WHAT’S BUZZING
Singapore firms need to be prepared for cross-cloud management issues
As organisations in Singapore move towards a multi-cloud future, they will need to prepare themselves for cross-cloud management issues.
This is especially since the trend towards a cloud-smart workload optimisation will continue, requiring organisations to move apps among infrastructures as IT requirements and business objectives change.
Nearly all of the Singapore enterprises surveyed moved at least one app to a different infrastructure in the past 12 months, according to the Fourth Annual Enterprise Cloud Index by cloud software and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions provider Nutanix. Reasons for doing so include for security and compliance (48%), faster app development (44%), and integrating with cloud-native services like AI and machine learning (41%).
The study also found that the top three issues experienced by local multi-cloud adopters were integrating data across different cloud environments (53%), security concerns (50%), and application mobility (46%).
See also: Tesla Cybertruck to go on tour in China to burnish tech cred
To overcome those issues, the report suggests leveraging hybrid multi-cloud tools that abstract data and apps from underlying cloud platforms and centralise inter-cloud operations. Such tools will also empower businesses to build and enforce top-down, cross-cloud security and compliance policies to enable equally effective defences independent of infrastructure.
CFOs are prioritising technology to attract new hires: Workday
Amid the Great Resignation, CFOs worldwide are turning to technology to help improve the employee experience and attract finance talent.
See also: Samsung races Apple to develop blood sugar monitor that doesn't break skin
A recent study by Workday, a provider of enterprise cloud apps for finance and human resources, found that 48% of CFOs plan to invest in consumer-like interfaces for finance tasks to attract future finance talent within the next five years. This technology — including those that automate accounting, reporting, and financial planning and analysis processes — streamlines workflow and gives employees the ability to focus on strategic tasks.
The study also reveals that CFOs are looking for talents with skills in machine learning and artificial intelligence (57%), as well as analytics and data storytelling skills (40%). With such talents, the surveyed CFOs hope to be able to enrich their finance team’s ability to act as a strategic business partner.
“As the research shows, CFOs are ready and willing to invest in the technology and skills required to plug gaps and future-proof their teams. With Workday, they can unlock the potential of their people, processes and data in a single system. Our machine learning-infused applications can help their teams meet the evolving requirements for data managed and controlled by finance,” says Philippa Lawrence, Workday’s chief accounting officer.
IN PICTURE
Photo: TeamViewer
Ford Motor Company’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) team is using TeamViewer’s Frontline solution to provide enhanced support to automotive techni- cians across its global network of Ford dealers.
To stay ahead of the latest tech trends, click here for DigitalEdge Section
TAC specialists can now start a remote AR session using TeamViewer Frontline through a pair of onsite RealWear smart glasses to share in real-time exactly what the dealer repair technician is looking at. They can add on-screen annotations and additional documentation directly in the line of sight of the repair technicians, as well as zoom in, share their screen, record the session and even turn on flashlights remotely.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMERS
Tonik builds on Google Cloud to advance financial inclusion
Photo: Unsplash
Tonik Digital Bank (Tonik), the Philippines’ first digital-only neobank, is leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced platform to accelerate financial inclusion for Filipinos.
By using Google Cloud’s Apigee API Management platform to build and scale open banking application programming interfaces (APIs), Tonik can quickly integrate its mobile application with capabilities from third-party providers to make account opening and cash deposits fast, seamless and convenient.
To help Filipinos open accounts in under five minutes — instead of hours or days — Tonik interoperates with Daon, its partner for automated customer onboarding and biometric authentication.
The process starts with Tonik asking the customer for a selfie and a scanned copy of their identification. The neobank extracts text from these images through Google Cloud’s optical character recognition APIs and shares the information with Daon through another trusted API.
Daon then cross-checks the customer’s identity against official sources that issued the identification. This complex data flow is invisible to the user, who only needs to download the Tonik mobile application, verify their identity for account opening, and start banking.
Using APIs, Tonik also exchanges data securely with authorised ecosystem partners like 7-Eleven convenience stores and pawn shops to capture transactions in real-time. When a user makes a deposit at a 7-Eleven, they would see the completed transaction on their Tonik application and start earning interest immediately.
To further advance financial inclusion and achieve its target of growing its active customer base to a million users by December 2022, Tonik has also built an intelligent data lake using Cloud Storage on Google Cloud and BigQuery to provide hyper personalised customer experiences and help many Filipinos access loans for the first time.
By unifying data across systems and applying machine learning, Tonik can, for instance, implement quick and accurate alternative credit scoring methods. This enables it to serve individuals who have not formally engaged with financial institutions in the past, have no credit histories, and do not qualify for traditional bank loans as a result.
Besides that, Tonik has recently pioneered a consumer lending product called “Quick Loan” without the need for credit histories or collateral, followed by approvals within 30 minutes and real-time disbursement.
“Google Cloud has enabled us to deliver frictionless and customer-centric services that allow Filipinos to easily embrace the financial system. This collaboration — having played an integral role in Tonik being entrusted with more than US$100 million in consumer deposits to date — will empower us to continue expanding our product portfolio and drive real societal impact across the region,” says Greg Krasnov, founder and CEO of Tonik.
Chunghwa Telecom accelerates verification of Open Radio Access Network equipment
Photo: Unsplash
Chunghwa Telecom – Taiwan’s largest integrated telecommunications services company – has selected Keysight’s Open Radio Architect (Kora) solutions to accelerate verification of radio access network (RAN) equipment based on standards defined by the O-RAN Alliance.
It is the first operator in Taiwan to independently carry out multi-vendor integration and successfully verify open access network architecture. Rigorous testing under real-world conditions is critical to successful end-to-end integration of O-RAN equipment prior to live network deployment.
Chunghwa uses Kora to deploy connectivity services that support transportation, manufacturing, energy, commerce, agriculture and medicine sectors, as well as consumers.
“We are committed to creating an optimal communications environment based on O-RAN, 4G LTE, 5G, IoT, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, among other key technologies. Keysight enables us to quickly and confidently deploy advanced technologies that underpin Chunghwa’s digital transformation strategy,” says Chung-Yung Chia, vice president at Chunghwa Telecom Mobile Business Group.
“Many mobile operators are embracing open, disaggregated RAN architectures to create a robust multi-vendor environment that supports the reliable delivery of a diverse range of mobile broadband services,” says Kalyan Sundhar, vice-president and general manager for Keysight’s 5G edge to core solutions.
He adds: “We are pleased to provide Chunghwa Telecom with software-driven test tools that include built-in test automation capabilities, resulting in scalable and rapid validation of O-RAN compliant network infrastructure.”
Main photo: Julius Dros/Unsplash
