With news about the vaccine, we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we can’t heave a sigh of relief just yet. One of our contributor reminds us of the logistical challenges associated with distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.
And with increasing anxiety for the vaccine, the tech space is also abuzz with anxiety over ethics of AI and other emerging tech. Learn more about the future of self-driving tech and AI bots from our contributors.
Here’s a good fix of our top contributor posts for a relaxing weekend! If you have a counter view or more, share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.
How business owners can outwit even the most sophisticated hackers in a post-pandemic world by Andy NG, CEO of Nexusguard
“Organisations deploying heightened security into their infrastructures, elevating the need for a generation of cybersecurity experts with adaptable technical skills, who are able to respond to mitigate even the most critical threats. This means more specialised training is first required to mould these experts.
These talents must not only be skilled in tackling all forms of attacks but have a thorough knowledge of the evolution of cybersecurity threats affecting digital systems around the world, on top of real-world experience in mitigating cyber threats.”
Approaching AI-rmageddon: Will AI talkbots make our lives better or worse? by Deon Tan, outreach executive at Block71 Singapore
“Ethical issues concerning AI have been like a sea of dark clouds threatening a thunderstorm ever since the advent of AI technology. Despite the initial excitement over AI talk bots, many people – from tech experts to restaurant owners – have expressed ethical concerns over the proliferation of AI talk bots. Ironically, making talk bots extremely human-like poses the biggest ethical concern: How would we know if the person we are talking to is really who they say they are?
This concern is not a trivial one by any measure. In an era of fake news and identity theft, it is extremely worrying that a single person with nefarious intentions could so easily disseminate false information and plunge communities into a state of panic. What’s disturbing is that this is already happening without the help of AI.”
6 ways sentiment analysis is changing the e-commerce experience by Jacob Davis from Revuze, an AI-enabled tech startup
“Getting customer feedback is very important for any e-commerce business, especially now that the business world is becoming more customer-centric. In the world of big data, the essential thing is not just to have the data but to make meaningful insight out of the data at your disposal.
While you can get online reviews of your product from review sites and social media, you need to understand that the data you get from these channels are mostly unstructured. To gain any reasonable insight out of this data, you may have to devote hours of manual labour.
Opportunities in SEA
Why Southeast Asia desperately needs innovation in HR and how one accelerator is facilitating it by Daniel Callaghan, CEO of Veremark and The Workplace Accelerator
“HR Tech has seen investment treble from US$1.8 billion in 2017 to nearly US$6 billion in 2019 by VCs globally however only a fraction of that comes from Southeast Asia as a region despite the fact that exit multiples at seven times sales on average are significantly higher than most marketplaces, content or e-commerce businesses.
The region has yet to see its first HR Tech equivalent of a NinjaVan or Carousell or Zilingo and as such fantastic businesses that can make a massive difference often go under supported. We want this to end.”
Paving the way for Asian edutech to soft-land in Latin America by Alfreda Lee, Project Manager at Latin Leap VC
“As Asia is moving full steam ahead with technological innovations in the sector, the region could benefit from looking outward and lending a hand to those who are falling behind so that they may also improve and scale in the process.
Latin America, on the other hand, could stand to take some notes and capitalise on its potential for improvement by embracing Asia’s tried and tested solutions for emerging markets. This is especially relevant in light of COVID-19, which has forced more than 1.4 billion students worldwide to stay home. For students and education systems to stay relevant and competitive in these times, it is thus essential to capitalise on the benefits of technology.”
What Asia’s smallholder farmers really need and why startups should lead this uncontested race by journalist, Zuzanna Kamusinski
“Though these smallholder farmers remain some of the world’s poorest people due to reasons that were present long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the global smallholder agribusiness market is estimated to be worth more than US$400 billion.
If that’s the estimate now, what would the market look like if rural, smallholder farmers across Asia could harness digital technology to tap into the solutions and opportunities that are currently out of their reach?
Furthermore, if a technology company could tap into the smallholder market, they wouldn’t just be holding a huge slice of global food production, they would be presented with the opportunity to help lift a lot of people out of poverty.”
The world of logistics
Teleoperation: It’s here to revolutionise the logistics and supply chain industry by Amit Rosenzweig, founder and CEO of Ottopia
“Simply put, teleoperation empowers a human to remotely monitor and control a motorised vehicle. From the operator’s standpoint it is deceptively simple. But that’s only because an ingenious and enormously complex blend of technologies makes it so.
Teleoperation enables the transmission of multiple video feeds from the vehicle to the command station, and instructions from the command station to the remotely operated vehicle, in virtual real time. However, unlike robo-taxis, autonomous pods and autonomous shuttles, teleoperation technology is road-ready right now. There is no need for new, specialised vehicles, even existing fleets can be retrofitted for remote operation.
Teleoperation’s relevance is all the more timely on account of COVID-19.”
Addressing the logistics challenges of transporting the COVID-19 vaccines in and out of Asia by Kay Banzon, fintech and security enthusiast
“The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are set to be manufactured in the US and in Europe. Moderna’s vaccine, officially called mRNA-1273, will be produced in facilities in the US and Switzerland. The manufacture of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, on the other hand, will take place in Germany and Belgium.
Ordinarily, the main concerns regarding these vaccines are their availability and prices. Over the past weeks, discussions in the media have focused on how lower-income countries worldwide can avail of these products. However, it appears their storage and delivery are even more critical challenges.”
Being an entrepreneur
3 questions that will help maximise every entrepreneur’s productivity by Dhaval Sarvaiya, Cofounder of Intelivita
“For any entrepreneur, growth should be the primary focus and purpose. As an entrepreneur, you are solely responsible for charting the future growth story of the business. There are vital decisions to be taken as to how the business can enter and establish a presence in new markets, how the existing product line can be expanded to serve customers better, and also to bring in more revenue.
In other words, every single action of the entrepreneur should be geared towards bringing growth to the business. That calls for great decision-making skills. Taking a tough business decision is no mean task. You need a process, a framework, a structure to create great decisions.”
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