likely to be the same people that businesses want to speak to about a new sales opportunity or get information from to help them in a future state.

He added, “I think what businesses are starting to understand is that you cannot segment those touch points across different departments and different channels. You need to bring that conversation to one place, so that’s just creating a little more complexity for organisations, but from a customer experience standpoint – that improves it significantly.”

Also read: Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion

Curious Thing addresses this challenge by pioneering the use of voice AI to have purpose-led conversations with customers, especially proactive conversations. “We’ve been speaking to people from various demographics, particularly different age groups and it’s been astonishing to learn that customers who are over 60 years old are quite happy to speak to a pleasant robot if the robot will get the job done. It’s all about the outcome and the convenience, and being very transparent. Go in open-minded because customers will surprise you as to what they’re open to. The end result of the interaction is the thing that matters to them,” said Zheng.

“What’s important is we are reinventing how touchpoints are created even before people realise that – okay, I need to talk to someone,” he added.

Johnson, who comes from the world of call centres and was previously a customer of Curious Thing, cited a concrete example: “We had a challenge at the start of the pandemic where we needed to call 200,000 people in a day. You can’t do it with people; we couldn’t conjure them out of thin air – so how could we get a critical message out to people within an eight-hour span to find out who needed help? We had to find those needles in the haystack and bring them back in to be able to give support where it mattered most.”

She added, “It really showed me how we tend to think AI is going to solve these commoditised problems; essentially give AI the work that humans don’t want to do. But it’s actually more about finding ways to get humans to the work they want to do.” 

Meanwhile, Bowden argues that not every person wants the same type of experience. “It’s amazing how many of those issues can be solved by a chatbot. Even though we might say ‘I want to speak to a person,’ we actually want the most efficient and quickest way to solve the problem. If I can have an interaction with a chatbot and solve that problem in five minutes, I would be happier than being on the phone waiting for an hour to speak to an agent,” he explained.

For businesses, Meta puts a lot of emphasis on three key things: relevancy, timeliness, and expectancy. If you are not delivering across those three, you are likely providing a poor customer experience. 

Checks and balances in emerging customer communication channels

When we talk about channels, it’s about letting people direct their own journey. How can businesses help you get to where you want to be? 

Johnson remarked, “We ask customers after their call a lot of the time. How did you find this? Did it meet your expectations? The responses are surprisingly positive, particularly when you’ve got the right use case. In the health sector, we’ve found between 75 and 85 per cent of people are very positive about being able to speak with an AI bot. Because it’s available, they understand what it’s there for and they feel supported and connected with the organisation.”

For Bowden, he believes that the challenge is figuring out where your customers are spending time and what your macro-based challenges are in those markets. “Internally, what we found is that a lot of businesses don’t necessarily have all of their different systems set up to be connected. If you have a sales system, a customer support system, and a product-based system for example, and they’re not well integrated, then it could be a very hazardous approach to engaging with customers.”

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

When it comes to anticipating changes in the customer landscape, the panel believes that it’s a matter of understanding your customers. Bowden pointed out that nobody could have predicted that a pandemic was going to come. “It’s more about how you become agile to be able to shift and evolve very quickly,” he explained. 

The panel agrees that every interaction with a customer is a learning opportunity and as long as you learn through every touch point, you will be evolving at a pace that is similar to your customers’ changing behaviour. “I think it’s quite difficult to get ahead of that but as long as you are in line with that, you’re going to be successful,” Bowden added.

Meanwhile, Zheng explained that it is important to be curious about your customers. “Businesses should try and understand what the customer really needs, and learning from every opportunity adds to that. That’s basically where we want to go – enable businesses to be more curious so they can do better for their customers,” he elaborated.

To check out more insights from our esteemed panellists, watch the webinar here. Also, you may see general responses to several questions raised during the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Curious Thing

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Indonesia regulator bans trading firms from issuing certain financial products
Offshore products, crypto assets, and gold are banned; The move could affect multi-asset trading platforms such as Ajaib and Pluang, which have launched crypto assets on top of their stock business; OJK said the latest regulation is aimed at improving consumer protection.

Sendo raised US$57M via convertible loans since 2020
In 2021, the company issued two tranches of convertible notes to investors, including Econtext Asia, SBI E-Veitnam, and subsidiaries of Sendo’s parent FPT Corp.

Alpha JWC, Gojek’s VC arm pour US$35M into Indonesia’s AgriAku
AgriAku is a B2B marketplace that connects retailers of farming equipment with suppliers of agricultural input such as seeds, fertilisers, and agrochemicals; It gets revenue from the margin for every transaction that happens.

Govt-backed Korean fund KVIC commits US$23M to AC Ventures, Gobi Partners, Highlight Capital
The fund committed US$6.5M to each ACV and Gobi and US$10M to Highlight; ACV has a minimum target corpus of US$16.3M while Gobi and Highlight are seeking to raise a minimum of US$39M and US$200M for their funds respectively.

Singapore mental health startup Intellect extends Series A to US$20M
Investors include Tiger Global, Insignia Ventures, HOF Capital, K3 Ventures and Singtel Innov8; Intellect will use the funds to expand across Asia, focusing on building the region’s first digitally-enabled full-stack mental healthcare system.

Binance unit gets nod for Spanish operations
The registration, which was granted to Moon Tech Spain, will allow Binance to offer crypto asset exchange and custody services in the country; This marks the third registration that Binance has received in Europe, following those in France and Italy.

Philippines’ AC Ventures, 917Ventures partner to develop startup ecosystem
The partnership hopes to accelerate both the quantity and quality of 917V’s future companies as the unique advantages now encompass the broader Ayala group, including real estate, banking, power, healthcare, and logistics.

East Ventures backs Indonesian construction tech firm Amoda’s pre-seed raise
The company allows customers to choose and customize their buildings online and provides prefabricated materials that can help reduce construction time and costs; It caters to both individuals and businesses in Indonesia.

Vision Fund’s senior leader resigns from SoftBank
Sources said that Rajeev Misra has raised over US$6B in commitment from several LPs, such as Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group and state-owned fund ADQ; However, Misra will continue to serve as a senior executive at the Vision Fund.

Singapore’s rewards-based payments firm TWID receives US$7M funding
Investors include Rakuten Capital, Beenext, Surge, and January Capital; TWID converts rewards points into a fungible payment instrument, to be used universally across its network of merchants and brands.

Embedded insurance firm Ancileo adds Fermion as an investor
With this strategic investment, Ancileo will gain access to some 230 banks and 150 insurers; Ancileo’s SaaS platform powers embedded travel insurance distribution for some of the most recognised travel brands in the world, such as Etihad Airways and Scoot.

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The state of mental health in Asia has been troubling for many years. Key factors such as low mental health literacy and lack of human and financial resources are the main causes for people to neglect seeking help when they need it most.

Over the last few years, startups and various other companies have identified this space as a high potential area for growth. Due to the pandemic, the growth of this space has accelerated exponentially.

Currently, four to 20 per cent of adults in the Asia Pacific are experiencing diagnosable mental illnesses, with only around one in 10 seeking help. However, changes on the government and cultural levels are not quite as speedy as one would hope. Instead, we are seeing the changing situation being led by other key players like global corporations and startups in the space instead.

Understanding mental health in Asia

The World Health Organisation (WHO) found in 2001 that many mental health challenges stem from governments not implementing mental health programmes or allocating sufficient resources to treating mental illnesses.

This has created a landscape in which people usually face three key challenges regarding mental health issues.

• The stigma around mental health makes them reluctant to seek help.
• The cost of treatment is not always covered by health insurance and is not always affordable.
• Access or availability to the needed treatments or services is not always available locally.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent most countries into isolated lockdowns. The prolonged lockdowns have undoubtedly created today’s environment where a nuanced awareness of mental health issues and challenges has increased exponentially. This has led to a market where funding for the space has nearly doubled in the last 24 months.

Also Read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

On the flip side, today’s landscape has also created a fortuity, where large companies and startups alike are more exposed and understanding of mental health issues, which serves an important purpose, to destigmatise mental health and unveil the mystery that is mental health solutions.

As a result, we are seeing three main trends emerging within Asia as the need to address the mental health of a nation becomes more important.

Mental health literacy is increasing

Many countries across Asia are trying to remove the stigma around mental health by raising mental health literacy within the country. This can be seen in examples of an increase in soft-power movements, encouraging dialogues about mental health in South Korea.

This is seen through the increased mental health topics being discussed on television shows and present within popular K-Dramas. In Singapore, the government has invested US$13 million into community efforts to raise awareness of mental health and improve the mental health literacy of the country.

A rise in mental health is assessed in companies through Employee Assessment Programmes (EAP)

Although not a fully resolved challenge, many labour legislations around Asia have started implementing a requirement for companies to have some sort of stress assessment or employee wellness assessment.

Countries like Japan have made this a part of the workplace requirements for companies of certain sizes, and other countries in the region have implemented or advised on a similar practice. This creates a space within the HR and Workplace Management sector for solutions as companies seek new tools to improve employees’ health.

An increase in solutions for mental health across the spectrum

As mental health literacy increases in Asia, understanding the spectrum of mental health needs is becoming prominent. The funding for current treatments in Asia, particularly in South Korea, sits at an institutional or hospital level.

The market is becoming more aware of opportunities in spaces for different mental health needs at earlier stages in the spectrum. This leads to a rise in solutions being offered to address all stages and methods, from self-maintenance to regular counselling and mental health care.

There is also a shift in some businesses turning to these new solutions as an addition, or even replacement, to their current EAP offerings.

How startups are impacting and changing the mental health space

Using South Korea as an example of the changing trends within Asia, there has been a history of the majority of the mental health funding going towards treating mental health illnesses in hospitals, which account for 68 per cent of all mental health facilities and institutions in South Korea. This has highlighted the need for mental health treatment and support at a community level rather than just at an institutional level.

Also Read: Singapore mental health startup Intellect raises US$10M to extend Series A round to US$20M

Over the last few years, South Korea has been seeing a steadily increasing number of startups and new solutions in the space of community-level mental health services, focusing on helping people gain understanding and access to mental health support easily and effectively.

Services such as Mind Cafe, which offers non-face-to-face counselling, have grown as users seek ways to handle their mental health during the pandemic. Furthermore, Trost has offered users mental wellness through services such as ASMR, mind management chatbots and meditation.

Through the increase in solutions like these, we can also see in Asia that the increase in startups has correlated with the increase in adoption as people prioritise mental health and mental wellness more through these mental health services.

Recently Singapore-grown startup, Intellect has been leading the innovation in the mental health space through their offerings to both users and corporates to help people gain access to an end-to-end solution for all items covering mental health, from cognitive-behavioural therapy techniques to also helping companies support their employees’ mental health through EAP-like programmes.

How Intellect is facing and changing the mental health market

Intellect, founded in 2019, has been growing rapidly within Asia, raising a total of US$20 million for their Series A led by HOF Capital and Tiger Global, and reaching three million users this year.

Intellect focuses on tailoring and localising mental health solutions to Asian markets, predominantly focusing on two key areas that they have identified as important problem statements within the mental health industry in Asia.

• People need more mental health support across the spectrum, not just at an institutional level. Intellect helps users build healthy mental habits through their app and supports users’ move from clinical support to proactive support. This gives end-users the tools to effectively navigate their own mental health needs at all stages.
• Helping customers and the public learn more about mental health. Intellect aims to continue to support and celebrate the increase of public awareness of mental health and has been hosting complimentary events for the public, such as their Mental Health Festival Asia held in Singapore last year.

With these key missions as their focus, Intellect has built a mental health care platform that is palatable, accessible and tailored for the Asian population.

It currently serves over three million lives and covers 14 languages across 20+ countries. The team aims to not only create a self-care app or a marketplace for therapists but also focus on connecting the dots at all levels of mental health support that anyone may need.

To reach this goal, Intellect has been working to impact the Asian market at multiple levels and is currently navigating market entry into key markets to support this.

They have spent the last two months working closely with the Rainmaking Expand team through their South Korea programme in order to deep dive into how the South Korean market approaches mental health, with their learnings focusing on the best way to enter the market and support the people within it.

How Intellect is expanding into new markets

CEO and Co-Founder Theodoric Chew has highlighted that the most important element for them when entering new markets is understanding the country, market and cultural nuances deeply.

Also Read: YC-backed mental health startup Intellect bags US$10M Series A

They have spent their time over the last couple of months focusing on identifying the current mental health structures, the key players in the space, and the key people they need to work with to successfully make their services available to the people of South Korea.

Chew attributes success in new markets to determined by localisation. Intellect has focused within Asia on hiring local, native language-speaking teams to handle the creation and localisation of the content. It is more important to implement the local, cultural context and nuances within the mental health solutions they provide and not simply translate content from other markets.

Since the company’s founding, Intellect has focused on providing people with knowledge, awareness and support. Since mental health is a key area that needs to be addressed for many markets in Asia, it has also been a challenge to make it clear to people where they can find the support they need for the challenges they face.

Intellect hopes to bridge this gap by supplying people, both as individual users or as part of a corporate/organisation, with the right tools and connections to find the support and guidance they need. Ultimately, Intellect wants to build these capabilities to empower people across all of APAC to manage their mental health.

Why innovation can help solve bigger problems

The cultural shift within the mental health space in Asia is heartening. The rise of regionalised startups, like Intellect, continues to transform millions of lives across Asia. Intellect’s proactive localised approach towards solving key challenges in mental health has created a new mental healthcare system for workforces and individuals.

Intellect is leading the changes in the mental health space through its proactive approach to the key challenges that the industry faces, as well as helping each individual market gain access to fully localised support and tools to empower their populations.

This is leading to evolution through innovation for the different markets as both governments and corporates are turning to these new solutions and approaches to challenge the larger problems within their markets.

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It is hard to remember what work at the office was like before we worked fully remotely during the peak of the pandemic and as we toggled between a hybrid and remote model during the great work experiment that followed.

On the surface, hybrid work is the ability to work from home, the office, and anywhere. While it may seem like a simple concept, it requires a complete rethink of the employee experience, and a much greater focus on inclusive culture, employee well-being, as well as trust and leadership.

Hybrid work has changed the workplace for good

Our latest global Hybrid Work study reveals that work is no longer about where you go, but what you do. This has never been clearer, with almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of employees in ASEAN believing that their quality of work has improved with hybrid work and 66 per cent share that their job knowledge and skills have improved.

Getting more done has allowed them to take more time for themselves. Most respondents said that hybrid work has improved various aspects of their physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being by allowing them to reinvest time from their commute and rigid work schedules into more time for family, friends, and pets. This has ultimately made them happier.

While employees are saying they want a hybrid work arrangement, only one in four (28 per cent) think that their company is “very prepared” for hybrid work. This boils down to challenges on two fronts: technology and culture. 

Technology is an enabler in the hybrid work world

Working from anywhere is only possible if you have technology that allows you to connect from anywhere. A key enabler of this is a software-defined, modern network that can seamlessly and securely connect any employee to any application or cloud, across any platform, all with a consistent user experience.

Smart collaboration tools, which seamlessly integrate voice, video, and content sharing, also play an important role in enabling employees with a consistent work experience and in keeping them engaged.

Collaboration is not just a business for Cisco, but the way we work. Our collaboration tools such as Webex provide a smart, seamless, secure way for people across different work environments, languages, and technological proficiency to connect, with features such as noise cancellation, real-time translations, and artificial intelligence (AI) speech enhancement levelling the playing field for all meeting participants.

Also Read: Is hybrid work the future for APAC?

All these technologies need to be underpinned by a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, which converges networking and security functions to protect an organisation’s entire infrastructure. 

The bigger challenge comes with making hybrid work inclusive

While technology is critical in a hybrid work world, it cannot succeed alone. The harder fix is the culture shift needed to build an inclusive environment for hybrid work to be successful truly. More than half of our respondents from the Hybrid Work study believe that fully remote workers will have challenges engaging with their colleagues (67 per cent) and company (66 per cent), compared to those who toggle between remote and in-office work.

These findings illustrate the need for organisations to rethink how they engage employees and create new rituals that promote team engagement in a hybrid work arrangement. Businesses must build an inclusive environment where everyone feels accountable, empowered, and heard regardless of whether they are working from home or in the office.

This success relies on flexible, empathetic leaders who can “walk the talk” and show employees that they are committed to embedding trust, flexibility, and listening in the hybrid world.

One way leaders can do this is by setting up a consistent platform for employees to share their sentiments on their work experience.

For example, Cisco conducts Quarterly Engagement Pulses to evaluate and spark conversations about how employees feel about their team, the work environment, and themselves.

In addition, all employees participate in weekly check-ins with their managers that allow employees to have a focused conversation about their work sentiments, priorities, and strengths.

This includes what they loved and loathed doing and the support they need from their managers each week. We found that this has helped employees feel seen, heard, supported and helps us ensure that they are given equal opportunities to thrive in their roles.

While hybrid work is not possible without the right infrastructure and tools for connectivity and cybersecurity, what will be critical for leaders to rethink is how they can cultivate trust and empathy within their organisation to embed inclusive fully collaborative work arrangements for hybrid work to really work.

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In the e-commerce industry, it’s no secret that everyone wants to sell more. Whether it’s via social media, through user testimonials, offering discounts or displaying how many items are left in your inventory to urge consumers to purchase, there are many ways to sell.  

Yet, most importantly, if you manage to drive people to click the buy button, they need to be able to check out first. And the checkout is crucial for conversion.

The likelihood of a conversion increases the farther along customers are in the buying journey, and this likelihood tops 80 per cent if a consumer makes it to the payments page. So, in theory, customers will most likely buy if your checkout is good. 

So, what can be done to ensure your checkout is set up to increase your conversions?

Keep it simple

The more trouble your customers navigate your website, the less likely they will buy. But when it comes to the checkout, the more fields and steps a checkout has, the less likely people are to convert.

As such, keep the checkout simple and streamline the number of fields or pages by only asking for the necessary information to complete the transaction. On the checkout page, use clear, everyday language consistent with the language on the rest of your website.

Be honest

Trust is key in payments, so honesty with your customer is essential. Pricing should be transparent at all times, so there aren’t any surprises at checkout. 48 per cent of shoppers abandon carts because of extra costs such as shipping, taxes, and higher fees than expected. 

The solution? Let customers know of any estimated fees early on.

Make it secure

Shoppers do not only want simple and honest checkouts that are easy to navigate. They also want to feel safe when shopping online.  

Also Read: How to scale up your DTC game with payments

On the merchant side, estimates say online fraud can cost merchants over US$12 billion annually. So, your checkout must be secure. Artificial intelligence can be used to put off fraudsters without getting in the way of discouraging real customers. Showing a security designation, such as an SSL certificate, which means your website is authentic and connections to it are encrypted, can also help to reassure customers.

Diversify your devices

We live in an age where shopping on mobile devices, including laptops, phones and tablets, is the norm. Worldwide, there are around 15 billion mobile devices, and you need to ensure that your shopping experience runs smoothly on all devices, including when it comes to checking out.

The right payment methods

This may seem obvious, but you must offer your consumers the right payment methods at checkout. The “right” payment options are the ones your customers use and want. Since the preferred methods change depending on where you are in the world, you need to know how people like to pay wherever you are selling. 

77 per cent of online purchases in 2021 were made with local payment methods (LPMs). For example, a popular LPM in Singapore is GrabPay, whereas if you are in Indonesia, GoPay and Kredivo are favoured options that belong to the payments mix. 

How to know you have nailed the conversion

E-commerce is complex, and getting things right at the checkout is not simple. By considering all of the above and putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, you will be able to make their online shopping experience as seamless and easy as possible, ultimately increasing your conversion rates and realising the sales you are striving for.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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