WHAT’S BUZZING
Data fragmentation and complexity distract APAC businesses from innovation
Almost three quarters (74%) of data executives in Asia Pacific (APAC) spend the most time on daily operational management rather than on governance and strategic initiatives.
This is due to data fragmentation as most organisations in the region (82%) are managing over 100 data sources across multiple clouds (70%) or hybrid clouds (44%), according to the Driving Business Value from Data in the Face of Fragmentation and Complexity study by Informatica and International Data Corp (IDC).
The study also found that enterprises with a high level of data maturity generate 250% more business value than those only beginning their data-led transformations, where most of the time in data management is spent keeping the lights on.
“Data executives in Asia Pacific are getting bogged down with the day-to-day, hampering their ability to innovate and realise data’s true value. For organisations to drive the business forward, they must be equipped with solutions that will [allow them to achieve data intelligence and] support their data-led transformations,” says Tony Frey, Informatica’s vice president and general manager for APAC and Japan.
See also: AI usage quickly broadens from IT to HR and marketing, survey shows
The study also reveals that data-mature organisations were three times better at operationalising artificial intelligence (AI) to automate data management activities than their less mature peers.
However, 73% of APAC organisations struggle to manage self-service data, and only 35% of them operationalise AI for process optimisation and automation.
As such, the study recommends businesses in the region to consider improving their data ingestion and integration capabilities as a top priority as they look to better incorporate data into decision-making.
Restaurant Brands International digitalises its APAC operations with Ant Group
Restaurant Brands International (RBI) has partnered with Ant Group to accelerate the digital transformation of its restaurant operations across eight markets in Asia Pacific.
Under the collaboration, Ant Group will develop mini Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) programmes for each of RBI’s brands — namely Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes — adapted for each local market. This will enable RBI’s local franchisees to digitally integrate online and offline operations to drive increased efficiency and gain deeper operational insights.
At the same time, diners will have access to expanded services like contactless menus and payments, and the scan-and-order function in stores. The mini programmes will also incorporate each RBI brand’s existing loyalty programme and provide additional digital marketing capabilities, such as the distribution of digital vouchers.
To help RBI’s restaurants reach more local diners, the mini SaaS programmes will be integrated into other local and regional digital platforms, including regional F&B tech start-up Chope and e-wallets in Southeast Asia.
Besides that, RBI will leverage the Alipay+ solutions to allow more payment options to be accepted in-store, on websites, apps, and via the mini programmes. With the integration of Alipay+ solutions, RBI’s operations will support payment options such as Touch ‘n Go eWallet in Malaysia, True Money wallet in Thailand, GCash in the Philippines, Kakao Pay in South Korea, and many others.
IN PICTURE
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Photo: National University of Singapore
A team of engineers from the National University of Singapore has created a robotics system that can grip ob- jects ranging from soft and delicate to heavy and bulky.
Inspired by the natural dexterity of the human hand, the hybrid robotic grippers use soft, flexible 3D-printed fingers with a reconfigurable gripper base. The robotic fingers are air-driven and equipped with a novel locking mechanism for adjustable stiffness.
The system is expected to benefit the food assembly, vertical farming, and fast-moving consumer goods packaging sectors, which are progressively automating their operations but still require manual handling for some processes.
DIGITAL LIFE
A new year is a new beginning. Here are some apps that can help you build new habits and level up your life in 2022:
Gamify habit-building with Pointagon. You can create custom challenges to complete with your friends and family, and track your progress via the leaderboard.
Instead of working continuously for hours, splitting a task into smaller chunks makes it a lot easier to handle. Use Stretchly to remind yourself to take mini breaks for a breather or long breaks to unwind during the day.
From programming to art to business, Coursera offers plenty of online-learning courses with video lectures and guidance from instructors. So, what’s stopping you from learning something new?
Main photo: Adeolu Eletu/ Unsplash
