- Companies must accelerate integration of digital capabilities into their business to provide travellers with a contactless experience and securely protect their personal data.
- Indonesia has seen e-wallet platforms grow significantly over the last five years, but there is still room for domestic and international e-wallet players to enter the market given its size, an industry group says.
- Geospatial, or location-based data, technology is more crucial now amid the pandemic as it can be used to help contain the spread of Covid-19 through solutions such as crowd management applications.
- Over 73% of SMBs interviewed in India expressed confidence that they will survive and bounce back post-COVID-19, a number significantly higher than the regional average of 60%, the report said.
- A local energy company, Plus Solar, has created a solution that will allow users, especially businesses, to have total control over their electricity usage digitally.
- The commercial launch of 5G in the country is expected to usher in a new generation of digital services to both individual consumers and enterprise customers on top of super-fast internet for mobile phone users, according to PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications.
Tech is key to rebooting tourism
Southeast Asia relies heavily on tourism. Nationwide-lockdowns and international border closures imposed to contain the pandemic have been detrimental for the industry across the region.
There are, however, some small green shoots of recovery with a focus on domestic tourism and local spending. Popular tourist destinations like Thailand are poised to re-open and other destinations are also considering bilateral ‘travel bubbles’, ‘green lanes’, and ‘travel corridors’.
The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) strongly believes that further coordination amongst Asean governments, as well as partnerships with industry, will determine and map the pace of tourism recovery. Working hand in hand with industry will help accelerate the return and also drive new innovations that can be hallmarks across the industry moving forward, and establishing Asean as a role model to other parts of the world in terms of bilateral cooperation and industry-government engagement to plot the path forward.
Now is an opportune time for Asean to focus on developing a consistent framework for personal data protection and cybersecurity. As technological advancements continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, so do the threats. It is now critical to protect individual data, and travelers will demand assurance that digital interactions with the government and the industry remain secure.
Travelers will seek out destinations that have enabled and supported digital payments and commerce across all levels of the economy, with a focus on enabling contactless payment. As more tourism-related transactions go digital, it will be vital that SMEs accelerate the integration of digital capabilities into their business. There has never been a more important time to focus on bridging the digital divide.
E-commerce group sees room for digital wallet growth
Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA) digital economy head Bima Laga said many local e-wallets could compete with existing platforms on a national scale.
“There is an e-wallet that is popular in Bali that focuses on payments for hotel and leisure. I think it is very possible that such a local player could scale up and capture a wider market,” he said. He added that increasing internet penetration rates and the integration of e-wallets with e-commerce payment could help other e-wallet platforms emerge and grow.
Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) researcher Bhima Yudhistira added that digital wallets should cater to the growing edutech and e-health services. He agreed that there was room for more e-wallet platforms to operate in Indonesia, including foreign platforms. He added that in the future, new domestic digital wallets would choose to merge with existing e-wallets or work with banks because such collaborations would make it easier for e-wallet platforms to capture a wider share of the market, obtain consumer data and adopt existing technology.
A recent MarkPlus survey showed that ShopeePay had outperformed other e-wallet platforms during the last three months. The company captured 26 percent of the digital wallet market, while GoPay, OVO, DANA and LinkAja captured between 8 percent and 24 percent of the market. MarkPlus high-tech, property and consumer goods industry head Rhesa Dwi Prabowo said ShopeePay’s success was a result of its vigorous discounts and marketing, as well as its integration with e-commerce platform Shopee.
Digital payments in Southeast Asia are expected to reach $1.1 trillion in value by 2025, according to the 2019 e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. Accounting for just over $22 billion in 2019, e-wallet transactions are likely to grow more than fivefold and to exceed $114 billion by 2025, the study found.
Location-based data technology more crucial than before amid Covid-19 pandemic
Geospatial, or location-based data, technology is more crucial now amid the pandemic as it can be used to help contain the spread of Covid-19 through solutions such as crowd management applications.
Mr Simon Ong, acting chief executive of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), said: “By combining different data types and technology based on location, businesses can understand people’s movement patterns and deploy the necessary resources to protect their staff and the community,” he added.
Smart Nation and Digital Government deputy secretary Tan Kok Yam described geospatial technology as “a key capability of a smart nation”. “Location binds all our activities, and understanding the spatial and temporal aspects of these activities is key to gaining awareness and insight to predict situations, respond to problems and address challenges,” he said. “Therefore, geospatial technology and approaches can help us respond to the pandemic more effectively. Dashboards have sprouted… to enable authorities to track what’s going on.”
In Singapore, the open data-sharing platform OneMap provides citizens with Covid-19-related community information, such as where one can go to collect a free face mask, he said. Developed by the SLA, OneMap is a free local intelligent map service that is regularly updated with information contributed by government agencies.
Indian SMBs bet on digital transformation to rebound from COVID impact: HP study
A larger number of SMBs in India expressed confidence in bouncing back after facing challenges due to the pandemic, compared to the average seen in the Asia Pacific region, helped by digital transformation, a study by HP said. The HP Asia SMB Report 2020 surveyed 1,600 SMBs (with less than 200 employees) in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in May-June this year.
Over 73 per cent of SMBs interviewed in India expressed confidence that they will survive and bounce back post-COVID-19, a number significantly higher than the regional average of 60 per cent, the report said. SMBs in India recognise the importance of going digital to revive their businesses with three-quarters (75 per cent) of the surveyed businesses saying they believe that digital adoption is essential or very important to their success.
A key finding from the research is that the more a company values digital transformation, the more positive they are about future growth, and nowhere in Asia it reflected as strongly as in India, he said. The results of this study will enable HP in helping them adapt to new agile work environments, providing them the right devices, technology, and tools for them to unlock innovation for customers and drive growth for themselves, Patel added. Adequate cash flow and global instability topped the list of concerns for SMBs (38 per cent), along with challenges like accessing finance (20 per cent) and leveraging digital (19 per cent).
#TECH: Digitising energy usage
A local energy company, Plus Solar, has created a solution that will allow users, especially businesses, to have total control over their electricity usage digitally.
According to Ko Chuan Zhen, the company’s chief executive officer and co-founder, the solution is called “Source”, an intelligent cloud-based and artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) Energy Performance Management system. It connects a company’s energy and operations data in a single platform, generating savings.
“As buildings comprise a large portion of the global energy consumption, Source’s smart energy ecosystem will enable companies to monitor, control and maximise their energy savings and reduce operational costs,” he said. Furthermore, he said, with the ever-evolving era of digitalisation, industry players will increasingly utilise big data, AI and IoT in order to understand the energy pattern of users.
Ko said the idea to create such a solution came from the Fitbit smartwatch he was using, which could intelligently measure heartbeat and monitor health conditions. “The concept of the watch can be applied to industrial and commercial buildings where legacy systems keep track of energy consumption but are not utilised. This is where we use our solutions to dissect the data to help businesses save energy,” added co-founder, Ryan Oh Zhi Kang.
Source’s smart energy ecosystem maximises energy savings and reduces operational costs, especially in buildings that incur large energy consumption.”It combines the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) which comprises sensors and controllers that enable data acquisition from the premises,” he said.
Eventually, Plus Solar plans to build a full ecosystem which consists of the “Energy Trilogy” — energy generation, energy efficiency and energy storage. With all these in place, Plus Solar is eyeing the international markets for expansion, beginning first with the Southeast Asian countries.
5G network to usher in new digital services, says Smart
The commercial launch of 5G in the country is expected to usher in a new generation of digital services to both individual consumers and enterprise customers on top of super-fast internet for mobile phone users, according to PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications.
“5G is a major milestone in the development of mobile phone services and digital technologies. It is a platform that enables new technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud computing and other digital services that when combined will not only enhance existing services, but also make possible a new generation of wireless services,” PLDT-Smart public affairs head and first vice president Ramon Isberto said.
“To fully enjoy the benefits of 5G, people will need 5G-capable devices. The good news is, we are seeing more and more affordable devices in the coming months so that more people can benefit from 5G,” Isberto said. PLDT will roll out more 5G to targeted areas in Metro Manila this year and will extend the service to other urban centers next year.
Moving forward, 5G is expected to make possible new services such as wireless sensors for the automation of factories, seaports and airports, for traffic management and e-health services, according to Smart. PLDT’s 5G deployment plan involved a steady investment effort that has amounted to nearly P260 billion in overall capital expenditures over the past five years.
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