APAC passports offer more global mobility: Henley & Partners

The 2021 Henley Passport Index — the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa — lists Japan in No. 1 position if temporary restrictions are not taken into account.

Japanese passport holders able to access 191 destinations around the world visa-free. This marks the third consecutive year that Japan has held the top spot, either alone or jointly with Singapore. Asia Pacific (APAC) region countries’ dominance of the index — which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) — now seems firmly established, the authors of the index said.

Singapore is in 2nd position, with access to 190 destinations, while South Korea has a joint 3rd place with Germany. Both countries have a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 189. New Zealand is in 7th position, with visa-free access to 185 destinations, while Australia is 8th, with access to 184 destinations.

Over the index’s 16-year history, the top spots were traditionally held by EU countries, the UK, or the US, and experts suggest that the APAC region’s position of strength will continue as it includes some of the first countries to begin the process of recovering from the pandemic. Due to pandemic-related travel constraints, travellers from both the UK and the US currently face major restrictions from over 105 countries, with US passport holders able to travel to fewer than 75 destinations, while UK passport holders currently have access to fewer than 70. 

Dr Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of leading residence and citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, says that the latest ranking provides an opportunity to reflect on the upheaval that characterised 2020.

He said: “Just a year ago all indications were that the rates of global mobility would continue to rise, that travel freedom would increase, and that holders of powerful passports would enjoy more access than ever before. The global lockdown negated these glowing projections, and as restrictions begin to lift, the results from the latest index are a reminder of what passport power really means in a world upended by the pandemic.” 

With the first COVID-19 vaccine approved just over a month ago, airline industry experts believe that mandatory vaccination before air travel may soon be a necessity. A technological innovation scheduled to launch in Q121 that will contribute to restoring global mobility is IATA’s Travel Pass initiative — a mobile app that enables travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or vaccines.

Experts also suggest that we cannot return to pre-pandemic patterns for global mobility. Dr Parag Khanna, author of The Future Is Asian and the Founder and Managing Partner of FutureMap in Singapore says that the system will not simply revert to what it was, and that nationality alone will no longer suffice to guarantee safe passage.

“Even for still-powerful passports such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and members of the EU, additional protocols will be required to re-attain relatively frictionless mobility,” he said.

Dr Khanna suggests that demographic shifts are likely to usher in far more dramatic changes. He said: “Today’s youth are socially conscious, environmentally aware, and less nationalistic — all of which makes them potentially the most mobile generation in human history. They herald a seminal shift in mobility from being every country for itself to being every person for themself.”

Professor Peter J. Spiro, Charles Weiner Professor of Law at Temple University Law School in the US, said that the pandemic “proved the first major blow to the post-globalisation system of mobility”, and that this will “ultimately accelerate pre-existing trends towards citizenship acquisition as transnational elites look to insure against future shock events”.

Henley's new Global Mobility Report 2021 Q1 has found that travel freedom is currently not only the result of a lack of social freedom or poor economic development but also a failure of risk management, health readiness, as well as monitoring and detection. In other words, global immobility is no longer solely the plight of citizens of less advanced countries.

Discussing the pandemic’s impact on talent migration, Greg Lindsay, Director of Applied Research at NewCities, points to the rise of the so-called ‘digital nomads’ who have residency rights in more than one country.

“The moniker now effectively describes anyone with a COVID-induced mandate to work from anywhere — and thousands, if not millions, are pursuing pandemic arbitrage in their choice of destinations,” he said.

The index report notes that there were relatively few high-profile visa agreements between countries during 2020. A notable exception was the UAE, which has continued its upward trajectory on the Henley Passport Index. The country signed several mutually-reciprocated visa-waiver agreements last year, including a landmark US-brokered agreement establishing formal ties with Israel and granting citizens of each country visa-free access to the other. The UAE now has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 173 and holds 16th spot on the ranking. At the index’s inception in 2006, the country ranked 62nd, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 35.

Commenting in the Global Mobility Report 2021 Q1, Dr Robert Mogielnicki, Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said there could be more changes in the region: “A strong technology focus weaves together the economic agreements and memorandums of understanding that emerged in the wake of the UAE–Israel normalisation agreement. Sudan normalised relations with Israel in October 2020, and other Arab countries may take similar steps over the coming months,” he said.

Henley & Partners’ CEO Dr Juerg Steffen said that the volatility driven by COVID-19 has pushed the growing appeal of investment migration into overdrive.

“More than being associated with simple ease of travel or acquiring a vacation home, alternative residence and citizenship are now also perceived in terms of their remarkable potential for portfolio diversification, access to global investment and operations, and the creation of a new inheritance and identity for the family," he explained.

"The unexpected and unprecedented events of 2020 have simultaneously exacerbated push factors such as political and economic instability, and reprioritised pull factors, with stability, safety, and access to quality education and healthcare becoming issues of greater concern than ever before. Investment migration is now a standard consideration for international families and entrepreneurs who are looking to hedge volatility and create long-term value through enhanced global mobility.”

Explore:

Read the Global Mobility Report 2021 Q1

Singapore Sports Hub pivots successfully during pandemic

Source: Singapore Sports Hub. Plans for 2021. 

From protecting and housing migrant workers during the peak of COVID-19, to reimagining events for local audiences, the Singapore Sports Hub is geared to drive an experiential agenda in 2021 that is backed by learnings from 2020.

Although the global pandemic prevented its ability to bring the usual suite of marquee sporting and entertainment events to Singapore, the fully-integrated hub pivoted and refocused its efforts to become a pillar of support for the community. It also experimented with innovative formats that have opened new possibilities for events and experiences in 2021.

In 2020, the venues under the Hub hosted 4.8 million visitors. The OCBC Aquatic Centre actually saw 41% more visitors in Q420 than the year before.

Live events without compromising on safety

As part of the nation’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 among migrant workers, Project Dorm saw Singapore Sports Hub transform venues like the OCBC Arena and the National Stadium into safe and comfortable living quarters that housed 3,000 workers. This proved Singapore Sports Hub’s potential to zone and accommodate a sizable number of people without compromising on safe distancing. Each zone is a self-sufficient bubble, with its own gate for entrance and exit, plus separate bathroom facilities as well as food and beverage (F&B) concession stands. These will work together to effectively separate different groups of event attendees.

The Hub put this new zoning strategy to the test with the ONE Championship mixed martial arts (MMA) event in October. This was Singapore’s first live event since the pandemic. The event saw all tickets sold out within a day. Stringent measures were taken to ensure the event ran both safely and smoothly, including providing a list of designated clinics where attendees were required to undergo an antigen rapid test on the event day and produce a valid negative test certificate before entry.

The successful execution of these safety protocols has built confidence in the Hub’s ability to scale and adapt these procedures for bigger events, bringing with it the likelihood of more such live events in 2021, the Hub said.

Events with innovative technology

To support individuals through movement restrictions, Singapore Sports Hub delivered community and sports experiences through virtual programmes. For example, it launched an online workout series. The Hub also celebrated Singapore’s 55th birthday with the first-ever virtual National Day Fiesta.

With a total of over 750,000 views, the strong performance of these virtual programmes has inspired Singapore Sports Hub to continue innovating and incorporating technology into its events. A recent example of this is the Hub’s foray into physical+digital or ‘phygital’ programmes that feature both online and offline elements. This November, the Hub hosted ZoomBa, a phygital event that saw both online and offline participants come together for Singapore’s longest zumba relay. A relay occurs when different groups of people perform the activity sequentially, instead of together.

Re-think the use of facilities

While known for hosting entertainment and sporting events at its facilities, Singapore Sports Hub used the spaces to serve the larger public during the pandemic. Over 140 activity sessions that catered to all ages and went beyond sports were organised in November and December.

Lionel Yeo, CEO, Singapore Sports Hub, said: “In this challenging year, Singapore Sports Hub has successfully rallied together to support the community whilst still offering the great experiences that we are known for. It has also been a year of important learnings, and we are eager to put together more safe and engaging events as we transition into Phase 3. With the right mindset and approach and the cooperation of all stakeholders, we believe that this national asset can deliver great value to Singapore through good times and bad.”

Cainiao to work with Ethiopian Airlines for cold chain air freight

Source: Alibaba Group. Cainiao will send temperature-controlled medicines like COVID-19 vaccines around the world excluding Africa via Dubai with the help of Ethiopian Airlines.

Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, the logistics arms of Alibaba Group Holdings, is partnering Ethiopian Airlines to launch a special cold chain air freight for the transportation of temperature-controlled medicines from Shenzhen Airport, China's first medical cross-border cold chain facility.

Temperature-controlled medicines will be distributed twice a week from Shenzhen to Africa, and to the rest of the world via Dubai and Addis Ababa. This is China's first cross-border medical cold chain route to be operated regularly and is certified to transport temperature-controlled medicines including COVID-19 vaccines.

The end-to-end transportation process requires highly-effective cold chain management. The cold chain cabin is equipped with a temperature control system that monitors the cabin’s temperature in real-time. As the fourth airport in Mainland China that obtained International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) certification for pharmaceutical logistics, Shenzhen Airport is also well-equipped to handle biotechnology products. 

The cargo terminal in Ethiopia is outfitted with compartmentalised cold storage facilities with temperature between -23℃ to 25℃. It occupies an area of 54,000 sq m, with dedicated cool dollies and a pharma team, as well as a real-time temperature monitoring system to ensure a safe and seamless cold chain logistics for handling temperature-sensitive healthcare products.

Cool dollies are containers designed to transport temperature-sensitive items between cargo warehouses and aircraft.

“Cainiao’s global logistics network spans over 200 countries and regions, providing end-to-end integrated logistics services, including digital customs clearance capabilities,” said James Zhao, GM, Cainiao International Supply Chain.

“The launch of the cold chain air freight has further bolstered our global logistics capabilities, and allow us to offer a one-stop solution for the global distribution of medical products such as the COVID-19 vaccines.”

Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Group CEO said, “Ethiopian Airlines will repeat its remarkable and globally-recognised success in leading the fast delivery of PPEs few months ago with similar delivery speed, professional handling and maintaining the cold chain during the forthcoming global distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. In anticipation of the COVID-19 vaccine release, we will be at the forefront to further discharge our responsibility in the distribution of the vaccine across the globe.” PPE stands for personal protective equipment.

Cainiao’s launch of the Green Channel initiative this year to fight the pandemic has helped in the distribution of 250 million pieces of PPE, including COVID-19 test kits, to medical suppliers in over 150 countries and regions. In collaboration with its partners, Cainiao has also helped to transport medical relief items for international organisations during the pandemic.

Singapore company offers portable COVID-19 test

Cell ID, a Singapore-incorporated medtech company, is selling a palm-sized portable genetic test kit that uses laptop software to detect if a person has COVID-19. Called the Quiz PCR Biochip, the test uses biotechnology to perform testing outside of the laboratory at the rate of two tests at a time.

Positive results can be confirmed as quickly as in five minutes while negative results are returned within an hour. A QR code on the biochip allows healthcare providers to quickly identify and electronically deliver the test results to the person being tested.

“Quiz PCR Biochips are affordable, single-use genetic tests that can detect COVID-19, anywhere at any time,” said the inventor, Xander Sim, CTO and co-founder of Cell ID.

“Currently, we can manufacture 8.5 million biochips in a month, which is 17 million tests.”

Source: Cell ID. The Quiz PCR Biochip is a portable genetic test kit for detecting COVID-19.

The test requires a tiny amount (10 µl) of a nasal swab or saliva specimen to be applied to the biochip, which when plugged into a laptop, runs a real-time RT-LAMP assay for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Two genetic tests are able to run concurrently using the same or different protocols - PCR tests or RT-LAMP assay. The biochips are hot-swappable, meaning that one biochip can be removed and replaced with another without requiring the entire system to shut down first. To operate the test, under two hours of training is required.

“We designed the Quiz PCR Biochip to be free of the cold-chain limitations of conventional tabletop PCR tests found in laboratories,” added Sim. 

“The Quiz PCR Biochip is capable of thermocycling for PCR tests, as well as single temperature operation for RT-LAMP assay. Our RT-LAMP assay fully meets the 95% CI accuracy standard.” CI stands for confidence interval, a way of measuring accuracy, while thermocycling refers to the cycles of heating and cooling required as part of the PCR test process.

The effectiveness of the biochips has been tested in Singapore in collaboration with Singapore healthcare agencies at two quarantine facilities (EXPO and a foreign workers' dormitory) between July and October 2020. A third-party laboratory independently validated the test’s efficacy in Switzerland in November 2020.

PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction, while RT-LAMP refers to reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification. RT-LAMP tests are generally cheaper and faster than PCR tests. PCR testing also requires operators to undergo more training.

Sales are subject to regulatory approval.

Explore:

Read an INSEAD blog post about the nuances of COVID-19 testing

Returning to work calls for travel and expense adjustments

Business processes had to undergo dramatic changes with lockdowns, but it's not a matter of 'business as usual again' when companies return to work, says Andy Watson, SVP & GM, Asia Pacific Japan & Greater China, SAP Concur.

According to Watson, examples of travel and expense-related changes that were made at the beginning of work-from-home mandates include:

- A slowdown in international business travel and its associated expenses.

- Temporarily ending expensed meals for business lunches, dinners, or in-office meetings.

- Increase in office expenses like monitors and chairs as employees furnish their home offices.

- New expenses to consider like Internet and mobile phone bills for employees who must work from home.

"New policies and processes need to be put in place to accommodate travel restrictions and changes in expenses. While finance managers need to stay flexible as the business environment continues to evolve, spend control and compliance should still be a high priority," Watson said.

Some questions that he suggested finance managers ask as they prepare for return to work to help keep control and compliance top of mind include:

What will travel look like for the company?

"Finance managers must work with travel and HR counterparts to determine the need for employee travel, if at all, and how to keep employees safe. A recent SAP Concur business traveller study found that 91% of Asia Pacific (APAC) business travellers feel concerned about resuming travel. They are especially worried getting sick themselves (55%) or infecting their family (51%)," Watson pointed out.

"Clear guidelines should be developed, even if they are temporary or evolving, so it’s clear who can travel, when they can travel, and how they can travel. Duty of care plans should also be re-evaluated and businesses should ensure they know at all times where employees are traveling for business and how they can communicate with them in the event of an emergency."

Watson also cautioned that organisations that are not proactively protecting employee wellbeing on business trips could risk consequences. "Fifty-one percent of APAC business travellers told the same study they would ask to limit travel if their company does not implement the measures they want. About 14% would look for a position that does not require travel – including 5% who would consider a position at a different company," he said.

Who needs to approve travel and expenses?

"While it may be temporary, businesses may have to implement a more stringent approval policy for travel and other expenses. Due to health concerns related to travel and the need to conserve cash flow, business leaders like CFOs may want to have final approval over all travel and expenses until the situation stabilises," Watson observed.

"To help ensure new approval processes don’t cause delays and inefficiencies, finance managers should implement an automated solution that streamlines the process and allows business leaders to review and approve travel requests, expenses, and invoices right from their phones."

What types of expenses are within policy?

Watson noted that prior to social distancing, employees may have been allowed to take clients out for entertainment. Additionally, in-person team meetings held during the lunch hour may have included expensed lunches. "As employees return to work, finance managers need to determine if these activities and expenses will be allowed again. Clear guidelines must be put in place and expense policies need to be updated to reflect any changes," Watson said.

What happens to home office items that were purchased?

"While new office equipment may have been purchased for employees’ home offices, they remain the business’s property and what to do with them as employees return to work needs to be determined," Watson highlighted.

"Perhaps employees will continue to work from home a few days a week and need to keep the equipment to ensure productivity. However, if a full return to work is expected, finance managers have options that can maximise their asset investment and possibly save the company money, like replacing old office equipment with the new purchases, reselling to a used office furniture company, or donating to a non-profit. Such considerations will become increasingly relevant, with a recent SAP Concur finance study revealing that 71% of employees in APAC want their organisations to subsidise or fully pay for the expenses needed to create a productive home working environment. Employer provision of IT peripherals is widely expected," he elaborated.

How can cost control be ensured?

"For many businesses, cashflow will be tight for the foreseeable future. Spend needs to be proactively governed and managed to help ensure recovery and stability. An important aspect of controlling costs is having full visibility of expenses throughout the company," Watson said.

"Some organisations have experienced the pressing need to deal with paper invoices that are continuing to be mailed to their largely empty offices. Invoice digitisation and automation will let firms take control of the accounts payable process. With control and real time visibility into their liabilities, they can accurately forecast their cash positions and make better business decisions."

Watson recommends implementing an automated spend management solution that integrates expense and invoice management as it brings together a business' spend, simplifying finance managers’ work and giving them a better understanding of where they can save, where to renegotiate, and where to redirect budgets based on plans and priorities.

"Once finance managers have asked themselves the questions above and determined how they want to approach travel and expense procedures, it’s vital they create guidelines and communicate clearly to employees. Compliance can only be ensured if employees have a clear understanding of what has and has not changed with travel and expense policies, and what’s expected as they return to work," he concluded.

Flying is safe: British Airways

Source: British Airways. Doyle.

In his first public appearance since being named British Airways' new CEO, Sean Doyle said the airline believes the risk to public health of flying is low after the industry body IATA suggested that since the start of 2020 there have been as few as 44 cases of COVID-19  linked to flights. Over the same period some 1.2 billion passengers have travelled.

Doyle gave the assurance during his keynote address at Airlines 2050: Beyond the Crisis, saying: "The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, and we are taking every safety measure to keep our customers safe. This is a multifaceted approach and includes minimising contact, sanitising our aircraft from nose to tail and asking customers and crew to wear face masks at all times, unless they have a medical exemption. 

"In the cabin, air is completely replaced every 2 to 3 minutes, passing through HEPA filters which remove microscopic bacteria and virus clusters with over a 99.9 per cent efficiency, equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards." 

He also confirmed that British Airways does not believe quarantine is the long-term solution, saying: "We believe the best way to reassure people is to introduce a reliable and affordable test before flying."

Details:

Watch the video of Doyle's keynote.

Mutations of COVID-19 virus unlikely to affect existing vaccines

New research by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has shown potential vaccines should not be affected by how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has changed to date.

Most vaccines under development worldwide have been modelled on the original ‘D-strain’ of the virus, which were more common amongst sequences published early in the pandemic. Since then, the virus has evolved such that the ‘G-strain’ is globally dominant. The G variant now accounts for about 85% of published SARS-CoV-2 genomes, CSIRO said.

There had been fears that the G-strain, or ‘D614G’ mutation within the main protein on the surface of the virus, would negatively impact on vaccines under development. Researchers have found no evidence to date that the change would adversely impact the efficacy of vaccine candidates.

Source: CSIRO. Biomolecular
modelling of the
COVID-19 spike protein.

Published today in npj Vaccines, the study tested blood samples from ferrets vaccinated with Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ INO-4800 candidate against virus strains that either possessed or lacked this ‘D614G’ mutation. 

The study was undertaken in parallel to the pre-clinical trial of INO-4800 at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), CSIRO’s high-containment biosecurity facility in Geelong, Victoria.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said the research was critically important in the race to develop a vaccine. “This brings the world one step closer to a safe and effective vaccine to protect people and save lives,” Dr Marshall said.

"Research like this, at speed, is only possible through deep collaboration with partners both in Australia and around the world.

“We are tackling these challenges head-on, together, and delivering real world solutions from world-leading Australian science.”

Dr SS. Vasan, CSIRO’s Dangerous Pathogens Team Leader and the senior author of the paper, said this was good news for the hundreds of vaccines in development around the world, with the majority targeting the spike protein.

“Most COVID-19 vaccine candidates target the virus’ spike protein as this binds to the ACE2 receptors in our lungs and airways, which are the entry point to infect cells,” Dr Vasan said.

“Despite this ‘D614G’ mutation to the spike protein, we confirmed through experiments and modelling that vaccine candidates are still effective.

“We’ve also found the G-strain is unlikely to require frequent ‘vaccine matching’ where new vaccines need to be developed seasonally to combat the virus strains in circulation, as is the case with influenza.”

Dr Alex McAuley, CSIRO research scientist and first author of the paper, said ferrets vaccinated with INO-4800 demonstrated a strong immune response.

“We found that ferrets vaccinated with Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ candidate developed a good B-cell response in terms of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 strains, which is important for the short-term efficacy of a vaccine,” Dr McAuley said.

“We are also studying the T-cell response which is important for long-term efficacy.”

The Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory provided a G-strain isolate from a patient sample to enable this study. The results of the study were further interpreted with biomolecular modelling conducted by CSIRO's digital specialist arm, Data61.

The modelling enabled the interactions between the vaccine and virus to be simulated and visualised, according to Dr Michael Kuiper, co-author and Team Leader of the Molecular & Materials Modelling Group at CSIRO’s Data61.

“If we understand the process of a viral infection, we paint a picture of its vulnerabilities. Biomolecular modelling helps us to do this,” Dr Kuiper said.

“By visualising molecular structure, we were able to support the study’s inference that the immune response generated by the vaccine candidate is equally effective against both D- and G- strains of SARS-CoV-2.”

CSIRO recently concluded preclinical studies for two vaccine candidates (from Inovio Pharmaceuticals and the University of Oxford) at the ACDP, with peer-reviewed reports to be published in the coming months.

Explore:

Read the paper.

Xero deep-dives into the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses

Xero, the global small business platform, has released two reports highlighting the economic and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses across around the world.

Source: Xero's Emotional metrics: small business mindsets during the pandemic report. The mindsets of small business owners from January to August 2020 ranged from feeling "worn down" to a sense of loss.

The Xero Small Business Insights (SBI) Special Report, Pandemic Insights: Small Business Experience, was produced with AlphaBeta (part of Accenture), and based on anonymised and aggregated records of over 300,000 Xero subscribers. It shows the impact on small business revenues and jobs in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. In North America and Asia, these insights are supported by survey-based customer research.

● Following the March lockdown New Zealand experienced the largest revenue fall of 40%, but has since seen recovery

● At peak, Australian small businesses had the largest job losses, at 12%

● Manufacturing is leading recovery in New Zealand and Australia with revenue growth of between 1% and 13%

● Small business was twice as badly hit as big business

● Tech-enabled businesses generally saw 40% fewer job losses

"Being able to quickly provide insights of this scale, with country comparisons, provides better understanding as to how the small business recovery can be supported around the world," said Steve Vamos, CEO, Xero.

“Small business is family and community. It’s a big source of growth and innovation in economies and they are doing it tough right now.”

Xero’s second report, Emotional metrics: small business mindsets during the pandemic, focuses on the human impact of the crisis with research in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, North America and Singapore. The nature of small business means owners often have close personal-level relationships with their staff and customers. The upheaval caused by a pandemic has economic consequences for small business owners, and presents challenges managing the human impacts, Xero said.

The research finds that 43% of small business owners in these countries are worried about their own mental health, and 39% are worried about the mental health of their employees. Analysis from a sentiment measurement tool, Mindset AI*, also shows the predominant emotion of small businesses is one of being “worn down”.

"We have found several Xero small business customers who survived the Spanish Flu of 1918 and are still operating today, including a winery in South Australia and a pie and eel shop in London," said Vamos.

"It is incredible to think that these businesses have already survived a global pandemic, along with many other major economic disruptions since, and are still trading during this latest crisis. We are in awe of their resilience,” he said.

Xero is a cloud-based accounting software platform for small businesses with 2.38 million subscribers globally. Xero offers an ecosystem of over 800 third-party apps and 200+ connections to banks and other financial partners. The Xero Small Business Insights (SBI) programme provides analysis on the sector’s health, with its metrics based on anonymised, aggregated data drawn from hundreds of thousands of Xero subscribers. The result is a picture of business conditions that’s more accurate than most private surveys, which typically have a far smaller sample size, Xero said.

Details:

Read the Pandemic Insights: Small Business Experience report

Read the Emotional metrics: small business mindsets during the pandemic report.

*Mindset AI Study, PepperComm, August 2020. Mindset.AI, operated by integrated marketing and communications firm Peppercomm, analyses millions of public conversations drawn from thousands of varied sources across the Internet using advanced artificial intelligence designed to research crisis-focused emotional states.

OTT video and video games are the winners in 2020 entertainment & media landscape

Consumer habits can take a lifetime to learn – but just a lockdown to lose, says PwC. According to the consultancy's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020–2024, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and amplified ongoing shifts in consumers’ behaviour, pulling forward digital disruption and forging industry tipping points that wouldn’t have been reached for many years.

Digitalisation, one of the major forces shaping all industries, has been intensified by safe distancing and mobility restrictions, PwC said. As a result, the entertainment and media (E&M) world in 2020 has become more remote, more virtual, more streamed, more personal and – for now at least – more centred on the home than anyone anticipated at the start of the year.

PwC has forecast that 2020 will see the sharpest fall in global E&M revenue in the 21-year history of this research, with a decline of 5.6% from 2019 – more than US$120 billion in absolute terms. In Singapore, the expected decline is 5% from 2019, valued at approximately US$274 million.

Oliver Wilkinson, Entertainment and Media Leader, PwC Singapore said: "The year 2020 presents a paradox for many Singapore media businesses. There is more consumption of media than ever before, with Singaporeans stuck at home during the circuit breaker. Yet at the same time, there has been a sharp contraction in revenue and profitability for many industry players.”

While the shockwaves from 2020 will continue to ripple through the global economy, the PwC forecast shows the industry’s fundamental growth trajectory remains strong. The projections show that in 2021, global E&M spending will grow by 6.4% (Singapore: 5.3%). Singapore E&M spending is also expected to bounce back to US$5.5 million, reaching 2019 levels. From 2019 to 2024, the outlook forecasts overall revenue growth running at a 2.8% CAGR globally and a 2.5% CAGR in Singapore.

The current pain in E&M is most acute in segments that COVID-19 literally shut down, such as events: live music, cinema and trade shows. Spending on cinemas in Singapore projected to fall by 59% in 2020 and is expected to make a slow recovery. The current forecast shows that by 2024, cinema spend will remain shy of 2019 levels (US$205 million in 2019, US$200 million in 2024). At the same time, the long-running transition in newspapers from print to digital has been fast-forwarded several years, cutting into papers’ print revenues, for example.

The ongoing decline in global newspapers and consumer magazines has accelerated sharply in 2020, with overall revenues in Singapore slumping by 13%. Consumer magazines are suffering the most. That said, digital offers a silver lining: a tipping point for consumer magazines in 2024 will see their global revenue from digital advertising overtake that from print advertising. Other important sectors will struggle to claw back the growth they lost in 2019. For example, out-of-home advertising is expected to decline by 24% in 2020 but will recover in 2022.

With people staying at home, over-the-top (OTT) video has seen global revenue surge by 26% in 2020 with the Singapore numbers climbing ahead at 32%. And it is forecast to keep rising strongly in the coming years, doubling in size from US$234 million in 2019 to US$477 million in 2024. With more people home, the video games segment has also grown quickly in Singapore amidst the crisis. The segment shows 9% growth this year will remain one of the fastest growing segments going forward to 2024.

Source: PwC. Graphic illustrating the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook.

Wilkinson added: "What is consistent with the outlook from prior years is the wide variance of performance between different segments, particularly given the acceleration of digital media adoption at the expense of traditional. It is in this sense that the pandemic has brought the future forward.

“That said, most affected of all have been the live entertainment and cinema segments. Before this crisis, experiences were amongst the better performing parts of the industry, but they have taken a large hit due to the safe distancing and travel restrictions. We still see a good future for such events and live experiences, but it may be some years before they can adapt to this new normal."

PwC’s 21st annual edition of the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook is an online source of global analysis for consumer and advertising spending. With like-for-like, five-year historical and five-year forecast data and commentary for 14 defined industry segments in 53 territories, the Outlook makes it easy to compare and contrast consumer and advertising spending across segments and territories.

Details:

Buy a subscription or a segment of the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook

*As PwC continually updates the online Global Entertainment & Media Outlook data, the data at the time of writing may not align with the data found online. Please refer to the online Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020–2024 as the most up-to-date source of consumer and advertising spend data.

Zoho BackToWork makes post-lockdown returns easier

Mathew introduces Zoho BackToWork in a virtual session for media. The dashboard for the solution, pictured, covers a wide range of aspects in the implementation of social distancing and compliance required in the corporate environment today, including wellness self-assessments and procurement.

Zoho, a global technology company offering software for sales, marketing, HR, finance and IT teams, has announced BackToWork, a solution enabling businesses and organisations to safely transition back into the workplace.

BackToWork is the latest program to be introduced as part of the company's ongoing relief efforts, which support businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis:

- In March 2020, Zoho introduced Remotely amid global office shutdowns. The free suite of 11 business applications is designed to help companies of all sizes transition to remote work, and includes functionality such as videoconferencing, file management, and project management. Since its release, more than 25,000 organisations have adopted Remotely, which will remain free for businesses through to September 1.

- Zoho then unveiled the Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP), which continues to provide Zoho's small business customers free access to existing Zoho applications for three months. Nearly 20,000 organisations have taken advantage of ESAP. 

- In April, Zoho's Vertical Relief Plan was rolled out, offering businesses in the retail, education as well as government and non-profit verticals custom-built tools created with the company's build-apps-yourself platform Zoho Creator, and assistance programmes to navigate pandemic-related issues.

Free for the remainder of 2020, BackToWork, also powered by Zoho Creator, supports COOs, Chief Human Resources Officers, Facility Heads and their teams in making critical decisions around returning to the workplace without compromising on the safety and compliance aspects.

"Now that organisations are planning to re-open in some parts of the world, we want to help them resurge, this time through BackToWork, an application enabling companies to maintain end-to-end workplace safety and meet compliance needs, without affecting productivity," said Gibu Mathew, Vice President, and GM, Asia Pacific Zoho Corporation.

"The next phase of normality in the workplace would also need confidence-building steps from employers and this application would help in that direction."

Mathew elaborated that employee and community confidence in a business underlies the current push to generate demand and enable e-business. He said that BackToWork is driven by best practices and provides a broad framework to help businesses adopt safe work practices post-lockdown.

"We wanted to make sure businesses can go back to work smoothly," he said.

He also shared that Zoho decided that its employees should work from home when the pandemic struck. "We were able to switch to that model in less than three days," he said. "We were able to use our own products to get our employees productive."

BackToWork consists of six modules designed to address every concern involved in the process of re-entering the workplace, all within a secure, easy-to-navigate solution, Feature highlights include:

Safe Entry

Define multiple buildings and locations and control facility access based on employee wellness and travel history via a contactless end-to-end check-in system through generated QR codes.

Employee wellness assessment

Track workplace wellness by defining self-assessment, safe entry, and travel policies. Employees can securely and privately submit a wellness questionnaire reporting travel history, recent medical history, and details of possible exposure.

Maintenance and assets

Define and manage assets and building maintenance requests for employees. Repair/replacement requests can be handled in the app.

Dashboard

Gain a 360-degree view of workplace data in preconfigured dashboards as well as add and manage employees, and define roles for tasks such as approvals and emergency contacts.

Communication

Materials such as announcements, FAQs, and best practices, policies and safety documents can be shared with employees and managed in the Communication module.

Integration

It can be easily integrated with HR platforms like Zoho People and BambooHR. BackToWork can also be integrated with Active Directory and Zoho Directory. 

Customisation

The application allows organisations the option of advanced customisation through Zoho Creator. 

Zoho software is continually being enhanced based on customer feedback, and can be customised easily, either directly with Zoho Creator, or with Zoho's help. New features in the pipeline for BackToWork include a travel management module and integrations with popular videoconferencing platforms.

Zoho BackToWork users have the assurance that their data is confidential and protected, and only users themselves maintain ownership of that data. The company says it respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. Zoho does not allow any third-party trackers to monitor usage behaviour on its cloud services, and does not sell data to ad-based companies.
 
Mathew added that real-life applications of Zoho software can be surprising. "Customers are the most creative out there. They use the products and they know the products better than us," he noted.

When Remotely was introduced, the company learned that the remote control offered by Zoho Assist was actually the most popular functionality, ahead of video and chat as everyone suddenly needed help in configuring their laptops and upgrading them to work from home.

A Zoho customer who normally travels to sites to train others is considering the use of Zoho Meeting as a remote training tool, he said.


More than 50 million users in 180+ countries around the world rely on Zoho every day. The US-headquartered privately-held company has more than 8,000 employees. Its international headquarters are in Chennai, India, and it also has offices in the APME region in India, Japan, China, Australia, the UAE and Singapore.

Zoho offers apps in nearly every major business category. Its 45+ apps include solutions for sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, as well as productivity and collaboration tools. Customers have built 2 million custom apps through Zoho Creator.

Details:

BackToWork is available in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and accessible via progressive web app, iOS and Android. Progressive web apps use the latest technologies to combine features of desktop web and mobile apps. They are designed to work on any standards-compliant browser.

As part of Zoho’s ongoing effort to support businesses during these uncertain times, BackToWork will be offered free of charge until the end of 2020. After that, it will cost US$2 per user every month for all regions.

APAC SMEs have embraced remote work: SAP

SAP has unveiled findings for Digital Resilient, and Experience-driven: How Small and Midsize Organisations Can Prepare for the New Economy, a study* that highlights how small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia-Pacific (APAC) are uniquely positioned to adapt and thrive in the dynamic and distributed post-COVID-19 business environment.

Conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the study also delved into the priorities, challenges, and digital maturity of SMEs in the Americas, Europe, and APAC. A section detailing answers from 240 respondents on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also added to the survey mid-fieldwork.

According to the 240 that responded to the series of COVID-19 questions, APAC SMEs are well-positioned to adapt to a remote working environment by taking swift actions to implement and adjust remote work arrangements for employees in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy-seven percent reported that they adjusted remote work arrangements for employees in response to COVID-19, as compared to lower numbers from Europe (75% of respondents) and the Americas (71%).

Additionally, 61% of APAC SMEs surveyed created remote work setups for employees during this period, while 69% invested in IT and collaboration solutions to support remote access and/or online learning. Interestingly, 10% of APAC SMEs reported that the pandemic has no impact on their ability to accommodate remote work and maintain employee productivity.

On top of supporting business continuity during this period, many APAC SMEs are also actively exploring new channels to get their products and services to customers (66%, vs. 64% in the Americas and 59% in Europe) and developing new products and service offerings (46%, vs. 40% in the Americas and 49% in Europe).

Singapore respondents said that their top reactions to COVID-19 were:

- Adjusted remote work arrangements for employees (73%) and invested in IT and collaboration solutions for remote access or/and online learning (73%)

- Explored new channels to get product/service offerings to customers (68%) and explored new ways to meet supply chain demands (68%)

The most impacted areas of business operations and strategies for Singapore organisations, defined as 'significant impact' or 'completely restructure operations/strategies', included:

- Ability to meet customer demands (55%) and ability to win new business (55%)

- Ability to operate at full capacity (45%)

Conversely, the business operations and strategies which saw 'minimal effect' or 'moderate effect' in Singapore included:

- Ability to accommodate remote work and maintain employee productivity (55%). COVID-19 did not affect the remote working abilities of 14% of SMEs in Singapore.

- Ability to manage cash flow and liquidity (45%)

Before COVID-19, Singapore SMEs had said their top strategic priority over the next three years was: 

- Growth (43%)

- Customer experience (38%), an ideal experience being defined as high-quality products and/or services (77%) and competitive pricing (74%)

Their challenges pre-COVID include:

- Lack of coordination between different departments (32%)

- Upskilling/reskilling their current workforce (31%)

- Competition from larger organisations (46%)

- Keeping up with changing customer wants and needs (42%)

A further 46% in Singapore said data storage, collection and analysis would be a problem as they grow.

“SMEs across the region—like their counterparts around the world—have certain advantages over larger competitors in terms of agility and closeness to the customer,” said Edward Cone, Editorial Director of Thought Leadership and Technology Practice Lead at Oxford Economics.

“Yet even before the pandemic, SMEs in APAC also faced meaningful challenges in keeping up the pace of digital transformation.”

Lastly, it was revealed that COVID-19 has significantly impacted APAC SMEs’ ability to compete with larger companies within the same industry, with 45% of APAC SMEs reporting that the pandemic has had a significant effect on their operations and strategies in this area. COVID-19 has also affected the ability to operate at full capacity (45%), the ability of the supply chains to keep up with demands (40%), and the ability to keep existing customers (40%). Some respondents reported that they had to completely restructure business strategy and operations in these areas to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, SMEs in the region reported being optimistic about their long-term prospects. Many APAC SMEs expect that over the next three years, their market share (62%), budget/revenue (76%), number of full-time employees (59%), and profitability (78%) will increase 'somewhat' or 'substantially'.

Looking ahead to the next three years, APAC SMEs are prioritising improving the customer experience (40%), growth (38%) and attracting new customers (28%). APAC SMEs believe that the key to providing high-quality customer experience lies in high-quality products and/or services (70%), fast and convenient delivery (64%) and competitive pricing (62%), with the customer-service business function bearing the most responsibility for delivering those experiences (cited by 70% of APAC respondents).

Upgrading analytics on customer data is viewed as a go-to strategy to improving customer experience: 28% already have done this across the organisation, and 52% have started to.

With technology set to play an increasingly critical role in helping APAC SMEs achieve business success in the new digital environment, the study also took a closer look at digital maturity levels of these businesses across the region.

APAC SMEs say they have made moderate progress toward digital transformation (39%), and 21% have made substantial progress or completely transformed; within three years, 19% expect to have completely transformed. Their biggest IT functions challenges as the organisation grows are 24x7 service availability (55%) and cybersecurity (51%).

In terms of technological adoption, HR/talent management software is furthest along (66%), followed by governance and cybersecurity software (63%), then finance and risk management software (59%). Respondents reported that these technologies are either in use in some applications/projects or are already in use at scale.

Mobile devices and mobile business process enablement, and business management solutions (enterprise resource planning or ERP software) share the top spot in terms of pilot implementation, and APAC SMEs are actively considering emerging technologies, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and the Internet of Things (IoT) as their main investment priorities. 
 
When it comes to automation investment, the majority of SMEs are already using automation in some applications/projects (36%). The top business functions that see major or substantial investment in terms of automation and digital processes in APAC are:

- Customer service (56%)

- Enterprise management/operations (48%)

APAC SMEs further consider the top benefits of automation and digital technologies to be:

- Increasing process efficiency by reducing error, risk and cost (44%)

- Increasing productivity through transformation and intelligence process automation (43%)

The road to success does, however, bring challenges, SAP said. Today, APAC SMEs consider the upskilling/reskilling of the current workforce (30%), lack of coordination between different departments (29%), and inability to gain insights from data (28%) as key internal challenges.

In terms of external challenges, APAC SMEs cite changing customer wants and needs (40%), competition from larger organisations (39%), and adapting to a rapidly-changing marketplace (27%) as obstacles to their business success.

Source: SAP. Andresen.

“Today’s new normal requires businesses to pivot and adapt with speed. SMEs in the region seem to understand that the sense of urgency to digitally transform their businesses will give them an advantage through the pandemic and beyond,” said Claus Andresen, SVP & Head of General Business (SME) and Emerging Markets Growth, Asia Pacific & Japan.

“With the adoption of an intelligent enterprise strategy, SMEs can establish a digital core that will power the entire organisation, embedding data-driven insights and decision-making processes across the business. This is crucial in enabling business agility, further strengthening the ability of SMEs to adapt to dynamic market conditions.”

“I am confident SMEs in the region will be able to emerge stronger, having forged closer bonds with customers and employees while developing innovative services and products that will put them on a strong growth trajectory as the world economy recovers,” he concluded.

Three tips from SAP to help SMEs thrive in the new normal are:
Organise for agility

Coordination across the business—facilitated by rapid communication and information-sharing—can help SMEs respond to challenges quickly and effectively.

Put people at the centre

Business processes, organisational structures, and digital investments should all support customer and employee engagement, whether through real-time insight into wants and needs, or innovations that improve convenience and quality.

Become data-driven

Analytics for decision-making can transform every aspect of operations, from insights that affect supply-chain sourcing to alerts that support predictive maintenance after sales.

SAP aims to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise with its enterprise application software leveraging machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies. Seventy-seven percent of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system.

*Oxford Economics and SAP surveyed 2,000 senior executives from small and midsize organisations across 19 countries and industries. Each respondent organisation in our survey reported annual revenues or budgets ranging from under US$10 million to US$1 billion, as well as employee headcounts below 1,000. In India, some respondents employ more than 2,000 employees. 

Of the 2,000 respondents, 832 respondents were from APAC, in the following markets: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea. 

The survey was administered via a mix of computer-assisted telephone interviewing and online links between February 27 and April 30, 2020.

Smarten Spaces offers AI-based desk management for safe distancing

Source: Smarten Spaces. The 10-Step Response
Plan to adapt to the new normal.

Smarten Spaces, a proptech startup headquartered in Singapore, has launched Jumpree WorkFlex, an artificial intelligence (AI) desk management solution to automate seat planning, allocation and social distancing.

Businesses can expect visibility on patterns in desk usage and the effective identification of available office capacity when they use Jumpree WorkFlex. The solution gives real-time occupancy and tracks occupancy levels.

With the Jumpree WorkFlex algorithm, businesses can easily make changes to enjoy error-free and scalable seat planning with desk management automation technology:

• Change social distancing measures or in building capacity limits
• Enter safe distances between seats at each floor or location 
• Get the best seating plan without manual intervention, taking into account the distance of a seat from all surrounding seats

"The call of the hour for organisations is to find smart solutions which ensure the returning workforce feel reassured to return to the office. Businesses are constantly on the lookout for technological advancements which ensure a safe and compliant workplace to return to - a bonus especially if cost savings are in the mix," said Dinesh Malkani, CEO of Smarten Spaces.

"Jumpree WorkFlex is an AI-powered, fully automated, desk management solution that helps workplaces optimise their floorplan, auto-assigns seats to maintain social distance amongst workstations, and enables users to virtually navigate the office and book seats in their department to foster a strong collaborative culture. Its unique algorithm erases the margin for error, while also significantly saving up to 30% of office space cost as the occupancy of the workforce changes." 
Jumpree WorkFlex complements Jumpree WorkSafe, an AI-backed platform for workplace safety and readiness that was launched in May 2020. Smarten Spaces envisages the use of both products for a "complete back to work solution".

Jumpree WorkSafe helps to map the employee journey at work. Through a 10-step Response Plan, the solution ensures every employee, tenant or visitor is pre-screened for travel and health, tracking every entry and exit along with temperature readings.

Employees can book and select seats and view their sanitisation status, book a sanitised meeting room, adhere to social measures at common areas, take staggered lunch breaks and make contactless payments at the staff cafeteria.

It also gives the business a central platform to give instant updates to their employees and share any new protocols, along with a one-touch access to the company helpline.

Malkani said at the launch of Jumpree WorkSafe, "The top priority for businesses is to bring their employees back to work safely and manage their spaces effectively. Apart from safety elements, employees can book sanitised workstations and have visibility on when meeting rooms have been cleaned. At the same time, workforce distribution, seat and space allocation need to come together while factoring in all the new laws around social distancing.

"Jumpree WorkSafe and our 10-Step Response Plan help workplaces ensure all the required precautions are in place. This makes us one of the world's first end-to-end AI platform to disrupt a US$19.9 billion smart space industry. We are delighted with the traction we are getting and the solution can now be deployed globally via our partner network."

According to a portfolio update from Symphony International Holdings in August 2020, there are now 51 Jumpree WorkSafe sites in seven countries, including Australia, China, India and Singapore. New clients include Blackstone in India, Hitachi, and Singapore's Ministry of Defence. This is up from 30 sites announced at launch in May.

Hong Kong residents get an extra night free at New World Millennium Hong Kong

New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel, the five-star landmark on the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui East, is offering Hong Kong residents a 1+1 Bonus Night room package. From now until 30 September, guests staying one night can enjoy an extra night, free.

Under the terms of the promotion, the offer is only valid for Hong Kong residents and HKID is required upon check-in. Residents who book a single night in a City View or higher-category room will receive a second night free. Average room rates start from HK$600 plus a 10% service charge per night. Additional benefits include complimentary pay movies and non-alcoholic drinks and snacks from the minibar (refilled daily), late checkout till 3 pm, 20% savings on food and beverages and free WiFi.

Guests who book any Residence Club room or suite will also be entitled to enjoy welcome fruit on arrival, personalised check-ins and checkouts, all-day refreshments at The Lounge, complimentary breakfasts, daily newspapers, as well as a 10% discount on laundry and dry cleaning services.

To protect the health and well-being of all guests, the hotel is enforcing strict precautionary measures, including a temperature check for all guests at the hotel entrance, health and travel history declarations for all in-house guests upon arrival, frequent disinfection as well as hand sanitisers placed in public areas of the hotel.

Located on Mody Road, New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel features 464 guestrooms and suites. Dining options include Chinese restaurant Tao Li, Japanese restaurants Sagano and Ranzan, all-day dining at Café East, and French cuisine at La Table French Brasserie. Drinks and snacks are offered at Residence Lounge & Bar and The Lounge. 

Meeting options include a grand ballroom and nine meeting rooms. There is also a fitness centre and a rooftop pool. Privileges are offered on the Residence Lounge & Bar executive floors and at the Residence Club Living Room, an area with seating, views of the harbour, and food.

Source: New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel. A bedroom at the hotel.

Details:

For reservations or details, please call +852 2313 4305 or visit the website.

The offer is subject to room availability and blackout dates. All reservations should be guaranteed by credit card at the time of booking and reservations are non-cancellable and non-refundable. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with other room packages or promotions.

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas continues guest outreach programme

Source: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas.

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas has reached out to guests, followers and friends since end-March 2020 with a daily dose of live chats, cooking, meditation and yoga classes.

The company acknowledged that not everyone is ready to travel even with COVID-19 lockdowns easing, and has unveiled the next six chapters to its #AtHomeWithSixSenses story in response.

The #AtHomeWithSixSenses content will continue at sixsenses.com and @SixSensesHotelsResortsSpas (Facebook and Instagram) and @SixSensesSpas (Facebook and Instagram) to educate, entertain and provide an escape, the company said.

The six new chapters comprise Wellness, Eat, Grow, Sustainability, Sleep and From the Heart of Six Senses. 

The current weekly talks hosted by Six Senses Wellness Pioneer Anna Bjurstam will continue to take place every Tuesday with experts from around the world sharing insights and tools.

Singtel releases National Day film for 2020

Singtel has launched its annual National Day film tribute, celebrating the Singapore spirit of tenacity and perseverance as the country navigates its way through the challenges of COVID-19. This is the year is currently airing on Singtel TV and various social media channels.

This is the year acknowledges the pressures and strains that the pandemic has placed on Singapore society, and pays tribute to the Majulah (onward) spirit that is propelling Singaporeans through the storm to emerge stronger.

Source: Singtel video. This is the year we will not have the F1 race. But this is also the year we emerge stronger.

“The way Singaporeans have responded to this crisis is something we can all be proud of,” said Chua Sock Koong, Singtel’s Group CEO.

“Our coming together as a community, our discipline as a nation, our fortitude and quiet determination to get through this and get on with life has become even more pronounced as National Day approaches. We may be celebrating in a more muted way this year without the usual fanfare, but our national pride and core values are still the same, the Singapore spirit is stronger than ever,and we want to celebrate that.”

The two-minute photo montage begins as a tender survey of the Singapore landscape when the new normal kicked in, moving from one empty public space to another, from playgrounds to hawker centres to void decks and the prospect of having to forego annual staple events such as the F1 and the National Day Parade.

“It’s been a difficult time for everyone, and the film captures this dislocation and sense of displacement, ” says Lian Pek, VP, Group Strategic Communications and Brand at Singtel.

“But what starts off as a reflection on the things we are having to give up this year becomes an invitation to see the good that has come out of the crisis. Despite the restrictions on movement, disruptions to daily life, and cancelled events, the closing photos in the film show that Singaporeans have gained even more important things in return.”

The film features photos by well-known photographers Chia Aik Beng, Nicky Loh and Tay Kay Chin as well as from members of the public.

Conceptualised in-house and produced in collaboration with Akanga Film Asia, the film is narrated by veteran actor Lim Kay Tong. the video will air on Singtel TV and hosted on various social media channelsfrom 29July 2020.

Explore:

View the video

APAC SMBs optimistic about recovery after COVID

- HP study says Asia-Pacific (APAC) small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners remain optimistic

- Bouncing back will require innovation in work processes, flexible work options and customised products and services

- Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Australia, and Thailand SMBs are the most confident of their ability to be innovative

HP Inc.’s latest study* on SMBs in Asia-Pacific, Survival to Revival, revealed that over 50% of SMB owners expect not just to survive but thrive following the pandemic, and feel that digital transformation will be a key part of this revival.

Some 60% of respondents see digital transformation as key with innovation in work processes, flexible work options and customised products and services identified as future strategies. However, cost-effective solutions are required given that cashflow remains top of mind and SMBs are unclear where to look, or even what suitable solutions are available. This is especially key where only four in 10 SMBs have a department or person responsible for innovation.

Specifically:

• Fifty-three percent of SMBs in Asia expect to thrive post-pandemic and 60% see digital transformation key to success

• SMB respondents in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Australia, and Thailand are the most confident of their company’s ability to be innovative and see digital adoption as a key strategy

Indonesia sees the importance of digital to business success, with 74% of Indonesian respondents ranking it as 'essential' or 'very important' against regional average of 59% (India 75%; Vietnam 60%; Australia 58%; Thailand 75%)

• Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are more conservative about their predictions for the future, possibly based on the global nature of their economies. Japan sees the importance of digital to business success with 34% of Japanese respondents ranking it as 'essential' or 'very important' against regional average of 59%; (South Korea 43%; Singapore 50%)

That said, respondents also identified barriers to success. Forty-five percent cited global instability post-pandemic as a key concern due to the uncertainty and inability to plan for the future. Besides global instability, the top three barriers to success are cash flow (28%), the need for adequate marketing and recruitment.

“SMBs are the lifeblood of every economy in Asia but the pandemic has hit SMBs hard. As the engines of growth for Asia economies, it is critical for them to move past survival to revive their businesses,” said Ng Tian Chong, MD, Greater Asia at HP.

“This study provides us with the insights to provide practical help for SMBs so that they have access to an ecosystem of devices, tools and technology. With these resources, we want to help SMBs unlock innovation for customer and employee-centric experiences, as well as broadly upskill talent to rebound from the pandemic and prepare for the future.”

Source: HP. Infographic showing the Asian and Singapore figures for the Survival to Revival survey.

Completed in June 2020, the study surveyed SMBs across Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam and found:

• SMB owners understand that bouncing back post-pandemic will require them to lean on innovation in how they work, flexible work options and customisation of products and services. The top aspects to help them best bounce back are:

- Workstyle innovations (27%),

- Flexible work options (26%),

- Innovation in products and services (25%),

- Better use of digital tools available (23%) and

- Digitalising processes (19%).

• Companies most confident of bouncing back place high importance on digital adoption

Across the region, nearly 60% view digital adoption as very important or essential. Indonesian SMBs are particularly sensitive to this need, with a full 74% believing it is essential or very important, as are Thai SMBs, also at 65%.

• Growth projections have been significantly adjusted post-pandemic.

Across the region, 46% of SMBs were expecting growth prior to the pandemic but that figure has dropped to just 16%. India and Vietnam are the most confident about post-pandemic growth and Singapore, Japan and South Korea are least positive.

• Disruption to productivity is a common experience during COVID.

Only 6% of SMBs recorded higher levels of workplace productivity compared to the pre-COVID period while 43% recorded lower productivity.

• Skills is an issue.

The pandemic amplified the lack of digital-first mindsets and skills within existing SMBs that hamper growth, affecting nearly half (44%) of respondents.

SMBs are looking for the magic hire, preferring to hire people who can fulfil multiple duties to optimise productivity. In this context, hiring and recruitment is incredibly difficult as the SMB is trying to find someone with a broad range of skills from a narrow pool of candidates. This is particularly an issue in Japan, Thailand and Vietnam where recruitment is one of the top three barriers to success. The education, financial services and healthcare verticals also cite recruitment as one of the top three barriers to success.

• SMBs are unclear on where to look for assistance.

Financial institutions, especially, rank high (31%); 60% of SMBs consider government support to be insufficient and/or are unclear on what support is available; only 19% of respondents turn to IT companies for help.

Underpinning all of this is a need to identify digital talents who can help SMBs to transform the business. The majority of SMBs do not dedicate resources and/or invest in innovation as a discipline; it is more common to ask customers what they want, or simply mirror what the competition is offering.

Further:

- Only four in 10 have a team or individual responsible for developing new products and service.

- One in five work with external specialists or consultants to foster innovation.

- One in five SMBs have customised offerings, looked for new sales and supply-chain channels, or introduced new lines of business. 

Indonesia (59%) and Thailand (51%) stand out for having the highest percentage of SMBs dedicating resources to innovation. Unsurprisingly, SMBs in Indonesia and Thailand are also the most confident about business performance post-COVID.

Over half (54%) of SMBs see the pandemic as an opportunity to reformulate their business despite less bullish growth, with only 16% expecting growth post-COVID in 2021. To bounce back quickly from the pandemic, SMBs expect to increase usage of online meeting and digital tools and to migrate more processes to digital. Resources that can provide practical help on how to leverage digital technology to unlock innovation are a priority for rebounding from the pandemic most effectively, they said.

In response, HP is introducing integrated services-based print solutions, including an HP Roam for Business bundle, to make it easy to print on the go. Another solution for SMBs is the enhanced HP SecurePrint, a flexible, cloud-native solution that releases documents only to authorised users.

To support SMBs in adapting to new agile working environments, HP has introduced a suite of integrated services-based print solutions. HP is now offering a one-year license for HP Roam for Business with a compatible HP LaserJet Pro 400-series bought by 31 October 2020, making it easy to print on the go from a mobile device and to retrieve the job in a contactless manner at any HP Roam-enabled printer within the company network.

In addition, HP has enhanced HP SecurePrint, which now supports all network types, including traditional networks behind a firewall as well as serverless print environments, helping customers simplify IT infrastructures. To empower workers the HP Workpath ecosystem,which enables workers to connect to cloud-based platforms directly from the multifunction printers (MFP)**, has expanded rapidly since it launched in November 2019, with 100+ apps available on the platform and thousands of apps deployed.

To meet the demands of the SMB worker’s multitask, multiplace workday, HP PCs are designed to enable them to work anywhere. To ensure SMBs get ease of mind when working anywhere, HP is offering Sure Click Pro for free to all HP and non-HP Windows customers till September 30, 2020. HP Sure Click technology guards against malware, ransomware, and viruses embedded in email attachments or malicious websites.

HP is making it easy for SMBs to get their hands on the latest technology. Through initiatives like HP For Business in Thailand, HP has tailored a monthly subscription programme that includes powerful devices with trusted security and 24x7 technical support. The programme helps relieve financial pressures on entrepreneurs in the short term and takes care of their IT management needs.

Further, the HP LIFE programme offers free online self-paced training courses designed to help entrepreneurs and SMBs acquire new skills to grow their business, such as business communications, having a success mindset, social media marketing, and design thinking.

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Learn more about research highlights.

*The survey covered 1,600 SMBs which completed the survey between 26 May 2020 and 7 June 2020. The results comprise 200 interviews in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Only an owner, partner, MD, CEO, COO, CFO, or a Director of a business with fewer than 200 employees qualified for the survey. 

Interviews were split evenly between micro business (<10 employees), small business (10-49 employees), and medium business (50-199 employees). 

Multiple industries were represented, including retail/wholesale, manufacturing, professional services, healthcare, education and financial services. 

**Multifunction printers do more than just printing. Typically they will also scan and copy documents.