TechTouch Asia

by An Lu, Head of Market Development, Asia Pacific, PPRO Dubbed ‘the future of the Internet’, it is no surprise that this year has seen big tech companies and financial institutions eyeing a slice of the metaverse pie. It is still early days in the development of the metaverse, so the possibilities it could bring for businesses looking to drive sales is largely untapped – but optimism about its potential is widespread. While some industry players see the metaverse being characterised by virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), others envision a new digital economy in cyberspace where users can create, buy, and sell goods, all facilitated by integrated payments. If this vision can become a reality, the metaverse might well be the next mainstream channel for commerce. Just like retailers focus on a blend of e-commerce, physical retail, and social commerce – the metaverse could very much be the missing piece in the puzzle when it comes to optimising a truly multichannel commerce ex...

Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, has launched its 2nd AWS infrastructure region in India—the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region. “The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region supports India’s digital transformation and is part of our long-term investment in the country since opening our first office in 2011. Customers and partners in India will now have additional regional infrastructure to deploy applications with greater resilience, availability, and even lower latency,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, VP of Infrastructure Services at AWS.  “We are proud to invest in the future of the Indian technology community and workforce, and we are committed to helping organisations across industries increase agility and drive innovation.” AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region consists of three Availability Zones and joins the existing AWS Asi...

Medtronic, a healthcare technology provider, has launched the Medtronic Customer eXperience Center (MCXC) in Singapore. The MCXC leverages healthcare technologies across extended reality (XR), augmented and virtual realities, as well as robotics to connect the global healthcare community from anywhere, at any time. A first for Medtronic in Asia, MCXC’s network capabilities will bring together healthcare professionals (HCPs) from around the world to ideate, share, and learn through state-of-the-art virtual technologies. It also provides them with access to immersive learning experiences, round-the-clock remote training, and future healthcare technologies and innovation. Said Medtronic Chairman and CEO Geoff Martha: “Technology and innovation are the only ways to address today’s rapidly evolving healthcare environment.” “The launch of MCXC demonstrates the strength of Singapore’s healthcare and innovation ecosystems, which companies like Medtronic can leverage to elevate the standard...

Okta, the independent identity provider, has unveiled Okta Customer Identity Cloud, an easily-implemented and customisable customer identity solution that helps organisations resolve the tension between security, privacy, and user experience for their customers. Two differentiated use cases and several innovations for modern app builders make it possible to accelerate growth with a better user experience, reduced risk, and greater developer productivity. Okta Customer Identity Cloud is Auth0 technology, and reinforces Okta’s commitment to free everyone to safely access any technology. Today, new app downloads have reached 230 billion and the average organisation deploys 89 apps, with as many as 187 apps for larger companies, the company said. According to Okta, the next big challenge is allowing people to move securely between technologies with fewer passwords while easing the integration burden on developers. All of this needs to be underpinned by a customer identity solution that is ...

Talent retention for knowledge workers is going to be rocky going forward, but collaborative tools and technology that enables hybrid work can help. New Slack research*, Leadership and the war for talent , based on a survey of over 1,000 Singaporean knowledge workers, found that teamwork and collaboration, transparent and trustworthy leadership, flexible work, and employee wellbeing as the four biggest factors in driving organisational success. Financial achievement, the usual reason, is now on the back burner. When it comes to flexible working, over two-thirds of Singaporeans want to be trusted to do their job regardless of location or the hours worked. With nearly one in two Singaporean knowledge workers considering moving jobs in the next year, and 16% admitting to ‘quiet quitting’ - fulfilling the requirements of their job but not going above and beyond - it’s critical for leaders to act, Slack said. The company advises that leaders: - Analyse the time employees are spending o...

By Ravi Shankar, SVP & CMO at Denodo Data virtualisation has evolved considerably. During its infancy, data virtualisation overcame legacy infrastructure limitations, consolidated structured and unstructured data, and liberated data from silos. Today, data virtualisation’s larger mission is managing data — enabling data to be used to the fullest. By working in new ways that extend beyond its beginnings, it is surpassing assumptions about its purpose in technology, industry, and the broader business world. Data virtualisation started out as a way to connect to disparate sources of data – to retrieve and manipulate data without requiring technical details or physically replicating the data from the source. But as computational needs grew more sophisticated, connecting to data has become more complex. First, there was a need to connect to singular sources. Hence, the data warehouse was established as a central repository for integrating data. However, the growing volume of unstruc...

Workday, an enterprise cloud applications provider for finance and human resources, has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud HCM Suites for 1,000+ Employee Enterprises *. Workday was recognised as a Leader for the 7th consecutive year and positioned the highest for overall Ability to Execute . According to Workday, organisations across the globe continue to face significant challenges in attracting, supporting, and retaining talent amid a tight labour market and evolving employee expectations. To deliver engaging and personalised employee experiences, organisations need a unified view of their workforce. More than 4,500 global customers – and more than 50% of the Fortune 500 – including Lloyd's Banking Group, Nasdaq, Tennis Australia are using Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) to automate HR processes, support and empower employees, and adapt to changing business and workforce needs. With Workday HCM, customers can: Prioritise skills ins...