HSBC MALAYSIA LAUNCHES HSBCnet TRADE TRANSACTION TRACKER

January 14, 2019

HSBC Malaysia today launched the HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker, a pre-logon service in the HSBCnet Mobile app for customer to track the real-time status of trade transactions more quickly and easily. The innovative new mobile banking app that puts exporters and importers in Malaysia at the leading edge of digital capabilities in tracking international trade transactions, is the first of its kind in Malaysia.

Andrew Sill, County Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Malaysia said, “At HSBC , we continue to leverage on technology and innovation to provide customers with digital products and services that are simple, convenient and secure. The HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker is an innovative mobile tool that allows businesses to better manage their global trade flows. This far, the application has gone live in 24 countries and has received favourable feedback from many of our clients.”

“Entrepreneurs and managers use mobile phones to run international businesses today and we know how important it is for them to keep track of their transactions along the supply chain in order to maintain their competitiveness. The HSBCnet Trade Transaaction Tracker meets our customers’ expectations for mobile banking and their need for real time, global information. It will provide them with a real-time view of their import and export documentary credits, collections, guarantees and trade loans across markets and countries worldwide in one single app,” added Andrew.

The service is available to all trade customers registered for Instant@advice and no HSBCnet registration is required. Customers using iPhones or Android Services can download the latest version of the HSBCnet Mobile app from the Apple Store or Google Play.

To set up, customers can click on HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker and enter their HSBC Trade Account number, Instant@dvice email address and Bill or Documentary Credit (DC) reference number. Then enter the confirmation code which is sent to the Instant@dvice email address. Once the registration is set up successfully, customers can view the status of transactions e.g. “Issued”, “Amended”, “Accepted”, “Paid” and so on.

Commenting on the new digital service, Ajay Sharma Regional Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance (GTRF), HSBC Asia Pacific, said: “The HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker is another step on our digital journey and is the latest addition to HSBC’s award winning electronic banking platform for corporates. This new digital service is essential to help computers manage their trade banking activities more efficiently. We are delighted that customers in Malaysia will get a unique digital application that allows them to view the status of all their trade transactions with HSBC worldwie in one simple window.”

HSBC is committed to driving innovation to meet customers’ changing demands. 2018 was the year where we demonstrated that blockchain as a solution for trade digitisation, is operationally and commercially viable. The setup of Voltron, the integration of e-Bills of Ladings (eBLs), connecting eTradeConnect (HK) and We.Trade (Europe), along with We.Trade’s rollout ambitionin Europe shows HSBC’s enthusiasm and commitment to trade digitisation.

In Malaysia, corporates can submit trade transaction application via HSBCnet – Internet Trade Services (ITS) modules. In addition, corporates can also connect to HSBC using tailored SWIFT-for-Corporates solution to transact. The HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker will complement and enhance our current digital capabilities.

Choppy waters ahead for Asian Economies

Business Today Editorial

January 14, 2019

Will the storm clouds part in 2019, and give way to brighter skies? After all, the Fed appears close to the end of its hiking cycle, with only marginal tightening left over the coming year. Oil prices, meanwhile, have plunged, providing relief for major importers in Asia. And a tariff truce between the US and China at least holds out the prospect that some agreement can be reached.

Whether Asian economies stabilize, however, still depends on policy developments in China. Regulatory tightening, much more so than trade tensions with the US, has taken its toll on local demand. Reduced access to shadow bank funding has weighed on everything from infrastructure spending to real estate development. Even household consumption, long a steady pillar of demand, has pulled back amid growing uncertainty and reduced access to financing for everything from car to home purchases.

Flagging tailwinds in China also poses problems for growth in the rest of Asia. Remember that exports to China contributed more to growth in neighbouring economies than shipments to the US and EU over the past year. Moreover, by some measures, over a quarter of global GDP growth is currently driven by China. That means demand elsewhere is also vulnerable to any lull in Mainland purchases: Europe’s economies already appear to be slowing.

Much, then, turns on whether Chinese officials will deliver sufficient policy support to keep the whole convoy moving. Fortunately, there are already signs that China is providing a stimulus: households recently received tax relief and greater lending to private sector companies has been prioritized.

That, however, may not be enough. Further tax cuts, especially for the corporate sector, would help to shore up private investment and, equally important, confidence. With the credit impulse still negative, amid ongoing efforts to winch back broader debt risks, some loosening of monetary policy may also be needed, including a cut to the required ratio of bank reserves. This, of course, will have to be done with a deft touch, since too blunt an approach would risk rapidly hoisting up leverage again.

Policy measures in China, therefore, should deliver a stabilization in growth. But this may not be sufficient to pull along all the stragglers. Amid tightening liquidity globally, and increasingly soggy growth in the West, economies across Asia will need to revive demand closer to home as well. Extra fiscal spending helps, especially on infrastructure, but is still falling short across much of ASEAN and South Asia.

More will need to be done. To sustain, let alone accelerate, investment and productivity, deeper adjustments are also needed. Apart from better-targeted public expenditure, reforms at state-owned enterprises would boost economy-wide efficiency and spur competition in local markets. Too often, progress remains constrained by regulation and ineffective administration.

Here, pressing ahead with regional trade and investment liberalization will be key. Its traditional dependence on exports notwithstanding, Asia still has some of the highest barriers to inward investment and trade anywhere in the world. Consequently, even marginal liberalization would yield huge gains and simultaneously add ballast to economies.

For example, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) has made a promising start by dismantling trade barriers as it comes into force at the turn of the year. However, only a few participants in Asia — Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand — will immediately benefit, with Malaysia and Brunei yet to ratify the agreement. Still, membership could be expanded in the future.

Meanwhile, a determined push to complete the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), encompassing every major economy in the region including China, Japan and India, would also help. This should not simply be seen as an opportunity to strengthen regional trade, but as an accelerant to local reforms: by opening economies to greater foreign competition, efficiency inevitably improves. Negotiations, it is true, have dragged on for quite some time already, but darkening trade clouds on the horizon may just be what’s needed to bring results.

Choppy waters in 2019, for sure, but with the right navigation the region can avoid hitting the shoals.

Operator of acclaimed robotics school, one of the largest schools in Japan, opens its first “robot school” in Southeast Asia, in Singapore

BusinessToday

January 13, 2019

HUMAN HOLDINGS EXPANDS JAPAN’S TOP ROBOT SCHOOL FOR KIDS INTO SOUTHEAST ASIA, STARTING IN SINGAPORE

Human Holdings Co., Ltd., an operator of the acclaimed robotics school that is one of the largest schools in Japan, has opened its first “robot school” in Southeast Asia, located in Singapore. The new school will follow the mission of these robot schools to discover and develop innovative world-class talent in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Human Holdings is based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, with Tomonari Sato as president and representative director.

The school’s contents, provided by Human Academy Co., Ltd. in the Human Holdings Group under the supervision of ROBO-GARAGE founder Tomotaka Takahashi, cultivate a foundation in computer programming through robot production. Since the first licensee opened in 2009, more than 22,000 children have studied in about 1,300 robot schools. In November 2018, they received recognition as “Japan’s Best Customer Satisfaction Award” in the programming education field.

The contents, which include Japan’s advanced technology, feature attractive early education. Human Academy has set up schools in Taiwan and China since 2016, embracing more than 40 classrooms and 500 children in 2018. The expansion is accelerating, with more licensees planned to open soon in Thailand and Vietnam.

The KOMABA Robot School will be located at 19 Tanglin Road, No. 03-01 Tanglin Shopping Centre, Singapore.

What’s on the horizon for adtech in 2019?

BusinessToday

January 13, 2019

Contextual marketing trends to look forward to this year, by Kartik Mehta – Chief Revenue Office, SilverPush

As we begin 2019, we’ve witnessed more businesses across various industries leverage on new technologies to raise the efficiency and reach of their marketing strategies. With once-novel technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine-learning and chatbots becoming more mainstream, new technologies for advertising are becoming more affordable and accessible to a wider range of brands and advertisers.

While we can expect those trends to continue in 2019, what else can we expect to come next year that further shift today’s ad landscape even more dramatically? As brands and advertisers are adapting better to the ever-evolving Internet ecosystem, here are the areas that we see as having great potential impact for 2019.

It’s all in the (micro) moment

To say that today’s audiences are saturated with content is an understatement. With the ubiquity of video content now being available on our TVs, PCs and mobile devices, it’s easier for branding messages to get lost within a sea of information. Even when they’re being displayed alongside content, the fact that many of those messages aren’t directly linked to the content being viewed just adds to this murkiness – especially when more audiences are choosing to use adblock tools to filter ads out entirely.

During this year, more brands and advertisers have thus been striving to give more context to their ads by making messages more relevant to the content viewed. This is because they find that their messages can be more impactful when audiences are engaged during the right moment and with privacy, for example, if you are watching replays of last night’s football match where Lionel Messi is playing and the ads appearing are of sports apparel brands endorsed by him.

With brands needing to clamour over viewers attentions, the importance of engaging them via ‘micro-moments’ is more important now than ever before. Marketing messages now need to be delivered clearly and concisely to pique the viewer’s interest within the span of a few seconds. Advertisers who can also contextualise those ads by directly relating them to the content will be better placed to achieve more lucrative results.

2019 is set to be an exciting year for brands operating at the intersection between contextual marketing and video and we anticipate more brands will focus on capturing these micro-moments.

Audiences will be placed at the forefront

While contextuality can generate more impact for engagements, such marketing strategies may be curtailed if they don’t factor the targeted audiences into account properly and truly understand their viewing patterns.

To illustrate, the US is facing a growing cord-cutting problem; whereby more people are opting to ditching their satellite and cable subscriptions in lieu of over-the-top (OTT) providers. This means that large audience pools are now more likely to watch content via Netflix on their PCs instead of traditional networks on TV.

But while this conundrum is now more apparent for advertisers on the other side of the world, the entry of more global and regional on-demand platforms in the Asia-Pacific means, in light of this emerging paradigm shift towards relevant content viewing, advertisers here also need to focus on a more target-audience specific ads over the next couple of years.

It is only after understanding the changing preferences between audiences that advertisers can then make their ads more contextual in the markets they’re disseminating their messages in. Essentially, the money is where the audiences are; everything else will then follow.

AI to fuel 2019’s anticipated trends

When it comes to adtech, 2018 was a big year for AI and machine-learning. In 2018, it was estimated that the value of AI in the marketing market is worth USD6.46 billion and will likely grow to USD 40.9 billion by 2025. With the developed and emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific constantly growing in terms of internet and smartphone penetration rates, ad tech based on this technology is set to explode.

Thanks to increased sophistication in this area, we’re likely to see more of AI technology to form the basis of audience engagement methods – namely in chatbots and visual search tools.

For chatbots, AI will help to make real-time interactions with audiences even more intuitive – as continued innovations in this space will make engagements more responsive, prompt and accurate. On the other hand, advancements of AI in visual search will improve the identification of selected items in video content – thereby helping brands contextualise their messages more effectively to appeal to more audiences during key moments.

All in all, the modern ads landscape in 2018 has seen it turning novel tech innovations – which people thought were merely confined within the realm of sci-fi – into real and actionable tools that can improve audience engagement. While we have seen successful test-cases of this happening this year, the next is where we’ll see these innovations really taking off.

Volvo Trucks donate over RM10,000 to Mercy Malaysia to support victims of the tsunami and earthquake in Palu, Indonesia

BusinessToday

January 11, 2019

On 28 September 2018, the City of Palu, Indonesia was devastated by a tsunami and earthquake, taking many lives, displacing many more and causing immense damage to structures in the coastal city. In an effort to aid the victims of the aftermath of the disaster, Volvo Trucks Malaysia has donated RM 10,650 to Mercy Malaysia, a humanitarian aid organisation that is dedicated to helping those in need of support in Palu.

Ir. Amran Mahzan, Executive Director, Mercy Malaysia (left) and Mitch Peden, Managing Director, Volvo Trucks Malaysia (right) receiving RM 10,650 from Volvo Trucks as a donation for the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Palu, Indonesia.

Many shades of grey behind the e-hailing regulations

BusinessToday

January 11, 2019

(Attributed to Grab Malaysia)

Recently, there has been a significant amount of incidences surrounding e-hailing services specifically in Penang International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport. This has not only affected our hardworking drivers who are trying to earn an honest income, but also the millions who move in and out of the airports, including tourists.

On behalf of our drivers and us at Grab, we express our deep concern at how the laws have been deliberately misinterpreted and misquoted. The insinuation that our government, be it the previous or current, has not done its due diligence to uphold the needs of the rakyat is also misleading and has emboldened certain parties to come out and dictate what they think the law should be, rather than what it is.

In case there are still doubts, the e-hailing industry has been placed under a formal regulatory framework when amendments to the Land Public Transport (LPT) Act 2010 and Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB) Act 1987, were passed by Parliament on the 15 August 2017. Following that, in July 2018, Minister of Transport, YB Anthony Loke also announced that all e-hailing companies are strictly required to register with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and comply to a set of regulations. The e-hailing industry has been given a 1 year moratorium to comply. Hence, to say that e-hailing is “illegal” is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public at large which essentially also undermines the legislative powers of Parliament.

With legislation in place, we have taken steps to ensure that stronger quality measures are in place for our driver-partners and the guidelines which have been formally set are adhered to. In regards to the the two incidents which took place recently, firstly, our driver-partners summoned by JPJ for allegedly soliciting passengers at the Penang International Airport and secondly, a call from a small taxi group to close e-hailing bays surrounding the KLIA airport; we are compelled to present our views.

Firstly, we are confident that our driver-partners in Penang have not gone out of the way to disregard the set guidelines nor tout for passengers at the Penang International Airport. If anyone has done so, it would not have involved the Grab platform as the essence of e-hailing is booking via the app and not within the halls of the airports. Secondly, the designated waiting areas at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and KLIA2 were provided to e-hailing drivers by Ministry of Transport and Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad themselves, following a meeting that took place in 2017 after the passing of e-hailing regulations by Parliament. We are hopeful that the relevant authorities will lead the way by acting in accordance with the rule of law and not allow itself to be dictated and bullied by the loudest, most unreasonable voices.

As we strive towards a mutually beneficial and more efficient public transportation landscape, we believe there are potential areas of improvement regarding requirements as well as processes relating to the e-hailing industry. Like many other e-hailing companies, we agree and are ready to comply with the progressive direction of our authorities. However, our greatest concern is the level of readiness of the relevant agencies in executing the law that has been passed by facilitating the way towards full compliance.

We have always sought to engage the relevant agencies, namely JPJ and newly formed APAD, and hope this will be reciprocated by them so that the path to full compliance can be achieved by both the government and industry alike basing on the learnings and knowledge which have garnered over the years in Malaysia and from the different jurisdictions.

Ensuring a smooth transition towards a regulated industry is critical, given that even six months into the moratorium period, there remains many grey areas which led to open and unwarranted speculation and knee-jerk reactions affecting the commuting public. For instance, e-hailing drivers have been questioned about their licensing status when steps for actual licensing have not yet been put in place. We are also seeing enforcement action being undertaken against e-hailing drivers for picking up passengers via the app despite the moratorium period in place.

As the nation moves towards improving the transport landscape through the use of technology, it is disheartening to see regulations already in place being openly disregarded. In the spirit of the New Malaysia, we therefore call upon the authorities to make a stand in providing clearer and executable guidelines in facilitating the roll out of the e-hailing regulations and not be distracted by calls made prematurely by irresponsible parties to enforce misrepresented regulations during an agreed moratorium period.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC TAKES TIME OUT TO MEET HIS GREATEST OPPONENT, THANKS TO SEIKO

BusinessToday

January 11, 2019

Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked ATP star and SEIKO watches brand ambassador, took time out of his training schedule to meet his most challenging opponent yet – himself. The world’s number one tennis star encountered a specially created, avatar of himself, incorporated in a world first virtual reality computer game.

Created especially by SEIKO Australia, the life like game was developed to make playing on the court as authentic as possible with even the feel of the racquet being realistic.

Leading up to the event, tennis enthusiasts battled it out at Melbourne’s Federation Square, playing the specially designed VR game with the top four winners having the opportunity to meet Novak and receive a limited-edition SEIKO Novak Djokovic watch with the winner receiving also a $1,000 cheque, courtesy of SEIKO Australia.

In honour of The Novak Djokovic Foundation, Novak presented children, on stage, each with a special watch created for The Foundation.

Novak also spoke to the Melbourne crowd in a Q&A session.

“I play tennis for the pure emotion of love, joy and passion towards the sport and as long as there is that flare in me, I will keep on going. “The match against Nadal that went on for 6 hours in the 2012 Australian Open – that was the one that stands out as the greatest most exciting match I was ever a part of.”

“I try to be conscious of my breathing because on the tennis court you are by yourself. You have your box you can turn to, to look for support but everything you do on the court is completely up to you – the blame and the credit. It’s important with all these distractions to really centre yourself by being aware of your breath and being there in the moment. It’s much easier said than done.”

“High stress is always a great obstacle for anyone that’s why I feel like the greatest support to me and every athlete and every human being is always yourself. If you can master yourself in way and control your thoughts and emotions, then you’ll be able to shine,” says Djokovic.

Iconic Rolls-Royce achieves historic business record

BusinessToday

January 11, 2019

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has achieved the highest annual sales in the marque’s 115-year history, with 4,107 cars delivered to customers in over 50 countries around the world in 2018, and continues to generate a positive contribution to its shareholder, the BMW Group. In a year of multiple records, the world’s foremost Luxury House also enjoyed unprecedented demand for its Bespoke creations, and launched the new Cullinan – the Rolls-Royce of SUVs – to great international acclaim.

Reflecting on the company’s performance for the year, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said: “2018 was a most successful, record-breaking year for Rolls-Royce. We have seen growth in all our regions around the world. At Rolls-Royce we are deeply focused on each and every one of our customers and are delivering on their demanding expectations. The Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood is acknowledged and celebrated as a global centre of luxury manufacturing excellence, where our skilled, dedicated team create the world’s finest, most sought-after luxury products. We set a formidable mark in 2018: I am confident it will prove the spur to even greater success in 2019.”

Worldwide sales growth

The Americas remained the company’s largest market in 2018. Sales also grew across all regions during the year with buoyant customer demand across the model range. Phantom was a major growth driver, flanked by the very contemporary and seductive Wraith and Dawn models.

Bespoke: the pure essence of luxury

Rolls-Royce is Bespoke. The freedom to choose, create and commission beautiful objects is one of life’s great pleasures and Rolls-Royce is, by far, the world’s leading manufacturer in this regard. Through its Bespoke capabilities, Rolls-Royce offers customers near-limitless opportunities to bring their own personal vision to their motor car, reinforcing the marque’s position as the world’s leading Luxury House. In 2018, Rolls-Royce’s specialist craftspeople delivered some of the most ambitious customer commissions ever undertaken at Goodwood, taking Bespoke design, engineering, materials and methods to new heights of technical and aesthetic brilliance.

Cullinan: a worldwide sensation

Rolls-Royce Cullinan has completely redefined the luxury SUV. The new model received an ecstatic reception from the world’s media at its launch. The very first few cars were delivered to customers in time for Christmas and the forward order book is filling well into the second half of 2019.

Continued growth

To meet growing worldwide demand for its products, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars employed 200 new associates, mainly in skilled manufacturing roles, during 2018. These new appointments mean the total workforce at the Home of Rolls-Royce now exceeds 2,000 people for the first time since the plant opened in 2003.

The year also saw a record intake of 23 new entrants to the company’s highly successful Apprenticeship Programme. Since its launch in 2006, more than 100 candidates have completed the remarkable transition from total beginner to confident, highly-skilled specialist: most are still with the company, many in senior technical and supervisory roles.

The single-line manufacturing system at Goodwood, installed in 2017, proved completely successful in its first full year of operations. This year saw further refinements to manufacturing facilities, equipment and processes to maximise efficiency and ensure the highest levels of quality as demanded by Rolls-Royce customers.

Huawei Collaborates with Auto Bavaria For A Road Trip to Discover Mate 20 Series ‘Treasures’

Business Today Editorial

January 10, 2019

The 2D1N all-expense-paid road trip treasure hunt from Kuala Lumpur to the Historic State of Malaysia, Melaka, is open to all Mate 20 series Huawei VIP users. The treasure hunt is organized in partnership with Auto Bavaria and the All-New BMW X3 xDrive 30i.

The treasure hunt-format road trip will be held from 18 to 19 January 2019. All interested fans have to do is to register their name, contact details and their Mate 20 series device IMEI number to stand a chance to be the select few to join Huawei and Malaysian personalities on a fun adventure to discover life’s beautiful and infinite possibilities with the innovative Mate series.

Enjoy a series of challenges and emerge as the winning team to bring home great prizes. Registration via www.facebook.com/HuaweiMobileMY closes on 10 January and selected lucky fans will be announced on 14 January. Selection is based on first-come-first-served basis, so hurry up and register now!

Acer Introduces its First Chromebook Powered by Versatile AMD A-Series Processors with Radeon ™ Graphics

Business Today Editorial

January 10, 2019

Acer today expanded its award-winning line of 15.6-inch Chromebooks with its first AMD-based Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook 315. Powered by 7 th Gen AMD A6-9220C or A4-9120C processors with Radeon graphics, it can speed through demanding apps, while running multiple tabs and extensions, all during a battery life of up to 10 hours.

In addition to superior performance, the Acer Chromebook 315 has a Full HD 15.6-inch IPS 2 display that is productivity-boosting for work and school. It vibrantly displays streaming video, web games and apps, and it’s available in touch-screen and non-touch configurations (CB315- 2HT/CB315-2H).

“The 15.6-inch Chromebook has been one of the cornerstones of the Acer Chromebook line,” said James Lin, General Manger, Commercial and Detachable Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. “The Acer Chromebook 315 builds on the line’s core attributes — a huge 15.6-inch display, great speakers and a stylish design — to now include new AMD processors and Radeon graphics that will effortlessly power the growing selection of Chrome and Android ™ apps that have been embraced by so many students, families and business users.”

Powerful AMD A-Series Processors with Radeon Graphics for Multitasking

The Acer Chromebook 315 is powered by 7 th Gen AMD A-Series processors with Radeon graphics to provide fast and efficient computing in two configurations; either featuring the AMD A6- 9220C APU or A4-9120C APU in a system-on-chip design. The new AMD A-Series processors for

Chromebooks enable customers to stream video, run the latest apps, play web games and browse the Internet effortlessly for up to 10 hours Plus, the Acer Chromebook 315 supports millions of Android apps on Google Play ™ for entertainment, productivity, connectivity and more.

“We are proud to expand AMD’s portfolio of products to include AMD-powered Chromebooks,” said Saeid Moshkelani, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Client Compute, AMD. “The new Acer Chromebook 315 powered by AMD A-series processors will allow consumers to do more in less time while enjoying some of the best Chromebook experiences. In partnership with Google and Acer, AMD-powered Chromebooks will deliver first-rate entertainment and premium productivity features, as well as best-in-class design to the Chromebook market.”

Display and Audio for Entertainment, Productivity

The clear and vibrant 15.6-inch Full HD 1920 x 1080 display is large enough for opening browsers side-by-side, viewing streaming video in sharp detail, and playing web games. Customers can be productive with more viewing real estate and the power to run multiple tabs and apps. The IPS display lets users easily present slide shows and share content thanks to its wide 178-degree viewing angles. Even video chats can be shared. The HD webcam has a wide 88-degree field-of- view to accommodate groups. In addition, audio and video are crystal clear thanks to high dynamic range imaging and the built-in microphone.

Clear and crisp audio is the result of the Acer Chromebook 315’s two full-sized upward-facingspeakers that flank the keyboard. The speakers support high-definition audio and deliver enhanced volume and audio range. The Acer Chromebook 315’s large size means there’s also room for a full-sized, backlit keyboard on touch-screen models, and a large touchpad.

Excellent Connectivity and Stylish Portability

The design makes room for ample connections on the Acer Chromebook 315. There are two USB Type-C Gen 1 ports — one on each side of the device — to allow fast data transfers, charging and display output from whichever side is most convenient. It features fast WiFi 802.11ac wireless featuring 2×2 MIMO technology. Customers can connect peripherals via Bluetooth 4.2, two USB 3.0 ports and the combo headphone and speaker jack.

The Acer Chromebook 315 features a stylish IMR top cover and palm rest that are durable and light enough for moving around the home or office. It weighs 1.72 kg (3.79 pounds) while measuring 380.54 W x 256.28 D x 19.95 H mm (14.98 W x 10.09 D x 0.79 H inches).

Easy to Share and Manage, Especially for Parents

The new Acer Chromebook 315 is not only easy to use, but also easy to share with multiple users. Users simply log into their Google account to access Gmail, Google Docs, apps, extensions, bookmarks, and more. Chromebooks run on Google’s Chrome OS platform that updates automatically 3 and uses multiple levels of security to guard against ever-changing online threats.

With the new Family Link app on Chromebooks, it’s easy for parents to set digital ground rules as their kids are exploring the Internet. Parents can set daily screen time limits, customize the list of websites and apps their children can use, and even manage their child’s Google account and remotely lock supervised accounts on the Acer Chromebook 315.

Price and Availability

The Acer Chromebook 315 will be available with either a touch screen display (CB315-2HT) or non-touch display (CB315-2H) with up to 8GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. The new line will be available in North America in February, starting at $279.99, and in EMEA in April, starting at €349.

Xiaomi unveils Mi MIX 3 in Malaysia

Business Today Editorial

January 10, 2019

Global technology leader Xiaomi announced the release of its latest premium flagship Mi MIX 3 in Malaysia, the newest device in the company’s award-winning Mi MIX series. Mi MIX 3 once again merges technology and art, sporting a beautiful ceramic back and an extreme 6.39” full screen display made possible by an innovative magnetic slider design.

Steven Shi, Head of Xiaomi South Pacific Region, said: “Our MIX series line of smartphones is synonymous with ground-breaking innovations and eye-catching aesthetics, pushing the envelope of what the modern smartphone can become. The Mi MIX 3 continues that tradition. It is a testament to our commitment to innovate and to create a device that will appeal to users who appreciate technology as well as art.”

Patented magnetic slider and ultimate full screen display experience Mi MIX 3’s patented slider incorporates neodymium magnets that have been carefully calibrated. Once the screen is pushed down, the magnetic mechanism immediately kicks in and finishes the opening in a snap with just the right amount of force. Xiaomi has dedicated substantial resources to the production process to ensure the slider has a life expectancy of 300,000 cycles in lab tests.

The slider design not only creates space for front cameras and antenna, but also allows for the maximum full-screen display. Mi MIX 3 employs a 6.39-inch, 2340 x 1080-pixel FHD+ Samsung AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Its bezels have been further reduced from its predecessor to achieve an extremely high screen-to-body ratio.

The full-screen slider is fully customizable. Users can slide open the phone to answer calls or customize it to launch different functions. Additionally, there is a special in-game function for the slider, allowing users to access screen capture, screen recorder, or hide notifications during gaming sessions.

World-class photography rated 108 by DxOMark

Mi MIX 3 features a 12MP + 12MP rear dual camera that uses the same sensors as Mi 8. To further improve low-light performance, Xiaomi introduced a steady handheld night photography mode in Mi MIX 3, bundling various useful software features. Coupled with the rear camera’s 4-axis OIS, Mi MIX 3 is Xiaomi’s best smartphone for low-light photos to date. The rear dual camera also features 4K video recording and 960 fps slow-motion video capture.

The 24MP + 2MP front module sports a Sony IMX576 main sensor that can capture more details than ever before. In low-light conditions, the sensor uses Super Pixel technology to combine the information of four pixels into one 1.8μm large pixel, greatly improving clarity. The secondary 2M sensor captures depth information to facilitate an AI bokeh effect.

With these enhancements, Mi MIX 3 achieved a DxOMark photo score of 108, ranking among the world’s best smartphones for photography.

Customer Initiative Focused on the Intelligent Supply Chain for Assets launched

Business Today Editorial

January 10, 2019

SAP today announced the intelligent supply chain for assets customer initiative, which brings together SAP and its industry-leading customers to transform businesses in supply chain planning and asset management.

SAP will co-innovate with customers to define best practices and new use cases in areas such as integrated business planning and intelligent asset management, including service parts planning for the energy and natural resources industries.

The intelligent supply chain for assets customer initiative includes a series of transformational workshops run by SAP supply chain experts and customers. Participating industries including mining, oil and gas, chemicals, mill products and utilities, among others, will help shape SAP Digital Supply Chain solutions. Ideas produced by the customer initiative may also be later applied to improve scheduling and execution.

“This program provides our customers with an early opportunity to identify truly transformative use cases that can have profound impact on their operations,” said Hala Zeine, president, SAP Digital Supply Chain. “We believe intelligent technology combined with industry collaboration and pervasive simulations will help companies reduce downtime from repair and boost overall revenue and performance from design to operations.”

Maintenance represents one of the largest operational costs to asset-intensive industries. SAP is enriching intelligent enterprise solutions by integrating demand, maintenance and supply planning. Customers participating in the initiative can benefit from SAP’s recognized innovation in planning and asset management to identify the most valuable use cases related to assets and parts’ lifecycles. They also can collaborate on improving functionality and refining best practices.

“In order to achieve our business vision, it was imperative that we built an integrated business, both across the traditional internal functions and extending beyond our business to our suppliers” said Barry Fitzgerald, CEO at Roy Hill, an integrated iron ore mining, rail and port operation based in Australia. “As the IoT delivers increasing levels of information giving voice to our assets, reducing barriers between our assets and our suppliers is fundamental to delivering the right materials to our maintenance teams in the field to maximize margin and future-proof our business. By partnering with SAP since 2014, we have explored an innovation pathway to bringing true integration of information and material flow between assets and suppliers.”

The enduring benefits of hiring a star

BusinessToday

January 9, 2019

New research reveals working alongside a creative “master” will increase innovators’ creativity and the chance that, one day, they too will become a star

Much has been written about the benefits of collaboration and sharing of ideas and knowledge during the innovation process. Less is known about the intricate skills required to integrate, or synthesise, various raw materials in a way that will maximise creativity, and create innovations that help organisations out-perform their competitors.

A new paper entitled, Where Do Stars Come From? The Role of Star vs. Nonstar Collaborators in Creative Settings published in Organization Science, by Manuel Sosa, INSEAD Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management, Jürgen Mihm, INSEAD Professor of Technology and Operations Management and Haibo Liu, Assistant Professor of Management, University of California Riverside, studies the creative aspects of interpersonal collaboration from a new perspective: the quality of the collaborator, both stars – people able to generate a disproportionate amount of influential output – and non-stars.

The paper looks at the different benefits stars and non-stars bring, both to the task at hand and to the collaborators’ ability to come up with breakthrough ideas in the future.

“We wanted to understand, if by working with a star, you would be more likely to become a star; we found that indeed you would,” Sosa said. “The interesting question is how does this happen and why does this happen? What happens when you work with a star that is different from when you work with other people?”

By examining the creative performance of designers who have been granted design patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office over a 35-year period, the authors found that collaborating with star designers indeed significantly increases the chances of becoming a star. Interestingly, they found evidence that creative stars are more likely to possess creative synthesis skills required for creating breakthrough innovations and that they transfer such skill to their collaborators; skills such as the ability to understand existing innovation paradigms and create a new one by reconciling distant and often seemingly contradictory viewpoints and then continue to iterate and refine such a new paradigm until it leads to an outstanding innovation output.

Why hire a star?

All of these creative skills are highly tacit and unlikely to be learnt through a book or in a classroom. While some creative stars may pick them up intuitively or through years of trial-and-error experience, the likelihood of someone absorbing these skills is much higher if they work in close proximity with someone who already possesses them. This allows innovators to observe, learn and practice synthesis skills from the star.

“It is important to note that collaborating with stars doesn’t preclude collaborating with others who are non-stars,” Sosa noted. “Both types of collaborators benefit the innovator’s creative performance and increase the likelihood of creating a breakthrough innovation.”

In fact, some companies today avoid the idea of having a design team with a dominant star, and instead focus on the proven premise that diversity – having a wide-ranging pool of potentially innovative ideas – is key to creativity.

“What we found,” Sosa added. “Is that as well as bringing with them new data and experience like a non-star, stars contribute a set of creative skills, rarely found anywhere else, that can have a lasting transformation of the innovator’s creative abilities.”

Optimal conditions for long-lasting and extraordinary innovation

The paper expands on this to assess the conditions required to maximise the chance of rising to stardom, and noted that this varies greatly depending on whether a star is part of the collaboration team.

When non-stars collaborate, shared expertise or a cohesive social network can limit diversity and steer the team towards “group think” negatively impacting creative output. However, when non-stars work with stars, greater shared social network connections and closer similarities of their expertise facilitate the exploitation of creative synthesis skills. That is, it helps to build a common insightful understanding of the problem at hand; it encourages collaborators to see similarities among their different perspectives and iteratively refine the most promising ideas increasing the likelihood of breakthrough innovations. Most importantly, such cohesive collaborative conditions facilitate the transfer of the tacit creative skills from stars to his/her collaborators which in turn increases the chances of them becoming stars in the future.

LeddarTech joins Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform

BusinessToday

January 9, 2019

LeddarTech, an industry leader providing the most versatile and scalable auto and mobility LiDar platform, announced the integration of LeddarTech’s LiDAR products into Apollo, Baidu’s autonomous driving open platform.

LeddarTech’s products will now be compatible with Apollo 3.5, the latest version of the platform, through the integration of an open source software development kit (SDK) which will facilitate the development for Tier-1 suppliers, OEMs, and other application developers who wish to use LeddarTech products within the Apollo open platform.

LeddarTech’s auto and mobility LiDAR platform equip key suppliers with the technology, tools, and resources they need to design their own differentiated LiDAR offering and to meet the specific requirements of various advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) applications. At the core of the platform is the LeddarEngine, comprised of highly-optimized SoCs and signal processing software that have been designed to meet ISO 26262 ASIL-B standards and that will allow LeddarTech’s customers to deliver automotive-grade LiDAR sensors which comply with functional safety requirements.

“An open platform is a powerful model that fosters win-win, added-value partnerships throughout the automotive supply chain,” said Frantz Saintellemy, LeddarTech’s President and COO. “With our open source SDK for the Apollo platform, the data output format will allow easier comparison and system development,” added Saintellemy. “The wide, global reach of the Apollo partners provides tremendous new opportunities to accelerate the adoption of our LiDAR platform across the industry.”

Apollo serves as an open, reliable and secure software platform for its partners to develop their own autonomous driving systems through on-vehicle and hardware platforms. Apollo accelerates the development, testing, and deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Apollo welcomes LeddarTech as a new partner of its open development platform as all Apollo partners will now benefit from open, standardized access to LeddarTech’s LiDAR technology, greatly facilitating development and integration projects.

LG partners with Microsoft to accelerate automotive revolution

BusinessToday

January 9, 2019

Employing Microsoft Azure Technology to Advance LG’s AI-Driven Vehicle Strategy

LG Electronics (LG) and Microsoft entered into a memorandum of understanding to enhance and further grow LG’s autonomous vehicle and infotainment system business. Under the terms of the partnership, LG will accelerate the transformation of its existing digital platform for the vehicle industry, seen as key growth engines for the company, by leveraging Microsoft’s Azure cloud and artificial intelligence technologies along with LG’s future self-driving software.

LG will apply Microsoft’s AI knowhow to its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Driver-Status Monitoring Camera (DSM) and Multi-Purpose Front Camera products and incorporate Microsoft’s virtual assistant solution in LG’s infotainment systems. And with Azure Data Box service, data captured on the road can be uploaded automatically to create a library that helps the self-driving software grow even smarter.

In addition, LG plans to build innovative digital development and testing grounds employing state-of-the-art technology. High performance computing (HPC) and graphics processing unit (GPU) supported by Microsoft Azure will drastically reduce the time required for LG AI self-driving software to learn and evolve. Road and traffic patterns in cities that would normally require more than a full day for self-driving systems to comprehend would take only minutes with Azure.

And Azure can help AI self-driving software learn diverse patterns displayed by drivers as well as recognize and distinguish between pedestrians and other objects. By embedding AI self-driving software enhanced by Azure within the ADAS, performance of the DSM and Multi-Purpose Front Camera can be dramatically improved.

In addition to its ability to train AI self-driving software, Azure also features a voice-enabled virtual assistant solution. With help from Azure, LG’s vehicle infotainment system will allow drivers to easily and quickly check traffic conditions on the road, search for nearby restaurants, call up favorite songs and more.

“Our expectation is that the combination of Microsoft’s advanced cloud infrastructure with LG’s fast-growing automotive components business will accelerate the self-driving auto industry as a whole,” said Kim Jin-yong, president of LG’s Vehicle Component Solutions Company. “We’re confident that the combination of Microsoft and LG technologies will create a new benchmark in autonomous auto AI.”

“Together LG and Microsoft can help shape the future of transportation,” said Sanjay Ravi, general manager, automotive industry at Microsoft. “Working together, we can empower automakers to deliver differentiated mobility experiences, create new services and revenue opportunities, and to build safer, more intelligent and more sustainable vehicles.”

IBM Earns Record 9,100 Patents in 2018, Tops U.S. Patent List

BusinessToday

January 8, 2019

IBM (NYSE: IBM) inventors received a record 9,100 patents in 2018, marking the company’s 26th consecutive year of U.S. patent leadership. IBM led the industry in the number of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, security and quantum computing-related patent grants.

“IBM is committed to leading the way on the technologies that change the way the world works – and solving problems many people have not even thought of yet,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO. “Our clients and their customers are the beneficiaries of these innovations, particularly our leadership in AI, cloud, blockchain and security for business.”

Overall, nearly half of the 2018 patents relate to pioneering advancements in AI, cloud computing, security, blockchain and quantum computing.

The industry-leading 1,600 AIpatents IBM inventors were granted in 2018 include new ways to use AI to help us converse and protect the earth’s lakes and waterways. AI also played a large role in the more than 1,400 securitypatents IBM inventors were granted in 2018, including an AI-powered security approach to combat voice phishing.

Some IBM patents granted in 2018 include:

· Project Debater is a first-of-a-kind AI system from IBM Research that can debate humans on complex topics. IBM inventors patented an approach to use machine learning to identify evidence, such as relevant text segments in unstructured text data, which supports or opposes a claim or topic under consideration. This could help provide advancements in how machines and humans interact in conversation.

· IBM inventors patented an intelligent system that could be used to identify, characterize, and monitor vertical temperature profiles and gradients, which affect marine life, in lakes and other aquatic ecosystems. Analytics combined with the IBM Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) mapping has helped IBM along with collaborators to engineer the world’s smartest lake, Lake George.

· “Phishing” occurs when a person or computer system tries to obtain sensitive information from unknowing victims. Most recently, phishers have turned to voice phishing, or “vishing,” in which unsuspecting victims are called directly and “vishers” use a voice over IP (VoIP) system to mask their identity. IBM has patented an AI system that could, with permission from the primary user, analyze conversation patterns between two parties in order to identify attempts by one of the parties to deceive the other. The system could send an alert message in real-time to warn a potential vishing victim and help company IT experts better prevent and manage computer and mobile security threats.

IBM inventors received more than 2,000 cloud computing patents in 2018, including a patent on a specialized monitor for unikernel-based virtual machines that takes a lightweight approach to improving isolation and security between a cloud application and its host, while also reducing provisioning times and improving performance. The approach is related to IBM’s research in container security and could enable organizations to more easily move data and applications securely across cloud and on-premises environments.

IBM inventors also continue to break ground in the development of blockchain and its rapid pace of global adoption. IBM was granted a patent on an approach for encrypting data stored in a blockchain. Members of a blockchain network can put data on a blockchain that they would like to share with other blockchain network members. However, instead of storing the data openly for any of the blockchain participants to see, members can encrypt their data within the blockchain and only those that have been given a decryption key can read the data. IBM has enabled this patented capability to users of the open source Hyperledger Fabric.

IBM researchers also patented significant inventions in quantum computing, including a new way of miniaturizing components to improve the performance of quantum computers.

The new patents were granted to a diverse group of more than 8,500 IBM inventors in 47 different U.S. states and 48 countries.

For more information about IBM’s patent and innovation leadership, see www.research.ibm.com/patents/

Addressing Gender Equality in the Malaysian Work Environment

BusinessToday

January 8, 2019

By Arlene Wherrett, Vice President and Managing Director, Sage Asia

Ever wondered what it would be like to ‘swap genders’ in the workplace?

That’s what happened when Martin Schneider, an editor at a U.S. based movie-review website accidentally used his female colleague’s signature on emails he sent from the mailbox he shared with her. He tweeted the experience which made him realise that women may not get the same treatment in the workplace, which then went on to get thousands of views and shares, demonstrating that many people could relate to it.

As a result of that, he and his female colleague decided to undertake an experiment to understand the impact of gender bias. They decided to exchange signatures for a fortnight. They found that whilst he struggled to gain respect from clients, she was able to complete tasks more quickly as a result of using her male colleague’s name.

Whilst this was a simple experiment, gender bias has been well-documented by researchers across the world. Like many other nations, Malaysia too has its struggles in achieving equity for women in the workplace. Its ranking shifted only 2 spots from 106th to 104th position out of 144 countries in the WEF Global Gender Gap Report in 2017. However, whilst some may claim that the difference is not significant, the uptrend certainly shows that there is indeed hope for gender equality here in Malaysia.

According to the Salaries & Wages Survey Report, Malaysia, 2016-2017 by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the mean monthly salaries show a 1.2 per cent wage gap in favour of male employees, however female employees recorded a higher growth of 9.1 percent while male employees recorded a 7.5 percent growth. Yet another encouraging development for Malaysia.

Strong, determined and highly skilled female leaders, such as the current first woman Deputy Prime Minister, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the first woman central bank governor for Malaysia, and Yeo Bee Yin, Minister of Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment; at 35 is the youngest female minister in Malaysian history, to name a few, shows that Malaysia is in the right direction towards gender equality.

To ensure Malaysia continues sustaining this uptrend towards gender equality, here are actionable steps that companies can take to ensure equality of opportunity.

#1 Implement gender neutral recruitment processes

Standardize interviews, anonymize CVs and use blind evaluation processes to help your company recruit from more diverse backgrounds and attract people based on skills, rather than gender. Vodafone and Unilever has found that blind evaluation procedures, removing gender from CVs and instead include work sample tests and neuroscientific tests of an applicant’s aptitude and skills, have helped them implement a more effective and unbiased recruitment process.

#2 Review salaries and standardize pay

Frequently review salaries with the eye to achieving parity between genders, races and other areas of diversity. When recruiting, clearly set the pay range offered on the size of the role and breadth of responsibility.

#3 Protect against unconscious bias

Educate employees about their own unconscious bias. Although this does not guarantee that attitudes will change, it does help employees to understand their biases and to work towards eliminating them.

#4 Have a clear policy on anti-discrimination

Create a clear, unbiased, anti-discrimination policy that ensures employees have a proper way to comment or report on inappropriate treatment in the workplace. Ensure everyone knows and understands the policy and penalties. A Unilever study found that women and men struggle to acknowledge gender discrimination and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. 67% of women said they feel pressured to overlook inappropriate action and more than half of both men and women don’t confront each other when witnessing this behavior.

#5 Provide flexible working and de-stigmatize shared parental leave

Shift your company mindset to assessing workers performance on their delivery and achievements rather than time spent in the office. Shared parental policies must be being given a greater spotlight in Malaysia to encourage a gender-balanced workforce.

#6 Ensure managers are actively encouraging women to progress

Cultivate an environment which encourages application for promotions and pay rises for female employees. At KPMG, when a promotion is advertised, managers are encouraged to check whether their high performing female colleagues have applied and if not ask why. Martin Blackburn, People Director at KPMG UK explains: ‘Where the men would apply for a role if they had 80% of the [required] skills, women would think they were missing 20% and not bother’, which is why it’s imperative that women must be encouraged to be bold, take risks and have faith in their capabilities.

I personally believe in the power of gender balanced teams, from providing a holistic view on strategies to enabling different styles of company leadership. At Sage Asia, where we have a corporate focus on diversity and inclusion, our 50/50 gender balanced senior management team have had a great impact on our company culture, dialogue and decision-making.

These practical steps, taken today, can help businesses in Malaysia play their rightful role in tackling the pertinent socio-economic issue of gender equality.

New Year New Surface

BusinessToday

January 8, 2019

Microsoft announces the next generation Surface devices with the introduction of the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2

The Surface for Business line-up will enable organisations benefit from enterprise-grade manageability and security benefits through Windows 10 Pro.

The next generation of Surface devices deliver incredible experiences, and enhanced productivity for individuals on-the-go:

Surface Pro 6 features a redesigned architecture under its hood to deliver astonishing power, making it 1.5 times faster than its predecessor, while offering the same all-day battery life.

Surface Laptop 2 continues to deliver outstanding performance, with improved speed and performance enabled by the latest 8th Generation Intel® Quad Core™ processor, making it 85 percent more powerful than its predecessor.

With the power of Surface, Windows and Office, connected through the cloud, users are empowered to be more creative with their choice of Surface devices.

SC Appoints Ong Liang Heng as New Executive Director

BusinessToday

January 8, 2019

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ong Liang Heng as Executive Director in the Chairman’s Office effective 4 January 2019.

Ong will be responsible for, amongst others, special projects and initiatives in the SC. He will also be actively involved in the engagement and coordination with stakeholders to develop new proposals or policies for the advancement of the Malaysian capital market.

Trained as an accountant, Ong has over 25 years’ experience in the field of corporate finance. He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and Social Science from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Prior to joining the SC, Ong was a senior managing director at CIMB Bank.

HRDF NAMES NOOR FARIDA AS ITS CHAIR AND OUTLINES ITS 2019 ACTION PLANS

BusinessToday

January 7, 2019

The Human Resources Development Fund (“HRDF”) announced today that Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Noor Farida Binti Mohd Ariffin has been named Chair of the Fund’s board of directors, effective January 1.

Dato’ Farida has had a long and distinguished career in public service as a judge, legal adviser and diplomat, most notably as the Ambassador of Malaysia to Netherlands. Since her retirement from the Foreign Ministry in 2012, Dato’ Farida has, among others, headed the law reform committee at the National Council of Women Organisations; she also serves on the boards of Ecoworld Berhad and Aerospace Technology Systems Corp Sdn Bhd.

Human Resource Development Fund states: “Dato’ Farida is a proven leader and her appointment as the Chair will be invaluable. The Fund also expresses its appreciation for the leadership of the board’s deputy chairman, Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Quah Thain Khan, during a period of great change for the Fund.”

In 2018, the Fund recorded an impressive 23 percent growth in registered employers, bringing the total to over 26,000, cumulatively providing jobs to 2.3 million Malaysian employees. For 2019, HRDF looks forward to implement the following action plans to strengthen the Fund and increase the proportion of skilled Malaysian employees:

1. Bringing Wrongdoers to Book
HRDF will continue its internal investigations, started in July 2018, to bring all errant stakeholders, including training providers, trainees, and staff who have connived with them, to book. The Fund has already filed reports to the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission; it has also filed civil claims against trainees for submitting false particulars. In the meantime, civil claims will soon be filed against errant training providers. These efforts build on the report delivered by the five-member Governance Oversight Committee in November 2018 and made publicly available by the Fund at its website.

2. Strengthening its Enforcement Measures
The Fund will ensure all liable employers are registered by the end of 2019, and will continue to take action against employers who fail to register as required by the PSMB Act 2001. The Fund shall also act against employers who fail to meet or under-report their levy commitment and those who do not carry out training programmes as agreed. By the end of the year, the Fund expects to expand the Act
to cover all remaining industries.

3. Training 1.2 million Malaysian employees
The Fund aims to provide training to 1.2 million Malaysian employees in 2019. The Fund shall achieve this by working closely with and understanding the training needs of its registered employers through the HRDF Skills Framework that will be rolled out this year.

4. Creating Job-Ready Graduates
The Fund will focus on developing job-ready youths and graduates, especially from low-income families, by investing in selected Industrial Skills Training Institutes and courses, and serve as a bridge between the Human Resources Ministry and industry.

5. Raising the quality of training professionals
The Fund will review and upgrade its long-standing train-the-trainer programme by developing a trainers’ competency framework that includes continuous professional development. This will be developed in partnership with trainers and training provider associations and related Government agencies.

6. Becoming an employer of choice
The Fund, which employs 315 Malaysians from across Malaysia, will continue to emphasise diversity and inclusion in 2019 — to better serve its customers and stakeholders. Further, the Fund will seek to provide opportunities for the differently-abled and retirees this year.