 |
| Source: Oracle Netsuite. Naishtein. |
SMBs will be embracing artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiastically, said Ronen Naishtein, GM, Asia, HK & TW, Oracle NetSuite. “If 2018 was the year in which SMBs were dipping their toes into AI waters. In 2019, they are likely to jump in headfirst. Vendors will launch services and apps which are powered by AI and will make those available to SMBs – often at no extra cost,” he said.
“SMBs will increasingly benefit from AI by using it to simplify mundane tasks like predictive inventory and invoicing, along with advanced tasks like business revenue forecasting and managing intelligent payments."
B is for backup
 |
| Source: Veeam. McLagan. |
“Broadly speaking, these are excessive costs, unnecessary complexity and a lack of capability, which manifests as speed of backup, speed of restoration or instant mounting to a virtual machine image. These three major criteria will continue to dominate the reasons why organisations augment or fully replace their backup solution.”
Greater supply and improved pricing of flash memory will result in greater use of flash deployment in the operational recovery tier, which typically hosts the most recent 14 days of backup and replica data, added McLagan. “We see this greater flash capacity leading to broader usage of instant mounting of backed up machine images (or copy data management).”
“Systems that offer copy data management capability will be able to deliver value beyond availability, along with better business outcomes. example use cases for leveraging backup and replica data include DevOps, DevSecOps and DevTest, patch testing, analytics and reporting.”
C is for channels - the type for marketing
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| Source: IDOOH. Forsyth. |
"Disruptive non-traditional channels like in-vehicle screens present publishers and content owners with an ideal environment for them to engage one-on-one with the consumer, for a minimum of 20 minutes and even longer in more congested cities in Asia Pacific,” says IDOOH Group's CEO Mark Forsyth.
IDOOH's data has found that based on the target demographic of under 40 year-olds, Singapore has the highest passenger engagement rate for in-vehicle screens in Southeast Asia, clocking seven touches in a 20-minute ride, as opposed to Indonesia, which clocked 3.8 in a 20-minute ride.
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| Source: MediaMath. King. |
"The surge towards 'madtech' (defined as the confluence of marketing, advertising and technology) continues as the industry shifts towards a consumer-centric approach. Consumers do not care about the channel and prioritise experiences,” he said.
D is for deploying services faster
 |
| Source: Juniper. Bament. |
"Those who fail to implement automation will find themselves years behind competitors, as end users will find more agility and better service with those who embrace automation,” said Sally Bament, VP, Service Provider Marketing, Juniper Networks.
"We’ll see continued growth in the automated machine learning (AutoML) tools ecosystem, as vendors capitalise on opportunities to speed up time-consuming, repeatable chunks of the ML workflow, from data prep and feature engineering to model lifecycle management."
 |
| Source: Puppet. McKinnon. |
"To scale this success more broadly and increase the percentage of what is automated, companies need DevOps practices to be institutionalised so it becomes the default way everyone works. Anticipate more technologies arising that support DevOps practices that are integrated, open, flexible and give insights to help measure the impact."
E is for ethics
The rise of AI and automation increases the potential for unintended consequences and potential ethical challenges, says Avanade. According to Avanade research, 89% of global executives say they have encountered an ethical dilemma at work caused by the increased use of smart technologies and digital automation, with 87% admitting they are not fully prepared to address the ethical concerns that exist today.
“Companies can no longer simply talk about digital ethics,” said Omer Ali Khan, GM, ASEAN at Avanade. “It’s clear that digital ethics is now a board and C-suite focus, and leaders in this arena will need to start developing guiding principles and building ethics-by-design into their work.”
The company has already set up a Digital Ethics Task Force, that guides the company internally and through forums attended by representatives from some of the largest global companies.
I is for the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
"IoT holds great promise, but we are still at an early stage, especially with industrial IoT (IIoT) and smart cities. The challenge comes from trying to compute and automate at a much higher scale than traditional IT," Bruce Davie, VP and CTO, Asia-Pacific and Japan, VMware said.
"IIoT is sitting right on the boundary between operational technology (OT) and IT, and as a result, there is an expectation with OT around high reliability and high security. For example, mission-critical infrastructure such as the electric power grid or water supply comes with high expectations around security and reliability. If we are to bring capabilities from the IT world into the IoT world, these challenges of scale, reliability, security, and manageability must be overcome.
"IoT continues to gather momentum and there is reason to be optimistic about what the steadily maturing technology can do when combined with other technology superpowers. That said, there is still much work to be done for IoT to realise its full potential, as we will see with pilots making the jump to production within the enterprise, OT environments and in the context of smart cities."
Dr Alexander Horch, VP R&D and Product Management, HIMA noted that the security of process plants is in the focus now and will continue to be in focus in the coming years. He said existing facilities should be modernised; vulnerabilities identified and eliminated; and organisational and normative requirements implemented.
"Process safety depends heavily on the state of security. In addition, however, requirements of the current standard IEC 61511 must also be implemented here. On closer inspection, comprehensive measures are often necessary," he said.
L is for processing locally, at the edge
E is for ethics
 |
| Source: Avanade. Khan. |
“Companies can no longer simply talk about digital ethics,” said Omer Ali Khan, GM, ASEAN at Avanade. “It’s clear that digital ethics is now a board and C-suite focus, and leaders in this arena will need to start developing guiding principles and building ethics-by-design into their work.”
The company has already set up a Digital Ethics Task Force, that guides the company internally and through forums attended by representatives from some of the largest global companies.
I is for the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
 |
Source: VMware. Davie.
|
"IIoT is sitting right on the boundary between operational technology (OT) and IT, and as a result, there is an expectation with OT around high reliability and high security. For example, mission-critical infrastructure such as the electric power grid or water supply comes with high expectations around security and reliability. If we are to bring capabilities from the IT world into the IoT world, these challenges of scale, reliability, security, and manageability must be overcome.
"IoT continues to gather momentum and there is reason to be optimistic about what the steadily maturing technology can do when combined with other technology superpowers. That said, there is still much work to be done for IoT to realise its full potential, as we will see with pilots making the jump to production within the enterprise, OT environments and in the context of smart cities."
Dr Alexander Horch, VP R&D and Product Management, HIMA noted that the security of process plants is in the focus now and will continue to be in focus in the coming years. He said existing facilities should be modernised; vulnerabilities identified and eliminated; and organisational and normative requirements implemented.
"Process safety depends heavily on the state of security. In addition, however, requirements of the current standard IEC 61511 must also be implemented here. On closer inspection, comprehensive measures are often necessary," he said.
L is for processing locally, at the edge
“Edge computing streamlines the flow of traffic from IoT devices and provides real-time local data analysis. Look for 5G to spur on the continued hype and interest in edge computing in 2019,” said Sophie Scott, Global MD, FleishmanHillard’s Technology practice, sharing predictions from the company's Tech Trends 2019: The Fads. The Fears. The Future report.
 |
| Source: Qlik. Sommer. |
Sommer added that the performance of such applications will be crucial. “Performance will rise in the selection criteria as companies of all sizes begin increasing adoption of hyperscale data centres. Some have moved data back through 'repatriation' because there has not been strong-enough performance. This becomes even more important in an IoT application. More workloads will run locally or at the edge to avoid latency. In short, efficient performance will be a deciding factor for how architectures will look – centralised or distributed,” he said.
"A consensus has started to emerge in 2018 that IoT is driving new requirements for edge computing," Davie agreed. "With the volume of data that will be gathered from IoT devices, there will be a greater need for local computation, to process data closer to where it is produced. This is what’s driving the rise of edge computing, especially in verticals like manufacturing, mining and public utilities."
 |
Source: FleishmanHillard.
Scott.
|
"With this rise of critical data at the edge, we can consider a shift from ‘data centres’ to ‘centres of data’ - that is, we place the computation where the data is, rather than move the data to the (remote) data centre. In this environment, enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region need to be thinking about how they manage and secure data wherever it is. In 2019, enterprises are therefore looking to acquire data centre capabilities that sit very close to the edge, rather than everything having to be done up in the cloud."
Davie also emphasised that local computation must be as easy to manage and consume as if it were in the cloud. "We consistently hear from customers how they appreciate the simplicity of the cloud - where everything is delivered as-a-service. We believe that enterprises looking to invest in IoT will therefore also see value from an as-a-service model for the edge," he said.
M is for microservices, the disenchantment with
"We’ll see a slew of vendors trying to unify management and operational experiences by providing abstractions over numerous disparate tooling. Companies using microservices may experience some failure points and back away.
"IT companies will realise they now have two major investments for IT – the container platform with a few applications and everything that currently runs the business and makes money. Companies will ask for better measurement and ROI indicators on their new investments and need tools to tell them their directional change was correct," McKinnon said.
N is for network models
David Hughes, Founder and CEO of Silver Peak, says that the market will be moving to business-first networking models. "Rather than constraining the business with network limitations, a business-first network model explicitly supports and accelerates new business initiatives. Instead of configuring the network one device at a time, IT will be able to describe the businesses’ needs at a high level.
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| Source: Silver Peak. Hughes. |
In ESET’s Cybersecurity Trends 2019: The Cost of our Connected World, ESET Senior Security Researchers Stephen Cobb and Lysa Myers commented that in light of incidents such as Facebook and Cambridge Analytica*, people are likely to search for alternatives to the platforms such as Facebook that currently dominate.
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| Source: ESET. Myers. |
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| Source: ESET. Cobb. |
This view is also held by Forcepoint. In a review of the 2018 predictions they had made, Carl Leonard, Principal Security Analyst at Forcepoint Security Labs wrote in a blog post: “Cambridge Analytica’s use of private customer data provided by Facebook will likely be remembered as the event that thrust privacy and data protection into the public consciousness. Facebook was fined for 'serious breaches of data protection law' and a 'failure to sufficiently protect the privacy of its users'.”
ESET further warns against dismissing privacy rights and data protection as a European Union (EU) anomaly. The pressure to protect customers’ data and ensure the privacy of sensitive information is a global issue and will certainly encourage a move towards GDPR-style privacy around the world, the company said.
 |
| Source: UnionPay International. Ling. |
The mobile QR code, despite being a relatively new form of payment in Singapore and Thailand, has been the most widely-adopted mobile payment method in both markets since October. These were the findings by The Future of Payments Study, conducted by UnionPay International in partnership with Nielsen.
"This is because QR Code for payments, when compared to mobile contactless payments, has lower barriers to entry, as consumers and merchants can adopt it easily without the need for costly devices or infrastructure. By using any smartphone with a camera, consumers will be able to use QR codes for payments, and merchants will also be able to accept payment via QR code easily and securely," said Vincent Ling, Deputy GM, UnionPay International South East Asia.
"In addition, interoperable QR codes compliant with industry standards such as the EMVCo QR Code Specifications for Payments System and SGQR will be integral to enabling widespread adoption. The UnionPay QR Code was developed in accordance to these standards, and there are about 10 million merchant acceptance points across 24 markets worldwide accepting UnionPay QR Code for payments today, enabling users to make QR code payments locally and overseas easily anywhere in the world."
R is for retrofitting, and other smart city misconceptions
 |
| Source: Halio. Yim. |
"The potential for application of the IoT in commercial real estate is immense as the technology exists, but adoption rate lags as the industry perception remains that the IoT process is expensive, time-consuming or that such technology is only worth the long-term investment for new buildings only," said Yim.
"Instead, what is needed is for owners and investors to understand how technology advancements of today, like smart-tinting glass, can better translate to higher building efficiency, smart decision-
making, and security which add value to the property."
Vasudevan Venkatakrishnan, Director of Business Development, Ruckus Networks Asia Pacific, shared another misconception, that simply having a network connecting technologies is enough to form the basis of a smart city.
 |
Source: Ruckus Networks.
Venkatakrishnan.
|
“Adding to the complexity of this environment are diversifying device categories and apps, such as instant messaging, IoT control messages and voice-over-Wi-Fi,” he said. More devices that can support different IoT and connectivity standards will be required to ensure IoT services work well, especially when there are many users, he said.
 |
Source: Lenovo. Bhatia.
|
“One of the big topics of discussion at the recent Supercomputing 2018 in Dallas was around exascale computing. It’s exciting as 'exascale' means performing a billion billion (quintillion) calculations per second—a phenomenal amount of computing power!
“A significant achievement in computer engineering, exascale computing will continue to be a rising trend. Exascale will mean greater speed and accuracy, and the ability to compute large dataset calculations that used to take hours or days in just minutes, or even seconds; and to the level of precision that today would take too long to achieve. This gives us the power to solve humanity’s greatest challenges – we could model the earth’s core using real-time data to accurately predict earthquakes, unsnarling traffic jams and maybe even finding exoplanets that could support life,” said Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, Data Center Group, Lenovo.
T is for trade across borders
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Source: Sage. Wherrett.
|
"This trend is pushing businesses towards the adoption of connected platforms as they strive to lead data-driven initiatives and deliver massive value to consumers. Several Asian cities have already embarked on connected platform projects that spans across the public and private sectors in a bid to transform themselves into smarter cities e.g. taking a leaf out of their book, businesses will increasingly invest in connected platforms that enable them to combine data across business units, allowing them to generate real-time insights, make faster and better-informed decisions and quickly increase business opportunities,” said Sage Asia's Arlene Wherrett, VP and MD.
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| Source: Infor. Rider. |
“Today, AI is successfully being used in search engines, predictive analytics, chatbots, and voice-activated personal assistants like Alexa. It’s being embedded in software solutions for managing facility maintenance, optimising inventory, sales forecasting, and anticipating customers’ next purchases, among others,” said Rick Rider, Director, AI Product Management, Infor.
That said, Rider says three main challenges remain:
Early examples
“Many of the early test cases revolve around retail and consumer applications. Business applications have been slower to materialise. The examples are limited and narrow-focused, often unique to a single company, product category or niche vertical,” he said.
Lack of best practices
“The documentation of early-adopter deployments are often sketches, deliberately vague to protect proprietary concepts. Companies will need to do their own research rather than count on implementation how-to details being readily available,” he said.
Unknown financial impact
“Limited understanding of financial impact and lack of data to support a business case or return on investment (ROI) are the most complex and most important hurdles yet to address,” he noted.
“2019 is the year to build the business case and collect quantifiable results which can be used to present large-scale proposals and gain support from stakeholders — especially gatekeepers for funding. This strategic planning and budget-setting season is the time to set expectations for AI initiatives and allocate resources.
“While a big-bang project may be the long-term goal, it’s important to remember that test flights must occur first. This means budgets for a discovery phase, time for planning methodology, and flexibility to adjust the plan if needed. In summation: Get started now, but on the right foot.”
V is for verticals going digital
Healthcare
Healthcare institutions in Asia are increasingly adopting digital tools – such as electronic health records and connected medical devices – to provide patients with more efficient and personalised services, said Mark Micallef, Cloudera VP, Asia Pacific and Japan.
 |
| Source: Cloudera. Micallef. |
“To effectively extract actionable insights from the massive volume of data coming at us, healthcare organisations will need to develop, deploy, and integrate machine learning and AI into clinical workflow and care delivery. Having the proper infrastructure with the required storage and processing capacity will be expected in order to efficiently design, train, execute, and deploy machine learning and AI solutions.”
Medix CEO and founder Sigal Atzmon said that disruption is occurring in the sector. "Thousands of startups, as well as today’s data giants (Google, Apple, Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, etc.) have entered this lucrative multitrillion-dollar healthcare industry with new business models that dematerialise, demonetise and democratise today’s bureaucratic and inefficient systems," she said.
"These big data giants, in many cases supported by the governments, are trying to revolutionise healthcare by analysing the vast amounts of available medical data and reaching conclusions on how to prevent developing a disease and how to treat it, preferably at home."
Atzmon further predicted that China will become the world's AI leader in healthcare. "Indeed, I am consistently impressed by the adoption and familiarity with technology and smartphones in China," she said. "Mainlanders appear to be constantly sharing information about themselves - this fearlessness about privacy is another way huge pools of data will be created and drive advancements such as AI in the country."
"Not burdened by a legacy infrastructure, China is committed to driving AI innovations and their application. Capturing more data than all other nations put together, China has a significant advantage. It can help doctors reach the right diagnosis faster and match the right treatment which also will provide secondary reviews to catch costly medical mistakes before they happen. Over the next two decades AI will radically change the healthcare landscape and China is very committed to accelerating this progress," she noted.
Atzmon also sees robots carry out surgery more cheaply than human surgeons. "Linked with AI and augmented reality (AR), robotic surgery will be a game changer. The progress is specifically seen by means of mechanics and manual computerised control. Development of mechanical arms with hundreds of ranges of movements and rotational axes are superior to the human capabilities, with control over four arms and more at once."
Manufacturing
Rising protectionism and trade conflicts could drive Asian manufacturers towards digitalising their businesses and additive manufacturing (industrial 3D printing), said Terrence Oh, Senior VP (Asia Pacific), EOS Singapore.
“Businesses that adopt smart technologies like additive manufacturing to 3D-print parts and components are able to reduce production costs, processes, and time through part redesign and integration. This also makes manufacturing domestically more practical than importing from abroad,” he said.
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| Source: EOS. Oh. |
Travel
In the travel space, an XML-based data transmission standard launched by the IATA will be taking hold. FCM Travel Solutions' Bertrand Saillet, MD, Asia said, “From the travel industry perspective, we will see more and more conversations around New Distribution Capability (NDC), an Internet-based communications protocol that provides for greater flexibility in delivering fares and other airline inventory.
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| Source: FCM Travel Solutions. Saillet. |
Nick Evered, SVP and GM, Japan and Asia Pacific at SAP Concur, suggested that business travel is going to be transformed in 2019. “As the lines between business and leisure travel continue blurring, more professionals are combining their business trips with weekend stays. Most of them want to experience the city that they are visiting and see things beyond just the hotel meeting rooms, making ride-sharing and accommodation services such as Grab and Airbnb as the ideal options.
"Entering 2019, travel managers will need to rethink how they can start offering these sharing economy services as part of their suite of travel management programme and policy framework,” he said.
 |
| Source: SAP Concur. Evered. |
“Many businesses are still using legacy spend management tools that fail to keep pace with today’s business travellers whose on-the-go work style require simple, mobile and reliable solutions...Modern technology including automated spend management tools can help to streamline processes and provide better user experience for employees,” he said.
W is for workplace collaboration
Forward-thinking executives are putting their data scientists and creatives side-by-side on cross-discipline teams at the earliest stages of product and service creation – the aim is to improve both the employee and customer experiences.
“Model-driven companies re-engineer employee experiences to be on par with customer experiences,” said Khan of Avanade.
“Getting data scientists and creatives to work together requires organisations to integrate intelligence and design capabilities and toolsets. That collaboration will foster an environment that can drive better employee and customer experiences.”
 |
| Source: Unilever Foundry. Guerpillon. |
"In 2019, we will see greater collaborations between corporations and startups in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Driven by the speed at which businesses have to innovate, corporations will start to see this collaborative working model as a strategic business imperative rather than an option. The future of work is about building self-sustaining ecosystems that break away work silos and open up greater collaborative opportunities for corporations and startups," she said.
 |
| Source: Dell EMC. Sim. |
“As Generation Z enter the workforce, there will be a greater expectation for organisations to offer cutting edge technologies to engage this new breed of talent. In Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), 98% of Gen Z have used technology as part of their formal education. As these digital natives enter the workforce, we can expect more emphasis on harnessing technology at the workplace, and this is expected to spark a new evolution in workplace technology innovation, thereby creating more opportunities for technology literacy and on-site learning for new skills with the older generation," he elaborated.
Sim suggested that IT leaders can easily meet Gen Z's needs. “With 91% of Gen Z in APJ reporting that the type of technology provided by employers will be a factor in deciding between two similar jobs, and 85% wanting to work with cutting-edge technology, IT leaders can harness Gen Z-ers’ hunger for tech knowledge and tools to successfully welcome this generation to the workforce.
“Tech mentorships in the organisation may play a greater role, with 78% of Gen Zs in APJ willing to be tech mentors to others on the job. To reduce an inevitable ‘digital divide’ among five generations* in the workplace, business leaders should consider tech mentorship programmes to address variances in IT competency and build a more well-integrated workforce,” he said.
 |
| Source: Lenovo. Lanci. |
"Forward-thinking organisations will start turning their attention to the concept of transitional, mobile engagement and spaces that foster greater collaboration and human connection -- whether in hallways, cafeterias or huddle rooms. These communal spaces will require smarter, more democratic and agile tools for instant collaboration and co-creation, including smart meeting room solutions, interactive displays and more.
"Furthermore, as the tech-savvy Generation Z enters the workforce, they expect control over the types of technology available to them – favouring the technology they grew up with and use in other spheres of their lives – as they become more accustomed than ever to take on the decision-making power of the IT department. Companies that will easily succeed in workplace transformation, we believe, will elegantly balance those goals with inclusive cultural policies and personal touches that bridge employees to new ways of working."
Explore:
Browse the full list of 2018 round-ups and 2019 predictions in TechTrade Asia
Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about 3D printing resources in Singapore and UnionPay International's study on cashless payments
*In March 2018, it was announced that Facebook had allowed Cambridge Analytica to use data from Facebook profiles, without the owners' knowledge, for political ends. In December 2018, an investigative report by the New York Times revealed that Facebook has been giving large brands access to user data, again without their knowledge. The data included user IDs and private messages, information that Facebook users would have reasonably expected to be confidential.
**Gen Z will be the newest cohort to join the workforce. Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent generation – born 1945 or earlier - make up the other four cohorts.
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