The third revolution of the internet is heralded to create a more intelligent and connected world. And with its acceleration in the banking and finance sector, Web3 is becoming a buzzword among financial services providers.

While it is too early to predict the shape Web3 will eventually take. If the past iterations of the web were any indicator, it takes time to bring about a paradigm shift, although when it does, everything will move forward at an exponential pace. Can financial services providers afford to wait for that eventuality?

What is Web3?

The first generation of the world wide web came online in the mid-1990s. It was essentially a static content delivery network that allowed people to share information, almost like an online shop front or brochure.

As the technology evolved and broadband speeds increased,  Web2 arrived a decade later, providing a much more interactive, social internet where businesses and individuals were able to generate and share their own content.

The tech behind Web1 and Web2 relied on centralised databases to deliver and enable functionality.

Conversely, Web3 makes use of a decentralised blockchain where there is no arbitrary central authority, but instead a form of distributed consensus. Conceptually, Web3 will be a unified universe where communication and data sharing occurs in a decentralised space. Depending on what technology it integrates with, Web3 can evolve how the web can be used for that technology.

With Web3, the focus is now on the backend, specifically to manage and understand data. Using AI, machine learning and the semantic web will deliver more relevant information, faster. Anyone and any machine in this Internet of Things (IoT) age can contribute and gain access to this global data, but no one will own the database. 

Web3’s integration with blockchain technology, for example, can create a database that is impossible to hack. This is a smart contract that transmits information under the mutual consensus of involved parties. And it is one of the premises behind decentralised finance (DeFi), which aims to cut transaction times and gain access to more financial services. 

According to Investopedia, DeFi is an emerging financial technology based on secure distributed ledgers like those used by cryptocurrencies. Consumers and businesses can lend, trade, and borrow by using technology rather than intermediaries to record and verify financial actions in distributed financial databases.

Also Read: Why the Web3-enabled gaming world still has hope

However, just like Web3, DeFi’s evolution is still in its infancy, so regulators and traditional payment players are still trying to figure out how DeFi would eventually shape up.

The need for regulation

With DeFi and cryptocurrencies being Web3’s early use cases, there are concerns that the new web could lead to a financial Wild West. Rationally though, the situation is not likely to get that out of hand.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum are presently not used for much more than being an asset to invest in, which makes them very volatile and inappropriate for use as payment. South America, Mexico and other regions are trying to get Bitcoin recognised as legal tender. This move, however, is unsupported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to its volatility.

That is why institutional intermediaries like banks must navigate the host of digital identity issues and overcome contractual and regulatory obstacles, including agreements for cross-border money movement. 

Some regulatory bodies are independently preparing for an acceptable DeFi future.  Project Dunbar is a technical experiment by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and central bank partners. The objective is to study how international settlements can be made using multiple Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) over a common platform, considering the catalytic effect of the emergent Web3. 

The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s new guidelines on tokenisation and Dubai’s recent regulation are cases in point. In addition, Australia is exploring a Digital Services Act (DSA) legislative package that seeks reforms in crypto market licencing, custody, decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), debanking and taxes.

Web3 opportunities in the finance industry

As the capabilities of Web3 become more understood and ubiquitous, sentiments about its use will undoubtedly change and evolve. 

Some early moving banks are already leveraging the early capabilities of Web 3.0 in legitimate use cases. An S&P Global Market Intelligence report revealed that HSBC Holdings in Hong Kong had enabled hyper-personalised insights into its wealth management, courtesy of Web3. The bank estimated this could lead to 10 times more conversations between their relationship managers and clients. 

Such positive business models of Web3 will continue to emerge to disrupt markets in positive ways, keeping market interest buoyant and allowing stakeholders time to iron out teething problems with progressively feasible and accessible solutions. 

Undoubtedly, the vision of Web3 in the future of finance is still hazy. There is still much to be done to secure and build the properties of Web3 for financial services. But as early adopters and techies foray to bridge these two worlds, new asset classes and technologies will be created.

So, no matter how the integration eventually shapes up, witnessing the possibilities thrown up in the process is exciting indeed.

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With the global recession expected to impact Malaysia sooner than anticipated, we already see many of the region’s leading businesses make organisational changes to brace for the storm ahead.

Southeast Asia’s technology sector has been hit particularly hard with a series of tech giants announcing mass layoffs as they aim to build leaner teams. These economic developments were a 180 from the beginning of the year when the ball was firmly in the talent’s court, and businesses were doing whatever they could to retain people. Now, the Great Resignation could become the Great Retrenchment.  

However, one thing remains true: the ever-present need for the region’s brightest talent, in tech or otherwise. The global workforce’s heightened desire for greater work-life balance and autonomy is here to stay, ultimately pushing talent to search for new and best ways to work. And this is where freelancing comes in.

While freelancing can traditionally be associated with short-term, one-off gig work, at Workana, we have seen an increasing number of long-term engagements, with freelancers now having the opportunity to create a sustainable cash flow comparable to any full-time salaried remote worker. This is great news for workers who enjoy a little more autonomy and more frequent opportunities to review their engagements while still having access to financial security. 

Currently, a whopping 31.4 per cent of the global workforce freelances, and while the pandemic did not kickstart this, it has accelerated this trend. The number of talent looking to join the freelance pool is expected to grow dramatically in 2022, and with good reason.

From a worker’s perspective, freelancing is an appealing option as it represents the best of both worlds, leveraging one’s fine-tuned skills and professional talents while simultaneously having more freedom and control over jobs and personal time.

On the other hand, the employer gains access to the world’s top-tier talent pool and is no longer limited to talents within the vicinity of the office.

The opportunity for freelancing in Malaysia

Taking the plunge into the freelancing world is understandably nerve-wracking, and branching out on your own as a remote worker can be daunting. There are fears of not securing your next job, enough work, or finding it hard to stand out in a competitive landscape.

Also Read: What are employees looking for in a hybrid work world?

That being said, an impending recession could be just the motivation many Malaysians need to take their career path into their own hands and lead a flexible and financially secure life. 

Straight talk: the time to freelance in Malaysia is now. The freelancing community has hugely expanded across the country; at Workana, we have seen our pool of remote talents grow, while the rollout of Government initiatives that support freelancers and community leaders who spearhead discussions for freelancer welfare are ongoing.

Of course, the increased adoption of hybrid working models has also opened the eyes of many businesses and talent similar to managing a more flexible workforce or lifestyle. 

Hybrid models, in which people only go into the office for select days of the week, can be highly conducive to a freelancing schedule. Businesses are also likely to open the doors to fully remote talent, thus greatly expanding their hiring possibilities in Malaysia or across borders.

Ultimately, the available talent pool becomes wider than ever, which is great news when skilled tech talent remains in short supply.  

When it comes to digital gig work, there has always been a lot of potential in the Malaysian market; it’s one of the main reasons we chose to set up our APAC headquarters here in 2019. The talent pool is rich in digital talent, with high English language proficiency and cultural alignment with neighbouring markets such as Singapore and Australia, making the job opportunities ripe.

It’s also heartening to see the Government get on board with this way of working; the 12th Malaysia Plan 2021-2025 (12MP) has assured Malaysians that it will create an ecosystem to support the development of the digital gig economy.

This means talent can prioritise flexibility and self-employment and take full advantage of the opportunities available to grow their skills, portfolios and work experience, even when times are tough(er).

Grow your network for a steady stream of work

In Malaysia’s freelance industry, there is generally enough talent around to satisfy the demand, but connecting with the right clients or finding the right talent to take on a project can be tricky. 

Also Read: Why Malaysian employees are giving up on the traditional office structure

For freelancers to get a leg up as this way of working continues to grow, it’s about having the right portfolio and network. Reputation, success stories, and endorsements are often the key deciding factors for new clients to seal the deal.

New freelancers must start establishing themselves and build a solid body of work to put them in front of their minds as businesses grapple with finding the right people quickly. Partnering with a freelancing platform is a reliable way to ensure regular, quality work, thanks to review systems, client testimonial options, and live job requests to kick-start the process.

For talent, more will follow once the first few jobs are completed and documented well. 

Even if projected growth is slower over the next couple of years, companies constantly need skilled tech talent to jump quickly into projects and keep the ball rolling. So while the hesitations around leaving a steady job to embark on a career as a freelancer are valid, the opportunity to branch out and become an independent talent has never been better.

With the right support system, Malaysians will find freelancing a viable and secure career option. 

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Singapore-based F&B tech company Chope has made a US$720,000 strategic investment into F&B digital payments provider Getz Group.

Per a statement, this partnership will enable diners to order and pay at restaurants across Singapore with their Chope app.

Singapore-based Getz is an ordering solution for F&B merchants that powers online food delivery, in-store table ordering solutions, and POS systems. Together, they can provide end-to-end modules covering all aspects of an F&B merchant’s needs.

Getz claims its systems process tens of millions of dollars in mobile payments.

Also Read: Chope secures US$15M as part of a strategic partnership with Ant Group

Both companies are actively working with restaurant partners to cater to new customer behaviours by consolidating touchpoints across the diner journey, such as discovery, restaurant marketing, ordering for on-premise, pick-up and delivery, among others.

Since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Chope’s markets have reported sales increases that exceed pre-pandemic times. Singapore takes the lead in this demand surge with double the diners seated in June 2022 than last year.

The Getz deal comes after local hawker SaaS and delivery vendor WhyQ raised US$360,000 from Chope as part of its Series A2 in November last year.

Steve Wah, Founder and CEO of Getz Group, said, “Chope and Getz bring together the best of both worlds for the F&B business to connect diners to restaurants and vice versa. The result of this partnership will empower F&B businesses to take control of its digital transformation while leveraging incremental traffic driven by Chope.”

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The economic downturn is here, and it’s not going away anytime soon. You can’t ignore it and assume that things will get back to normal eventually; you have to start acting now.

In this article, we’ll show you how to survive the economic downturn by using a few basic business principles that have been around for years but are just as relevant today as they were then:

Prioritise your topline

• Focus on what’s most important.
• Prioritise your top line.
• Remember that everyone can’t be number one in everything.
• Focus on what you can control, not the external factors that are beyond your control (and don’t matter).

Innovate and create new things

Innovation is the key to survival. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business or an individual, innovation is something that will help you get through these tough economic times. Innovation does not only mean technology; it can also be in the form of new products and services or even business models.

Innovation is a continuous process that starts from within yourself and then moves to your team members and then finally outside into the marketplace. It’s not just about creating something new; it’s also about making your existing business processes more efficient so they run faster while still meeting customer needs at an affordable price point (if possible).

Put your people first

Your people are the most important asset of your company. They are your brand, culture, customers, investors and even your future. In this economy, you can’t afford to be without them.

Because everyone is looking for new job opportunities or leaving their current ones behind in search of greener pastures (or just because they don’t have a choice), it’s more important than ever that you keep your best employees around and make sure they’re happy with their jobs so they stay put and convince other people to join too!

It’s also crucial that you focus on building an amazing team that will do great things together as one unit rather than trying to accomplish everything yourself by yourself all day every day with no help from anyone else at all except maybe some interns who showed up last minute because they saw the job posting online late at night while drunk browsing sites like Monster or Zillow after having spent hours playing video games instead of studying for finals like normal college students should’ve done but didn’t because life sucks sometimes so why bother doing anything productive when there’s Netflix available 24/7 waiting for us?

Use technology to your advantage

• Use technology to your advantage.
• Improve efficiency, communication and security in your business.
• Create an improved customer experience.

Optimise your spending, but not at the cost of innovation

The most obvious way to survive the recession is to optimise your spending. In this case, “optimise” means that you focus on spending money on the things that matter the most and give up spending any on those that don’t.

Also Read: Winter for tech startups is here? Here’s how to deal with it

For example, if you’re a restaurant owner and you notice that your profit margins are declining, then it would make sense for you to cut back on advertising or marketing efforts until business improves again.

However, there’s another side of this equation as well, in order to optimise your spending and keep costs in check while still being able to grow during these difficult times, you need innovation.

The key here is understanding where exactly your company stands right now and what exactly it needs at this point in time. You should look at all expenditures as investments; much like with investing funds into stocks or bonds (or whatever), it’s important not only when but how much money gets invested into something before determining whether or not those investments were worthwhile ones!

So think carefully about how valuable each dollar spent actually was! If a particular expenditure didn’t deliver results out of proportion with its cost then maybe we shouldn’t have spent so much money there after all.

Focus on cash flow and balance sheet management

• Focus on cash flow and balance sheet management
• Manage cash flow and inventory
• Use technology to improve cash flow
• Use technology to improve inventory management
• Use technology to improve your financial reporting
• Use technology to improve your credit management

Do what you can do the best to survive the economic downturn

• Focus on your strengths
• Have a strong team
• Keep your costs down
• Be flexible in the face of change and uncertainty; if you don’t know what to do, just keep doing what you’re doing for now (or go back to school)
• Have a plan for when things get better again

Final thoughts

To sum up, the only way to survive an economic downturn is to focus on your strengths and do what you do best.

If you’re an expert at something, make sure that your company does it well. If you have good people working for you, keep them happy and productive. Remember that just because times are hard doesn’t mean they always will be, so don’t give up on your dreams!

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Singapore-based impact investor Circulate Capital has announced the third close of Circulate Capital Ocean Fund I-B (CCOF I-B), bringing its total commitments to US$53 million.

International Finance Corporation invested US$10 million in CCOF I-B , while Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) devoted to private-sector financing, injected US$5.6 million. IFC’s investment includes an equity commitment of US$5 million from the Finland-IFC Blended Finance for Climate Change Program.

The latest close brings Circulate Capital’s total assets under management to US$165 million. This comes more than seven months after it announced a US$25 million second close of CCOF I-B. The fund was launched in June 2021.

Also Read: Lack of visibility, track record deter VCs from investing in firms combating plastic pollution: Rob Kaplan of Circulate Capital

CCOF I-B invests in companies across the plastic recycling and waste-management value chains. It also supports early-stage firms working on new delivery models, advanced recycling technologies, and new alternatives to single-use plastic.

“The race to unlock the investment potential of the circular economy is heating up,” said Rob Kaplan, CEO and Founder of Circulate Capital. “With institutional investors like IFC and Proparco jumping in alongside global corporations, foundations, and family offices, and several of our portfolio companies achieving significant milestones, it’s clear that the time to invest in the circular economy is now.”

CCOF I-B is also backed by a number of international investors, including Align Impact, Builders Vision, Benjamin Duncan Group, DF Impact Capital, Eden Impact, Huang Chen Foundation, Jebsen & Jessen, Minderoo Foundation, Rumah Group, North-East Family Office, SK2 Fund, Twynam Investments, the Woodcock Foundation, and Neil Yeoh of OnePointFive.

In April 2022, Circulate Capital announced an expected commitment to be made later this year by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will invest up to US$20 million in CCOF I-B.

Also Read: Climate tech is in a chicken-and-egg situation in Southeast Asia

William Sonneborn, IFC’s Senior Director of Disruptive Technologies and Funds, said: “The fund will help address plastic pollution and climate change through critical investments in recycling, waste management, and innovations in alternate materials and advanced recycling technologies. It will also increase access to much-needed capital for the small and medium-sized enterprises delivering these important solutions.”

Circulate Capital aims to deploy catalytic capital in partnership with leading corporations and investors to scale solutions that advance the circular economy and prevent the flow of plastic waste into the ocean in South and Southeast Asia. Launched in October 2018, the impact VC firm formed Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF) with US$106 million raised from several large corporate partners and Limited Partners, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Danone, Dow, P&G, and Unilever, and backed by USAID.

Circulate Capital has invested more than US$50 million in over a dozen companies, including Tridi Oasis, ACE Green Recycling, and Reciki.

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With supply chain disruption set to continue, harnessing technology is crucial in ensuring results-oriented risk management. In the Asia Pacific, at least 66 per cent of CEOs are concerned about their supply chains and rank it as their top threat to business growth.

For the region’s businesses, these hurdles can be overcome with effective investments and holistic management in technologies that improve traceability, develop collaboration and ensure faster, more cost-effective product delivery.

Overcoming risks via transparency

Blockchain is a secure decentralised database that has become a vital tool to ensure critical and sensitive data is protected. This unique network enhances accountability and trust among partners as data stored on the blockchain is immutable, which means it cannot be controlled or managed by a single source.

A shining example of its real-world use case would be its deployment in Thailand’s food and agriculture sectors. With digitalisation high on its agenda, the Thai government adopted blockchain technology to support, TraceThai.

The national traceability system was developed to ensure that organic foods were traded sustainably and transparently. Encrypted by blockchain to maintain data privacy and falsification, consumer confidence in the nation’s organic food sectors.

Enhanced visibility for decision making

Decision-makers need to access real-time information to assess their approach to service levels and demand.  The need to know about the current state of a business supply chain is critical especially when disruptions are happening in the market. Having the right data at their disposal allows for accurate and effective decisions that help manoeuvre unexpected situations.

Also Read: Asia-led global supply chain needs to reinvent itself to address climate change

For instance, the supply chain that is set to be revamped by blockchain is the food supply chain, especially the distribution of fresh produce. One of the costliest parts of food distribution is the recalls and it has been a major burden for the industry.

However, with the use of blockchain, businesses can use to increase the visibility and traceability of their products. For instance, animal feed supply chains can be tracked with blockchain from farm to store in real-time. Besides that, its function can also be used to monitor and control the spread of diseases in the animal feed which will reduce the financial impact of recalls.

Customer-centric supply chain

For businesses today, success hinges on effective supply chain management. The customer-facing downstream supply chain demand is now edging upwards, which forces upstream players like distributors, manufacturers and shippers to play catch up with the demand downstream.

Today, logistics has evolved into an important element of the overall brand experience and making it a more efficient and transparent process is imperative. Consumer demands for faster delivery and high availability have resulted in a greater focus on consumer-facing experiences in supply chain management.

A joint report by Facebook and Bain & Co. revealed that this was a key factor in customer retention for 32 per cent of the region’s consumers. These trends point to the fact that businesses cannot afford to neglect their customers and should build a customer-first supply chain.

How, then, should businesses, especially upstream supply chain players, adapt accordingly?

The answer lies in digitisation, specifically, harnessing blockchain to do away with unnecessary manual processes that impede traceability and transactions more generally.

With solutions that automatically collect data from multiple tiers of the supplier network, blockchain streamlines communication and validation between supply chain parties. This enables customer needs to be met in a timely fashion and ensures businesses are lean and cost-efficient by ensuring real-time assessment throughout the supply chain.

With the authentication of multi-party transactions crucial in the age of complex supply chains and disruption, dynamism and agility are business’ best bet for the future.

As the Asia Pacific continues down the path of digitalisation, it is high time that the region’s ports and shippers, too, embrace these efforts. Simply put, traditional supply chain management does not cut it, due to its limitations on simultaneous transportation of information with goods.

On the other hand, digitising trade via disruptive technology like blockchain will simplify procurement by streamlining data to save costs, reduce the working capital cycle and manage risk more effectively and efficiently.

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Singapore-based fintech startup SuperAtom has raised US$22 million in Series C financing led by Malaysia-based digital investment fund Nue 3 Capital.

The startup will use the funding to expand its global digital banking and credit products, starting with Mexico and the greater Latin America region.

Scarlett Xiao, Founder and CEO of SuperAtom, said: “In the coming months, we will begin establishing a local presence in these countries by hiring local talent, applying for local financial licenses, and focusing on new product development.”

Also Read: ‘Asia’s BNPL sector has great potential’, says Akulaku CEO William Li

Founded in 2018 by Cheetah Mobile Co-Founder Scarlett Xiao, SuperAtom has developed UangMe, a credit platform providing access to low-cost financing in Indonesia. UangMe claims to have attracted millions of users and disbursed hundreds of millions of dollars in loans since launching in 2018.

In addition to this, SuperAtom also offers a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) feature.

SuperAtom sees comprehensive financial services for emerging market users as an essential move to win market share. It said that its lending and BNPL businesses have paved the way to serve consumers better and build trust with commercial partners, while other add-on features would gain significant consumer adoption.

In the future, the firm plans to introduce wealthtech products.

In September 2019, SuperAtom raised US$24 million from Gobi Partners and a consortium of investors.

According to research by Bain & Company, over six in ten Southeast Asians remain underbanked or unbanked today with limited access to credit, and an even larger portion of the population is unfamiliar with wealth management.

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DART, a Manila-based quick commerce startup, has announced a pre-seed funding round of US$1.3 million led by Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. and existing investor Kaya Founders.

The startup, which currently serves Makati and Mandaluyong, will use the funds to expand to new cities shortly.

DART was founded in early 2022 by Harm-Julian Schumacher (CEO) and Tommy Campos (COO).

Schumacher was formerly deputy GM (Germany) European Q-commerce major Gorillas and previously worked with Bain & Company and Rocket Internet. Campos has built up his operational expertise at delivery behemoths Uber and Postmates.

DART promises grocery delivery within 15 minutes of placing an order. It provides various goods, including popular snacks, drinks, fresh produce, dry and frozen goods, and local partnership brands.

Also Read: The future of social and quick commerce for developing countries

The firm plans to tap the underserved online grocery market to grow its presence in the Philippines. With its 110 million people and an annual grocery spend of above US$50 billion, the country represents one of the most attractive markets in Southeast Asia for quick delivery service companies, it said.

The Q-commerce firm has also entered into an operational and supply partnership with Robinsons Supermarket. “This partnership provides an extreme value to our business, from the access to a large assortment, advantageous prices as well as leveraging Robinsons existing supply chain infrastructure,” Schumacher said.

Campos added, “We have tested many orders in the last months to understand our customers and operations better and fine-tune our offering. We have seen that 99 per cent of our orders are getting delivered within 15 minutes and are now confident to scale our business to more customers.

According to the e-Conomy study by Google, Bain & Company and Temasek, the penetration level is only 2 per cent compared to 25 per cent in the non-grocery space.

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Redundancy, the ability to scale to meet large traffic demands and expand globally has never been more important for companies, from content publishers to ed-tech platforms, app discovery platforms, and even sports organisations, especially in an increasingly digital economy where online users’ patience is at an all-time low and churn rate translates to missed opportunities for brands.

Evidently so, IDC recently found that 68.7 per cent of enterprises view application delivery services as relevant to their organisation’s edge strategy with 75 per cent of these enterprises expecting less than five ms latency.

As such, how can organisations minimise latency or sluggish site movements to deliver an optimal user experience in the modern digital era?

One solution is to implement a multi-CDN strategy.

What’s a multi-CDN?

A Content Delivery Network is a system of geographically dispersed servers that facilitates the delivery of digital content with high performance and high availability. The idea behind a CDN is to move content much closer to end users.

Also Read: Diversity and inclusion marketing campaigns: Everyone, everyday, forever

Instead of centralising digital content, such as web applications, web objects, files, downloadable media and streaming media, on a relatively small number of servers, the content is cached across many servers distributed around the globe.

End-users now retrieve the content they’re looking for from the closest Content Delivery Network edge server, rather than going all the way back to the origin to retrieve it. A website empowered by a CDN can see up to 30 per cent more organic traffic, 200 per cent higher conversions, 60 per cent lower bounce rates, and a 40 per cent lift in revenue.

A CDN can also instantly create a TV broadcast-quality experience while converting live streams on-the-fly into the right device formats. This results in much better performance (lower latency) for your customers. It also avoids overloading your origin and allows your audience to scale.

What are the benefits of a multi-CDN?

There are several reasons to consider a multi-CDN strategy:

Availability

While an outage may not rise to the level of global notoriety, it’s likely just as devastating for your business. As the Internet has become more critical to every aspect of business, minutes of downtime can impact your bottom line and damage customer relationships. Multi-CDN can minimise single points of failure by providing alternate delivery options in the event of an outage.

Performance

Whether delivering online video, web content, or software over the Internet, poor performance results in abandonment, customer frustration and a negative impact on your brand. It’s unlikely that any single CDN delivers the best performance for all traffic types, in all regions, all of the time.

By intelligently balancing your content delivery needs across multiple CDN providers, you can mitigate the impact of the performance glitches of specific providers, in specific regions, for specific traffic types.

Capacity

Large-scale content delivery events may create choke points in individual CDN providers or in certain locations. Multi-CDN alleviates these bottlenecks by distributing the data load amongst multiple CDNs rather than from a centralised location.

For large live events such as the Olympics, rapid scaling is a critical function of CDNs. If a match is tied near the end of regulation time, there are usually massive spikes with fans logging in to watch the final minutes.

Security

Internet security is an increasing concern globally. In fact, cybercrime represents the fastest growing cause of data centre outages. If a CDN is compromised it could negatively impact the ability of customers trying to access your digital content or their experience in accessing that content.

Also Read: How cloud computing is helping startups navigate the new normal

Having multiple CDN providers allows you to minimise exposure, or bypass compromised CDNs altogether, in the event of a cyberattack.

Is Multi-CDN right for you?

Multi-CDN has some compelling benefits, but it is not necessarily for everyone. Ask yourself these questions when considering if a multi-CDN strategy is right for you.

What is the impact of an outage on your business? Can you afford minutes or hours of downtime? The less tolerant your business is of an outage, the more advantageous a multi-CDN strategy will be

How much traffic does your digital content generate? Do you exceed usage limits or have traffic spikes that could be alleviated with an overflow capability to other CDNs? The more traffic, the greater potential benefit derives from multiple CDNs.

How performance-sensitive are your digital content delivery needs? Performance is really important in some applications, e.g. video streaming, but may not be as important in others, e.g. downloading software patches. Multi-CDN is likely to have greater benefits in performance-sensitive cases.

How big is your audience and where are they located? The larger, and more distributed the audience, the greater the need for multiple CDNs.

How is content being stored? Is your digital content stored in the CDN or outside of it? Storing your content in the CDN should result in performance and cost benefits, but it will mean replicating your content when using multiple CDNs or picking a CDN that allows origin access from other CDNs.

How will you switch traffic between multiple CDNs? There are a number of methods as previously discussed, but which makes the most sense for your business? Do you have the time to manage manual DNS approaches, or the expertise to tune performance methods?

What performance metrics are most important for your business? Does the performance-based switching solution you’re considering support the metrics most important to your specific content delivery application, e.g. rebuffer ratios, bit rate, availability, throughput, and response time?

How many CDNs will you deploy? There is a point of diminishing returns as more CDNs are added. Adding CDNs introduces a measure of complexity because each CDN has its own user interface, set of APIs, billing methodology, functional capabilities etc. Your development and operations teams will need to understand and manage these differences. Is your audience distributed across the globe?

If your answer is yes to these questions, multi-CDN may be most beneficial to your organisation.

Selecting the right CDN partner

Once you have determined that adding a CDN to your content delivery environment makes sense, the next question becomes which partner to select. Here are some important factors to consider:

Geographic coverage

Important questions to consider: where are your users located? Where are you looking to expand? Look for a partner that has a presence in the regions or countries where most of your users are located. When considering your global traffic distribution, it’s also important to think about future growth.

Also Read: How can lean startups build a resilient cybersecurity posture

If you expect to see increased traffic coming from emerging markets like India for example, a factor that into your decision now to avoid having to renegotiate your CDN contract or prematurely move CDN providers. Look for a partner that has a presence in places where most of your current and future users are located.

Performance metrics

Performance is a complex topic because it’s unique to different content delivery environments and workloads. It is fundamental to take into consideration the types of content you’re delivering and what performance metrics are most important to your customers’ experience.

Performance measurement

There are several performance monitoring tools commercially available, however, in many cases, results can be misleading. The best approach to evaluate performance is to do a trial or proof of concept with one or more CDNs, using your actual workload in the geographical regions that are most important to you.

Service and support

In times of need, excellent customer support can make all the difference. Consider how important it is for you to have access to live customer support. Will that support be available outside of business hours? What kind of support is offered in your region? Is the support free or is there a premium charged for this service? If you deliver live events what relevant experience does the partner have and are they willing to participate on a bridge before or during the event? Is the CDN vendor able to assist with onboarding or migrating from another CDN?

Content storage

Choices about content storage have a direct impact on workflow, total cost, and access speed. Poorly integrated storage can make it much more difficult to manage a large content library. You will have to consider whether there is a need to offload your content origin to a CDN and if so, how important is the performance of the CDN storage or mid-tier cache solution? Does the CDN storage solution support multi-CDN environments, and if so, how will the CDN storage solution you select to operate in a multi-CDN environment?

Final thoughts

Using multiple CDNs to deliver these digital content experiences promises even greater levels of availability and performance. By leveraging the right combination of providers, and enterprises you can simultaneously improve end-user quality of experience while lowering costs.

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The post 4 key things you need to know about implementing a multi-CDN strategy appeared first on e27.

Malaysia-based TNG Digital, the owner and operator of Touch’ n Go eWallet, has secured RM 750 (US$168.3) million in its latest equity financing round.

Lazada Group led this round and is joined by TNG Digital’s parent company Touch’ n Go Sdn. Bhd.

This round of funding brings the total amount raised by TNG Digital over the last 18 months to over RM 1 billion (US$224 million).

In addition to Touch’ n Go and Lazada, other shareholders of TNG Digital include Ant Group, insurers AIA Group and US-based venture fund BowWave Capital.

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“We feel this collaboration will bring next-level value propositions to users and merchant bases across the Lazada and Touch’ n Go ecosystem. I look forward to seeing the teams roll out these exciting collaboration opportunities to our users,” said Effendy Shahul Hamid, Group CEO of Touch’ n Go Group. “We will continue expanding in all digital financial services areas.”

Alan Chan, CEO of Lazada Malaysia, added: “We see digital payment services as a critical bolt-on to bring the best customer experience on Lazada. Lazada is fully committed to providing a seamless customer journey and being a catalyst to stimulate capacity building among our sellers, primarily local SMEs and MSMEs.”

Started in 1997, Touch’ n Go is one of the early companies that led the digital transformation within Malaysia’s mobility ecosystem.

In 2021, TNG Digital expanded its cross-border payments capability to Singapore, led by the e-wallet’s acceptance at ComfortDelGro taxis.

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