e27 has been dedicated to nurturing a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs since its inception. Our Contributor Programme offers a platform for sharing unique insights.
As part of our ‘Contributor Spotlight’, we shine a spotlight on an outstanding contributor and dive into the vastness of their knowledge and expertise.
In this episode, we feature Karen Kim, CEO of Human Managed, an ASEAN cloud-native data platform that empowers businesses to make smarter decisions and faster actions for cyber, digital and risk outcomes.
Kim shares her personal and professional journey in this episode of Contributor Spotlight.
Thoughts, goals, and journey
Kim’s unconventional tech journey began after graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Politics. For over ten years, she has explored customer-facing roles in industries such as telecommunications (British Telecom), recruitment (Hays), and social networking platforms (LinkedIn). This experience provided firsthand insight into the challenges organisations face and the impact of innovative products coupled with excellent service in driving outcomes.
Taking on the role of CEO of Human Managed in 2018 was a new challenge for Kim. Leading a bootstrapped company was unfamiliar territory, but Kim has always been one to embrace the unknown, following her curiosity and inspiration with purposeful steps.
Kim noted, “The past five years have been marked by tremendous personal and professional growth. I have led the team to define what value means to us intrinsically and to our customers and partners. Everything has flown from there — mission, culture, products. Today, my responsibility in Human Managed is to align its purpose to strategy and strategy to operations.
I enjoy combining my learnings, love for design-thinking, and service-first mindset in various domains, including branding, service design, and business development. I am proud to lead a different kind of company that dares to solve the complex problems of today’s data-flooded world.
Human Managed is consistently delivering value to our customers, trying new things and being able to learn from our mistakes quickly. In doing so, we are building an agile and fearless culture, something I am very proud of.”
The driving force
Human Managed’s mission is to assist enterprises in organising their data for smarter decisions and faster actions, enhancing cyber, digital, and risk outcomes. Over the past five years, the focus has been on crafting solutions that tackle various complex problems of the digital age, delivering significant value to customers. This year, recognising the need for broader visibility, the team explored e27 as a platform to build brand awareness.
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Kim said, “I knew that e27 is very well regarded as a media title that has created a vibrant ecosystem for startups and new technologies.
I am also aware that the e27 readership consists of various decision-makers spanning a range of industries that could benefit from our services. Hence, the Contributor Programme is an excellent opportunity to share our work at Human Managed.
My thought leadership piece published on e27, Data Decisions To Make in 2024 For Businesses To Become AI Native, is at the core of what we deliver to our customers every day.”
On evolving industry trends
Kim specialises in design thinking for efficient decision-making. With firsthand experience across industries, she understands the complex challenges faced by enterprises. Throughout her career, she has focused on developing products and services to improve decision-making for optimal results, having observed how decisions can lead to costly outcomes if based on irrelevant premises or inadequate processes.
Talking about noteworthy industry trends within her area of expertise, Kim emphasised, “Today, in a data-fuelled world, decision-making for enterprises has become even more complicated. Building on the disruption unleashed by Gen-AI in the past year, the rapid rate of innovation in AI and cloud-native tech solutions will see an explosion in data in the near future. By 2025, global data volume is expected to reach 175 zetabytes. Experts predict that data will be embedded in every decision, interaction and process.
With companies operating in complex data environments with various technologies working independently, it is challenging to achieve scalable digital transformation due to legacy architecture and talent skill gaps. As a result, businesses may use technology solutions without fully understanding their business context or relying on incorrect metrics, eventually leading to information overload. This, in turn, can cause indecisiveness and inaction, exposing companies to potential threats and making it difficult to identify and act on scalable opportunities. Additionally, it can also lead to difficulties in managing risk.”
Advice for budding thought leaders
“Thought leadership is about having a viewpoint that brings readers value,” Kim explains. “It’s less about your product and company and more about how you can solve a problem for the audience by sharing your knowledge and real-world experience. It begins with deep diving into your expertise and developing a set of topics within that field that can showcase your knowledge.”
According to Kim, staying updated on the latest trends in her relevant area of expertise is crucial to providing essential background data and context. Drawing on industry knowledge and personal experience, she highlights the necessity of effectively framing a problem, which acts as the hook to engage the audience. Following this, the focus shifts to developing the flow of the piece, establishing the problem, and ultimately providing the reader with a rewarding solution.
Also Read: Sapna Chadha: Navigating Southeast Asia’s tech landscape and AI trends
“Ultimately, creating a thought leadership piece is a business storytelling exercise. And the more you practise, the better you get at it. So read widely, write authentically and edit with your audience in mind,” she advises.
Juggling too many things?
Kim highlights the intricacies of work-life balance: “Balancing work-life is again about efficient decision-making- knowing what is essential. I don’t believe in making minute-by-minute plans, but I generally focus on two or three big daily tasks I must complete.
Delegating and collaborating are also essential in leveraging collective strengths and expertise at work: we can achieve more while lightening individual workloads. Leading a startup and delivering under tight timelines with limited resources can result in long working days at a time.
However, setting boundaries between work and personal life is crucial. I carve out dedicated time for personal activities, exercises, and self-care. I also appreciate the value of self-reflection and growing inward; whenever possible, I spend time journaling, practising yoga and mindfulness, and walking in the lush gardens of Singapore.”
Staying in the loop
Kim and her team remain attentive to data issues in the cyber, digital, and risk sectors, collaborating closely with customers and partners to understand critical challenges like asset management, posture detection, compliance management, extended detection, and threat management. This firsthand knowledge forms their strategies and product development for enterprises.
She also stays updated on industry developments by attending networking events and conferences and subscribing to various tech publications and platforms.
Kim recommends the following resources:
- Book: Machine, Platform, Crowd by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson explores how the collective intelligence of human and machine minds, product and platform dynamics, and core and crowd interactions will shape the digital-native future.
- Website: GZERO AI, a valuable resource for insights into AI and its impact on global affairs.
- Resources: Farnam Street, offering articles and blogs on decision-making and clear thinking.
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The post Karen Kim: Leveraging design thinking for efficient decision-making in data management appeared first on e27.