Tech Giants of 2018

Here are the top 20 internet leaders of 2018 as published in www.visual capitalist.com last 6 July 2018.

Maybe as I would have expected, Apple leads with a value of US$915 billion, followed by Amazon and Alphabet. Not many know that Alphabet is the parent company of Google, after Google restructured in 2015. The top guns at Google assumed leadership roles with Larry Page as CEO and Sergey Brin as president.

 You can see a few Chinese companies like Alibaba, Bai and Xiomi in this list. But am happy to see that Netflix is on that list.

77% of Filipinos still unbanked

The recently released 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey (FIS) reports that 77% of Filipinos still unbanked. That is still a whole lot of Filipinos who are into the banking system. Only 15.8 million adult Filipinos, or 22.6 percent, have bank accounts. 

Other findings are:

1. The breakdown of 22.6 percent of adults who do own bank accounts shows 11.5% of them are in the formal banking sector, 8.1%are in non-government microfinance organizations, 2.9% are in cooperatives, and 0.3% are in non-stock savings and loan associations.

2. The top reason given for having bank accounts is to save in case of an emergency (42%), followed by saving for an education (31%), for business (29%), for safekeeping (23%) and as a form of investment (12%)

3. Around 52.8 million, or 77.4 percent, remain unbanked, citing reasons like lack of funds to put into a bank account or lack of documentary requirements. Or maybe, Filipinos still find many banks intimidating.

Opening a bank account can be made a simple and less intimidating process. And even, make it paperless.

Only if technology works to bring more financial inclusiveness for unbanked Filipinos.

Easily express ourselves

Before the norm was 140 characters. 

We were forced to be more concise and brief within 140 characters for a tweet. Every character counts. Brevity was key. It was a challenge to consolidate one's thought in 140 characters that sometimes, users like me would abandon scribbling a tweet.

Last November 7, Twitter announced the change in character count, which wouldn't affect Chinese, Korean and Japanese users as their characters can convey more meaning in a single character.

With 330 million users, Twitter still lags behind Facebook with more than 2 billion (yes, 2 billion users) and even Instagram which is pushing towards 800 million users.

Maybe, the expanded character count would bring in new users and spread more positivity online. Yes, we can criticise and critique and express our opinion via tweets. But do we need to be racists? Bigots? With positivity, technology can work. 

Origins of Twitter

Ten years ago, the first ever tweet came from Jack Dorsey last 22 March 2006. He is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter.  He was inspired by inspired in part by LiveJournal and by AOL Instant Messenger to develop a Web-based realtime status/short message communication service.

 

Together with Biz  Stone, they co-founded Twitter. Stone was previously the creative director of Xanga. Remember Xanga? I do. I think I even had a profile. It was one of the early social networking sites in the early 2000, before it became a Facebook world.

 

Today, Twitter is a microblogging and social networking platform which allows users post and interact with messages known as "tweets.” Noah Glass and Evan Williams joined Dorsey and Stone in March 2006 to start Twitter.

 

Dorsey would later explain the origins of Twitter. “

 

Some stories credit the name of Noah Glass. According to a Business Insider story, Dorsey had an idea for “a completely different product that revolved around "status" — what people were doing at a given time.” In an interview with Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, last 14 April 2011, Glass says it was he who came up with the name "Twttr."  "I spent a bunch of time thinking about it." Eventually, the name would become Twitter. 

The story further describes Glass passion. “No one at Odeo was more passionate about Twitter in the early days than Odeo's co-founder, Noah Glass.”

 

All these men have contributed to how technology works 

Heroes of August 2012

With bad weather we have been having the past few days, social media has kept us connected. Through Facebook or Twitter, many Filipinos have kept themselves updated not only about the weather condition in various parts of the country but how everyday Filipinos are working against the rains, the floods and the wind to be their own kind of heroes in their own communities. There are many stories of heroism from the rescue of residents stranded in their homes in Provident Village to toddlers being rescued in the flooded barangays around Pampanga.

To the many unknown Filipinos who have risked their lives these past few days, many you be blessed with HIS blessings of life!

War Of Talents

The Philippines has already built a reputation as a preferred off-shoring destination in the world. Growth of the sector continued through 2008 and 2009 and this helped the Philippine economy stay afloat during the global financial crisis.
According to Gaurav Gupta, country head for India of the US-based Everest Group, the industry has registered a compounded annual growth rate of 30 percent since 2006, with an estimated $9 billion in revenue this year. “The Philippines has clearly established itself as number 2 next to India,” says Gupta.

(Photo by Chary Chu)
At 2nd International Outsourcing Summit, held last 26 – 27 Oct. 2010, industry leaders discussed a range of issues facing the BPO sector. One issue was on talent.

Cristina Coronel, president of the Philippine Software Industry Association says that the “war of talent” continues to be a critical issue facing the industry. “The industry has been facing attrition for the longest time.” She saw both an “outflow and inflow strategy” to address the problem. A “gentleman’s agreement” can be forged between companies to control the outflow (piracy of talents). She also saw the need to improve programs and partnerships. “Partnerships with the academe can result to better, smarter talents,” adds Ms. Coronel.


Maulik Parekh, President and CEO of SPi Global say, “Attrition is very company specific.” He mentions that a company should have a culture that is respectful and with a sense of malasakit.” He adds that there are other sources of talents outside Metro Manila. “These talents from key provinces can go head to head with talents from Manila and Cebu.”

Outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, these talents can be found in 10 key provincial cities, which have made strong contributions to the economy. These ten cities are called the Next Wave Cities™ These cities are Davao, Sta. Rosa, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Metro Cavite, Lipa City, Cagayan de Oro City, Malolos City, Baguio City, and Dumaguete City. They have been ranked in a scorecard developed by BPA/P and CICT. Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are considered “centers of excellence” and not part of this list.

Investments in talents are essential to sustain its brand as "the sunshine industry," said Oscar Sanez, president and CEO, BPA/P. He adds that talent development needs to “taken to a higher level from certification to training.

Last March, BPA/P launched BNCT (BPA/P National Competency Test). This is an assessment tool that would help generate industry-level talents. This test is given to graduates who would like to pursue a career in the BPO industry. “To date, we have been able to get some funding from government to allow us to distribute the test to 10,000 students nationwide,” says Jamea Garcia, BPA/P Executive Director for Talent Development.

“People either move up or move across. Agents moving from one company to another is part of a free market economy,” says Agarup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis Limited. “It also provides a breeding ground for new talent to come in.”

Moulic adds that the country needs a strategy to keep the Philippines competitive as other countries from Africa and South American are beginning to push their own BPO sectors. “We need to go deeper into the educational system.” He sees the need for a stronger “rigor of instruction for English.”

“The challenge we face now is how we can replicate our success. It is exciting to trade ideas with our counterparts from around the world and to share insights into the direction outsourcing will take in its next decade,” says Oscar Sanez, president and CEO, BPA/P.

Gupta adds, “Pushing hard what we are doing today require partnership and collaboration with government.”

The 2nd annual International Outsourcing Summit is a good push and step towards greater collaboration between key industry players. It organized by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), in cooperation with the Board of Investment and the Department of Trade and Industry, supported by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), together with the Board of Investments and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Mobile Productivity

The busy executive is always concerned and sometimes worried about his own mobile connectivity. Problems can arise with his broadband connection, whether it be Smart, Globe or Sun. And failure of connectivity could result to an unhappy client or loss of a business opportunity. But the other half of mobile connectivity involves one’s gadget, one’s Blackberry, Nokie or iPhone smartphone. Or one’s laptop. At the launch of the new laptops of Dell held at Terrace at the Fifth (one of my favorite restaurants in Greenbelt 5), I was amazed to see the bright new colors. But most of all, the keyboard had back-lit lights and was “water resistant.” Yes, if you spilled coffee or water or orange juice on your keyboard, it would simply spill through like it was a water-resistant watch. That is great specially if you like eating and working at the same time or often at Starbucks with your Mocha Frappucino close to your laptop. In this video, Tan Hiang talks more about mobile productivity. Maybe, next to my MacBook, I could get used to Dell. I like it’s colors, security features but not really about being water-resistant. For technology to work, don’t drink your coffee near your laptops. It is an accident that is waiting to happen.