Footprints of Industrial Revolution 4.0

Footprints of Industrial Revolution 4.0

Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4), the buzzword in many speakers’ vocabulary across the past events I’ve attended in recent months. The spotlight on IR 4 and its eco system is about digitalisation of everything we use today from work to play. Recently I caught a biographical thriller series on Eli Cohen, an Israeli Mossad agent sent to Syria which could not have been more apt to showcase technology usage at its most basic form. Suffice to say he managed to achieve most of his goals however he was eventually caught red handed communicating to his agency via Morse code. Comparing that to today in 2019, and in the middle of IR 4 and the Internet-of-Things; the technology options available to us to go about our life is simply mind boggling.

With the advent of IR 4; cloud, artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous driving and of course IoT have been trending words bandied around to describe the aftermath of digitalisation of the economy. We have been so fixated with all these trending technologies that it’s easy to forget that the fundamentals of all these high tech mumbo jumbo is your humble yet still relevant personal computer. According to 2018 report by the Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan, the number of PCs in use worldwide is more than 1 billion units since 2008 and touching 2 billion units today. That’s a massive amount of computers and I am sure many of you are not aware that the manufacturing process of a personal computer represents up to 85% of its entire lifecycle energy demand while for smartphones their manufacturing energy demand is up to 60% throughout its useful life.

The same report also states that the energy burden of a typical computer used for 3 years is 4,222 kWh. Taking that into consideration since most computers in an enterprise environment has a typical lifecycle of 3 years, the energy generated from the manufacturing process itself for a computer equates to CO2 emissions emitted from the charging of 380,700 smartphones or carbon sequestered by almost 50 tree seedlings grown for 10 years. Clearly this is an environmental and long term sustainability challenge which we all need to address more so with the current climate change effects already bearing down upon us. Add that with the current smog pollution we are facing, any steps taken to reduce CO2 emissions is a responsibility we all need to take seriously.

So how can we ordinary folks do our part as a responsible citizen of the world? Start small and take baby steps to improve your knowledge on climate change. Understand what causes this global phenomenon and identify changes which you can make fairly quickly and easily in places you spent most of your time in i.e. your home and office comes into mind. Since I am an active proponent on proper IT asset lifecycle management, one of the best methods I could suggest is to take the trinity of R’s approach of Reuse, Remarket and Recycle. I have intentionally removed ‘reduce’ as this term personally does not resonate in today’s business environment as technology innovation for productivity is the main driver for any industry and it’s challenging to set limitations to this approach.

A typical PCs lifecycle journey within an enterprise would include planning on the right processing power with customised specifications driven by business requirements, acquisition by either purchase of more commonly today, by flexible leasing agreements, deployment of assets with application bundles, support maintenance and management of assets with proactive tools and lastly, secure disposal of assets with industry standard data erasure to ensure data security compliance. The implementation of the trinity of R’s within an enterprise ensures PCs that have reached its end of life within an organisation can go on to gain new purpose, based on its ability to fulfil productivity requirements in different areas which has lower computing requirements.

These processes dramatically lower the need for unnecessary forced disposal of IT assets which could otherwise be reused or remarketed. Selecting the right IT asset lifecycle management partner will be crucial to ensure these processes are done correctly and responsibly. Rentalworks Group is a leading provider in sustainable ICT asset lifecycle management services. We have assisted enterprises and government agencies to navigate their IT asset lifecycle from IT planning, acquisition by leasing, deployment management and asset maintenance and secure disposal processes in a responsible manner. Observing the trinity of R’s approach ensures the lifecycle management of tens of thousands of ICT assets like PCs, notebooks, smartphones, tablets and tech wearables would be in the most sustainable manner.

Article by:
Alan Puah
Managing Director

Telecommuting A New Normal…Benefits & Challenges

Telecommuting A New Normal…Benefits & Challenges

Digitalisation efforts have been accelerated tremendously the past one year due to COVID-19. Many businesses have brought forward their digitalisation plans and efforts in order to adapt to the new normal business landscape. Banks ramped up digitization efforts with expanded digital payment tools/channels, shopping malls begun enabling online stores complementing footfall traffic which has taken a dip with lock-downs and social distancing measures coupled with schools pivoting to online lessons.

One such common theme of the digitalisation effort is remote collaboration or more commonly known as telecommuting. It is without a doubt that hybrid work environment seems to be here for the long haul, businesses nowadays are leveraging on online meeting and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams to communicate and deploy cloud based storage to share files real time and remotely.

The trend in pivoting towards telecommuting indeed brings many advantages such as :

  1. Increased productivity – With social distancing rules still in place in many locales, virtual collaboration tools allow employees to collaborate remotely in real-time. Hosting online meetings or webinars, making calls, chats, sharing files, and collaborate in real time allows employers to continue to operate with minimal disruptions and at same time be connected with employees and clients remotely or onsite.
  2. Costs Savings. Many financial savings can be derived from telecommuting. With telecommuting, transportation costs ( for both employees and employers ) will be reduced – meetings are hosted online and employees need not commute to work nor to clients’ workplaces. Further, companies will see reduction in operating expenses such as office rentals, utilities and supplies of stationeries. Another plus point is that most online collaborative platforms provide functionalities such as cloud storage at cost effective rates.
  3. Interactions and communications. Remote collaboration platforms such as Microsoft 365, Skype provide a central hub to communicate with colleagues. The best collaboration and community platforms connect employees, giving them a place to chat, discuss, leave feedback and suggestions – enabling effective and unified interactions and ease of communications.
  4. Increased cross-cultural awareness. Global and regional companies are now able to engage with teams from different countries at the same time. Companies are no longer restricted by travel budgets limited to one or two company personnel as the representatives in regional/global meetings for example. Telecommuting allows communications across regions, countries from any levels – not just C-suites. This would through time improve synergy, cross-cultural awareness across all levels within the company; extending leaders and employees the information, skills and confidence to successfully collaborate and conduct business across cultural boundaries.

Telecommuting has its own set of challenges too. Some of the challenges are:

  1. Striking a balance – Working-from-home requires discipline – discipline in knowing how to manage distractions in the home for example children requiring attention. In addition some may find it hard to switch-off from work taking a toll on family life.
  2. Feeling isolated – Individuals who are extrovert in nature, particularly, may feel isolated from colleagues, clients or even strangers ( ‘bumping’ into commuters in public transportations for example). Lack of face-to-face social interactions may lead to depressions resulting in reduced productivity.

Companies certainly need to find an optimum balance between on-site and remote working arrangement – a balance that ensures productivity is not at stake and employees are not burned out. Be it a hybrid model or an environment that adopts telecommuting holistically it is without a doubt remote collaboration platforms and compatible IT devices are key components in ensuring sustainable uninterrupted business operations.

Article by:
Lisa C.

Interview with Ryan Chioh, Managing Director of FarEastFlora.com

Aha! Moments - A chat with Ryan Chioh, Managing Director of FarEastFlora.com

FarEastFlora.com rooted from humble beginnings as a little florist, with Ryan’s father and two uncles (its founders) peddling eggs and flowers from the back of a van carting their goods around Singapore in the ‘60s.

Ryan Chioh, grew up in this environment and literally went through the school of hard knocks – assimilating the nuts and bolts of running an orchid farm in Yew Tee, Singapore. School holidays would typically mean helping out with sales and delivery of flowers.

Today with Ryan’s in-depth knowledge in IoT and awareness that the way to move the business forward and align with changes in consumer purchasing behaviour, Ryan successfully created an e-commerce platform –

FarEastFlora.com. The launch of this platform saw the business capturing a wider target market not just within Singapore, but Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Ryan speaks to us on his aha! moments in propelling his business into a leading online florist within this region.

What was/were your aha! moment(s)?

There were many aha! moments for me. The one that I truly relish was when I returned from the States and realised that the traditional hardcopy catalogue-based business model is not sustainable and we needed to transform.

My exposure in the States where e-commerce was booming back then got me thinking and gave me the idea to push this idea through – a total shift to a full-swing e-commerce florist with much wider outreach spanning across three markets i.e. Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The other aha! moment was when we had to re-invent our call centre to a remote collaboration model. As business was booming and with the increased number of inbound calls, it got me thinking on how best and easily can I expand my call centre team without being limited by office space.

I did a fair bit of research and stumbled into a call centre solution that enabled my call centre team to answer calls from home, equipped with the right IP phone and laptops. Looking back when Singapore had to move into a ‘circuit breaker’ our service to our customers was seamless – as our call centre team was already working from home.

What was or were the challenges that you had that compelled you to re-think on how you could bring your franchise forward into an e-commerce platform?

When I returned to Singapore upon completion of my tertiary education in the States, I realised that the business was pretty much dependent on walk-in clients and catalogues – reaching out to target market via expensive hard copy brochures were quite limiting.

In the States back then e-commerce was booming and this prodded me to re-think our business model; to shift to an e- commerce platform and be one of the first movers as there were not many such services then within this space.

In migrating your business model from a traditional in-store florist to an online e- commerce florist what were the key enablers that you think would make it a success?

I believe lots of gumption, hard work, good teamwork and right technology/devices are pivotal in ensuring the success of any business model. 

We ran many marketing campaigns to drive traffic to our e- commerce portal and being tech savvy I was quick to embrace new technologies, new platforms that I see will bring value to the business. Focus was on growing the business and if there’s opportunity to ‘outsource’ operational tasks which is not our core activity and competency we leveraged or subscribed to the right solutions. 

FarEastFlora.com subscribes to Rentalworks Group’s leasing solutions. How does it help your franchise from a cashflow and operations perspective?

At one point of our aggressive growth path, we needed to get enough computers fast for the team to work on. Sourcing and procuring these computers outright would entail substantial capital outlay and not to mention maintenance costs.

We were fortunate that we were introduced to Rentalworks’ integrated leasing solutions. We did not have to haggle with getting the right specifications and most importantly no huge capital outlay. This has enabled us to focus and deploy our capital for business expansion.

TEACHING WITH TECH: THE DIGITALISATION OF SCHOOLS

TEACHING WITH TECH: THE DIGITALISATION OF SCHOOLS

When the pandemic first hit, it turned businesses all around the world into a massive Work-From-Home (WFH) workforce, the impact was felt in each and every sector.

Educators and students were equally impacted. A 2020 UNESCO report revealed that more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries were affected by school closures due to the pandemic.

Many education learning institutions were far from ready for the shift, but the ones that had already kickstarted their digitalisation journey before the pandemic hit could easily adapt and scale – minimising disruptions amongst educators and students.

Learning institutions are beginning to be aware and accept that the new normal of oscillating between home-based and in-person learning will be here for a while, thus bringing forward plans to innovate with new tools and technologies. In this article, we’ll look at some of them and how they are being utilised to enhance the teaching and learning experience.

When the pandemic first hit, it turned businesses all around the world into a massive Work-From-Home (WFH) workforce, the impact was felt in each and every sector.

Educators and students were equally impacted. A 2020 UNESCO report revealed that more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries were affected by school closures due to the pandemic.

Many education learning institutions were far from ready for the shift, but the ones that had already kickstarted their digitalisation journey before the pandemic hit could easily adapt and scale – minimising disruptions amongst educators and students.

Learning institutions are beginning to be aware and accept that the new normal of oscillating between home-based and in-person learning will be here for a while, thus bringing forward plans to innovate with new tools and technologies. In this article, we’ll look at some of them and how they are being utilised to enhance the teaching and learning experience.

END-TO-END TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

What’s one thing that University College School (London, England), Dawson County Schools (Georgia, US), Trevecca Nazarene University (Tennessee, US), and Ascham Schools (NSW, Australia) have in common? They each have adopted various end-to-end technology solutions to help make networking more efficient, innovative, and safe for educators and students, whether on- or off-campus.

Apart from networking solutions, there are many other different tools and technologies being used by schools in their digitalisation efforts. Here are some of them, and how they can be used to make the education sector more efficient, inclusive, and innovative.

BLOCKCHAIN

Tracing academic transcripts, credentials, and journals can be labour-intensive as they must be manually verified to ensure accuracy. With blockchain technology, schools and universities can obtain and crosscheck these records and more with a few simple clicks.

AI

To help educators do their job and students get better access to education, AI can step in to help everyone do more than ever before. From automating mundane administrative jobs to adjusting lessons based on individual needs, from developing and testing skills to making global classrooms understandable to students of different languages…The possibilities are endless!

MACHINE LEARNING

Not all students can learn the same way, at the same speed. Machine learning makes it possible for educators to quickly spot students who cannot cope, thereby making it possible to create an individualised educational experience where these students can follow a pace that’s right for them.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Students were once confined to textbooks and the four walls of their classrooms. Now, they can reach out to their phones and laptops as they are connected to the school, even if they’re miles apart. Cloud computing lets educators shift their physical resources to virtual ones, and at the same time helping students get exposed to technology skills that are needed in the real world.

EXTENDED REALITY

Also called ‘XR’ for short, this includes augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, all of which uses technology to build an immersive digital experience for all. Teaching doesn’t have to be boring, as concepts – such as what’s in a volcano or how a rainbow is made – can appear right in front of students, making it easier to understand and follow their lessons.

GAMIFICATION

Learning is fun, but let’s face it – it can be pretty boring at times! With exciting gamification mechanics such as levelling up and winning virtual points, the toughest lessons become a little less mundane and a lot livelier, as it incentivises and motivates students to be more engaged with the subject.

SMARTER DEVICES

For students and teachers to even begin using these innovative tools and technologies, they must first have smarter devices – such as laptops – that support these digitisation initiatives.

EFFECTIVE DIGITALISATION BEGINS WITH SMARTER DEVICES

While learning institutions can enjoy great benefits from the many advanced tools and technologies out there, it’s important to first have the right IT assets to support them.

IT assets should be updated constantly, and devices should come with the necessary hardware and software features to allow applications to run seamlessly. Thankfully, an IT refresh doesn’t have to burn a hole in your coffers. Through a leasing model, schools and campuses can get new andup to-date modern devices with proper and consistent maintenance at an affordable lease.

To know more about how you can kickstart your digitalisation journey with the right IT assets and leasing solutions, contact us today.

WFH IN 2022: WHAT’S NEW & WHAT’S OBSOLETE

WFH IN 2022: WHAT’S NEW & WHAT’S OBSOLETE

When the pandemic first hit, countries went into lockdown and businesses were forced to transform their workforce into one that would operate digitally and from the safety of their homes.

In EY’s COVID-19: Business Impact survey in 2020, it found that the Malaysian workforce had to adapt despite facing connectivity, tools and HR policy challenges.

Over two-thirds of companies (69%) in the survey faced disruptions in one form or another. Many of us assumed that 2021 would see the pandemic de-escalate as we revert to normalcy. However, as we make our way to 2022, it’s clear that Work-from-home, or commonly known as “WFH”, is here to stay.

With a WFH arrangement being more popular, it only increases the need for better and faster technology to ensure optimum productivity. Companies that made the necessary changes at the start of the pandemic could easily adapt and resume.

When the pandemic first hit, countries went into lockdown and businesses were forced to transform their workforce into one that would operate digitally and from the safety of their homes.

In EY’s COVID-19: Business Impact survey in 2020, it found that the Malaysian workforce had to adapt despite facing connectivity, tools and HR policy challenges.

Over two-thirds of companies (69%) in the survey faced disruptions in one form or another. Many of us assumed that 2021 would see the pandemic de-escalate as we revert to normalcy. However, as we make our way to 2022, it’s clear that Work-from-home, or commonly known as “WFH”, is here to stay.

With a WFH arrangement being more popular, it only increases the need for better and faster technology to ensure optimum productivity. Companies that made the necessary changes at the start of the pandemic could easily adapt and resume.

Employees and employers are beginning to see that WFH can give a renewed take on professional and personal development, while discarding unnecessary stress such as the daily commute to work.

WHAT WFH IN 2020/2021 LOOKED LIKE

As we make our way to 2022, we can now look back at the past two years to review some of the things we’re able to leave behind to work better and more efficiently. For a start, we have dropped traditional face-to-face communication as we can now jump onto Zoom calls as if it is our second nature.

While some still struggle, we’re generally less reliant on pre-COVID or legacy processes and tools as we adapt to newer and more innovative ways to collaborate despite working apart.

These two years saw a decline in sales and pitch meetings as potential leads held out for pre-COVID normality. There have also been fewer company town halls, events, and promotions.

On top of that, businesses saw a shift from heavily centralised to a distributed workforce. As teams tried to navigate through these unchartered waters, many internal meetings were also conducted as employees were constantly touching base on statuses and collaboration updates. Along with this, teams struggled to work with on-site asset management as they were all located miles apart.

OUR 2022 WFH PREDICTIONS

We’re optimistic that 2022 will see vast improvements to the current working experience. With herd immunity hopefully being established by then, we can look forward to an increase in sales or pitch meetings as leads get more comfortable and forecasting becomes easier to project. To that, we’ll see an uptick on sales, marketing, and promotional activities.

With an even more decentralised workforce, we’ll likely still see more virtual gatherings happening as teams continue bonding while working apart. On the operational end, by 2022 we’ll have more streamlined processes and events, therein creating the need for fewer internal meetings.

As new processes and tools no longer “feel” new, there will be scaled-up implementation of cloud-based platforms. In turn, this will create better and more optimised office and hybrid workplace asset management too.

As we progress further, we also foresee more wholesome workspaces as companies begin to empower their employees and provide a more inclusive and diverse workforce. With this also comes more flexible work hours as employees can better balance work and life. With an even more digitised workplace, it’s important for employers to ramp up their cybersecurity to defend and to detect and protect against imminent cyber threats.

We predict an uptick in better cameras and even more creative virtual backgrounds, as both employers and employees enhance their virtual working experience.

OUR 2022 WFH PREDICTIONS

There are many things to learn from this, but the three main insights are:

1. WFH is the new normal, and it’s unlikely for businesses to revert to their old ways of working solely from the office. Since we’re in this for the long haul, make relevant adjustments in every aspect, ranging from technology to HR, work operations to culture.

2. The right technology investments will let your businesses continue and thrive. Therefore, it’s more important now than ever to update your technology. Run a spring-cleaning session, get rid of technical baggage to modernise and stay competitive in your industry. Invest in technology that can help propel your business, and at the same time, refresh your team’s devices and IT infrastructure to drive productivity.

3. Don’t forget to lock the doors. As you make the shift towards an even more digital future, it’s equally important to be wary of looming cyber threats. Be sure to secure your network at every phase and across all IT assets. When it comes to network security, there is no such thing as being too safe.

If you’d like to know more about how you can digitise or mobilise your devices easily and safely, feel free to talk to us for more information.

A New Digitalised Customer On-boarding Experience

A New Digitalised Customer On-boarding Experience

Setting another key milestone in its growth trajectory, Rentalworks is pleased to announce its adoption of a fully digitalised customer end-to-end on-boarding process as a measure to enhance the overall customer experience.

“Simplicity, convenience and security are our top priorities, and we want our customers to benefit from a hassle-free on-boarding process. Where traditional practises in the IT asset leasing industry is reliant upon the submission of physical documentation, execution of wet signature and in-person verification, we have now digitalised these processes to enable a seamless customer experience” said Alan Puah, Managing Director of Rentalworks Group.

Customer On-Boarding via Trust Technology

Paper trails will be a thing in the past with Rentalworks’ digitalised on-boarding process. Our customers will now receive digital forms and agreements, for completion.

Documents and agreements will be digitally signed with auditable and verifiable trail and automatically transmitted back to Rentalworks for processing upon completion.

“Our customers will experience hassle-free and faster turn-around time”

Rentalworks digitalised on-boarding workflow will see customers benefiting from:

  • Online form completion hence eliminating the cumbersome tasks of printing and scanning completed forms.
  • No paper trails. With Rentalworks digitalised on-boarding process our customers can now store all documents and forms related to their lease arrangements with Rentalworks in their storage servers ensuring proper audit trails, quick and easy access of the documents.
  • Faster turn-around time. We understand that time is of essence to many of our customers. With its end-to-end digitalised process, there’s no longer a dependency on timely delivery of hardcopies to Rentalworks. All digital documents will be delivered to Rentalworks in real-time for its processing.

A digitalised environment supports our pledge in reducing carbon footprint

Our new straight-through digitalised on-boarding platform, in addition to being a boon to our customers’ journey with us, is a major leap for Rentalworks in its initiatives to propel into a paperless environment and support a sustainable green economy.

“It is our vision to create an impact where we help organizations and governments reduce their carbon emission from IT assets to net zero via a circular economy approach”, iterated Alan. The digitisation of the on-boarding platform will markedly improve productivity, security, and extensively reduce the number of paper trails, preserving our natural resources.

It is the aim of Rentalworks leasing and IT asset lifecycle solutions to support organizations’ sustainability goals. It allows our clients to have access to IT devices needed to run their business and take responsibility in extending its usable life. In doing so, optimizing the economic value of the devices and minimizing unnecessary e-waste.