Business Review Asia - January 2017

Ja nu a r y 2017

www.businessreviewasia.com

Special Report

ZTE Corporation

In Tune with the MOBILE WORLD Q BR & A

UCE CEO POH COL ,ITE SIN LE GAP GE ORE

T X S NEINA’NT

TH A HR C H WO RC

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U F EA ID S A B A GI

Every industry has a digital disruptor.

Let’s make it you.

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“

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Malcolm Chiu, CIO, QNET

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EDITOR’S COMMENT

TALKING TECH HELLO AND WELCOME to the January issue of Business Review Asia. We hope that you’re as excited for 2017 as we are!

Kicking off this issue, we explore recent innovations from Chinese search giant Baidu.

More than just China’s answer to Google, the company has grown into a formidable tech giant, as we shall see. We also speak to Bruce Poh, CEO of Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education, about how the organisation is preparing the nation’s youth for the careers of tomorrow. Last but not least, we rank the top 10 Asian buildings following the recent MPIM Asia 2016 awards.

We also profile a number of successful businesses in the region, including Tune Talk and ZTE Corporation.

Enjoy the issue!

Nye Longman Editor Nye.Longman@bizclikmedia.com Join the debate on Twitter - @MrNLon @BizRevAsia

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CONTENTS

PROFILE

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F E AT U R E S

The future of Baidu

TECHNOLOGY

K EEPIN SING G WORAPOR KINGE

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January 2017

TOP 10 ASIAN

BUILDINGS

C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES Tune Talk Technology

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Mastercard

Technology

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State Bank of India Group Technology

78 50

Yoma Bank Technology

ZTE Corporation Supply Chain

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PROFILE

The future of Baidu Business Review Asia explores Chinese tech major Baidu and speculates about its role in the country’s future internet landscape Writ ten by: NYE LONGMAN

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January 2017

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PROFILE

BAIDU WAS ORIGINALLY known in business circles as China’s (statebacked) answer to Google. But that view is looking more dated by the day as the company continues to innovate and diversify amidst a constantly evolving technology scene. Nowadays Baidu faces competition from local players such as 360 Search and Sogu Search, as well as multinational giants such as Yahoo!China, MSN, and Google – pressure that it cannot afford to ignore.

While internet penetration in China currently stands at a little over 50 percent (ranking it next to such countries as Vietnam, South Africa, and Panama) the number of users stands at around 700 million – a number that presents myriad challenges and opportunities.

Tapping into a further 600 million users would be a growth catalyst for business across China – and not just those engaged in eCommerce as a primary revenue stream. With its strategic position in the market, Baidu is poised to capitalise on growth in this area, which perhaps at least partially 8

January 2017

explains why the company now offers over 40 different services.

Alongside its main search engine function, Baidu users can expect assistance with everything from navigation (Baidu Maps), travel bookings (Qunar), and web analytics (Baidu Tongji), to internet TV (Baidu

THE FUTURE OF BAIDU

Maps: going global Baidu’s maps service is currently expanding beyond China and is now available worldwide, with an eye on competing with Google Maps for dominance. In a bid to facilitate data sharing and cooperation, Baidu Maps has sought out a strategic partnership with a number of tourist administrations, namely those in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, with its eyes fixed on more going forward.

Movies), and a language assistant for Chinese visiting Japan. The giant is also investing in emerging technologies such as AI and Deep Learning, and is using its data expertise for biological research.

A number of challenges remain (both economic and political)

before this growth can be fully realised, as well as a great deal of uncertainty going forward.

The elephant in the room is how the internet is currently monitored and censored in China. The country is home to the largest number of people imprisoned for internet 9

PROFILE

violations; it’s notorious ‘Great Firewall of China’ limits access to certain sensitive topics and also causes a number of other problems for Chinese browsing internationally. In terms of internet freedom, China ranks among some of the lowest in the world.

The future for Baidu and others like it will hinge on how the Chinese regime plans to manage censorship in the future, as well as how the political landscape evolves with the changes that technological innovation brings. Currently, the ability for businesses to operate and transact online isn’t very much affected (just look at the growth of ecommerce in the country).

But how long will this last? While China’s internet reputation is one of the lowest in the world in terms of freedom, there is nothing to say that this will last forever. From a Western perspective, one hopes that China’s recent ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement will find similar expression when it comes to the internet.

One possible clue lies in how Xi Jinping’s Government plans to utilise 10

January 2017

big data harvested from China’s populace. By 2020, the regime hopes, the fiscal and government information for each citizen will be collected and compiled to build a colossal ‘social credit system’ which will provide a score for trustworthiness. With the first pilot scheme already in full swing, it remains to be seen how pervasive the scoring system will be in ordering economic and social activity in the future, if at all. Capturing over 60 percent of all internet searches in China, Baidu’s role in this massive project will regardless be massive.

As is the case with all quasiparastatal companies, Baidu’s future will be determined in no small part by the path that the Government chooses. While political and technological disruptions throw up a great deal of uncertainty about the future, it helps the company’s case that it is well positioned to straddle both of these factors for some time to come.

Its ability to innovate has surpassed being a Google copycat and it can stand on the strength of its own abilities and achievements.

THE FUTURE OF BAIDU

Meet Melody - Baidu’s medical Chat bot Melody is integrated to work alongside Baidu’s Doctor App. It will use deep learning to gather patient information related to medical questions and could prove to be a well-informed doctor’s assistant. The more patients interact with the bot, the more refined its picture becomes. While only at the test stage in some Chinese medical centres, the technology is grabbing attention from across the world, which currently has suffers from a shortage of human doctors.

Baidu supports self-driving cars The company recently announced a partnership with computer technology talent nVidia to produce systems for self-driving cars. With demand for high-end embodiments of this technology likely to be highest in China, the two companies are poised to capitalise on this opportunity. Specifically, Baidu will be using its mapping technology and cloud service platform to provide data support to the project.

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TECHNOLOGY

KEEPING SINGAPOR E WORKING How ITE S ingapore i s deliverin needed sk g much ills to one of the wor pioneering ld’s high-tech economies Writ ten

by N Y E LONGMA

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TECHNOLOGY

TASKED WITH FULFILLING an ever expanding need for worldclass workers, Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is championing vocational education and skills standards across a number of industries. With a first-world economy, Singapore is among many leading countries that are deploying the latest technology to enhance growth and prosperity. But how is this being implemented? And how is the country building the skillset it needs to stay on track for future growth?

Following a visit to ITE College HQ back in June, I speak to ITE Director and CEO, Bruce Poh, to find out more.

1) What does technology mean to ITE? Technology is very much embedded in our programmes, teaching, and learning approaches. It is important for our lecturers and students to keep pace with the rapid developments of technology. While technology can serve as an enabler, it can also be disruptive to many existing jobs, skillsets and businesses. We see this as an important challenge for us to remain relevant and continue to upskill and climb up the knowledge 14

January 2017

ladder to enhance the capabilities of our staff and students.

At ITE, we harness technology to enhance learning for students, individually, or as a group. Through such exposure to technology early in their studies, students are savvy for the 21st century demands of the workplace.

2) How does ITE harness technological innovations to improve the learning experience?

We are constantly looking to see how we can intensify and scale-up ICT-enabled learning that appeals to our students, who are mostly kinaesthetic learners. Besides equipment provided in school, we encourage students to bring their own devices to labs and interact with lecturers through flipped learning.

For example, just last year, ITE won the Wenhui Award for Educational Innovation, established by the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO, and coordinated by the UNESCO AsiaPacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID). ITE won this Award for our “Innovations in 3D Applied

KEEPING SINGAPORE WORKING

ITE Headquarters & ITE College Central

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TECHNOLOGY

Enhanced Internship - Changi Airport Technologies for Skills Development�.

We have a Centre for Technology in 3D Applied Technologies where students from our marine engineering, aerospace, and floristry courses use 3D virtual reality learning to “authenticate� work processes and environments. The approach is being scaled up for other courses where opportunities for real-life experience is limited yet necessary to undertake such work.

To ensure our faculty is in tune with industry developments, we have Technology Development Centres (TDC) at each of the three 16

January 2017

colleges to provide authentic learning opportunities through technology consultancy and projects. The TDC collaborates with industry partners to develop products and systems for business innovation and productivity enhancements.

These are done through a multidisciplinary engineering lab ranging from electronics, to ICT, materials, and mechanical engineering. The projects executed include development of autonomous vehicles, medical devices for kidney stone surgery, IoT applications, smart sensors, and 3D printing.

KEEPING SINGAPORE WORKING

3) What makes ITE the destination of choice for learners?

Good career options and marketrelevant courses. Today, we offer more than 100 full-time courses, compared to just 24 when ITE became a post-secondary institution in 1992.

Students have a wide range of courses, across 11 sectors (compared to only four in 1992) to choose from. These courses are created according to industry demand, while ensuring most students can find a course that fits their areas of interest and strengths.

The development of the new ‘Regional’ Colleges has allowed ITE to introduce more choices and multi-disciplinary programmes for students, and innovative pedagogic approaches via ‘Authentic Learning’ and ‘Immersive Learning’, where teaching and learning occur in spaces simulating real-life work environments.

For example, our aerospace students train in an actual Boeing 737 and other aircrafts; our hospitality students train in a 22-room Campus Hotel and four training restaurants; our healthcare students learn in simulated hospital wards, using high-fidelity mannequins. Our engineering students

learn to work on ‘virtual oil-rigs’ in a 3D virtual reality lab, diagnose and repair ‘faulty’ lifts and escalators, and manufacture products using flexible manufacturing systems and robots.

Our graduates are highly sought after by industry, with about 90 percent of them being employed within six months after graduation. ITE is a destination that one can be assured of a bright future in an area of one’s passion.

We also have a Holistic Student Development Framework to provide opportunities for students to engage in enrichment and development programmes beyond the formal

ITE College East

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TECHNOLOGY curriculum, including opportunities for global education overseas, personal leadership development, sports, arts and cultural development. Under the global education programme, thirty percent of our students have the opportunity for overseas exchanges, internships and service learning.

The Colleges also have a rich array of Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs), which grew from 110 in 2006 to more than 250 currently. Students have autonomy to start new CCAs if they are not already offered.

One key feedback we often hear from our graduates is the care they experience from their lecturers. We have a strong care culture among staff, as shown in the passion and care of lecturers towards students.

ITE intentionally hires staff who show good cultural and values fit, including personality traits that are aligned with the ITE Care (Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence) values and passion to connect with our students.

We have excellent facilities and learning environment for our students.

Today, we have three facility- and feature-rich mega-campuses.

Students enjoy modern, state-ofthe-art learning facilities that are 18

January 2017

the envy of their peers. ITE College East was established in January 2005; ITE College West in July 2010; and ITE College Central and ITE Headquarters in January 2013.

4) What developments does ITE have planned for the next five years?

ITE, together with the five polytechnics and six universities, works in tandem with Singapore’s manpower strategies to develop skilled manpower for the nation. ITE’s current fiveyear strategic roadmap – the ITE Trailblazer– is aligned to the national SkillsFuture initiative. The plan is ITE’s strategic response to Singapore’s next phase of development as an advanced economy and society.

In the SkillsFuture agenda, the focus of skills education is continual learning, both on and off the job, and mastery of skills through applied and lifelong learning. In line with the SkillsFuture initiatives, ITE equips our students to be career-ready, with several key approaches.

Since 2015, we implemented 40 hours of the Enhanced Career Counselling (ECG) curriculum across two years for all ITE students.

KEEPING SINGAPORE WORKING

Bruce Poh, CEO

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TECHNOLOGY

ITE College West

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January 2017

KEEPING SINGAPORE WORKING

Through the ECG curriculum, students are guided on areas such as choosing a career, and applying relevant transferable skills for the workplace. To give targeted attention, a total of 18 ECG counsellors have been deployed to the three Colleges, with six at each College.

Implemented in 2015, we have worked with industry and companies as co-learning partners, to provide structured internships under an Enhanced Internship Framework. The scheme provides work-based learning, and opportunities for students to develop and deepen skills sets via real work in industry. Students undergo structured internships for three to six months via a prescribed, agreed task list under the guidance of an industry trainer. To date, 60 percent of ITE courses have Enhanced Internships.

By 2020, all full-time students in 101 ITE courses would have the opportunity to undergo this programme.

To ensure that the skills we teach are relevant, and our students have good employment opportunities when they graduate, we work closely with industry in our curriculum planning process.

We have industry representatives in our eight academic advisory

committees, and hold regular focus groups with the industry professionals, to ensure that we are in touch with industry and technology changes.

While we can never predict the technological changes of the future, we can future-proof our graduates with competencies that will stand them in good stead for the future.

These 21st century competencies, such as problem solving skills, crosscultural competencies, communication and digital skills, and self-directed learning skills are taught as part of LifeSkills in ITE, and infused in the skills-based programmes and applied learning environments.

To increase their value, relevance and versatility vis-a-vis rapid technological changes, ITE prepares students for related occupations under a single cluster rather than skills for a single trade area. This means students are ready for a group of related jobs, and are flexible to pick up skills for these related jobs. We also have plans to use discipline-specific pedagogy, which helps us adapt and differentiate different pedagogies practised in different clusters of courses. This results in better engagement of students and learning outcomes.

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TOP 10

TOP 10 ASIAN

BUILDINGS Business Review Asia takes a look at the region’s best buildings, based on highlights from the MIPIM Asia 2016 awards Written by N Y E L O N G M A N

THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of breathtaking Asian buildings and skylines, so winning gold at the MIPIM Asia Awards takes something really quite special.

Bringing together thought leaders of all specialities in the construction industry, the awards showcase the very best the continent has to offer.

Combining delegate and jury voting across 11 diverse categories, the awards bring together over 850 participants hailing from over 500

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companies. Furthermore, around 50 percent in attendance are at either CEO or Chairman level, with the other 50 percent holding an executive or senior executive role. The awards offer a chance for these construction and real estate high flyers to network and collaborate through a range of minievents, including targeted breakfasts, cocktails, a topic-based lunch, a gala dinner, and networking breaks.

: W W W. P R O P E R T Y G U R U . C O M . S G / P R O J E C T / H 2 O - R E S I D E N C E S - 2 0 6 0 6

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Fushengu Hotspring resort CHINA

Winning gold in MIPIM’s Hotel and Tourism division, Fushengu Hotspring resort is located in Sichuan, China.

Timber and stone clad buildings encircle geothermal pools and a range of relaxation areas, all nestled amongst a rural woodland backdrop.

It was designed by AIM Architecture.

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H2O Residences SINGAPORE

Tasked with integrating a residential project with both Singapore’s iconic skyline and the local environment, H20 Residences earned MIPIM’s gold award in the Green Build category. And it’s little wonder; the residence has its own unique rainwater filtration system built into its gardens. Alongside its MIPIM accolade, H2O has been awarded Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) certification in recognition of its contribution to Singapore’s natural waterways.

TOP 10 ASIAN BUILDINGS

I M G : W W W. A E D A S . C O M / E N / A R C H I T E C T U R E / S I N A - P L A Z A

IMG:CASESTUDIES.ULI.ORG/

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Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) CHINA

Supporting Shanghai’s bold move to rival America’s Silicone Valley, KIC won gold in the Mixed Use division. Located in Yangpu District – the city’s innovation hub which is home to 17 universities and a number of modern businesses – KIC hosts research capabilities for various high tech industries.

Sina Plaza

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CHINA

The gold winner of MIPIM’s Office and Business Development accolade, Sina Plaza houses the headquarters of Sina Corp – one of China’s largest media companies. The 124,500 square metre development is designed to reflect the (∞) infinity symbol, which represents the company’s appreciation of the limitless power of the internet.

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Gramercy Park

Court of Final Appeal

SINGAPORE MIPIM’s gold winner in the residential category, the twin-tower Grammercy Park development represents some of the best in prime Singapore real estate, just a stone’s throw away from the hustle and bustle of the city’s famous Orchard road.

HONG KONG

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This year’s gold winner for best refurbishment went to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. A building that holds much significance for the city-state, the courthouse was one of the British Empire’s first municipal structures in the region.

TOP 10 ASIAN BUILDINGS

Lee Tung Avenue

Shanghai DreamCenter

HONG KONG Scooping gold for best retail development, the Lee Tung Avenue is a new 200 metre tree-lined pedestrian walkway that leads to Hong Kong Island. Showcasing a number of local and international high street stores, the street has space for regular events.

Winning the gold award for urban regeneration, the Shanghai DreamCenter represents one of the country’s largest cultural investments.

A collaboration between Hong Kong Lan Kwai Fong Group, DreamWorks Animation, and Shanghai China Media Capital, the development will be a world-class platform for entertainment, food, and the arts.

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Forest City Masterplan MALAYSIA Located in the Iskandar Development Region in Malaysia, MIPIM’s Futura Megaproject gold winner will be a sight to behold. Strategically located in close proximity to Singapore, the city will boast financial institutions, technology and biotech research facilities, and a variety of creative industries. Once completed, the development could employ almost a quarter of a million people.

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TOP 10 ASIAN BUILDINGS

Tencent Seafront Headquarters CHINA The gold prize for MIPIM’s Futura China Project was awarded to Tencent’s Seafront Headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Scheduled for completion this year, the double-tower structure will provide a campus atmosphere for Tencent’s employees. The building will boast a number of energy-saving design features including natural ventilation and a sun glare control system.

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In Tune with the MOBILE WORLD

Written by Jennifer Johnson Produced by James Pepper

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T U N E TA L K

Tune Talk started out

selling SIM cards for cheap — now they’re defining the future of telecommunications in Southeast Asia

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n the consumer technology market — perhaps more than any other— building and maintaining a brand identity is vital to success.

Companies operating in this space need to know how their products contribute and connect to their ethos. But do service providers within the tech industry need to hold themselves to the same standard?

“The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) sphere is very saturated,” admits Tune Talk CEO Jason Lo. “But you may not be able to pinpoint what these brands stand for. Some of them don’t have a clue themselves.”

“What does Tune Talk Stand For?” When Tune Group chairman Tony

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Fernandes asked Lo to come on-board as Tune Talk’s Chief Executive in late 2007, the corporation was already developing a unified brand across its growing family of companies. Fernandes acquired AirAsia in 2002, when it was US $11 million in debt and had only two Boeing jets to its name. In the years that followed, he transformed the company into Asia’s largest budget airline and expanded Tune Group’s portfolio to include ventures in sports, lodging, entertainment and telecommunications.

Tune Talk made its debut in August of 2009, offering affordable prepaid mobile rates using existing network infrastructure provided by Celcom, Malaysia’s longest-running

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

telecommunications network. From like Pokemon Go, there is good reason the start, the company’s vision to start investing in more robust, aligned with the rest of Tune Group: next generation mobile networks. they offered access to modern and “The spectrum is not utilised innovative services at a low cost. efficiently at all, because it is At first, Lo recalls that Tune Talk fragmented by a service provider,” Lo primarily sold SIM cards to migrant explains. “Because it is fragmented workers, with 80 percent of Malaysia’s by a service provider, it is reliant upon foreign calls made on the the movements of the herd.” network. Today, that Lo and Tune Talk have figure is closer to 25 envisioned a world in percent, and Lo is which no one ever working toward has to be without cornering another access to mobile crucial market. internet — and the “We made solution is called The year a conscious “Swag”. Some decision to mobile developers was founded go for the youth are releasing devices segment,” Lo which come equipped to explains. “We are going hold multiple SIM cards, but for the youth because they are Lo realised that this system wouldn’t the primary influencers now.” truly solve mobile connectivity issues.

In principle, many others telcos “Are you looking at download will be vying for the custom of speeds or upload speeds?” he asks. younger generations — but in order “Because if I’m downloading a lot of to genuinely compete, they must data, then of course I’m just gonna anticipate a rise in demand for go for download. But if I’m using data. Given the recent success of Facebook and uploading family augmented reality (AR) gaming apps videos, I want the best upload speed.”

2009 Tune Talk

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T U N E TA L K

In essence, the Swag system (an acronym for ‘Super WiFi Anywhere you Go’) is an advanced version of existing MiFi modems. These devices are mobile WiFi routers which act as hotspots and also work with SIM cards. Swag utilises the mobile spectrum from up to three network operators to consistently deliver the Currently the CEO of Tune Talk, strongest mobile signal to Malaysia’s latest MVNO under Tune Group, founded by Tony Fernandes customers. Its inventors, of AirAsia. From the ground up in a 115 Rami Aladdin and Raphael percent saturated market in 2009 till today Mannadiar, were working to with 150 percent saturation, Tune Talk amalgamate WiFi hotspots has well over 1.2 million active subscribers when Lo approached them on our service. Highest ARPU amongst all prepaid brands, yet the lowest rates. with a partnership offer.

Jason Lo is also a musician and produces “These are scientists albums. He has created many youth oriented working out of a garage, platforms such as Pesta Malam Indonesia doing the Steve Jobs and Rock the World – a 15 year old Rock festival, which is the largest in Malaysia. kind of thing,” Lo says Lo also co-created the MyTeam Football of the pair. “And they reality program, which was the highest had a eureka moment.” rated reality show in Malaysia at the time, Now, after spending two and is now franchised to Indonesia. years in the research and Many players have made it to the national league, with some even development phase, Swag is making the national team. He was poised to disrupt the provision also a radio DJ under AMP, and of mobile Internet in Malaysia. And a TV Talk show host for 8TV. ‘disruptor’ is a role Tune Talk is more than happy to play in its industry.

“What does Tune Talk stand for?” asks Lo,

o L n Ja so CEO

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“

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TECHNOLOGY

We are going for the youth because they are the primary influencers now

with his answer already to hand. “We’re communitydriven, we build verticals across that. We’re very technological in what we do and we love media. We love music and movies and creating dreams.”

Building the ‘Malaysian Invasion’ Grand as these guiding principles may seem, the company has, in fact, made successful ventures into the entertainment sector. Lo launched his own career in the music industry, and though he traded hit-making for

telecommunications, he has made popular culture an integral part of Tune Talk’s identity. This summer, it launched CRAP.TV, a cloud-hosted online TV platform which streams live content in addition to an on-demand back catalogue. Viewers are encouraged to submit their own content to be broadcast on the network, or even create their own series.

“We perceived the cloud as being

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T U N E TA L K

the medium where we could launch our satellite and broadcast television,” Lo explains. Traditional ‘terrestrial’ television was introduced before the advent of the digital age. However, the way that people choose to consume media has changed, and with CRAP.TV, Lo wanted to create video content for the mobile generation. “The cloud should be the heartbeat of any television station,” he says.

Leaning back to what Tune Talk stands for, the company also focuses on niche groups like the mixed martial arts communities through the Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts (MIMMA), which is now the biggest MMA fighting championship in Asia if not the world. The organization has managed to discover countless amateur talents locally and has seen its fighters graduate to fight professionally at the Jalluddin international stage for organizations Abu Hassan like ONE Championship, led by Victor Cui. CFO Tune Talk has created a healthy feeder program that is now the gold standard for

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It is our commitment to simplify the process of purchasing insurance. In just three steps, customers are instantly protected with a Tune Protect plan of their choice

1

Select the desired plan

2

Fill in particulars

3

Click the purchase button

Our website also doubles as an online channel to make claims. Customers only need to take snapshots of their supporting documents and upload these onto the site. All made possible with Tune Protect. Live life worry-free! * T&C apply

TECHNOLOGY

amateur fight organizations and fighters. The idea came directly from Lo. “It’s called Malaysian Invasion because I wrote a song called ‘Malaysian Invasion’ once,” he explains.

Lo is keen to attach the Tune Talk name to many different initiatives across the country. The company has also put its stamp on a campaign called Malaysian Invasion Spirit in Motion (MISIM), which has brought exposure and support to Malaysia’s

Paralympic athletes since the Incheon Para Games in 2014 and the support for the athletes is at its alltime high during, and after the Rio Paralympic Games 2016. MISIM is not preparing the public and athletes for more sports events leading up to the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020.

“Now we’re moving onto MIRIM, which is the Malaysian Invasion Revolution in Music,” says Lo. The concept, still in its early

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Fly With Wi-Fi ROKKI is a leading provider of in-flight entertainment and connectivity, serving as an inair digital platform for media, e-commerce, content streaming, and connectivity on AirAsia.

www.rokki.com | enquiry@rokki.com

Established in January 2006, Forest Interactive Sdn. Bhd focused on providing Application Development and Mobile Content Services to other Content Partners & Aggregators operating in Malaysia. Our primary aims broaden to specialize in developing and providing software solutions in the areas of creative multimedia and telecommunications and as well as ICT. Our experience allowed us to expand to Indonesia where in 2009 we established our sister company based in Jakarta – Pt. Forest Media International – to support the growing demand for mobile content services in the most populous country in South East Asia – and over the years, we have grown to diversify and become more focused on our core expertise which is in the Mobile Industry.

www.forest-interactive.com | info@forest-interactive.com

TECHNOLOGY

stages, involves crowdsourcing different parts of a song using an app. At present, Lo is in the process of negotiating radio airplay for the music that users create — it’s all part of Tune Talk’s larger vision for the future of communication.

“Communities will build songs together,” he says. “Apps will bring people together because they break through the need to transport yourself, they break through monetary barriers and they break through social hindrances.”

Pick your data dealer Naturally, Tune Talk has an interest in app development.

The company is currently working on an augmented reality app called Sniper, which will see players duelling with their phones in real time. Lo has also said that he’s currently developing a fashion app that will allow users to ‘try on’ clothes virtually before purchasing them.

If you’re in the business of selling data, the integration of AR into our daily lives is a lucrative prospect.

Joseph Lim Chief Marketing Officer

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T U N E TA L K “When Star Wars comes into the real world, you’re going to have Jedi walking down the street,” Lo predicts.

“You’re going to have people watching Godzilla battling one of those giant aliens in the middle of London.

Everyone will be holding up their phones and looking at a virtual site.”

With demand for mobile connectivity constantly increasing, mobile networks and data merchants have their work cut out for them. How will customers decide which network is best suited to their needs? Low prices are enticing, but a fully-realised brand goes a long way toward guiding customer perceptions.

“Brand and marketing are different,” Lo insists. “Marketing is the amplifier. Brand is every touch point of your product or service, it’s your dealer or retailer.”

Dealers are an important part of Lo’s vision for Tune Talk. Retailers can build trust in an interaction with a customer, and communicate the company’s values. In a world

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where customer relationships can increasingly be managed online, many smartphone users still have to go into a bricks-and-mortar shop to select a SIM card. “You need an ‘army’ on the ground more than ever,” Lo says.

Committed as Tune Talk is to innovation, Lo believes that there is no substitute for old-fashioned, face-to-face customer service.

“It’s sexy to say ‘I have my own telco’, it’s not as sexy when you have to build the customer care units,” he says. “You have to build a solid brand with real values.”

With a major corporation behind it — and clearly outlined vision for the future before it — Tune Talk is ready to indulge the mobile needs of the digital native. “There are studies that have shown that the same areas in your brain which are affected by cocaine are stimulated by looking at screens,” Lo claims, half-joking.

Tune Talk wants to help Malaysia’s youth get their fix.

200

The number of employees at

Tune Talk

Banking in Myanmar in the palm of your hand Written by Jennifer Johnson Produced by Mariana Lee

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YOMA BANK

With Myanmar’s unprecedented adoption of the smartphone, Yoma Bank aims to provide clients with customer-focussed solutions they can access outside the branch network

A

s emerging markets go, Myanmar is in a unique position.

Just five years ago, a civilian government came to power, with the shift swiftly opening the country up to global markets and trade. This in turn presented a series of diverse challenges for the financial sector – the most pressing of which is to rapidly modernise in order to meet the needs of Myanmar’s people.

With entry of two foreign telcos, growth in the Burmese mobile phone market has reached unprecedented levels, with smartphone penetration now exceeding 70 percent. The

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widespread availability of internetenabled phones is disrupting the provision of traditional banking services, with users increasingly demanding mobile alternatives.

Yoma Bank, one of Myanmar’s largest commercial banks, is working to develop customerdriven solutions that will allow smartphone users to access financial services with the tap of a touchscreen. Since it was founded in 1993, Yoma Bank has led the drive toward innovation in Myanmar’s banking sector. It was

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Misys FusionBanking Essence

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Valued? Today’s consumers expect the services they use to match their lifestyle, whether that’s hailing a taxi through their phone or managing their money.

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To find out more about our solution offering, please visit www.misys.com/outside-in or email us at asiamarketing@misys.com www.linkedin.com/company/misys

https://twitter.com/MisysFS

TECHNOLOGY

the first bank in the country to adopt a computerised accounting system and wireless banking communications.

Now, it is readying its customer offering to compete in the mobile world.

“Traditional infrastructure in Myanmar is poor, but telephony is strong,” explains Serge Pun, Executive Chairman of Yoma Bank. “Myanmar has already launched 4G. It’s pretty remarkable that the bulk of country has gone from never having a phone of any sort to having 4G in a matter of 24 months.”

As it stands, customer services in the country’s financial sector are constrained, with branches acting as the only channels of communication between account holders and their banks. However, branch opening hours are restricted from 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday, and this keeps many of the country’s working professionals from accessing financial services altogether.

“Consumer banking is seriously constrained,” Hal Bosher, CEO of Yoma Bank, says.

“People use banks as storage facilities for their savings.

With the lack of a payments

Yoma Bank’s Executive Chairman, Serge Pun

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infrastructure, they don’t use accounts the country. In parallel the bank as enablers of their day to day lives is investing in technology so that as they do in other markets.” customers can access banking Payment architecture is services through the smartphone. underdeveloped, with many retailers inequipped to handle card Making waves transactions. According to Bosher, this There are only a handful of mobile renders existing financial institutions operators providing services in “of little use” to the average Myanmar today, including the Burmese consumer. Banks state-owned Myanmar Post operating under the and Telecommunications current paradigm (MPT), Qatar’s Ooredo primarily channel credit and Norway’s Telenor. from one community Yoma Bank joined forces to another via secured with the latter to create a lending. This creates Wave Money, a channel Number of a twofold dilemma: that allows users to employees at “One: consumers are transfer money using Yoma Bank limited to Myanmar’s their smartphone or bank branches a local Wave Shop which number roughly agent. Inclusion is the 1500 today,” Bosher explains. ultimate aim of the Wave Money “Second: you can’t borrow money venture, with the convenience because you need to have physical of its operating model enabling collateral in order to access credit.” those without a bank account, Yoma Bank has addressed this or access to a branch, to problem through a partnership utilise financial services. with Telenor to launch Wave Money, Wave Money is available in a mobile money network with the form of an Android app, more than 4,000 agents across which can be downloaded

3000

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• Payments Switching • ATM Acquiring • POS Payments • Mobile Payments • Card Issuing & Management • Loyalty, Transport, Retail • Microfinance • Risk & Fraud Management • Mobile & Internet Banking • eCommerce • National Payments Infrastructure

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from the Google Play store, or with the help of one of the thousands of qualified agents across the country. If, for instance, a taxi driver in Mandalay wants to send money home to his family in a rural village, he can visit a local retailer to ‘wire’ the money to a Wave Money agent near them. If both parties have smartphones, he can simply carry out the transfer using the app.

customers to maximise the usefulness of their existing accounts. Bosher and his team wanted a readymade modernisation solution “right out of the box”. And leading financial software company Misys had just the technology they were looking for. The company’s FusionBanking Essence core banking solution is helping to transform customer experience at Yoma Bank, and bring the bank’s

“The question is, how do you really provide value to the customer so that they switch from cash to digital money, and use it?”

– Serge Pun, Executive Chairman “The question is, how do you really provide value to the customer so that they switch from cash to digital money, and use it?”

Yoma Bank’s Chairman asks.

The digital branch Yoma Bank realised that in order to compete in both the foreign and domestic banking sectors, it would have to update its IT offering to allow

capabilities firmly into the digital age.

“We had an [IT] system which we designed ourselves, but it was very rudimentary,” Bosher says. “This is a quantum leap for us in terms of acquiring a system of this worth.”

Misys’ FusionBanking Essence comes equipped with a mobile and online banking system, enabling Yoma Bank to respond to the increasingly mobile needs of its customers. “The system’s functionality

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“It’s pretty remarkable that the country has gone from never having a phone of any sort to having 4G in a matter of 24 months” – Serge Pun, Executive Chairman

IT and Digital Team - Left to Right: Mike Phone Myint - Head of IT, Kyaw Soe Linn - Chief Technology Officer, Soe Hla Win - Head of Digital Channels

YOMA BANK

Yoma Bank’s Special Advisor to Chairman and CEO, Hal Bosher

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allows us to develop a lot of the digital product,” Bosher says. He recalls that, prior to the firm’s IT overhaul, a lack of processing power limited what they were able to offer customers: “We had to keep the product very simple and very non-bespoke because we just didn’t have the functionality to provide people a more tailored offering.”

The bank’s ability to analyse the behaviours of its customers has also been enhanced by its newlyacquired IT update. The ‘core system’ supplied by Misys allows Yoma to ‘slice and dice’ customer data.

The more it understands the actions of customers, the more it will be able to tailor its services.

The journey to get customers better service through more channels has just begun for Yoma Bank. The next two years will be crucial for the organisation, as it evaluates the success of its existing strategy and plans next steps. Pun is conscious of not introducing technologies which outpace customer demand. “It’s about calibrating the products to the needs of the user and that means a lot of listening,” he says.

At the end of the day, technology simply enables better services. And at the heart of good customer service is an effective corporate ethos — especially in rapidly-developing countries like Myanmar. Pun emphasises excellent corporate governance “with a lot of transparency”; “That is really an anchor and I believe that really is what underpins everything that we do.”

1993 The year that Yoma Bank was founded

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The past, present and future of Indian banking Written by Wedaeli Chibelushi Produced by Mariana Lee

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Business Review Asia takes a look at the bank’s latest technological investments

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T

he State Bank of India has been a mainstay of Indian banking since 1806. At the grand age of 210, the public business services company has developed tens of thousands of branches and ATMs across the country. It’s renowned nationally and globally; Forbes lists State Bank in its Global 500, while the International Business Times calls it “easily India’s biggest bank”.

Domination doesn’t stop State Bank from subverting traditional banking practices. The bank’s technology experts pay close attention to the changes in the fintech business services sector, and discover how developments can be deployed at the State Bank.

“Digitisation”, “public cloud”, “data upgrade”, “biometrics”, “digital wallet”: some of the resulting terms when we research the bank.

CTO Shiv Kumar Bhasin joined State Bank around two years ago, and has led the bank’s digital transformation ever since. Essentially, he brings the bricks and mortar to the bank. With 21 years of IT experience, past jobs at Barclays and Fidelity Services and a discernible passion for digital innovation, Bhasin is the ideal person for the job.

When he started about two years back, Bhasin created the technology where programmes were conceptualised. From there, he has been driving the business and technology to further implementation of these plans. This has led to him working with the bank’s technology teams to get a selection of platforms carried out. Subsequently, he has been involved in how the entire architecture of the bank should look once all these platforms are made available.

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Banking on a Private Cloud for Agility and Scale

State Bank of India (SBI), with a 200 year history, is the largest commercial bank in India. Its origins trace back to 1806 when Bank of Calcutta was established. The SBI group today consists of SBI and five associate banks. The group has an extensive network, with over 22000 branches in India and over 190 offices in 38 other countries across the world.

Challenges • Reducing physical hardware footprint while ensuring rapid delivery of IT services • Standardization of the operating environment • Holistic view of the virtual infrastructure

sOlUTIOn • A private cloud that helps address high-volume pan-India transactions such as the LPG subsidy and Jan Dhan Yojana efficiently and cost effectively

ImpaCT • Significant reduction in operational costs and physical hardware footprint • Cloud-enabled IaaS that caters to various Line of Business requirements • High availability, scalability and reliability for business-critical applications

“SBI isn’t just the largest bank in India. Our work for government requires us to enable large-scale, Pan-India, and extremely critical initiatives like the LPG subsidy, Jan Dhan Yojana and providing a bank account to every Indian.

We need to reduce our hardware footprint and VMware allows us to run these critical operations on a virtual platform. The ROI is commendable.”

sanjeev Khanna SBI, GLOBAL IT CENTRE

Cloud

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Network overhaul One such project has been State Bank’s network upgrade. Prior to the transformation, the bank was operating out of a point-to-point network, wireless links that connect two locations together through line of sight. Bhasin and his team have upgraded each State Bank branch to a 2mbps primary link.

The transformation was large; it involved 85 percent of 2500 retail outlets which the bank

has across the country. One of the largest branch networks was running out of 64 kbps in the line.

These network changes have improved efficiency at State Bank branches. Customers are being served faster and bank applications have become more responsive. Through State Bank, customers can now book a loan in 13-15 minutes. Previously, they’d have to wait 45 minutes to do this, and that timing would only be in a good branch.

In some branches,

293,459 The total number of Employees at State Bank of India

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www.hpe.com What impact do you think the digital transformation wave will have on Indian enterprises?

Digital transformation is changing the way Indian enterprises conduct business and satisfy their customers.

The entire landscape of businesses is undergoing a massive change and everything is making a shift towards becoming mobile.

Today’s average customer, is much more informed and demands more options than ever before. This is because of the digital wave which is transforming the way information moves and is used.

Digital technologies create an impact on businesses in three ways.

In fact, these three ways define the core pillars of digital transformation and its interaction with enterprises.

The approach we use drives these key outcomes for customers. First, we have the generation of new and enhanced customer experiences, which often also develop competitive advantages for many organisations. It lets you deliver products and services swiftly and securely, with an exciting and innovative user experience. An aroundthe-clock agility, real-time fulfillment, global consistency, and zero errors give

Som Satsangi - VP & GM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India Take the example of Ola and Uber, which have not only changed the taxi services industry, but are also leaving a dent on the car manufacturing industry. As more consumers are opting for cabs instead of purchasing their own vehicle, it becomes crucial not only for the immediate industry, but also for bordering industries to understand how they can match up to today’s digital landscape. This ripple of the digital wave reaches all industries with different challenges and opportunities.

What are the core pillars that digital transformation stands on

an edge to brands and let them exceed increasing customer expectations.

Secondly, we have the creation of new product and service offerings – there are numerous products that are developed only because of the movement in digital and we are all surrounded by these. Digital transformation, inherently, leads organisations towards both technical and business innovation.

Finally, there is an elemental operational efficiency. Being digital introduces you to enhanced interactions amongst customers, suppliers, stakeholders, and

employees. Digital workflows always tend to be faster, smoother, more secure and cost effective. They also lead to better decision, product, and operations management.

How is HPE assisting businesses in taking their digital endeavor to the next level?

HPE is built on a rich and ever expanding heritage of innovation, and pioneers the understanding of how IT systems interact and empower enterprises. HP is committed to enabling companies as they evolve into a digital enterprise through four key “transformation areas”.

These are transformed to a hybrid infrastructure and respond to business needs faster than competitors. They combine all elements of your infrastructure and workflows seamlessly, maximising the performance, cost and effectiveness of the services you deliver. Then we focus on protecting your digital enterprise.

We enable workplace productivity for richer digital and mobile experience to all stakeholders and customers.

Finally, we empower the data driven organisation through analytics and insight driven business decisions.

How is HPE aligned with SBI’s digital transformation journey?

HPE has been a trusted technology partner for SBI for more than a decade now. Currently, SBI handles 500 million accounts and has a growth plan to reach 2 billion accounts through digital transformation.

HPE, with its path-breaking hybrid infrastructure solutions, is aligned with this vision. Our objective is to help SBI in enhancing their customer experience and streamline their operations by using robust IT infrastructure comprising of HPE superdome servers and storage solutions.

HPE Vision Be our customer’s trusted advisor and the industry’s leading provider of hybrid IT solutions; built on the secure, next-generation, software-defined infrastructure that will run customers’ data centers today, bridge them to multi-cloud environments tomorrow and enable the emerging intelligent edge that will power campus, branch and loT applications for decades to come.

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customers were not able to book any loan at all during the working hours. The results of the transformation are available for all to see. Customers are physically able to note the changes that have taken place within the bank’s network.

To support the network, State Bank is building what could become of the largest private clouds in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry. Bank applications will be hosted on a commodity hardware, and the bank has developed 15,000 virtual machines (VMs) and various other critical applications to serve wealth management customers and financial inclusion applications.

Branch servers are currently hosted at 25,000 outlets. The company is moving those branch servers from each branch to a data centre. Each branch server will be hosted on the private cloud.

State Bank is looking to achieve this target by mid-2017. Bhasin is also working on a transformative programme to deploy a Microsoft public cloud. The State Bank of India will have collaborative tools like Skype, Skype Chat, Skype video call and Yammer to replace WhatsApp. Being a financial service, the bank can’t use a public messaging service for exchanging any public information.

‘The State Bank is moving those branch servers from each branch to a data centre.

Each branch server will be hosted on the private cloud’

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Connected | Disruptive | Digital In the increasingly connected and digital world.

Tech Mahindra is partnering with Banks, Financial Services & Insurance companies (BFSI) to disrupt conventional process into customer centric business models. With the customer at the core, we enable relevant customer experiences and relationship journeys through Digital Transformation and ensure unparalleled Operational Excellence for the BFSI of the FUTURE. Connect with Tech Mahindra to learn how BFSI industry need to analyse the impact of digital disruption through 3 lenses – Products, Data & Services, Business Operating Models and Business Process Automation – and identify concrete measures to transform & thrive in a digital world.

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Infrastructure changes The bank aims to achieve a serviceorientated, minimal management architecture. However, the transformation requires initial physical infrastructure changes. For instance, updating the ATM network requires significant human effort.

If the bank is to make all these changes, a person has to visit each and every kiosk. That is a very large transformation. The State Bank of India is looking to deploy a very large switch in infrastructure to make the

existing infrastructure more resilient.

Any physical strife will be worth it – after the transformation ATM screens can be updated and various applications will be deployed in the ATM kiosks. This will result in an intimate, dynamic ATM experience for State Bank consumers. Due to improved technology, the switches will take less time than previous ones.

Customer experience Bhasin traces State Bank’s technological efforts back to one

‘Customers are being served faster and bank applications have become more responsive. Through State Bank, customers can now book a loan in 13-15 minutes’

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41 BILLION The annual revenue in US$ State Bank of India

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core value: customer service is our priority. The bank respects its customers and fellow associates and vows never to take the easy way out.

State Bank wants its customers to receive a swift, yet comprehensive service. Bhasin’s team is working to create a digital bank where the customer doesn’t need to have any human interaction (apart from some regulatory requirements). This digital bank will have a financial support store marketplace digitising the bank and back office processes end-to-end.

The paper will be taken out of the processes and end-to-end the processes will be fully digitised.

Currently, the bank doesn’t have bespoke customer relationship management software, but developing it is part of Bhasin’s transformation plan. The State Bank is deploying a CRM software across the bank and also across its subsidiaries, such as insurance and SBI Capital Markets, SBI General Insurance and SBI Life Insurance. Bhasin’s team hope to achieve this target by mid-2017.

Cyber security To State Bank, improved customer service is synonymous with increased security. The bank is quite conservative about security. It uses very advanced levels of firewall, as well as intrusion detection systems, various antiviruses and malware detection softwares. State Bank has an advanced level of security operation centres

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which monitor more than half million events per minute.

These centres capture every perimeter device which detects observed cyber-attacks in the Indian sub-continent.

Not only does State Bank have a rigorous internal security network, it works with the Indian government to receive early warnings of any untoward activities which are experienced by others that could happen to the bank as well.

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Overcoming obstacles Existing in the public business services domain and affiliating with the Indian government comes with challenges, as well as advantages.

The State Bank has to follow a plethora of public business services rules which are very bureaucratic.

State Bank has expertise in technology. Most of these people are bankers who have taken banking jobs and moved into technology.

Bhasin’s team is very small,

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but have huge expectations.

How will State Bank overcome this challenge? It plans to set up a separate IT subsidiary in the future so that the market competitiveness in the IT section of the bank can be maintained.

State Bank is a 200+ year old bank - running a large network of outlets makes it very difficult to be agile and nimble, but it is trying very hard to make that happen.

Future fortunes The first phase of the transformation will be complete by the middle of next year.

By that time, the bank will have its entire network and infrastructure upgraded.

Bhasin has huge aspirations for the bank –he wants it to be modernised, digitalised and working on blockchain by 2019. Technology keeps upgrading itself and things are very fast paced.

Every six months technology is changing, so State Bank will keep upgrading in these areas.

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How ZTE is transforming

its supply chain Written by Lisa Higgins

Produced by Charlotte Clarke

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Chinese tech giant ZTE is already reaping the benefits of a substantial supply chain transformation

C

hinese Telecommunications corporation ZTE is currently in the middle of a gamechanging transformation. Already market leaders in terms of technology and products, the company was in need of a complete modernisation of its supply chain process according to Assistant CEO Anders Karlborg, who was brought in to do the job. Business Review Asia speaks to him at length to learn how he has achieved the changes he set out to make and what challenges have been overcome.

Founded in 1985 ZTE has always set out to be a global leader in telecommunications and information technology. A thriving business 30 years on, the company offers wireless, access & bearer and ICT solutions for enterprises and government

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agencies. It also produces a series of smartphones and mobile devices.

ZTE has a turnover of ÂŁ12 billion and more than 60,000 staff providing mobile tech solutions for both the Chinese and overseas markets.

Transforming the supply chain Anders has been working in China for 15 years. Originally from Sweden , he has worked in Beijing, Nanjing and Dubai. When he first took on the mammoth task of revamping the supply chain a year ago he quickly saw the weaker links. “When I came in here it was a very hard working supply chain with hard working people, but it was a lot of manual, labour intensive work. “They were working very hard but maybe not getting the results we

Anders Karlborg Assistant CEO

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S U P P LY C H A I N

wanted. I would never say it was bad but it needed improvement,” he says.

“We had a big workshop with the management team and discussed what should be done at ZTE. This led to the creation of a big corporate transformation project with 16 different sub- projects.

Ye Weimin, Senior Vice President for ZTE Group said that the transformation project is very important for ZTE future success to be a complete ICT solution provider.

“Some of the projects include automated integrated planning, E-commerce integration,

configuration solutions, global supply network, and a customer/account collaboration model. We have a whole supplier relationship module that is very important for us and have set up a very clear model on how to collaborate, with quarterly and yearly business review meetings.”

Leadership Reflecting on the first of a threeyear plan, Anders says it has been imperative to keep channels of communication open.

“After being here for six months we decided that the organisation needed

61,000 Number of employees at ZTE

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We had a big workshop with the management team and discussed what should be done at ZTE. This led to the creation of a big corporate transformation project with 16 different subprojects - Assistant CEO Anders Karlborg

Anders Karlborg Assistant CEO and Mr YE Weimin, SVP of ZTE

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DAMCO.COM

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TRUCKING

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some changes to drive us forward so we implemented a new supply chain organisation. This meant some positions became redundant and also some new positions were established.

This was a tough job, but necessary.

“We believe it will take another two years before we are on the level we want to be, but we get great support from the company and the staff. Of course, not everybody welcomes change, but most do.

“We send out monthly newsletters on each sub-project to help staff understand. We also do bi-weekly

reporting within our own management team in the supply chain and we report to the top-level management team monthly. We have an open-door policy. Our strategy is worth nothing if you don’t communicate it well.”

Anders adds: “It’s also very important to have a cross functional team. So even if it is a supply chain project, we are integrated with service people, R&D, sales, HR and finance. We’re moving away from silo-oriented thinking into process-oriented thinking.

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S U P P LY C H A I N T R A N S P O R TAT I O N CUSTOMS & COMPLIANCE WA R E H O U S I N G & D I S T R I B U T I O N

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Supply chain digitalisation The implementation of new technology has played an important part in this journey. According to Anders, taking ZTE’s supply chain into the digital age means achieving a customercentric platform that maximises real time data that, in turn, enables demand stimulation, matching, and management. It has done so well in the last year that the company was recently invited to write a white paper together with the Centre for Global Enterprise (CGE).

“There was no clear definition of digital supply chain before. It was talked about but not very clearly. We are very proud that it will be used as an education document,” Anders said.

“Every company needs to be more efficient and with digitalization

of your supply chain you can save up to 10 percent of your purchase cost. We have many sub projects related to digitalisation such as E-commerce, customer collaboration, integrated planning with technology to understand what customers want. Also, big data and analytics to understand behaviour and for scenario planning. There are so many different technologies to be used but nobody can do it in one year, so we are still exploring each one step-by-step.”

Anders says he understands the anxieties that his staff have. “When we are communicating change we never talk about reducing people.

We know that people think about that so we communicate that change is needed for a good future and that may have implications for some

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people who don’t have enough competence. To rectify this problem we are training people to be good.”

Culture shift But what does an overhaul of supply chain mean for the wider culture and ethos of ZTE? Jeff Chen, HR President for the ZTE Group, told us that being a majority Chinese company, having Swedish Anders leading the transformation was not without initial concern.

“Anders is the only nonChinese person in the senior-level management and at the beginning I was a little bit worried about the communication and cooperation, but so far it’s good because he is familiar with Chinese management culture as well as Western culture and management so he can understand both sides. He can communicate

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with everyone very well and he has rich experience in the industry which gave me more confidence about having an overseas manager.”

Taking on fresh young talent from universities in China and now the US has injected diversity into ZTE. Anders insists flexibility and maintaining a positive, cultural harmony is key to predicting where they will be in five years.

“I have a different culture compared to the ZTE staff and we need to show respect to each other regardless of who we are and where we come from. I have four idioms in the way I manage - lead by example, contribute every day, know your numbers and, finally, show respect to each other’s culture. I know my thing and they probably know other things and together we can be strong.”

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Jeff Chen HR President

MasterCard’s MEA president

Raghu Malhotra on the digital revolution of banking Written by Leila Hawkins Produced by Craig Daniels

MASTERCARD

The world of banking has been revolutionised in the last two decades. Digitised payments have made it faster than ever, but it’s also reaching populations who have never before had access to it

T

he world of banking has been revolutionised in the last two decades. Digitised payments have made it faster than ever, but they are also reaching populations who have never had access to them before.

Things have changed a great deal from the period Raghu Malhotra joined Mastercard in 2000 as Director – Area Countries, South Asia,to now when he leads the company’s Middle East and Africa operations as President. There used to be no such thing as scanning bank cards for shopping, and bills had to be paid face to face. Now consumers hold technology in

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their fingers, and policymakers are realising that a cashless society is the way to move forward.

Malhotra manages 69 markets stretching from Pakistan to Morocco in one direction, and from Lebanon all the way down to South Africa in the other. He pushes Mastercard’s innovative agenda through these territories, and it was this aspect that led him to join the company after a long career in banking. “I wanted to make a difference,” he says. “It’s a job that allows you to leave a legacy behind.”

Financial Inclusion One element of this legacy is

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financial inclusion. As Malhotra explains, “I look at financial inclusion in three parts. The first is people understanding that a range of financial products exists that can better their lives. The second is actually giving them access to bank accounts or to services, and the third is once they actually have a bank account to start to transact, use it, and access credit.”

Speaking about the company’s strong commitment to financial inclusion, Malhotra says, “Financial inclusion matters and it affects

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all of us directly or indirectly and interoperability is the key to financial inclusion. At Mastercard, we believe that strong collaborations between the public and private sectors are crucial for the success of any financial inclusion efforts and to drive inclusive growth that benefits all segments of the society.”

In Tunisia, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tunisian Post, the country’s national postal service. “In large parts of the Middle East and Africa, including Tunisia, Algeria,

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and even Morocco.

Here they’ve This partnership, also introduced Number of employees in particular, is a Mastercard debit cards at MasterCard really good example for refugees. Thanks of the government and the to this scheme, the UN’s private sector coming together.”

World Food Programme is able to Another instance of Mastercard send money directly to the accounts joining forces with the government is of the refugees’ families, who are in Rwanda, where they’re upgrading given debit cards to withdraw money the country’s infrastructure for for food and other essentials. people to pay for driving licences, This is not their only cash transfer ID cards and birth certificates on system. In Pakistan, the company mobile or online platforms. This way had previously developed HomeSend they don’t need to visit municipal in partnership with Meezan Bank, offices and wait in line all day. for expatriate Pakistanis to send

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RAGHU MALHOTRA

PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Raghu Malhotra is president, Middle East and Africa for MasterCard. Based in Dubai, Mr. Malhotra is responsible for driving the evolution of the company’s technologies and delivering increased value to MasterCard stakeholders in markets across the region. He sits on the company’s Global Management & Operating Committees.

Mr. Malhotra joined MasterCard in 2000 and has held a variety of leadership roles, spanning General Management, Marketing, Business and Product development across multiple geographies in Asia, Middle East and Africa. He was most recently the Division President, Middle East & North Africa. Prior to joining MasterCard, Mr. Malhotra worked for Citicorp Credit, American Express and ANZ Grindlays Bank in a variety of leadership roles across the Consumer Franchise and Financial Services businesses.

Mr. Malhotra holds a variety of board and advisory positions across international markets, including being a member of the board of directors of INJAZ Al-Arab Middle East and North Africa, an organization focused on building youth entrepreneurial skills in the region. Mr. Malhotra was ranked as one of the top Indian Leaders in the region

by Forbes in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Mr. Malhotra graduated with an honors degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi and earned an MBA from the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. He also has management training from IMD, Lausanne.

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money home. Pakistan is a huge market given its population of 180 million who largely use mobile phones; so Mastercard launched the Masterpass QR, allowing users to pay with their smartphones. In November 2016, it opened a new office in Karachi.

The Masterpass QR was also rolled out in Nigeria around the same time as well. “I believe this will drive a very different kind of financial inclusion,” says Malhotra. “The costs of doing this are very low now. Access to information and bank accounts is very easy. You don’t have to put billions of dollars or hardware into the shops any longer. So if you’re talking about true digital economy and true financial inclusion, it’s these sorts of product lines that drive that forward.”

“Similarly, our work with Egyptian government is helping to bring the benefits of financial inclusion to 54 million citizens of the country through a digital ID program that links their national ID to the existing national mobile money platform. Similarly, our collaboration with the Nigerian government to issue National Electronic ID (e-ID) is empowering Nigerians

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aged 16 and above to have access to an electronic payment platform which will benefit Nigeria’s 170 million citizens. In Pakistan, our collaboration with Pakistan’s Bank of Punjab saw us launch a first-ofits-kind Social Security Program that automates and streamlines government disbursement, subsidy and assistance initiatives – driving greater financial inclusion in a country where only 13% of the citizens have a formal account.”

Cashless Another burgeoning, cashless economy is Mauritius. As a popular holiday destination, there’s an influx of tourists here all year round who mostly carry contactless cards.

It made sense for Mastercard to launch their contactless scheme here, both for the visitors and for the local population who benefit from accessing their bank accounts without having to take their wallets out.

Mastercard’s vision for cashless societies goes further with the creation of what they call “digital

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cities.” In November 2016, they signed an MoU with the Egyptian government’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), to introduce cashless transactions in technology parks and villages.

Beyond that, Malhotra recounts travelling on the London Underground recently, and despite not having a UK-issued travel pass or bank card, he was able to move seamlessly around the city with his Mastercard card. “Allowing for global interoperability and [creating] smart cities is going to be very big,” he says.

Could the MEA region become entirely cashless one day? “We are a long way from it being totally cashless,” he says, but adds that governments are realising that this is a much more efficient way to work. “Maybe, it’s quite possible in my lifetime.”

Around 546 people are currently employed in the region; however, Malhotra explains that even though they are actively hiring, technology firms don’t measure their business in terms of revenue per FTE anymore.

Staff development is paramount;

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“When I say diversity it’s not just gender diversity.

It’s diversity of the mind, how different people come together and think, and create something bigger and better” – MasterCard’s MEA president Raghu Malhotra

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there is a huge focus on in-house New, small businesses starting up and external training completed will be of great value to the economy. either by attending formal courses The Girls4Tech programme or through online training. is also aimed at women, with Just as important is collaborating employees mentoring young girls to with outside agencies to develop pursue careers in STEM (Science, young entrepreneurs. Malhotra is on Technology, Engineering and the board of INJAZ Al-Arab, a nonMath). Scholarships are awarded profit organisation that works with the in partnership with the Singapore public and private sectors University of Technology to promote education and Design, and some from elementary mentees have even school all the way up joined the company. to college. “When This program was you train and developed after enable students, Mastercard’s you get a better research showed The year MasterCard economy and a how few women was founded much better nation as were entering the tech well,” he says. The latest world. However, Malhotra project is in Egypt, with a programme says the number of women in teaching women aged between their workforce is higher than the 21 and 27, business management industry standard for the region. skills. As well as benefitting the “Diversity is big for us,” he says. empowerment of women, it will “You can do well by doing good. help boost the country’s finances And when I say diversity, it’s not unemployment is currently at 12.5 just gender diversity. It’s diversity percent - and while women make of the mind – how different people up half the population less than a come together and think, and create quarter are part of the labour force. something bigger and better.”

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Looking ahead, Malhotra believes Africa is the next big emerging market. I see us coming up with new business models, new product lines and new services to drive that, not just here but exporting them globally as well.”

Innovation Committed to setting new benchmarks in the payments industry, innovation lies at the heart of Mastercard’s business philosophy as Malhotra explains, “When you are in the business of technology, you cannot afford to have multiple definitions of innovation. For us at Mastercard, innovation means making a difference in the way people think about cash and realize and take advantage of the convenience and simplicity electronic payments offer.

“While the list of innovations

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pioneered by Mastercard is long, there is one example that I can highlight which is truly making an impact in the way people pay for services or goods – online, in-store and in-app. Masterpass™ is our global interoperable platform that enables all types of digital transactions and richer consumer experiences. It is a digital payment solution that simplifies the entire shopping experience for consumers, allowing Mastercard cardholders to pay with any enrolled payment card, anywhere, using any device and eliminating the need to enter detailed payment and shipping information with every purchase, and simplifying the process of completing a transaction from any connected device.”

Masterpass is currently available in 34 countries, including the UAE.

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