SOFTWARE FIRM POWERS LOCAL BUSINESSES

CLOUD database software company

Couchbase helps Philippine businesses keep pace with the fast evolving technology especially in areas with intermittent network or in internet dead zones.

“At Couchbase, we are targeting opportunities in various sectors in the Philippines, especially in online gaming and business process outsourcing. Impressive growth in online gaming and BPO, as well as other sectors like banking and financial services, remote support, IT development and retail, combined with increased adoption of cloud, big data and Internet of Things make the Philippines a lucrative market,” said Couchbase regional vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan Stuart Fisher.

With a big slice of the pie, developers need to react quickly. They need to thrive in the open-source community, where Couchbase solutions are well suited and positioned to support digitalization strategies and enable growth.

Couchbase is a proud supporter of DEVCON, the Philippines’ largest community of experts working to promote the collaborative growth and global competence of Filipino developers.

“We are pleased to contribute to the organizing of hackathons and conferences involving academia and IT practitioners as part of our commitment to developing the industry in the Philippines,” Fisher said. Couchbase also has the expertise in vertical sectors such as media and entertainment, gaming, healthcare, travel, retail, energy, finance, manufacturing, logistics and technology.

“Our solution is valuable for companies with a large database of information that requires low down time and 24/7 availability. Clients who use our services are empowered to address their catalog and inventory in real time and update content throughout the infrastructure at low latency levels,” Fischer said.

“Our target clients tend to have several offices with remote working employees who contribute data to the company. We aim to support their work with our IoT management systems, where organizations and their stakeholders can rely on a responsive and secure application to capture and sync data across devices,” he said.

“Ultimately, the companies we seek to serve are searching for greater flexibility in integrating data from multiple sources and scalability to accommodate growing business needs,” he said.

Challenges

The Philippines faces unique challenges including low digital adoption rates among smaller businesses, a lack of awareness around initiatives facilitating digitization and digitalization as well as gaps in access and skills.

“On the flip side, the government is taking stringent steps to address these challenges, crafting several roadmaps to guide policymaking, such as the e-Commerce Philippine 2022 Roadmap, among others. To fully realize its potential, these efforts should be backed by digital skills training and education, as well as promote public-private partnerships that create opportunities for modernization,” Fisher said.

Businesses should also take stock of the lessons of recent years, and that there is no magic bullet to digital transformation without a well-thought-out process tailored to business objectives, he said.

Failed projects and delays are the blight of businesses trying to innovate. Not being held back by these shortcomings rests on leaving behind legacy technology and problems accessing or managing the relevant data.

These issues often boil down to approach and strategy, which can be overcome with better budgeting for digital transformation as well as pursuing more realistic projects, he said.

According to National ICT House-

Last Mile Delivery Platform Upgrades Logistics Fleet To Ev

ONE of the country’s leading e-Commerce enabler, Payo will soon join the ranks of pioneering companies using electric vehicles (EV) for cargo deliveries as it takes part in corporate sustainability efforts to build a circular economy.

In 2022, Payo started employing various sustainable measures and initiatives to promote environmentally-friendly logistics solutions - from the integration of bike deliveries to switching to biodegradable delivery pouches. Now among the first companies to make the sustainable switch, Payo is procuring electric vehicles that will be part and soon replace the fuel-powered delivery fleet of its sister company Agila Logistics and Delivery Express (Agila).

“At Payo and Agila, we are taking an active part in the revolution of being greener. Shifting to electric vehicles will make our deliveries cleaner because it will help reduce carbon emissions. While it may cost more to introduce and maintain more sustainable policies and requirements, we look at this as an investment in our future as a company and as a community,” said Payo managing director June Cloma.

hold Survey conducted by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute, cellular signal reaches 92 percent of surveyed communities, with 3G technology is still prevalent in rural areas. Despite near-universal access to electricity, some communities have low access to telecommunication towers, fiber optic cable and free Wi-Fi.

This is where Couchbase can deploy its expertise in providing services that promote remote work in internet dead zones.

Couchbase is well placed to support the Philippines government in this endeavor, with a server that handles client-to-cluster, node-tonode and cluster-to-cluster communications through high availability and protection against significant infrastructure failure.

Scalable solutions

In the Philippines, Couchbased introduced types of edge solutions that are available for micro, small and medium energizes as well for both public and private organizations. The first is Micro Edge, which is deployed in hardware machines, such as mobile phones or embedded systems. These devices have limited processing power and storage capacity and are designed to handle simple tasks such as data collection, pre-processing and basic analytics.

Mini Edge, on the other hand, is deployed at the building or campus level. These devices have more capabilities than Micro Edge devices, allowing them to perform more complex actions, such as data processing, advanced analytics and ML.

Medium Edge, which is set up at the city or regional level, can handle the same operations as Mini Edge devices while having more power and capacity to deliver complex use cases like augmented reality and virtual reality, whereas Heavy Edge are devices have the most processing power and storage capacity of all edge computing solutions and are designed to handle most tasks. They are also able to administer advanced applications such as artificial intelligence and deep learning functions.

The Multi-Access Edge, a type of edge computing architecture where components are deployed at multiple levels of the network, work in unison for seamless and efficient service experiences, with each tier providing different functions and resources.

Othel V. Campos

SINGLE MOM’S INTUITIVE INSIGHT SAVES DAUGHTERS’ FUTURE

CATHY Santos, a courageous single mother, and small business owner, took decisive action to protect her daughters’ future amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Her story is a testament to the power of love and thoughtful financial planning in the face of adversity.

During a visit to her BDO branch, she was able to talk to a BDO Life financial advisor (FA) seeking life insurance policies for her 2 daughters. She wanted to provide her children a financial head start they can use for personal pursuits as they got older.

The BDO Life FA noticed Santos’ commitment and sense of responsibility and offered her, instead, to get a life insurance policy for herself as the sole breadwinner of a single-income household.

After much thought, Santos found it logical to listen to her FA’s advice and took out a life insurance policy for herself. Despite the financial strain that the added premium would cause, safeguarding her daughters’ financial well-being was her top priority.

While her parents dissuaded her from taking additional financial burden, she maintained her policy which, for her, was a sound decision that gives her peace of mind knowing that whatever happens, her daughters would be protected.

Santos were among the unlucky victims who succumbed to COVID-19 in 2021. The life insurance policy she labored to pay for took care of her final expenses with enough remaining funds to cover for her daughters’ needs over the next few years.

Nothing can bring Cathy back to her daughters. Yet her life insurance policy, serving as her Plan B for life, enabled her to continue providing for her daughters—a symbol of her love transcending life itself.

Cathy’s inspiring Plan B journey with BDO Life keeps is a reminder that love for family need not be limited to this lifetime. With proper financial planning and the right insurance plan, one can ensure that their loved ones will continue to be taken care of, even if they’re no longer in the picture.

While there is still a lot of work to be done, Payo is doing its part and hopes to build a more sustainable logistics landscape by replacing its last mile delivery vehicles for the long term. It has initially deployed 3 electric vehicle tricycles for the pilot run and aims replace least 50 percent of Agila’s fleet to electric vehicles by the end of 2024, and to 90 percent in the medium term.

“Our vision for sustainability is not for our company alone, but for the rest of the community. We believe that being sustainable goes beyond having a zero-plastic office and separating your trash. It’s also about innovation and finding different and better ways

CEMENT FIRM

CELEBRATES

TIEUPS WITH HOMEBUILDERS

IN the last 2 years, Holcim Philippines, Inc. has stepped up partnerships with shelter organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Base Bahay Foundation, and Build Change to advance innovations to make resilient building more accessible in the Philippines as it expanded its portfolio of low-carbon blended cements to help mitigate impacts of climate change.

“Our expertise on building materials makes us uniquely positioned to make a positive impact in this area. We can make available locally, innovative solutions to build safer and more durable homes and structures. Along with our focus on decarbonization and circularity, we also promote resilient construction in the Philippines in line with our commitment to support progress by building greener, smarter, and for all,” said Holcim Philippines president and CEO Horia Adrian.

In 2021, the company backed The Habitat for Humanity Challenge to find cost-effective retrofitting solutions so houses can withstand a 6.5 Richter scale earthquake and a typhoon with 200-kph winds. Holcim Philippines also supports the Base Bahay Foundation in advocating its cement-bamboo frame technology for building affordable and resilient homes. The company is also set to have another run of its Sustainable Construction course with the University of the Philippines Institute of Civil Engineering to influence aspiring building professionals to embed resilience and sustainability in their projects.

By Patricia Taculao

FOR years, Filipinos have struggled with going to government buildings across the metro to process their requests or legal documents, which consumes their time, energy, and resources. But since society transitioned into the digital age, government agencies extended their services to be available online, allowing more Filipinos to access their benefits.

Among the cities in the country, Quezon City is a pioneer in streamlining all its services to function online and o ine.

With Mayor Joy Belmonte at the helm since 2019, Quezon City underwent signi cant changes in its functions and services to become more e cient and convenient for QCitizens.

“Our role, or rather our responsibility, is to take a leadership role in good governance, innovation, and digital transformation because whether we like it or not, cities, citizens, and the international community look at what we’re doing,” said Michael Victor Alimurung, City Administrator of Quezon City, during the Innovation Summit 2023 hosted by KPMG at Fairmont Hotel last July 20, Thursday.

He shared that under Belmonte’s leadership, the Quezon City government embraced digital transformation to meet the demands of the modern world through the mayor’s 14-point agenda.

Pivotal points of the agenda include delivering responsive, e cient, and coste ective social services, empowering citizens of every gender and social class, making Quezon City the preferred destination for business, being a model of good governance, and listening to the demands of QCitizens.

“Since we started, Quezon City has adopted various innovative technological approaches to improve the way we deliver government services to QCitizens. Technology and innovation have become an integral part of how we operate. At the same time, we understand that technology and innovation are only a tool to create a positive change in the lives of QCitizens,” Alimuring said.

One of the notable services from the Quezon City government is the QC eServices, a web-based and cloud-based unified platform accessible through the city’s website (www.qceservices. quezoncity.gov.ph).

It gathers all of the city’s online services and programs into a single portal that’s free and easily accessible to the public through their desktop or mobile browsers using a single account. So whether they’re accessing the