Brands: IMDA

Unlocking convenience: FedEx on why parcel lockers will be the future of delivery in S’pore

Over the past three years, COVID-19 brought about more home-centric lifestyles and has accelerated the shift from offline to online, causing a growth in the digital consumer population in Singapore. 

On average, Singaporeans utilise about 10 online platforms to shop, and around 97 per cent of all Internet users in Singapore have made at least one online purchase, helping the e-commerce industry in Singapore to thrive. 

The flourishing e-commerce industry has provided vast opportunities to key players in the industry, such as logistics providers who have seen a surge in demand for parcel deliveries. In fact, more than 200,000 parcels are being delivered daily in Singapore. 

However, the surge in demand for parcel deliveries is also posing new challenges for logistics providers, as consumers increasingly expect quick and seamless order fulfillment. 

To meet these changing consumer expectations, logistics companies have had to explore innovative solutions such as parcel lockers. 

By integrating parcel lockers into their delivery solutions, logistics companies can offer an efficient and effective alternative to the traditional home delivery services. 

Addressing the demand for seamless parcel delivery

One such company that has pivoted to provide parcel locker delivery services is FedEx. 

The international courier has teamed up with Pick Network, a subsidiary of Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), to provide parcel locker delivery services to its customers.

Launched in April 2021, Pick deploys, owns and operates the nationwide parcel locker network across Singapore. 

FedEx and Pick share similar values in providing reliable, efficient and innovative solutions to customers. By aggregating deliveries to a consolidated locker location instead of individual doorsteps, we are able to experience productivity gains and increased cost savings.

– Eric Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Express Singapore

In addition to providing a secure location for customers to retrieve parcels at their convenience, parcel lockers also play a crucial role in improving the delivery process for logistics companies. Couriers are now able to drop off multiple parcels at one convenient location – improving productivity by saving time and costs.

Enhancing customer convenience with parcel lockers

According to Eric, Pick’s extensive network of over 1,000 lockers in various locations across the country – including all HDB estates, MRT stations, bus interchanges and community clubs – has helped FedEx offer its customers greater convenience and flexibility in receiving their parcels as the lockers are operational 24/7.

FedEx customers often opt for Pick lockers as their preferred method of receiving packages because they are easy to use and convenient. 

There are two ways for any FedEx customer to collect their parcels from a Pick locker. Firstly, customers can log into FedEx Delivery Manager online to indicate their preference for all future parcels to be delivered to their preferred Pick locker.

Alternatively, in areas where FedEx has already adopted Pick lockers, customers will receive an SMS from FedEx on the day of delivery, informing them that their parcel will be delivered to their nearby Pick locker unless they choose to opt out. 

Subsequently, they will receive an SMS from L-Alliance (Locker Alliance) with a PIN code to retrieve their parcel at a time that best suits them.

For Patrick Tan, a FedEx customer and avid user of the Pick lockers, he found this parcel collection option to be very convenient as he does not need to worry about rescheduling or having someone at home to help receive his parcels whenever he isn’t available. 

As a small e-commerce business owner, he often purchases small parts online, which are automatically sent to the nearest Pick locker below his block whenever he can’t physically collect his parcels. This eliminates the chances of missed deliveries and frees up more time for him as he doesn’t have to wait idly for his delivery to arrive.

“I no longer have to worry about rearranging for another delivery time if the courier misses me at home,” said Patrick, adding that parcel lockers are a great option for customers like himself who receive plenty of deliveries. 

“Even during shopping festivals when parcel traffic is high, I have been able to collect my parcels on time. The entire process is straightforward and has been made a lot more convenient and accessible with Pick lockers.”

Streamlining courier efficiency and productivity

Aside from providing convenience to its customers, FedEx has also brought a plethora of advantages to its diligent couriers through Pick’s locker system. 

Prior to the collaboration, FedEx couriers would typically deliver packages directly to the customer’s doorstep. However, a common issue that may arise is the rescheduling of deliveries, which typically occurs when recipients are not available to receive their packages at the time of delivery. 

In such cases, I would first check with the customer if they have any preferred alternative delivery options, such as leaving the package with a trusted neighbour, or if it was a condominium, at the security booth or management office. If that is not possible, we would schedule a second delivery attempt at a convenient time for the customer.

– Iskandariah Hussin, Senior Courier, FedEx Express Singapore

A second delivery attempt is required approximately three out of 10 times for home deliveries, and this means that Iskandariah has to make multiple trips to the same location.

With the implementation of the Pick locker option, Iskandariah finds that his usual delivery routine has been significantly refined. 

For example, since almost all Pick lockers are located on the ground floor, Iskandariah does not have to perform doorstep visits up a HDB block to complete his delivery. The senior courier also sees an improvement in his productivity as he can deliver multiple packages to a single location, reducing the time taken for deliveries.

Another senior FedEx courier shared that he was able to cover eight addresses in approximately 45 minutes, as compared to the previous one hour for four addresses, with the option to deliver parcels to a Pick location.

Additionally, Iskandariah said that he benefits from savings on fuel and parking expenses since he travels shorter distances to complete the deliveries, which in turn effectively reduces his carbon footprint and time spent on the road.

Rise of parcel lockers is shaping the future of e-commerce logistics

During the initial trial period, FedEx adopted 40 per cent of Pick lockers and the take-up rate has been impressive, with 70 to 80 per cent of consumers choosing to collect their parcels from Pick lockers instead of home delivery.

Following this successful trial, FedEx has now chosen locker delivery as its primary delivery mode in Singapore. 

We expect utilisation rate to continue to increase as public awareness on the convenience and security is on the rise. FedEx remains committed to providing our customers with convenient, efficient and safe delivery options.

– Eric Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Express Singapore

While locker service adoption is still in its early stages in Singapore, FedEx believes that this delivery option can offer a multitude of benefits in the broader context of e-commerce logistics. 

This includes faster and more secure deliveries while reducing impact on the environment and improving customer experience with added convenience. 

Pick Network’s CEO, New Soon Tee, echoes this sentiment. “Pick operates the nationwide locker infrastructure to bring greater convenience to consumers and improve the working conditions for couriers. We are glad to play a part in transforming the last mile delivery sector with FedEx,” he said.

The use of parcel lockers is an innovative solution that can disrupt the logistics industry in Singapore, which is currently grappling with delivery inefficiencies such as manpower challenges, costly overheads, and the need for timely delivery. 

As parcel lockers become more widespread, they are likely to become an essential component of the e-commerce logistics ecosystem, revolutionising the way that e-commerce companies approach last-mile delivery and customer service. 

In the future, there is also a possibility that parcel lockers may evolve beyond package delivery to offer additional services like returns, first-mile sending of parcels, and click-and-collect, which could provide even greater benefits to consumers, businesses, and couriers.

Featured Image Credit: FedEx

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Tech giants to social enterprises: How they use tech to better lives, even for seniors and PwDs

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated Singapore’s digitalisation efforts, and also expanded the ways in which Singaporeans can be empowered by digital technologies.  

Supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Digital for Life is a national movement that aims to galvanise the community to help Singaporeans embrace digital as a lifelong pursuit, and use digital to enrich our lives. 

Since it started in February 2021, there has been positive support from the private, people and public sector, with more than 100 partners from the business corporations, government entities, charitable organisations and non-governmental organisations all coming together to contribute to the movement. 

From teaching underprivileged children basic laptop access skills to refurbishing laptops to pass it on to low income families, going around schools to educate children on cyber wellness, or creating assistive tech to help seniors and persons with disabilities, there are more ways than one for everyone to play a part in helping to build a digitally inclusive society for all. 

Singtel: Empowering the elderly to go digital

Singtel is one of the three major telcos involved in the Digital for Life movement, particularly targeting seniors.

In support of the movement, Singtel launched a new digital inclusion initiative in March 2022 to bridge the digital gap for seniors and provide them with free data to access the Internet and stay connected with family and friends. 

Called Donate Your Data, the scheme is currently open to GOMO subscribers – who can choose to donate their data to needy seniors via the GOMO mobile app – though it will be progressively extended to other Singtel mobile customers as well. 

Partnering with NTUC Health in the pilot launch, Singtel consolidates the donated data into prepaid hi! SIM cards to be distributed to needy seniors across their 13 Senior Activity Centres.

This latest initiative complements its ongoing Singtel Digital Silvers Programme, which aims to promote digital literacy among seniors. 

First launched in September 2020, the programme sees Singtel employees volunteer at Senior Activity Centres and Active Aging Centres every week to teach the elderly basic digital skills.

“Through our Singtel Digital Silvers programme, seniors are equipped with the digital knowledge and skills such as how to use their smartphones and make e-payments, so they can lead more fulfilling and engaged lives,” said Anna Yip, CEO of Singtel’s Consumer Singapore. 

“We continually champion digital inclusion across various community segments because we want everyone to benefit from digitalisation – nobody should be left behind because they don’t have the right knowledge or resources.”

According to Yip, these initiatives have been well-received so far and the telco will continue to seek new ways to empower more people to get connected and reap the benefits of technology. 

Mercurics: Building an app that acts as a navigation map for wheelchair users

Mercurics is an AI company that builds computational models to better understand people at scale in diverse application domains such as human resource, retail, finance, and more. 

At the same time, they are also a social enterprise that harnesses data and technology to tackle #techforgood projects.  

In 2020, they built a free tool for corporate clients to assess the mental wellbeing of their employees via its selfi.ai platform so employers can take necessary intervention measures.

Currently, the tech startup is working with various public and charity organisations to identify barrier-free paths in Singapore as part of the Smart Barrier Free Access (SmartBFA) project, which is partially funded by the Enabling Lives Initiative (ELI) grant by SG Enable and Tote Board.

“Most navigation apps today do not have an option for wheelchair-accessible routes. Even if they do, it provides only wheelchair-accessible public transport options – not accessible first/last-mile options,” said the founder of Mercurics. 

Wheelchair users may therefore encounter inaccessible routes with stairs, kerbs or steep slopes, causing them to have to take long detours. It’s still a work-in-progress, but the app will soon allow wheelchair users and/or their caregivers to search for accessible routes by avoiding such obstacles. 

Ultimately, SmartBFA aims to be a one-stop platform that highlights both wheelchair-accessible paths and places. 

According to Mercurics, the app passively gathers data on wheelchair accessible paths through data collection by volunteers.

“This passive approach allows us to collect data in a more sustainable way by reducing volunteer fatigue and effort. Volunteers may of course, also contribute additional data attributes – such as annotating obstacles – during their data collection exercise.”

Mercurics aims to roll out the SmartBFA navigation app to wheelchair users by the end of this year. It also plans to tackle other issues relating to employment for PwDs, accessibility for other PwD groups such as the visually impaired, and help generate more awareness and empathy for the less-abled. 

AiSP: Teaching online safety to counter cybercrime

Recently, there has been a steady increase in ransomware, online scams and phishing activities in Singapore. 

Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) – an independent cybersecurity association – acknowledged this worrying trend, and noted that besides the rate of attacks increasing year on year, they also increased in sophistication. 

“Digital transformation was accelerated by COVID-19, which created a lot of new opportunities for hackers to exploit vulnerable devices and networks. Threat actors and cyber criminals took advantage of these expanded attack surface, hence the recent spate of online scams and phishing attacks,” reasoned Faith Chng, AiSP Secretary and EXCO Lead for AiSP Cyber Wellness. 

Chng pointed out that people are the “weakest link” in the cybersecurity framework since they are susceptible to making mistakes and repeating them. As such, she called out the need for updated cybersecurity awareness, continuous cyber education and an ongoing culture of putting security as a priority. 

In line with this, AiSP has rolled out a Cyber Wellness Programme that aims to educate citizens – especially the youths and the elderly – on the importance of cybersecurity and staying safe online. 

“With reduced face-to-face engagements, the elderly and those with special needs have become more vulnerable to cyber threats. We will reach out to different community groups to raise awareness on the topic of cyber wellness and cybersecurity, and participants can pick up cyber knowledge through interactive learning,” said Chng. 

The programme, supported by the Digital for Life Fund, another initiative by the IMDA, has engaged 2,500 seniors through a range of cybersecurity training workshops, a curated interactive portal, quizzes and guidebook.

Besides the Cyber Wellness Programme, AiSP is also involved in helping to enhance security awareness through training with Singapore SMEs, hosting cybersecurity e-learning courses, engaging women in cybersecurity to bridge the talent pool gap, encouraging volunteerism amongst students while developing their interest in cybersecurity, among others. 

By promoting the development, increase and spread of cybersecurity knowledge, AiSP hopes to help shape a more resilient economy.

Microsoft Singapore: Upskilling persons with disabilities to improve job opportunities

Microsoft has always been a firm believer in tapping on technology to empower everyone to achieve more, and it has worked closely with governments, community, customers, and partners around the world to help it reach this goal.

“From the apps we use in our daily lives, to the speed at which companies have leveraged AI, the cloud, robotics and the likes to navigate through the pandemic, one thing is clear: the future is one that is digital-first,” asserted Pratima Amonkar, APAC Lead for Cloud and AI Business at Microsoft.

As an ongoing commitment to the Digital for Life movement and as part of Microsoft’s global digital literacy initiative, Microsoft Singapore has partnered with SPD and SG Enable to develop the Digital Enablement Programme (DEP). 

“The DEP aims to close the digital divide and enable people with disabilities to participate in the workforce. This is done through a three-pronged approach to upskill persons with disabilities, connect them with employment opportunities, and improve their accessibility in the workplace,” explained Pratima. 

She also stressed the need to attract more people with disabilities in the workforce to help develop “the next generation of accessible technology”. 

To make that happen, they need to first create an inclusive workplace to nurture such talent, and this starts with equipping people with the required skills. In line with this, Microsoft supported a pilot SPD digital skills training course for persons with disabilities in January 2021 to help boost their employability. 

The DEP is an extension of this pilot, and it includes a 35-hour training course that is structured into various tiers catering to different digital literacy levels.

In the first tier, participants learn basic skills like how to use TraceTogether, WhatsApp, and make medical appointments on their phones. In the advanced classes, participants learn to access online government services, safeguard their personal data, and use productivity tools including Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office on their digital devices. 

Of the 17 participants in the 2021 pilot, 11 successfully secured employment upon completion of the programme. Spurred by these encouraging numbers, Microsoft aims to work with partners to train 140 persons with disabilities by 2023.

Besides helping them to upskill, Microsoft also helps match jobseekers to potential employers through the Microsoft Enabler Program. Launched in 2020, the initiative helps to provide full-time roles, internships, mentorships, and training opportunities to persons with disabilities.

In addition, Microsoft connects partners with SG Enable’s Job Placement Job Support programme, which offers employer consultancy and capability-building programmes to organisations that are keen to hire persons with disabilities. 

“Very often, we look at just one side of the fence – how we train people to have the right skills. But at the end of the day, if employers don’t understand how to work with a person with a disability, it all falls apart,” said Pratima. 

Since persons with disabilities represent one of the largest untapped talent pools in Singapore, Microsoft hopes that through continued public-private partnerships like DEP, it can better achieve its ambition to make technology accessible for all and help create a resilient, digitally-inclusive nation.

Building a digitally inclusive society is a collective effort

“As the digital landscape changes rapidly, we need the entire community to come together to build and strengthen our digital resilience,” said President Halimah Yaacob when she delivered her speech at last year’s launch event of the Digital for Life movement.

“To do so, we need to understand and collectively address the digital needs of different segments of our society. Only then can we be closer to realising our vision of becoming a digitally inclusive society.”

It’s important to note that everyone can help play a part to build a digitally inclusive society, no matter how big or small a company may be. Together, our collective efforts will help to make technology accessible for all, and digitally enrich the lives of the community.

In fact, there are many ways in which you can contribute – donate to the Digital for Life Fund, volunteer with existing projects, or start a ground-up project through collaboration with other Digital for Life partners, all to help the digitally less-abled to embrace digital.

You can also check out who are the other partners supporting the movement to get some inspiration on how you can also “play” it forward, as well as take part in the activities to have digital enrich your life too.

Regardless of your company size or contribution, everyone is welcome to join in this meaningful cause to build an inclusive digital society.  

This article was written in collaboration with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

Featured Image Credit: Microsoft / AiSP / Singtel / Mercurics

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We tried out InvoiceNow to see if it really helps businesses get paid faster

Despite the pandemic, a bulk of employees in Singapore still go to their workplace to manually process invoices.

This is shown in a survey last year that polled 400 employees in the country which noted that one of the key challenges for operations, accounting, and finance staff (workers who have to deal with performing invoicing tasks) is the job of managing the different filing processes each company has in this period.

The rise of remote work and flexible work arrangements as the new normal means that employers need to think of a more universal and convenient way for workers to process important documents like invoices, regardless of where they are working.

These similar sentiments are shared by Chan Tze Hing, E-Commerce Lead at VP Label, Vulcan Post’s shopping arm. VP Label allows customers to purchase products from local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and participate in #supportlocal initiatives.

At VP Label, Tze Hing processes numerous invoices for and from the SME sellers on a daily basis. That’s because a part of the business’ sales process requires the sending and receiving of sales and transaction invoices from merchants. There are over 70 Singapore merchants on VP Label, such as Omnidesk, Boxgreen, and Hydragun.

Most of the time, the invoices are sent via PDF email documents with the occasional physical invoices, and the hassle to manually key in the data and keep track of them is time consuming and takes up more than two hours of his daily work.

Tze Hing stores his sales data on Microsoft Excel sheets which carries the risk of data being lost or deleted if not careful. “There’s a serious need for a go-to solution for all to rely on and to streamline the invoicing process, as companies big and small are on different stages of digitalisation and there’s no standardisation,” he commented.

The E-Commerce Lead highlighted that invoices should be a top priority to be paperless amid Singapore’s digitalisation push. Not surprisingly, this is also a top issue faced by the 400 Singapore workers in the earlier mentioned survey.

To help firms and employees not waste any time stressing out over invoicing issues, nationwide e-invoicing network InvoiceNow uses the Peppol framework to facilitate the exchange of invoices between different accounting systems. InvoiceNow helps businesses issue e-invoices to other companies on the network in a common structured digital format and might just be the answer to bringing all firms on the same page by levelling them up to the same stage of digitalisation.

InvoiceNow also strips away the tedious process of manually entering invoicing information into the systems – which is a time-consuming and an error-prone process employees commonly deal with when filing invoices.

Launched in 2019 by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), InvoiceNow aims to cut the amount of time and effort needed to re-key data into company systems with the use of e-invoicing, which can help companies save up to S$8 per invoice processed, according to an internal study.

Simple steps to send and receive invoices quickly

To find out how InvoiceNow works and whether it’s as efficient as it seems, we tried out the solution through VP Label.

The signup process for InvoiceNow was simple, said Tze Hing. “It took around 15 minutes to sign up and use a solution in the cloud.”

Tze Hing shared that you will have to first check if your finance or accounting solution is Peppol-ready and listed in IMDA’s pre-approved solution provider list, or you can check with your banking provider if they can assist with a solution offering.

“After that, get your solution provider to activate the InvoiceNow feature on your existing solution or if you are using an in-house system you will have to find an access point provider to connect your solution to the network,” he said.

VP Label opted for InvoiceNow service provider e-Invoice.sg, an electronic invoicing and access point service for the Peppol network in Singapore. The list of all approved solutions and access point operators can be found

To complete the setup, Tze Hing shared that SMEs just need to update all purchase order documents with their business identity information for invoicing. “You can start to send and receive invoices directly through your finance or accounting system immediately afterwards.”

Invoicing via InvoiceNow to get paid faster

When sending an e-invoice to others, businesses can do a quick search via the Singapore Peppol Directory to check if the recipient is Peppol-ready on InvoiceNow.

Singapore-registered businesses on the network can be searched by name or UEN number. For overseas partners who are on the network, sending and receiving e-invoices is also seamless.

“Prior to InvoiceNow, suppliers invoice us with PDF and physical invoices, which we laboriously copy and paste the invoice details into excel sheets. We then process the invoices through manual bank transfer,” shared Tze Hing.

“Now, we don’t have to manually key in the details of invoices on an excel sheet. These details are auto-populated in the system when our suppliers send them to us via the network.”

He added that InvoiceNow allows for faster completion of payments as the company’s bank account or PayNow account can be linked up. “Previously when we used PDF invoices, we had to manually open our banking app, log in to the business account and initiate a transaction. This takes up considerable time if we have multiple payments to make at once.”

“When we issue invoices to home-based businesses, as the invoice information is already populated in the accounting solution and in their system too, there’s no need to re-key the invoice information. This makes the verification and approval process faster which speeds up the payment process. The payments which can be made via PayNow can be scheduled too, and this helps the busy SMEs – who may forget to make payments due to their hectic timetables – make payments on time,” Tze Hing said.

“For a business manager like myself, the invoicing solution saves up a lot of time taken to generate and process invoices and it frees up my time to focus on pressing needs like sales and onboarding new clients,” Tze Hing added.

Save on paper costs, helping SMEs stay green

As InvoiceNow also cuts down the printing of invoices and paper usage, companies get to save on the cost of buying printing papers and be environmentally friendly.

Now that the invoices are transacted electronically via the network, the printing of invoices are greatly reduced. Companies no longer need to print invoices for the purpose of evidencing sale transactions or for tax and audit reasons. With that, businesses get to lower their carbon footprint and stay green.

E-invoices are legal and are accepted by the relevant authorities, so businesses do not need to worry that the invoices are not accepted when e-filing for company records and taxes.

Tze Hing added that e-invoices are a lot faster to process than physical paper invoices. “They do not require manual input of information, and we just need to check through the line items and corresponding costs before approving it and scheduling payment.”

With InvoiceNow, employees also no longer need to key and rekey data into electronic systems, and this removes errors caused by manual data entry. 

The solution’s direct transmission of e-invoices from one finance system to another without human intervention skips labour-intensive steps such as verifying information, rectifying errors, and resolving conflicts. This helps businesses save time and money spent on deploying resources which includes manpower to manage these problems.

The InvoiceNow community

It shouldn’t be a lonely journey for companies who take the bold step to embark on digitalisation, and Singapore has been making it a nationwide effort to ensure that all firms get the required support. 

For example, to

There are also monthly business briefing webinars for interested firms who want to find out more about InvoiceNow. In the monthly webinars, newcomers can learn how to come on-board the InvoiceNow network, transact, and enjoy the benefits of the service.

For those who are grappling with digitalisation and need guided assistance or support with e-invoice transactions, IMDA provides call support for businesses who need help with sending or receiving their first e-invoice on the InvoiceNow network.

Interested in finding out more about InvoiceNow? You can sign up for the next InvoiceNow business briefing for free Want to work at Lazada? Here’s a look at its new S’pore HQ that just opened at Bras Basah

Tech Is The Future: We Asked S’pore Firms What They Look For In Workers Switching To Tech

COVID-19 has accelerated digitalisation and automation at an unprecedented pace. Overnight, existing industries found themselves having to adopt new technologies and innovate, or risk being left behind.

What this means is that many of the business operations will be redesigned for a heavier emphasis on tech.

“Consequently, tech skills will be required in every industry sector; even within the tech sector where new tech skills need to be acquired,” said Dr Chong Yoke Sin, President of Singapore Computer Society (SCS).

The SCS is the leading infocomm and digital media society for industry professionals, leaders, students, and tech enthusiasts.

That said, if you have been honing your skills in a different career for years but would like to switch to a tech career now, how can you make that transition?

After all, it is natural to be reluctant to switch to a completely different industry due to a fear of change or lack of confidence.

Moreover, having to attain new skill sets to adjust to a new industry can be perceived as difficult.

With these concerns on mid-career switching, we asked some companies in Singapore what they look out for in workers switching to tech, and how you can help yourself transition to a new career.

How Mature PMETs Bring Value To Organisations

According to May Wee, Chief HR Officer of

Mature PMETs (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) are able to bring with them good experience gained while working with other organisations or industries to further enhance the processes and practices within IHiS.

– May Wee, Chief HR Officer of Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS)

On the same note, Lim Peck Hui, Managing Director of Tunity Technologies, said that mature PMETs are also able to “appreciate the reality of work issues than the newer members who are more idealistic.”

In fact, 13 out of 14 tech companies that SGTech — the trade association for the tech industry — checked in with are open to hiring mid-career switchers even if they do not have relevant experience.

May also pointed out that there is indeed a high demand for IT-skilled mature PMETs, especially with “intense competition coming from both the public and private sectors, a limited Singapore core pool and some skills-gap mismatch”.

Boosting Their Chances Of Switching To Tech

Sharon Teo, CEO of technology firm Inspire-Tech, said that she doesn’t mind if career switchers do not have the relevant experience.

Instead, what’s important to her is that they have a “positive attitude, are willing to learn and have good soft skills.”

Peck Hui agreed, and said that it’s fine as long as career switchers have an “open mind to unlearn and relearn.”

They cannot be too fixated about how things should be done and bring along their previous work rules or processes and force-fit them into the new organisation.

– Lim Peck Hui, Managing Director of Tunity Technologies

Other than technical skills, employers are often concerned about soft skills and company cultural fit issues when hiring mature PMETs.

Cultural fit issues such as intergenerational differences, new management styles and organisation structures in the tech sector can be disorientating for mature PMETs.

However, recruiters tend to look out for soft skills such as agility, adaptability, problem-solving, communication, leadership as well as the willingness to learn and take risks.

That said, new hires without relevant tech experience must be prepared for a steep learning curve and adopt a growth mindset for continuous learning and reskilling or upskilling.

How These Individuals Made Successful Career Switches

May shared that they have had several successful career switchers to tech in IHiS.

“One of our recent hires, Daniel, was an English Literature major and a copywriter who could not write a [single] line of code.” 

However, he has a keen interest in HealthTech and wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.

With that, he participated in the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)’s Tech Immersion and Placement Programme and started work in IHiS in March 2020 as a front-end developer.

While the learning curve was steep, Daniel was optimistic and displayed a growth mindset.

Coupled with the strong support and close guidance from his hiring manager and the IHiS team, he contributed to two projects that significantly helped to enhance productivity and the patient experience during COVID-19.

For Inspire-Tech, Sharon also shared a successful story of a mature PMET who had worked more than 30 years in the financial sector, with most of the time spent overseas.

Upon returning to Singapore, he found it challenging to gain opportunities in the same sector. That was why he decided to expand his options and consider the tech sector.

Through a Career Support Group piloted by SGTech in partnership with Growthbeans, the PMET got acquainted with Inspire-Tech which helped create a three-month induction programme for him.

The forged connection was an opportunity for both parties to assess one another and determine if there was a good fit and if a mid-career switch to tech was possible.

In the three months, he picked up domain and product knowledge through the technical training provided. He was also able to offer valuable transferable business, operational and life experience to Inspire-Tech.

Given his positive attitude, a curious mindset, agility, willingness to learn and good communication skills, the PMET was converted to a full-time hire and has been with the company for over a year now.

So far, the Career Support Group has already seen the placement of 13 out of 19 participants in jobs and traineeships within two months from completion.

Managing One’s Expectations

These individuals have shown that making a career switch is not a fast ride — it requires hard work, willingness to learn and mental resilience.

Besides adopting a mindset of investing in oneself, mature PMETs should also temper their financial expectations.

For a non-tech person switching to a tech role without the strong tech foundation, there will likely be a difference in the remuneration as compared to their last non-tech position, explained May.

However, if the employee performs well in his or her job role, the salary could eventually “catch up”.

Potential job seekers looking to switch to a tech career should be prepared to invest the time and effort required to strengthen their tech foundation.

After all, we live in a digitalised world where technology is constantly evolving — from artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, automation to cybersecurity.

Mature PMETs should continue to have an insatiable appetite to upgrade themselves through the various initiatives or programmes organised by various governmental institutions such as Employment and Employability Institute, IMDA and the Workforce Singapore.

How TMCA Benefits Mature PMETs And Companies

“Mature PMETs are encouraged to make a mid-career switch to tech for better assurance of long-term employability,” said Dr Chong.

With their strong operations experience and an open mindset to learn new skills, they will find themselves not switching away from their former skills and experience, but complementing them with new tech skills that will carry them further in employability.

– Dr Chong Yoke Sin, President of Singapore Computer Society (SCS)

There is support for mature PMETs and companies which are willing to train them under the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative driven by IMDA.

Under the TeSA initiative, TeSA Mid-Career Advance (TMCA) programme further helps this by providing mature workers with a tech-related job while they upskill or reskill.

The programme is open to Singapore citizens who are at least 40 years old.

Mature PMETs will be assured with a paid job while being upskilled or reskilled through structured, on-the-job training on in-demand ICT skills.

Some of the benefits include monthly salaries, mentorship on projects, and acquiring specialist level competencies.

Potential tech employers should come onboard the programme as this is a good way for them to help mid-career employees equip themselves with the necessary tech skills to successfully transition to tech.

Mid-career employees are armed with years of experience that will make them suitable mentors for the younger employees.

Besides that, a combination of mature PMETs and newer workers will encourage a diversity of ideas in a company.

As the saying goes, old is gold. There is no doubt that these mature PMETs bring with them a wealth of experience and can be an asset to any company.

To learn more about the resources that can help mature workers make mid-career switches to tech roles, you can visit IMDA’s website.

This article was written in collaboration with IMDA.

Featured Image Credit: iStock

Also Read: Turning Data Into Success: How S’pore Companies Can Transform Their Data Analytics Strategy

Preparing For The Future: Why Coding Is A 21st Century Skill That We Must Learn To Master

The demand for computing skills has grown
tremendously in Southeast Asia, with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia leading
the way.

As a testament to this, coding is now even
offered as an enrichment programme in Singapore schools just like music and
ballet, as the country establishes itself as a tech hub.

In 2017, computing was actually offered as an O-level subject
at Secondary 3 across 19 schools. 6 IP schools and junior colleges also offer
computing as an A-level subject.

Malaysia has also added coding to the national
school curriculum, and is currently offered to Year 6 and secondary school students. From
2020 onwards, coding will also be taught through the Design and Technology
subject to Year 4, 5 and 6 students.

Meanwhile, Thailand announced last year that it is aiming to train 10 million young Thais in coding and computer science over three years through CodingThailand.org. This website is designed to foster an interest in computing, especially for those without access to computer science education in the more rural areas.

With the strong push in coding education regionally, it’s clear that digital literacy is important in preparing us for the future, which will be driven by more computing technology.

But What Exactly Is The Real Value In Coding?

From building a website to developing an app,
there are so many real-world coding applications that can solve everyday
problems. It also helps power our digital world, like social media, online
banking, self-driving cars and robotics.

While many think that coding only benefits
coders and programmers, it is actually a valuable skill that helps you in
everyday life and in any industry that deals with computers – which is just
about everything.

In the words of the indelible Steve Jobs,
“Everyone should know how to program a computer because it teaches you how to
think”.

In order to communicate with the computer, you
need to order your thoughts in a logical, structured way. This way of thinking
sharpens your reasoning and problem-solving skills and you’ll be able to see
problems from a different angle, and logical solutions will become more easily
apparent.

Having a background in coding is also an
essential 21st-century skill, and is something that will come in handy in any
career path you might pursue. Think about it — barely any discipline or
profession today remains untouched by computation.

With the rise of technological advancements
like AI and robots, Scratch and Hopscotch, while those who are seeking basic coding knowledge can
learn more about traditional programming languages like JavaScript, Python and
Ruby.

At the upcoming SG:Digital Wonderland 2019 organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), technology familiarisation is the underlying theme and you can attend free workshops and have fun learning about coding and digital making.

Formerly known as Tech Saturday (Upsized!), Singapore’s largest tech carnival is a two-day event that lets everyone — regardless of age — discover, experience and innovate with technology.

You
can witness talented Singapore youths battle it out to solve real-world
problems for good social causes using technology in the Tech for Good coding
competitions.

On
18 May, there is a computer programming competition Code Quest organised by here until 15 May.

On
the second day, there is also a Build On, Singapore 2019 hackathon — jointly
organised by IMDA, GovTech, Singapore Polytechnic and Amazon Web Services (AWS)
— that challenges students to create a safe and smart home environment for
seniors and persons with disabilities using technology.

A
Tech for Good Exhibition, organised by students and the people from Engineering
for Good and Tech Pals, will be taking place on both days. It will showcase
tech prototypes that are developed specifically for digitally at-risk groups
such as special needs kids and seniors with dementia.

In addition, the event will host Youth Innovation Showcase and Awards 2019, which celebrates and recognises innovative and cutting-edge tech prototypes of students from the Institutes of Higher Learning in Singapore and around the region.

Beyond
these, you can also discover how to enhance your personal digital defence and
interact with the latest AI-powered robots, as well as challenge yourself to a
game of Augmented Reality dodgeball or shoot some VR zombies at the Digital
Media Playground.

Check
here for a full list of activities and
don’t forget to mark your calendar for a fun-filled weekend! There’s bound to
be something for everyone, so make a date with your friends or bring your
family and kids down!

SG:Digital Wonderland 2019
18 and 19 May, 11am to 8pm
Suntec City Convention Centre (Hall 404-406)
Admission is free

Featured Image Credit: Sg Code Campus

This article was
written in collaboration with Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Businesses Are Leveraging On This S’pore Startup’s Facial Recognition Tech To Improve Their Operations

What do you know about facial recognition technology?

For many, it might bring up images of high-security buildings which can only be accessed with a face or iris scan.

Another more commonly known usage of facial recognition technology is probably the ‘face unlock’ function incorporated into the latest smartphones.

But the application of this technology is actually more multi-faceted than many know it to be.

For example, the technology is currently tested and deployed at Airport Terminals to bring convenience to passengers through queue management software services.

And it’s not only at our airport – the technology is also being used by private players in the local market, including F&B outlets and hotels.

From crowd prediction to traffic management, the technologies allow users to better manage their operations and improve their efficiency in the long run.

Xjera Labs is a homegrown SG:D Accredited company that has been at the forefront of such facial recognition technology, and has clinched clients for those very purposes.

Some of their prominent customers include retail malls, security agencies, large corporations that run theme parks, and schools in China.

I was interested to find out more about Xjera Labs so I dropped by their office to have a quick chat with the CEO & Founder, Dr. Ethan Chu.

Inspired By The Wide-Scale Potential Of Automation

Prior to starting Xjera Labs, Dr. Chu came from an academic background.

After graduating from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), he went on to earn his Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Electrical & Computer Engineering School.

He also held R&D and management positions in Qualcomm, HP Labs in the United States, and was a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

But I was curious as to what got him interested in AI and automation in the first place.

“That’s a very interesting question,” he smiled, as he recalled the time when he observed his great-grandmother painstakingly watering all her plants for “at least 2 to 3 hours every morning”.

“Eventually, my uncle [and I] designed a tube with a floating mechanism […] that helped to water all the plants [without manual labour].”

[It was then that] I was convinced then that automation has a lot of potential.

This incident was the spark for Dr. Chu’s flame, but the ember that kept it going came when he noticed the wider-scale applications of automation in various industries.

For example, during a visit to a traffic survey company, he noticed that despite having around 100 staff employed solely to count vehicles entering their building, the numbers were still far from accurate.

This spurred Dr. Chu’s desire to not just study AI, but create solutions to “help humans do less mundane work”.

At the end of 2013, Xjera Labs was born.

Identifying Individuals Or Vehicles Of Interest Within Minutes

In the five years since inception, the Xjera Labs team has worked tirelessly to develop the proprietary Athena Platform, a complex and powerful multi-layer neural network system that allows users of their products to single out individuals or vehicles that have certain attributes, within minutes.

To ensure high accuracy and reliability, their products are supported by six neural networks, which are computer algorithms that simulate the learning capabilities of a human brain, to focus on multiple aspects of a subject.

For example, one neural network focuses on facial expression while others focus on aspects such as actions and text detection.

In layman’s terms, it means you can use the platform to quickly identify subjects with attributes of interest (like “striped shirt”, or “blue lorry”) from video footage.

Currently, Xjera Labs has 3 main products to effectively address the varied needs of their customers:

1. XHound: Used for post-event search for faces, attributes, and abnormal events
2. XIntelligence: Used in real-time operation for surveillance and safety applications, crowd management, and attribute detection
3. XTransport: Used for intelligent transport applications like traffic survey, vehicle flow estimation, and speed estimation

Unlike many off-the-shelf products from competitors, Xjera Labs also provides customised video analytics solutions to meet the needs of customers who have more specific requirements.

 “We Appreciate Our Competitors”

Dr. Chu added that getting customers to believe in their product was tricky in the early days.

While fields like AI, coding and AR/VR are sexy topics right now, it wasn’t the same case back in 2012 and 2013.

“AI wasn’t a popular word,” he recalled. “There were also some traditional large enterprises across the world [who were resistant to it].”

That’s why we appreciate our competitors, because they help us to create awareness among the public and our customers.

It was also difficult to convince certain customers that albeit being a small startup, their product could hold its own in comparison to the offerings from larger tech companies.

It was only after AI gradually became more “mainstream” that the team saw a positive turn of events.

Out of all their milestones, Dr. Chu considered Xjera Lab’s participation in the inaugural Video Analytics Tech Challenge organised by the then-Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in 2015 as one of the most impactful.

“We emerged as the winner, and that’s actually one of our very important credentials.”

The firm went on to win the Video Analytics Challenge in 2017 organised by the Changi Airport Group in 2017.

It’s quite difficult to explain [our AI technology] to people, but having these track records have helped us a lot.

Clinching Government Clients, Getting Accredited

It was also during the IDA-organised Video Analytic Tech Challenge that the Xjera Labs team got acquainted with the Accreditation@SG Digital (Accreditation@SGD) programme.

Launched by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in July 2014, Accreditation@SGD is a programme that accelerates the growth of innovative Singapore-based infocomm media companies by helping these companies to establish credentials, build track record and scale globally.

Dr. Chu admitted that applying to be accredited was “quite an easy decision”.

For a company, the most important thing is recognition from customers. And as a startup, if we have a government agency that supports us, it’s very convincing to customers.

“The programme also has teams that help us to connect to government agencies who have real requirements for our technology.

“They actually looked into all aspects of the company – like the technical details, our business prospects, our financials. Overall, it’s a very comprehensive evaluation process.”

On 18^th March this year, they proudly announced their accredited status. Since “IMDA has a high bar”, attaining their accreditation has helped to increase the company’s standing in the industry.

“Accreditation gives us a channel that helps us to interact directly with the customers. There are also quite a few deals that we secured through the programme as well,” he said.

Next Up: Expansion To Vietnam

Currently, there are around 25 staff on the team, and their job scopes range from software architecture to algorithm development and  project management.

They also have a sales team based in China, a result of a partnership with a Chinese company.

When asked about their expansion plans, Dr. Chu revealed that they’re currently looking at the Vietnamese market.

We wanted to start in a Southeast Asian country, which has developed to an extent where they can appreciate our technology.

“Market size was also another consideration, and whether there are government agencies in Singapore who can work alongside us – just like how IMDA is working with us,” he chuckled.

“When People Don’t Recognise You, You Shouldn’t Feel Bad About It”

Ending off the interview, I asked Dr. Chu for advice that he’d give fellow startups.

For him, ensuring that the company’s mission aligns with team members’ personal goals is of paramount importance.

“You have to believe in this mission, because it’s only belief that can help the company go through very hard times […] like when people don’t appreciate what the company is doing.”

He recalled the early days of Xjera Labs, when many were still sceptical about the potential of AI and automation.

“I think [this scepticism is] quite normal – it’s not that I’m blaming anyone,” he clarified.

“I also believe that at that point of time, the truth is held in the hands of a few. But when everyone starts [jumping on the trend], your time has already passed.”

When people don’t recognise you, you shouldn’t feel bad about it, it’s actually a good sign that you are ahead of the game (and thus have a first mover advantage).

We’d like to thank Dr. Chu for his time.

This article was written in collaboration with Accreditation@SG Digital.

Also Read: Brink Of Bankruptcy, No Salary For Months – Now Smove Is The Biggest Car-Sharing Service In S’pore

This S’pore Startup Created World’s First AI-Driven Ads Platform – Crowdsources Creatives For Digital Ads

In the past, advertisers believed that the more times your ad was seen, the better it is.

But the opposite is true in this digital age — when users see an ad over and over again, they simply stop clicking.

When the viewer frequency rate is too high, the ad starts to lose its effectiveness — ad fatigue, in other words.

The good news: Singapore-based Creadits — previously known as ReFUEL4 — played a vital role in solving this problem.

Kazuhiro Takiguchi, simply known as Kazu, had a disruptive idea for an AI-driven creative platform and thus founded Creadits in 2014; roping in his business partner, Vernon Vasu, to help revolutionise the advertising industry in Singapore.  

His refreshing idea: A platform that overcomes ad fatigue by closely monitoring how well ads are performing against the target audiences.

When the performance dips, their army of designers will ‘refuel’ the ad with fresh creative to ensure that the campaigns never go stale.

Vernon, a 20-year veteran in the advertising sector, was sold when Kazu pitched the killer business idea. It immediately resonated with him as this was a perennial problem in the industry.

“To be able to address it comprehensively and globally was too powerful an opportunity to ignore,” he said.

Using AI To Save Advertisers Time And Money

Leveraging on machine learning, the platform is able to predict the performance of an ad before it is displayed, thereby saving advertisers media cost and time-to-market.

This helps brands to determine which ad creative will yield the best results for digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

It also ensures that sufficient ad versions are promptly produced for advertisers so that media budgets aren’t wasted.

“Our platform reduces the recommendation parameters to optimise the performance of your ad. After achieving a good AI score, you can safely put some money against the ad,” said Kazu, who is also the director of Japanese company Allied Architects, a major investor of Creadits.

Upon analysis, designers can continue to tweak the creative to improve on the ad and garner better results.

Its extensive network of global designers provide rapid results at scale, and they can turn around a brief in just 2 to 3 days.

They work 24/7, 5 days a week, and develop 5,000 to 8,000 ads per month.

Creadits is currently working on two new AI-powered technologies — an automated video summarizer and ad creative resizing tool — to help improve the efficiency of the production process.

According to the duo, its automated video summarizer uses AI to create more concise versions of long videos. The tool recognises the important elements of the video, and smartly trims off redundant parts to summarise it into concise, yet impactful versions.

“After investing weeks (or even months) of hard work, you finally have a 60-second video ad to show. But that length doesn’t always translate well, especially for audiences with short attention spans on Facebook and Instagram.”

Getting your editor to cut a shorter version could take hours, if not days — until now. This [tool] delivers an improvement in efficiency of at least 75% in just 30 minutes.

Creadits Knows What Advertisers Really Want

Creadits looks at every aspect of the creative production and analyses how it can be improved, especially in terms of how creative talents are engaged and briefed.

The firm combines their in-house briefing data from working on thousands of creatives with the specific marketing objectives and audiences of clients, to guide designers to produce more tailored and effective ads.

For us, it’s important that we have the briefing data, which tells us what the advertisers really want. And these are data that both Facebook and Google do not have.

“So naturally, we are investing our resources to enhance our AI-driven briefing, instead of [focusing on ad performance] prediction. We don’t know what brands like, and they don’t know their audience behaviour; so this is why we are implementing AI to help reduce this gap,” said Kazu.

Paying Creative Talents Fairly

According to Kazu, it is part of their social mission to democratise design and enable designers, regardless of their background or location, to earn “fair remuneration”.

“If you’re a designer in New York and a designer in the Philippines, and you’re producing the same quality work, there’s no reason why one should earn more than the other right?” questioned Vernon.

Moreover, big agencies charge US$3,000 for one Facebook static advertisement. But if we track down the whole creative process (from big agency, to media lab, to production house), the actual creative person is only being paid US$20.

Noting the talent gap between the advertiser and the designer, the duo made it a point to activate the global talent pool in a fair way.

Traditionally, advertisers pay for man hours, not the outcome; so Creadits is changing things up by paying creatives based on their output instead.

Creadits runs on a subscription model — “if you pay US$2,500 subscription fee, you’ll get x number of creative credits, which you can use to get an ad.”

“This creates transparency, so you know exactly what you’re getting. Basically, we’re trying to create a platform where the process of getting creatives is more transparent and clear,” explained Vernon.

The Creadits platform operates like an outsourcing platform, which lets you see a display of submissions from the designers.

It’s then clear for advertisers to choose the creatives, and for them to see who designed it.

To date, the clientele list for Creadits’ designers include big names such as Spotify, King.com (creators of Candy Crush), PayPal and eBay.

Spotify in particular, wanted to increase the number of app downloads in Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Tackling these APAC markets, however, posed a marketing challenge as they needed to reach new listeners in a region with multiple languages and diverse cultural and musical tastes.

Thanks to Creadits’ pool of localised talents, Spotify was able to craft relevant ad creatives that addressed these differences within a short turnaround time.

In just 72 hours, the team created over 300 ad variations inspired by global trends and regional pop culture references, while adhering to Spotify’s brand guidelines.

The final ad reached 4.6 million people, resulting in 3 times more app downloads as compared to previous campaigns.

An IMDA-Accredited Startup

Creadits is an accredited startup under the IMDA’s Accreditation@SG Digital programme.

It obtained this accreditation certification in March this year, and Vernon commented that it was a “tough and rigorous” process.

“The accreditation process — from code review, process review, security audit, the financials — was tough. Even our financial controller said that the questions IMDA asked was tougher than what our auditors asked [because] they ask penetrating questions,” he said with a laugh.

But the strict audit has actually helped the company to uncover and address some product engineering gaps.

Furthermore, the accreditation has also given Creadits the opportunity to expand its network of business contacts.

IMDA helped us to directly qualify potential partnerships and make the introduction. They’ve been actively referring us to potential clients that they have access to [and expand our network]. 

“The contacts they provide are significant customers and [gives us the window of opportunity] to clinch potential projects as well as collaborations to expand geographically,” said Vernon.

He added that to be recognised by IMDA alone is a huge boost to the company as it has raised the company’s profile and credibility.

“Overall, it has been a collaborative working relationship and I felt that the IMDA team was accommodating as they helped us to accelerate the accreditation process so it could be completed much faster.”

“IMDA is also used to dealing with startups, so there’s a common understanding of what is possible for a startup and what should be looked into, but addressed in the future.”

On that note, he highly recommends other startups to get started on their accreditation journey when they “have achieved a certain scale.”

3 Global Offices And Counting

Headquartered in Singapore, Creadits currently has three global offices.

The Singapore office houses the data science and engineering team, while its Manila office is focused on fulfilment and client servicing.

The firm has also moved its American office — which focuses on very large US-based advertisers — from San Francisco to Austin.

In all, its current global headcount amounts to 80 staff.

“The Manila and Austin combination is working really well for us. But we’re also building a China sales team, which will be housed here in Singapore.” said Vernon.

Moving forward, the Creadits team is confident to take on the US$500 billion digital advertising market.

This article was written in collaboration with Accreditation@SG Digital.

Featured Image Credit: Creadits

Also Read: It’s Not Game Over: This S’porean Millennial Scored A Scholarship From Ubisoft And IMDA After 4 Rejections

This AI Startup Is Run By The World’s Top Data Scientists – Lets Anyone Build Predictive Models

Jeremy Achin and Tom de Godoy are both data scientists turned entrepreneurs.

The two had first met in college when they attended the University of Massachusetts together about 20 years ago.

Since both of them were well-versed in data science and machine learning models, starting up DataRobot was a natural progression for them.

The duo co-founded the company back in 2012, with Jeremy assuming the role of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Tom as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Both Jeremy and Tom have been ranked as high as 20th in the world on Kaggle, which currently has over 800,000 registered data scientists.

Today, DataRobot has been recognised as CB-insights’ top 100 AI companies; and out of its over 400-strong employees worldwide, half of them are established data scientists.

Data Science Competition Led To Birth Of AI Company

In a Skype interview with Tom, who is based in the United States, he shared that the real impetus for them to start up DataRobot was because of a Kaggle data science competition.

The duo only had two weeks to come up with a solution, but they still managed to emerge sixth place.

This spurred them to join more competitions in various verticals, which led them to clinch a streak of top three wins.

“Jeremy and I were competing together as a team around 2011. It was during the competition that we had the idea for DataRobot because it was clear to us then that every business was generating a lot of data,” said Tom.

“But very few [companies] were taking advantage of the data with predictive analytics because it requires very highly trained data scientists to do it.”

“Since the demand was not being met by the supply of data scientists, we saw an opportunity to create a platform to leverage AI (artificial intelligence) to automate this type of analysis.”

AI Once Seen As “Science Fiction”

But six years ago, the idea of AI was still very new so they found it hard to pitch their solution to potential investors.

“AI was considered as a science fiction and the idea of automating machine learning was very hard to believe in for many people.”

So the main challenge [starting up for us] was the skepticism in this field, simply because our vision was so far ahead of the curve.

Although the situation now is completely different and people are finally buying into the AI vision, attracting investors was initially a very tough process for them.

“It’s really about finding the right match. The key investors in DataRobot today are all people who bought our vision, and they know enough about machine learning and data to understand that what we were proposing was really revolutionary,” said Tom.

In April 2013, DataRobot raised US$3.3 million in a seed round with Atlas Venture led by Christopher Lynch, who is now the board chairman of the company.

That marked their first time raising money and since then, DataRobot has raised capital totalling US$124 million today.

Data Crunching Within Hours

With the global shortage of data scientists, DataRobot offers an enterprise-focused automated machine learning platform that empowers users of varying skill levels to quickly build and deploy predictive models.

Even those without any deep domain knowledge can still take advantage of the platform, emphasised Tom.

We are reaching out to people of every background, from business executives to data analysts. Our users don’t necessarily need to know algorithms or machine learning, neither do they need to know how to write code to create solutions from scratch.

Using drag-and-drop, point-click guided menu options, users with all degrees of data science experience can easily build predictive models in a short span of time.

“Our automated machine learning platform allows enterprises to use open source algorithms, but it also automates a lot of the tasks involved in building the models, evaluating them, and then implementing it in their corporations.”

“Basically, it turns what used to be a project that would take months and reduce it to only two days, or sometimes even down to hours thanks to the amount of automation in the platform.”

Tom further assures that with just a few days of training, anyone can perform data analysis on their own using DataRobot.

To date, its DataRobot University in Boston and Singapore have trained over 6,000 people in practical data science education using the automated machine learning platform.

This “Horizontal” Platform Is Applicable In Various Industries

 DataRobot’s solution essentially empowers companies to rapidly find key insights, hidden data patterns, and make predictions faster.

So far, its technology has been used globally to help companies in various verticals like insurance companies to detect fraudulent claims, businesses to set competitive pricing, financial institutions to predict loan defaults, and many more.

“When it comes down to it, many problems can be framed in a consistent way for machine learning.”

For instance, in sales and marketing, businesses can use our platform to decide what product to offer to who. Other applications include inventory management, marketing optimisation, churn prevention and customer understanding.

“You need to know what upsets your customers so you can take necessary action to not lose them. Things like that are applicable in every company, so we actually have customers in many verticals.”

He added that DataRobot has a lot of financial use cases from underwriting, to credit risk, to insurance pricing.

The company recently worked with NTUC Income — one of Singapore’s largest insurance providers — to help them with pricing analysis and improve their business performance.

As customers tend to choose their insurer based purely on the price points, it is imperative for them to set accurate technical and commercial prices.

By automating the process of building and comparing models that explore cost versus risk, NTUC Income can easily determine whether the risk they are going to undertake is priced appropriately.

This competitive advantage pushes adverse selection on to competitors, which over time helps the company to increase their growth and profitability.

“Ultimately, we believe that AI and machine learning is greatly changing how companies use their data to improve their decision-making process.”

We strongly advise businesses to think about how to identify opportunities in the entire company. To do so, they need to know every aspect of the business and collect data on everything that they do.

S$15 Million To Boost AI In Singapore

DataRobot’s chief data scientist Xavier Conort — who is based here in Singapore — has been ranked first in the world for two consecutive years.

“We started our Singapore office in 2013 because of Xavier actually. We made it a point to make him the first hire in the company, which turned out to be a huge manpower boost for the company. From there, we slowly worked on growing the Singapore team,” said Tom.

In November 2017, DataRobot made a move to invest US$11.1 million (S$15 million) to set up its regional headquarters and research and development (R&D) centre in Singapore.

Its expansion here comes after the Government announced its infocomm media Industry Transformation Map, which outlined AI as a growth area.

“We believe that Singapore is a key growth market for AI and there has been a lot of interest and investment [in this field] here.”

DataRobot On Getting Accredited

DataRobot is one of the first few foreign companies with a regional HQ in Singapore that has been accredited under the Accreditation@SG Digital programme.

This programme accredits innovative tech companies to establish credentials and position them as qualified contenders to government and large enterprise buyers.

As a result, potential end users are assured that these accredited companies have the product core functionalities and the ability to deliver.

“This is a massive endorsement coming from the government, and it highlights us as a very good and trusted company,” said Brendan Lim, Managing Director, Sales of DataRobot Singapore.

This collaboration with IMDA has helped to increase the company’s profile in Singapore and Asia Pacific.

“As a growing company, it’s crucial to be guided and to be able to participate in key events in the region was invaluable to us. We’re also thankful that IMDA has helped us to establish corporate connections and we’ve had some very promising engagements from those introductions.”

DataRobot also trusts that being accredited will vastly improve the company’s ability to work with the Singapore government without having to spend a lot of time cutting through the red tape jungle.

Getting government projects will be faster and easier, while the distinction will help validate the company to prospective clients in the region.

“Ultimately, we are very happy to be associated with IMDA’s accreditation programme. We get to collaborate with IMDA themselves, who create, support and promote digital culture within Singapore. So to be a part of that and to be able to help fellow organisations become AI-driven is the biggest perk to us,” said Brendan.

“I highly recommend other organisations to be a part of this accreditation programme, especially if you are new to the region and you don’t know how to navigate yourself within this space.”

It helps you gain exposure through events, projects, collaborative initiatives and corporate connections — which are all very key things to an organisation that is looking to grow in this region. It’s a good validation platform, and to have a solid backing and sponsorship of such a structured programme is very helpful.

Conquering The World, One Country At A Time

Post-accreditation, Brendan proudly claims that DataRobot has been growing significantly, as it sees increased sales and profits in Singapore and in the region.

Following this success, DataRobot has notably expanded in terms of office space and manpower headcount in Singapore.

They have since moved in to a 4,000 square-foot office in the Central Business District, and their number of client-facing executives has quadrupled to a total of 30 staff in Singapore alone.

When asked to comment further on the company’s expansion plans, Tom said that DataRobot already has a global presence, but it is still looking at growing their footprint.

“We’re already in North America, Europe, Singapore, Ukraine and Tokyo, which are all well-developed markets. Now, we are entering some new markets such as Australia and South America.”

He added that there has been a lot of buzz around AI now, as organisations today are embracing and developing the technology.

“Everyone’s talking about how AI is the future, which is completely different [from when we first started out]. To date, we have had so many clients and have successfully delivered our vision to many users.”

At the end of the day, it’s really important for entrepreneurs to trust in their business idea. Disregard those who don’t believe in you and your vision, and just follow your dreams.

Featured Image Credit: DataRobot 

This article was written in collaboration with Accreditation@SG Digital.

Also Read: Ad Fraud Is A Serious Problem, So They Are Helping Businesses Use Ad Budgets More Effectively

Ad Fraud Is A Serious Problem, So They Are Helping Businesses Use Ad Budgets More Effectively

According to Statista, US$534.8 billion was spent globally on advertising in 2017, and this figure is projected to rise to US$557.99 billion this year.

While that’s definitely great news for creative agencies, it doesn’t mean that businesses are experiencing stellar ROI.

Think about it as a consumer – out of all the ads that you’ve been served, how many have successfully convinced you to make a purchase?

But perhaps one of the bigger problems is the rise of ad fraud bots.

Just last November, Denmark-based ad-tech firm Adform discovered that “a large and sophisticated” ad fraud operation was used to scam advertisers and publishers “out of upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day”.

Named “Hyphbot”, it was reported to have created “more than 34,000 different domain names and more than a million different URLs” to fool advertisers into thinking they were buying ad inventory from publishers like The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.

In fact, a report estimates that advertisers will lose a whopping US$19 billion as a result of ad fraud in 2018.

Thus, the general advice is for businesses to look out for “trusted, transparent third parties and publishers” – exactly where Anuj Khanna Sohum, co-founder of Affle[/caption]

Explained Anuj Khanna Sohum, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Affle, “We are a consumer-driven tech company that help businesses derive greater ROI for their marketing budgets/ We have built consumer intelligence with our 1.18 billion consumer profiles as of March 31, 2018.”

“With our data intelligence and machine learning infrastructure, we assist businesses in reaching out to the end user with our customized solutions,” he added.

Noticing the glaring gaps in the industry, Anuj started Affle (Affle Global Pte. Ltd.) in 2005 in Singapore.

Today, it has consumer profiles across Southeast Asia, MENA, North America, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Australia with its international headquarters based in Singapore.

Its registered and corporate office is in India, which is also the largest market for the company.

I dropped by Affle’s office in Singapore for a quick chat with Anuj, and found out more about how this 13-year-old organisation won over well-known clients and notable investors by making a difference in the ad-tech space.

The Fight Against Ad Fraud

As a means to protect its customers from ad fraud, Affle launched its Fraud Analytics as a Service Platform (“mFaaS”) last October.

Operating during run time and not just post-mortem, mFaaS utilises two primary interventions as part of its detection technology – device-based detections and server-side detections.

The platform, mFaaS detects and flags potentially fraudulent conversions and transactions on 15+ reason codes, which include click spamming, conversion hijacking, app version frauds, BOT/simulator activity, and many internet protocol (IP)-related fraud types.

Shared Anuj during the launch, “We believe that the timing of this launch is also very pertinent as we are seeing significant growth in ad fraud leading to ROI erosion for businesses.”

[caption id="attachment_645498" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Screenshot from Affle’s website[/caption]

Affle already has three registered patents in the United States in areas of consumer acceptable advertising via data communication clients, online search system, method and computer program and system for extending the use and/or application of messaging systems.

Seven patent applications have also been filed in India, covering various algorithms in the areas of blockchain, audience intelligence, and fraud detection methods.

Affle’s mFaaS was recognised for its innovation, and received the “Big Data Technology Platform of the Year” award in 2017 at the IAMAI India Digital Awards.

Ads Can Be A Win-Win For Businesses And Consumers

Making sure that the most relevant ads get served to the most relevant consumers is another aspect Affle takes very seriously.

As mentioned above, they have profiled over 1.18 billion users on their preferences with over 140 billion data points over the preceding 12 months.

Assured Anuj, “When we say profiled, it means that we have some idea of what the user might be interested in!”

What they do have, though, is a level of understanding how a user interacted with a recently-served ad.

“From those inferences, we can optimise what is served to you the next time.”

Affle also has strong niche in creating ads that consumers would find value in, and Anuj shared with me an example of a gamified ad they created for a Hollywood movie.

Explained Anuj, “We took the movie trailer, and whenever you see a superhero, you click on it.”

“It then captures the superhero’s photo, [and if] couldn’t find all of them, you’d want to watch it again and again!'”

[caption id="attachment_641342" align="aligncenter" width="328"] Affle’s Avengers ad at work[/caption]

“It’s not just an ad, it’s about how you add value for the consumer.”

It is a win-win proposition today, where consumers are constantly looking for relevant content related to their interests, and marketers and publishers are continuously challenged to deliver engaging content.

Singapore As Its International HQ

[caption id="attachment_645500" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Image Credit: Affle[/caption]

Founded in Singapore, Affle also uses the country as their international headquarters for expansion to other geographies, while India is their registered and corporate office.

Affle Accreditation@SGD (SG:D) programme as a significant addition.

As a quick background, Accreditation@SGD is a programme launched by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) in 2014 to help “promising and innovative Singapore-based high-growth infocomm and media (ICM) companies establish their credentials and position them as qualified contenders to government and large enterprise buyers”.

It also provide buyers with the assurance of the SG:D accredited companies’ product core functionalities and ability to deliver.

“The accreditation adds to our credibility. This is especially so in our industry, where consumer data is a sensitive topic,” added Anuj.

“We are one of the few companies in the world that is addressing digital fraud strongly [and] are trying to bring consumer-acceptable advertising in a responsible way,” he added.

Responsible in a way that it has to follow regulations, and it has to invest actively in innovations to stop digital fraud, which has been at the core of Affle always.

“Therefore, […] we have various algorithms that address digital fraud which are continuously evolving.”

This year, Affle Disclaimer

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