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    Hong Kong International ICT Expo 2018: Bringing startups to the fore

    By Chong Jinn Xiung
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:04am

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    Lazada launches regional trade with DFTZ

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:03am

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    Justice launches e-commerce platform for tween girls in Indonesia

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    Apr 20 2018 - 12:02am

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    Week in Review: How powerful will social media be in influencing Malaysia’s GE14?

    By Karamjit Singh
    Apr 13 2018 - 9:28pm

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    Week in Review: Elusive hunt for the right traits

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    Cyberwarfare: Machine vs Machine

    By Joanne Wong
    Apr 3 2018 - 12:01am

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    StarHub Appoints Peter Kaliaropoulos as Chief Executive Officer

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 20 2018 - 2:17pm

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    Face forward: The future of security in Malaysia

    By Dzof Azmi
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    Maxis sees Q1 2018 earnings rise 4.2% to RM523mil

    By Digital News Asia
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    Fonebud W: Have data, will travel

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    HK Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) 2018: Cool, strange and wonderful gadgets aplenty

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    US$7.4 mil funding brings Zanroo closer to unicorn dream

    By Anushia Kandasivam
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    Element AI raises US$102mil; to open SEA hub in Singapore in 2H 2017

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    Digi nails it with its family postpaid

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    Telco battleground: Can Maxis claim the crown in 2017?

    By Sharmila Ganapathy-Wallace
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    Runcloud.io is champion of Startup World Cup Malaysia Regional 2018

    By Kiranjit Kaur Sidhu
    Apr 20 2018 - 10:31am

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    Jobworks prepares for the gig economy

    By Anushia Kandasivam
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    HelloGold secures Series A funding from 500 Startups

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  • Digital Economy
    powered by 'MDEC'

    Hong Kong International ICT Expo 2018: Bringing startups to the fore

    By Chong Jinn Xiung
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:04am

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    Lazada launches regional trade with DFTZ

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:03am

    [totalcount]
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    Justice launches e-commerce platform for tween girls in Indonesia

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:02am

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  • Insights

    Week in Review: How powerful will social media be in influencing Malaysia’s GE14?

    By Karamjit Singh
    Apr 13 2018 - 9:28pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    Week in Review: Elusive hunt for the right traits

    By Karamjit Singh
    Apr 8 2018 - 2:50pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    Cyberwarfare: Machine vs Machine

    By Joanne Wong
    Apr 3 2018 - 12:01am

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  • 'Software Testing is'
    Business

    StarHub Appoints Peter Kaliaropoulos as Chief Executive Officer

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 20 2018 - 2:17pm

    [totalcount]
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    [fb_likes]

    Face forward: The future of security in Malaysia

    By Dzof Azmi
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:05am

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    [fb_likes]

    Maxis sees Q1 2018 earnings rise 4.2% to RM523mil

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 19 2018 - 7:22pm

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  • Personal
    Tech

    Fonebud W: Have data, will travel

    By Chong Jinn Xiung
    Apr 19 2018 - 12:04am

    [totalcount]
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    [fb_likes]

    Acer assembles three Infinity War Special Edition laptops

    By Chong Jinn Xiung
    Apr 18 2018 - 12:59pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    HK Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) 2018: Cool, strange and wonderful gadgets aplenty

    By Chong Jinn Xiung
    Apr 18 2018 - 12:05am

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]
    View More
  • Startups
    to Scaleups

    US$7.4 mil funding brings Zanroo closer to unicorn dream

    By Anushia Kandasivam
    Aug 11 2017 - 1:40pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    Element AI raises US$102mil; to open SEA hub in Singapore in 2H 2017

    By Digital News Asia
    Jun 15 2017 - 7:15pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    Soft Space raises US$5mil for strategic investment

    By Digital News Asia
    May 25 2017 - 7:37pm

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    View More
  • Mobility

    Digi nails it with its family postpaid

    By Digital News Asia
    Jan 16 2018 - 1:01pm

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    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    BMW delivers 100,000 electrified vehicles in 2017

    By Digital News Asia
    Dec 19 2017 - 4:14pm

    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
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    Telco battleground: Can Maxis claim the crown in 2017?

    By Sharmila Ganapathy-Wallace
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    [totalcount]
    [total_virality]
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  • Startups

    Runcloud.io is champion of Startup World Cup Malaysia Regional 2018

    By Kiranjit Kaur Sidhu
    Apr 20 2018 - 10:31am

    [totalcount]
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    [fb_likes]

    Jobworks prepares for the gig economy

    By Anushia Kandasivam
    Apr 20 2018 - 12:06am

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    [total_virality]
    [fb_likes]

    HelloGold secures Series A funding from 500 Startups

    By Digital News Asia
    Apr 19 2018 - 12:02am

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Week in Review: Advice from an executive on the frontlines

By Karamjit Singh | Dec 10, 2017
  • Companies need to get three things right in order to face disruption and win
  • From days of Manless Manufacturing, industry has been dealing with impact of automation

ONE senior executive who has been up close and personal with the impact of digital disruption is Chari TVT, who until his recent retirement, was the chief financial officer of Axiata Group, one of the top telcos in Asia with over 300 million customers.

As ground zero for the disruption caused by digitization in the spheres of personal and work life, telcos were also the first to respond – giving Chari a front row seat in observing the effectiveness of the various responses across the 8 markets Axiata has a presence in.

The sum result of his exposure has led Chari to urge all traditional companies to relook their business models, to sharpen their focus on their pricing strategies and as the enabler for the first two strategies, to train and upskill their talent in the areas of data and analytics.

And, in a sign of how digital disruption is now an organizational priority, not just among senior management, Chari delivered this message not to a tech or telco crowd but to an audience of HR practitioners at the annual Human Resource Development Fund conference and exhibition. But I have already touched on the conference in last week’s message, today my focus is on the points Chari was driving home.

And for the CEOs out there, if you think you don’t have enough on your plate already, Chari strongly believes that an organization’s data and analytics drive has to be led from the front and top by the chief executives themselves.

It’s all fine to appoint a chief data officer or data scientist to reflect their seriousness but Chari is of the belief that the data drive will only be taken seriously by the entire organization, and that’s a key distinction, if they know that the CEO has personally taken an interest here.

Chari saw this effect first hand when he was seconded by Axiata to become the CFO of Celcom where he saw how Shazalli Ramly, then Celcom CEO, personally drove the telco’s efforts to become a more data savvy organization. 

Chari also made the point that organizations cannot just rely on their data experts to extract maximum value from the data. Calling the data executives nerds with little business/commercial savvy, the monetization of an organization’s data is best achieved through cross department teams with marketing and commercial savvy people involved.

That’s advice worth heeding from a seasoned senior executive well familiar with dealing with disruption. Infact, Chari also urges companies to reskill and upskill their talent as being among the best approach to dealing with how the nature of work will be disrupted as well.

Interestingly, while we are all concerned about how work will be impacted by higher levels of automation, be it through more powerful software or robots, it is well worth remembering that business, especially manufacturing, has been dealing with the effects of higher automation since the time of the Model-T assembly line during Henry Ford’s era.

I just got a reminder of that last night in a conversation with a senior executive of a leading listed company. In the mid-80s the executive spent three years in Japan working on his doctoral thesis on – Manless Manufacturing!

While recent projections have the Japanese population shrinking to below 85 million by 2100, the country was already trying to deal with a reduced work force since the mid 80s with the automotive manufacturers leading the way.

My point is that despite higher levels of automation in manufacturing, there are still enough jobs being created but only for those with the right skill sets and that’s why reskilling and upskilling have to take on a greater urgency today. Because the robots, indeed they are not coming, they are already here.

With that, I wish you a restful remainder of your weekend and a productive week ahead. I am going to ponder further over my own relevancy as a journalist.

For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Editor’s Picks:

Shift of threats to the cloud require new tools, collaborations: McAfee

GoCar makes car-sharing an alternative to owning a car

Alibaba reaches out to Indonesian SMEs through its Alibaba Global Course

On-demand truck sharing TheLorry plans for regional expansion

Relook your business models, leverage on data urges ex-Axiata Group CFO

Illegear amps up gaming line-up with S7 Elite

2018: Machine learning will become the most important technology since the Internet

Keyword(s): 
Week in Review
Digital News Asia
Karamjit Singh
Disruption
Chari TVT
Data
Analytics
manufacturing
Automation
Shazalli Ramly
Digital
Work
Reskill
Upskill
pricing
Business Model
Author Name: 
Karamjit Singh
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