Dell Technologies: 80% of Singapore employees prepared to work remotely for the long-term

- The majority of surveyed employees (84%) in Singapore (against Asia Pacific & Japan [APJ] figures of 81%) feel they are prepared for long-term remote work

- Only 39% in Singapore (APJ: 46%) feel that their employers fully support remote working for the long term

- The most in-demand technology resources that employees want are productivity equipment or tools, and remote access to internal company resources

- Surveyed employees also want employers to provide best practices training for remote working, and virtual learning and development sessions

Dell Technologies has released new research revealing the readiness of Singapore employees for long-term remote work. In the inaugural Remote Work Readiness (RWR) Index*, it was found that more than eight in 10 (84%) employees in Singapore (APJ: 81%) feel that they are prepared for long-term remote work but face ongoing productivity challenges.

Surveying over 7,000 working professionals** aged 18 years and above from the APJ region, including 1,030 from Singapore, the RWR Index captured data on employees’ readiness for long-term remote work and their views on the factors important for its success.

The study revealed that the blurring boundary between work and personal lives was the most significant concern for employees, with 35% (APJ: 34%) citing it as a top worry should remote work arrangements continue long-term. Surveyed employees also felt that employers could provide more resources for productivity to support them.

Fewer than four in 10 (39%; APJ: 46%) felt that their employers were fully supportive of long-term remote work. When it comes to technology resources, nearly half (49%; APJ: 50%) felt that their employer was not doing their utmost to support effective remote working. Additionally, 38% (APJ: 40/) felt that their employer was doing everything they could to provide them with the HR support needed to successfully work remotely.

“Employees had to pivot to a remote work arrangement overnight, and it is not surprising that they have concerns about long-term remote work,” said Eric Goh, VP and MD, Singapore, Dell Technologies.

“The good news is that employees are ready to continue working remotely, but they hope to see greater support from their employers.”

According to the research, employers have challenges understanding the issues employees continue to face and providing the necessary resources for successful long-term remote work.

In terms of technology resources, surveyed employees had faced the greatest challenge in accessing internal company resources once Circuit Breaker (CB; Singapore's version of lockdown) measures were implemented. They were also hindered by the instability of their remote network, including Internet bandwidth. 

Employees also had to contend with using personal productivity equipment or tools for work – this should be of particular concern for organisations given the IT security risks that it could pose. As a result, employees stated that they want employers to provide productivity equipment or tools (42%; APJ: 39%) and ensure that they have access to internal company resources (41%; APJ: 36%).

Singapore employees’ top technology challenges:

- Access to internal company resources (35%)

- Stability of remote network, including Internet bandwidth (29%)

- Use of personal productivity equipment or tools for work (28%)

APJ employees’ top technology challenges:

- Stability of the remote network, including Internet bandwidth (31%)

- Access to internal company resources (29%)

- Use of personal productivity equipment or tools for work (28%)

For HR support, the employees surveyed in both Singapore and APJ cited the top challenge being the lack of in-person communication. Other significant challenges were gaps in areas such as team engagement initiatives, learning and development sessions, including training for virtual tools, and outdated policies for remote work.

Singapore employees’ top HR challenges:

- Lack of in-person communication (44%)

- Lack of team engagement initiatives and best-practice training for remote working (39%)

- Lack of or insufficient learning and development sessions, including training for virtual tools (36%)

APJ employees’ top HR challenges:

- Lack of in-person communication (41%)

- Lack of or insufficient learning and development sessions, including training for virtual tools (39%)

- Lack of or insufficient best practice training for remote working, and outdated policies and guidelines for remote work (38%)

To successfully manage long-term remote work, more than half (51%; APJ: 47%) of the employees surveyed want best-practice training for remote working, learning and development sessions (46%; APJ: 48%) and team engagement initiatives (45%; APJ: 46%).

“Work today is no longer anchored to one place and time,” noted Goh.

“Instead, it is focused on outcomes. Forward-looking employers must be ready to help their employees realise both their professional and personal roles effectively regardless of where they will be working – this is work redefined.”

Other key findings:

Remote work is not new to employees in Singapore. As many as 60% of Singapore employees (APJ: 71%) had worked remotely before CB measures were implemented. Eighty percent (APJ: 84%) of Gen Z employees (aged 18 to 23 years old) have worked remotely before the CB.

In Singapore, the most important factor for remote working is having access to internal company resources (45%). This factor is particularly critical to those in large organisations with more than 1,000 employees, where 50% see this as the No. 1 factor.

In APJ, the most important factors are the stability of one’s remote network (38%) and fixed working hours plus personal time (38%).

Gen Zs also see access to company-issued productivity equipment or tools (34%; APJ: 27%) as a key technology obstacle. The same age group also cares the least about IT security of their remote network and devices (11%; APJ: 17%). Significantly, fewer Gen Z employees view IT security of their network and devices as a priority (12%), signalling a need for organisations to educate their workforce on IT security being everyone’s responsibility.

In Singapore, the lack of or insufficient learning and development sessions, which includes training for virtual tools, was especially felt by surveyed employees aged 55 and above (Baby Boomers), with 43% viewing it as their top HR challenge.

In APJ, the most significant HR challenge felt by Baby Boomers was the lack of in-person communication, with 35% viewing it as their top challenge.

More employees from mid-sized to large organisations in Singapore with more than 500 employees faced issues with access to virtual private networks (VPNs) (22%). This correlates with the finding that half of those in large organisations with more than 1,000 employees find access to company resources as the most critical factor during remote work.

Details:

Browse the findings for Singapore

*The RWR Index is a study commissioned by Dell Technologies that captures data across seven markets in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region – Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea – on the readiness of the workforce for long-term remote work. It focuses on understanding the factors important for remote working; employees’ willingness as well as concerns to work remotely for the long term, and the technology and human resource (HR)-related support they need to successfully work remotely. The study also assesses employers’ efforts to provide these resources and identifies opportunities for organisations considering a hybrid workplace or adopting remote work practices.

**Essential workers are excluded from the RWR Index as a prerequisite of eligible respondents is that they must be able to conduct work remotely.

Singapore ranks third in APAC for fostering women entrepreneurs' growth

Source: Dell. Post-it notes show challenges facing women
in the workplace.

• Singapore is the third top-ranked city in the Asia Pacific region, behind Sydney and Melbourne in Australia for Dell's annual Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index.

• Since 2017, all 50 cities studied have improved on the majority of their indicators year-over-year. Cities in the Asia Pacific region are improving alongside all other cities globally, recording the biggest improvement in the Talent pillar.

• The Index serves as a diagnostic tool to advise policy-makers on how to better support women in business.

At the 10th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Summit in Singapore, Dell announced findings from the 2019 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index, ranking 50 global cities on their ability to foster growth for women entrepreneurs.

Source: Dell. Infographic showing the Dell Global WE Cities rankings for 2019.

Rankings for Asia Pacific and Middle East cities include:

12. Sydney
13. Melbourne
21. Singapore
23. Hong Kong
26. Taipei, Taiwan
34. Tokyo
37. Dubai, UAE
38. Beijing, mainland China
41. Seoul, Korea
43. Bangalore, India
44. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
47. Shanghai, mainland China
48. Istanbul, Turkey
49. Jakarta, Indonesia
50. Delhi, India

All 50 cities have made progress since 2017, Dell noted. However, some cities made bigger strides than others.

“The 2019 Dell WE Cities report is unique from other bodies of research in that it not only ranks 50 global cities on their ability to foster women entrepreneurs, it shows how the cities have improved from their 2017 benchmark,” commented Karen Campbell, Consulting Associate Director, IHS Markit.

“This year we can see some patterns emerging. Ranked cities have collectively made the most improvement in the Capital and Culture pillars, which shows the importance of measuring not just the operating environment but also enabling environment for women entrepreneurs. This data-driven approach shows where women entrepreneurs still face barriers in scaling their business.”

Highlights include:

• Out of a total of 100 possible points, the No. 1-ranked San Francisco Bay Area in the US only scored 63.7. Dell says that this means there is still much work to do to level the field for women – and validates the need for this kind of research and outreach to policymakers to move the needle for female founders.

• Lack of funding, high cost of living, low representation of women in leadership roles and the lack of government-led policies that support women entrepreneurs were among the barriers globally.

• Thirty out of 50 cities improved on more than half of their indicators. The most-improved cities represent nearly every region, which indicates how broad-based the improvements have been around the world.

“When more women work, economies grow. Technology is helping to drive this progress as a genderneutral enabler, and helps create a level playing field,” said Amit Midha, President of Asia Pacific & Japan, Global Digital Cities at Dell Technologies.

“Whilst all cities in the Index have improved, the crucial factor is the consistency of this improvement across the different factors that impact women entrepreneurs’ success. The WE Cities Index helps Dell Technologies get closer to our customers and understand the landscape in each city so we are better able to help women entrepreneurs scale their businesses.”

"We’re very excited about what’s been accomplished and what’s on the table," commented Midha at a media briefing. "Ten years ago, it wasn’t possible. Technology is a great new frontier and we are only at the end of the beginning."

Midha said that the size of a company is not as much of an advantage compared to speed and innovation, calling it "a great time to be a startup and a technology business". "We are solving problems that haven’t been solved before. Startups have a better playing field than ever before," he noted.

He highlighted e-commerce provider Zilingo's story as disruptive. "It's female founded, 50% of the board are female, we’re seeing a lot of green shoots come out, that’s fantastic," he said. "There's never been a better time to be a female founder."

In Asia Pacific (APAC), cities are improving as facilitators of growing businesses for women entrepreneurs alongside all other cities globally. The research suggests that APAC can add a collective annual US$4.5 trillion by 2025 – adding significant growth to growth – if women’s equality is addressed. Similarly, disruptive technologies also have great potential to push the region ahead as many markets are not faced with legacy infrastructure issues.

Four APAC cities are in the top 10 of most-improved for value of funds awarded to businesses with at least 25% women executives. In general, a regional challenge remains in the availability of funding – with contributing factors including lack of policy, and a lack of awareness that funding specifically for women-owned/led businesses is needed.

The research notes that public discussion on women’s issues is slow compared to the rest of the world, and the impact of those discussions emerged with less force. There are some exceptions. Much attention has been on the public discussion of women’s rights in India, owing in part to the power of social media in the country, and in Japan, high-profile women have spoken out against discriminatory working practices.

Regional highlights include:

• More cities in APAC moved down in rankings, than stayed the same or moved up.

• Cities in the APAC region scored the highest improvement in the Talent pillar. The region also improved significantly in the Technology pillar and was the top-improved region for that pillar.

• The median WE Cities score for the APAC region improved by a score of 0.7, compared to 3 in Europe and 0.9 in North America.

• APAC cities mainly fell behind in the pillars for Culture and Markets.

• Globally, Tokyo, Japan ranks second in improvements for women as a percentage of students at top universities, and first for the number of globally top-ranked universities. Tokyo also ranks most improved in number of  globally-recognised, successful women business leaders.

• Globally, Melbourne ranks second-most improved for percentage of the population with a tertiary education, and most improved for both percentage of women with a tertiary education and percentage of the labour force employed in IT.

• APAC is the second-lowest region in terms of board members who are women.

Singapore

Singapore ranks in the top half of the Index and is ahead of other cities in the region, behind only Sydney and Melbourne. The country ranks 2nd in improvements for an economic growth rate forecast of city, region or country over the next five years. While Singapore ranked No. 8 in 2017, and No. 21 in 2019, its decline in rank is not because the city has done poorly, but rather that the competition has made more progress.

Talent and Technology are Singapore’s strongest pillars. Singapore moved from 17th to 11th place in 2019 for Talent and moving from 10th to 6th place in Technology. Singapore’s Talent pillar benefitted from increasing its top school and business school rankings. It also increased its pool of professionals needed to help scale businesses.

Singapore ranks No. 47 globally for Markets as it was hampered by a high cost of living and suffered from a lack of accelerators and relatively few female board members. The 20 by 2020: Gender Diversity on Singapore Boards report was launched in 2018, highlighting that as of June 2017, the overall representation of female directors on boards listed on SGX crossed into the double digits for the first time in history. The report also noted that immedia te action on gender diversity on boards is imperative for Singapore to maintain its positioning as a leading global financial centre in Asia.

For the Capital pillar, Singapore ranked No. 25 globally as venture capital funding to female entrepreneurs increased, but this is still relatively light to other cities. Singaporean women also saw less crowdfunding, fewer female founders and a slight decline in high net worth individuals.

At the No. 28 spot globally on Culture alone, Singapore’s Culture score was relatively low due to fewer female role models or leaders amongst other factors. This said, Singapore is nevertheless more advanced than majority of its neighbours in the region in actively addressing gender parity issues.

“Singapore’s strong base in technology literacy and access to talent position it well to realise its goal in becoming the world’s first Smart Nation,” added Eric Goh, VP and MD, Singapore, Dell Technologies.

“This vision requires the collective effort of the public and private sector, to enable and equip individuals of all genders as agents of change. By highlighting the complex challenges that women entrepreneurs face in Singapore, we hope to be able to drive meaningful conversations and growth as we embark on this nationwide digital transformation journey.”

In a speech at DWEN Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Singapore noted that a lot had changed for women in the past 200 years. She highlighted the role of Samsui women in building infrastructure for Singapore in the 1960s and 70s, and said that women make up nearly half of the migrant workforce across ASEAN. Education for women has catalysed "a virtuous cycle that will benefit the economy," she said.

"Women are beginning to drive whole sectors of the economy. We are having our voices heard at all segments of Singapore," she said.

Source: Dell. Fu speaks about challenges facing women.

The Singapore government recognises the contribution that women make to the economy and is supporting the expansion of choices and opportunities for them, she said. "We don’t want our women to have to choose between career and family. We want to support them to have both in their lives, and increasingly men [to have the same flexibility in choices] too," she said.

Government initiatives include work-life grants to further develop a workplace that is supportive of flexible work arrangements, and a drive to expand diversity at the board level, Fu shared. The government is also looking at solutions to ease the social pressure on women to leave the workforce early to look after children and their elders.

"We need women around the table to equally cast our eyes on the present and the future, and ask ourselves what can we do to leave behind a great lecacy for ourselves, to create a better place for our daughters and our grand-daughters so that we will, equally, be the trailblazers of tomorrow," she concluded.

The 2017 to 2019 WE Cities Index results highlight the successes and challenges that each city faces, and where cities can learn best practices from one another. These key learnings, if supported by local governments, can add up to big changes for women-owned businesses, globally, said Dell.

Based on the findings and comparison between the 2017-2019 indices, Dell has developed a set of WE Cities Policy Recommendations focused on three areas, including:

• Access to and the development of financial and human capital.

Specifically, this can be supported through:

- Incentives for individuals and organisations to invest in women-owned companies through
venture funds, corporate venture, private equity and social capital.

- Modernisation of existing government certification, grant and loan programs that help women-owned businesses compete to reflect changing investment models.

- Promotion and marketing of existing government programs to encourage broader awareness and
use.

- Continuing to or start to foster small-business lending programmes.

- Creating new sources of capital such as crowdfunding and impact investments.

- Encouraging enterprises and government agencies to increase supplier diversity with a percentage of contracts being awarded to women-owned businesses.

- Considering a shortening of government payment cycles from 90 days to 30 days for small women-owned suppliers.

- Incentivise the adoption of family-friendly policies including access to affordable child care, elder
care and paid family leave policies.

• Private and public sectors role in increasing access to local and global networks and markets.

This could include:

- Supporting trade agreements that further liberalise trade and open new markets for businesses of
all sizes.

- Promoting global and open standards, and reliable mechanisms for cross-border data transfers
and business support services and networks, while providing sufficient protections for privacy and
information security.

- Supporting mentorship efforts through financial support and encouragement of multiplier
platforms such as accelerators, continuing education and training programmes, and facilitated
networking events.

- Encouraging conscious placement of women on boards, in venture partnerships and on executive
teams.

- Promoting positive success stories of female founders and business owners through the media,
conferences and leadership movements.

• How government and business leaders can help women entrepreneurs thrive in the changing face of technology, for example through:

- Streamlining the process of partnering and applying for government resources,

- Emphasising science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and digital literacy in
education and early training programmes.

- Working with business leaders and educators to encourage technology training programmes to end
unconscious biases in the STEM fields, government, corporations and institutions.

- Enabling access to broadband globally.

- Increasing awareness of options women have to the hardware, software and digital resources they need to scale their companies.
Dell partnered with IHS Markit to launch the research to measure a city’s ability to attract and support high-potential women entrepreneurs. Research for WE Cities began during the 2016 DWEN Research Symposium. The successful pilot of the 2016 index led to the scaling for the 2017 index to include 50 cities and in turn the remeasuring and ranking for 2019.

Building on 10 years of research on women entrepreneurs, Dell partnered with IHS Markit to research and rank 50 cities on five characteristics, including access to Capital, Technology, Talent, Culture and Markets. These pillars were organised into two groups — operating environment and enabling environment.

The criteria includes the impact of local policies, programmes and characteristics in addition to national laws and customs to help improve support for women entrepreneurs and the overall economy.

The overall rating is based on 71 indicators; 45 of which have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.

"When we invest in women, we invest in the future; communities prosper, economies thrive and the next generation leads with purpose,” said Karen Quintos, EVP and Chief Customer Officer at Dell Technologies.

“By arming city leaders and policymakers with actionable, data-driven research on the landscape for women entrepreneurs, we can collectively accelerate the success of women-owned businesses by removing financial, cultural and political barriers."

Dell supports and nurtures a community of female entrepreneurs through the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network by providing access to technology, networks and capital. The annual DWEN Summit was held in Singapore from July 14-16, 2019.

Hashtag: #DWEN

Singapore gets Women Entrepreneur City Blueprint

Source: Dell SlideShare. Cover slide for the deck introducing the Dell 2018 Women Entrepreneur Cities Study.

Dell has unveiled new diagnostic tools for local governments and policymakers to help enable women entrepreneurs to succeed at the 9th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network Summit (DWEN) in Toronto, Canada.

Built on the findings of the 2017 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index Dell, with research partner IHS Markit has developed deep-dive analyses on the barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurs accessing capital and leveraging technology to scale. Dell also developed 10 city blueprints designed to spotlight actions a city can take to improve the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.

“Women’s entrepreneurship rates rose globally by 13% in 2017, reflecting broader momentum of increased female representation across the public and private sectors in many regions around the world. However, access to capital and technology, as well as cultural and political barriers, continue to limit the success of women-owned businesses,” said Karen Quintos, Executive VP and Chief Customer Officer at Dell.

“With the release of the WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints, leaders and policymakers can confidently move from ‘analysis to action,’ accelerating positive change that allows women entrepreneurs to thrive – which benefits local communities, wider society and the global economy."

“According to extensive data and analysis, when barriers to women entrepreneurship are removed, there is a dramatic uplift in a city’s economic prospects,” said Cris Turner, VP of Government Affairs at Dell. “The WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints offer insights on what cities on the list can learn from one another and encourage political action to attract and support women entrepreneurs at the local level.”

WE City Blueprints

The WE City Blueprints look at areas of strength and areas of improvement to provide city leaders and policymakers with data-driven research and recommendations on how to foster high-potential women entrepreneurs.

Blueprint cities include:

• Austin, Texas, US
• Boston, Massachussetts, US
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Toronto, Canada
• London, UK
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Sydney, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Singapore

“Being the only Asian city that made it to the top 10 of all the cities measured, Singapore holds huge promise and opportunity for women entrepreneurs. We believe that by highlighting these differences and successes via the WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints, we can collectively improve the landscape for high-potential women entrepreneurs,” said Eric Goh, VP, Singapore Enterprise Business, Dell EMC.

Singapore ranked No. 8 within the top 10. It ranks No. 7 in terms of Capital, No. 6 in Enabling Environment, No. 5 in Culture and No. 10 in Technology. On the dimensions that are measured:

- Singapore does particularly well on policies that can help impact a supportive culture for women entrepreneurs and provide capital.

- Singapore scores well above the median level in the areas of safety and security, ease of starting a business and access to open and flexible technology.


Specifically, Singapore's strengths are in:

Policies that can help impact a supportive technology and culture for women entrepreneurs including top scores in:

✓ Collection of city level data on income or employment by gender
✓ Frequency of city events for women entrepreneurs or businesswomen
✓ Gender equality in Facebook use
✓ Open data initiatives
✓ Paid maternity and paternity leave
✓ Presence of a city portal/website for business creation

- Singapore ranked relatively lower in the areas of markets and talent. While some of this is due to factors such as population and presence of global universities, some represent opportunity where Singapore can make significant progress for women entrepreneurs. Areas to improve include:

• Singaporean society places a high value on meritocratic advancement, leaving behind underrepresented groups as a result. The government has taken some steps to rectify unbalanced representation, but large gaps remain

• Singapore falls behind Beijing and Shanghai for having the highest female labour force participation rate (LFPR) at 60.4%. Singapore does not have a policy for “equal remunerator for work of equal value”, it is important to note that only three of the 11 Asian cities do. The city, among the rest of the Asian cities, does have a policy for paid maternity leave and it is among the majority for having a paid paternity leave policy

Key recommendations for Singapore:

• Policies to level the playing field for working women, and particularly help them return to work after having children, will help women get the experience they need to found successful businesses

• Though a commitment to flexible work practices has been emphasised and improving in the past ten years, further policies that improve work/life balance, and a commitment to encourage employees to take advantage of those policies, would help women take on leadership roles

• Less than 10% of company boards are women. Singapore should encourage women to serve in leadership roles in businesses by promoting them more publicly

• Policies that give women more access to capital, including working towards equal pay, will be important in encouraging women to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities

Capital and technology are critical for scaling any business, but women face unique challenges with both. In 2017, only 2% of venture funding went to female founders. Based on the qualitative analysis of the WE Cities Index and insights from members of the DWEN network, many women entrepreneurs are not leveraging innovative technologies to scale their businesses.

WE Cities ranking and methodology

Built on the past six years of Dell research on high-potential women entrepreneurs (HPWE), cities were ranked on five important characteristics: capital, technology, talent, culture and markets. These pillars were organised into two groups — operating environment and enabling environment. The overall rating is based on 72 indicators; 45 of these, nearly two-thirds, have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.

The 50 cities were ranked as follows:

• New York City, New York, US
• Bay Area, California, US
• London, UK
• Boston, Massachussetts, US
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Los Angeles, California, US
• Washington DC, US
• Singapore
• Toronto, Canada
• Seattle, Washington, US
• Sydney, Australia
• Paris, France
• Chicago, Illinois, US
• Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
• Austin, Texas, US
• Hong Kong, China
• Melbourne, Australia
• Atlanta, US
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Portland, Oregon, US
• Berlin, Germany
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
• Tel Aviv, Israel
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Vancouver, Canada
• Houston, US
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Barcelona, Spain
• Seoul, South Korea
• Munich, Germany
• Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, US
• Nairobi, Kenya
• Dublin, Ireland
• Warsaw, Poland
• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Milan, Italy
• Beijing, China
• Tokyo, Japan
• Bangalore, India
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Dubai, UAE
• Shanghai, China
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Lima, Peru
• Guadalajara, Mexico
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Delhi, India
• Jakarta, Indonesia

Key Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) findings include:

Access and use of technology varies widely across cities, but in general, Western cities and highly developed Asian cities outperform the rest. In APJ, Hong Kong (No. 5) and Singapore (No. 10) made it to the top 10 cities under the Technology pillar. Sydney is a benchmark city recognised as an emerging global entrepreneurship centre and ranks No. 23 in the Technology pillar.

Obtaining capital to start or expand a business is one of the biggest obstacles for women entrepreneurs. San Francisco greatly outperforms the other cities but in APJ, Singapore (No. 7) and Beijing (No. 10) made it to the top 10 cities under the Capital pillar.

Dell shares highlights for IT Show 2018

Dell's star buys at the IT Show 2018, on till 18 March at Suntec Singapore include:

Source: Dell. The Dell XPS 13.

The XPS 13 in rose gold (new)
From S$2,899

- Powered by Intel 8th Gen Quad Core processors, the XPS 13 is the most powerful 13" device in its class and the smallest 13" on the planet.

- 4K Ultra HD InfinityEdge display

- Introduces Dell Cinema, delivering CinemaColor, CinemaStream with wireless channels, and CinemaSound with Waves MaxxAudio Pro

Freebies:

- Free one-year Premium Support with accidental damage coverage

- Free one-year Absolute LoJack subscription. Absolute LoJack is software for theft recovery.

- Free Microsoft Office 365

Source: Dell. The Inspiron 13 5000.

The Inspiron 13 5000 laptop (new)
From S$1,199

- Powered by 8th Gen Intel Core processors, and an AMD Radeon R 530 graphics card

- Available in classic Platinum Silver and trendsetting Pink Champagne

Freebies:

- Free one-year Premium Support with onsite service

- Free Microsoft Office 365

Source: Dell. The Alienware 17.

The Alienware 17 gaming laptop
From S$2,899

- A 17” LCD screen with supported FHD, QHD 120Hz and an anti-glare finish

- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series graphics and NVIDIA G-SYNC enabled with Tobii Eye-tracking

- Virtual reality (VR)-ready system that is both Oculus Ready and Vive Optimized certified, powered by NVIDIA VRWorks technology

Freebies:

- Free one-year Premium Support

- Free Alienware Advanced Gaming Mouse (worth S$69)

- Free Alienware Advanced Gaming Keyboard (worth S$159)

Details:

Products will be available at Dell’s exclusive retailers - look for booths 8241 (main booth), 8205, 8108, 8130, 8235, 8111, 8143, and 305.

Dell: Here's what Singapore business leaders think about future human-machine interaction

- Great potential on the horizon: 80% of business leaders in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region expect their workforce and machines to work as integrated teams within five years

- Leaders are divided on what this future means: 58% of Singapore business leaders think automated systems free up time, but around four in 10 disagree

- Singapore organisations are united in the need to transform and how, but not moving fast enough: only one in five believe they are leading the way, embedding digital in everything they do

Source: Dell Technologies infographic. More than half of respondents globally think schools should teach how to learn, and not what to learn.

We are entering the next era of human-machine partnerships with a divided vision of the future, according to global research* now available from Dell Technologies. Nearly six in 10 (58%) of Singapore business leaders forecast that automated systems will free up their time. Similarly, 58% believe that smart machines will work as admins that connect individuals to highly personalised goods and services, while 42% disagree. The findings reveal that a reliance on machines will lead to greater efficiency, unity and possibility than ever before.

Singapore business leaders (45%) predict this will impact their ability to compete over the next decade. However, they are less prepared compared to their global counterparts – citing a lack of digital vision and strategy as a top barrier. Singapore business leaders are not progressing quickly or deep enough and only 21% of those surveyed say digital is ingrained in all they do, compared to the global average of 27%.

The quantitative research conducted by Vanson Bourne follows Dell Technologies’ seminal story, Realizing 2030: The Next Era of Human-Machine Partnerships. That study forecasts that by 2030, emerging technologies will forge human partnerships with machines that are richer and more immersive than ever before, helping us surpass our limitations. Business leaders in the APJ region agree: 80% of respondents expect humans and machines will work as integrated teams within their organisation inside of five years.

But Singapore business leaders are also split by whether the future represents an opportunity or a threat, and torn by the need to mitigate these risks. In fact, business leaders are divided by what the shift into the next era will mean for them, their business and even the world at large. For instance: 

- More than half (52%) say the more we depend upon technology, the more we will have to lose in the event of a cyberattack; 48% disagree

- Nearly six in 10 (57%) of business leaders are calling for clear protocols in the event that autonomous machines fail; 43% abstained

- Nearly six in 10 (59%) say computers will need to decipher between good and bad commands; 41% disagree

Specifically, Singapore research data for lifestyles shows that:

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
Automated systems will free up our time	58%	42%
People will take care of themselves better with healthcare tracking devices	50%	50%
People will absorb and manage information in completely different ways	62%	38%
Smart machines will work as admins in our lives – connecting our lives to highly personalised goods and services	58%	42%
It will be harder to disconnect from technology	48%	52%

For workstyles, the Singapore research data showed:

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
We will be more productive by collaborating more	55%	45%
We will have more job satisfaction by offloading the tasks that we do not want to do to intelligent machines	48%	52%
Schools will need to teach how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist yet	71%	29%
We will learn on the job with augmented reality (AR)	55%	45%
Not sure what the next 10-15 years will look like for our industry, let alone our employees	57%	43%

Business operations were mostly split 60:40 for Singapore respondents:

                                                                                                                                       

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
Clear protocols will need to be established if autonomous machines fail	57%	43%
The more we depend upon technology, the more we will have to lose in the event of a cyberattack	52%	48%
Computers will need to be able to decipher between good and bad commands	59%	41%
We will be part of a globally connected, remote workforce	63%	37%
Technology will connect the right person to the right task, at the right time	50%	50%

 

“You can understand why the business community is so polarised,” comments Jeremy Burton, CMO, Dell Technologies. “There tends to be two extreme perspectives about the future: the anxiety-driven issue of human obsolescence or the optimistic view that technology will solve our greatest social problems. These differing viewpoints could make it difficult for organisations to prepare for a future that’s in flux and would certainly hamper leaders’ efforts to push through necessary change.”

Eric Goh, MD and VP, Singapore Enterprise Business, Dell EMC commented: “We’re on the cusp of immense change, fuelled by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), that are opening up new frontiers in Singapore and on a global level. While there are differing views in the way leaders forecast the future, Singapore remains ahead of the global curve with more respondents believing in the transformative impact of technology in overcoming the digital barriers ahead.”

The findings also revealed Singapore business leaders’ attitude to the future of skills. Seven in 10 (71%) believe that schools will need to teach students how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare them for jobs that do not exist yet, compared to the global average of 56%.

However, many businesses are not moving fast enough, and going deep enough, to overcome common barriers to operating as a successful digital business. Only 21% of Singapore businesses believe they are leading the way, embedding digital concepts in all they do. Almost half (45%) do not know whether they will be able to compete over the next decade, and 53% of businesses are struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

The main barriers to becoming a successful digital business in 2030 and beyond in Singapore include:

- Lack of a digital vision and strategy: 72%

- Lack of workforce readiness: 66%

- Technology constraints: 48%

- Time and money constraints: 45%

- Law and regulations: 22%

Despite the wide range of views, the majority of businesses believe they will be well on their way to transforming within five years. Singapore business leaders say they are likely to achieve the following within five years in Singapore: 

- Have effective cybersecurity defences in place: 94%

- Deliver their product offering as a service: 93%

- Complete their transition to a software-defined business: 92%

- R&D will drive their organisation forward: 85%

- Delivering hyper-connected customer experiences with virtual reality (VR): 78%

- Using AI to pre-empt customer demands: 83%

Burton adds, “We’re entering an era of monumental change. Although business leaders harbour contrasting views of the future, they share common ground on the need to transform. Based on the many conversations I have with customers, I believe we’re reaching a pivotal moment in time. Businesses can either grasp the mantle, transform their IT, workforce and security and play a defining role in the future or be left behind.”

Explore:

Access the quantitative research report, executive summary and infographic

Read more about the Dell Technologies Realizing 2030 initiative

Hashtags: #Realize2030, #digitaltransformation

*The research was commissioned by Dell Technologies and undertaken by Vanson Bourne, an independent research company, completed in June to August 2017 with 3,800 business leaders from midsized to large enterprises across 17 countries including ANZ, China, India, Japan and Singapore. The respondents were drawn from 12 industries and key functions impacting the customer experience (from business owners to decision-makers in IT, marketing, customer service, R&D and finance, etc.). The research explores the changing relationship between technology and people, emerging technologies’ impact on business and the way we work and how business leaders and CIOs plan to succeed over the next 10 to 15 years.

Dell refreshes Inspiron laptop family, introduces new commercial devices

Watch the Inspiron 7000 series unveiling Instavideo.

- Dell unveils new suite of commercial devices; Inspiron 7000 series and Alienware’s latest gaming peripherals at the revamped Dell Exclusive Store in Singapore

- The new Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 brings stunning visuals and powerful performance in a small footprint 

- The Inspiron 15 Gaming Laptop allows for greater game immersion integrated with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 discrete graphics 

- Award-winning XPS 13 now up to 44% more powerful with new 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processors

Source: Dell. The Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 laptop.

Dell today revealed a new suite of devices to provide the most immersive and comprehensive computing experience available at the Dell First Look Showcase & Gaming Event at the Dell Exclusive Store @ Plaza Singapura in Singapore. The event also saw some of Singapore’s top e-sports players and Ray Wah, SVP and GM, Consumer and Small Business Product Group, Dell battling it out in a gaming showdown on the newest Microsoft racing game.

A view of the new Dell Exclusive Store layout.

It was the first time Dell’s commercial products such as the Latitude and OptiPlex range have been made available at the Dell Exclusive Store, for its consumers in Singapore. Commercial products, for business use, are traditionally available from channel partners rather than at retail outlets. The product range is now available for purchase and customisation in-store.

The new offerings include the Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 and 15-inch laptop with new 8th Generation Intel Core processors, and Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Laptop. Designed for the mobile multitasker or multiuser household, the new Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 brings stunning visuals and powerful performance in a small footprint. 

Chi Tran, CEO and Co-founder of Loop, offers "priority passes" for co-working that are ideal for the on-the-go professionals that Dell's laptops are designed for. "We believe that you can work anywhere. We believe that collaboration is the new currency," he said. "In co-working spaces you have a great mix of people. You don't want to be stuck somewhere at one desk. In the new gig economy everyone wants to travel and be somewhere." Tran uses an XPS laptop. "Being mobile is very important," he said. "Form factor is most key for me."

Source: Dell. Eugene Soh, Artist and Game Programmer on the left, with Wah on the right. Soh spoke about being hospitalised and still being able to code with an XPS 15. He also commented that the Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop has the power to provide a smooth, comfortable virtual reality experience with Oculus goggles.

Enjoy an immersive, visual experience with a narrow border and FHD in-plane switching (IPS) touch display supporting an active pen for digital drawing, writing and note-taking. With the new Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1, consumers can watch movies or video chat uninterrupted thanks to SmartByte streaming technology co-engineered by Dell, which prioritises streaming and conferencing above other network activities. It also offers longer battery life and quieter performance with standard solid state drives (SSDs) or optional PCIe non-volatile memory express (NVMe) SSDs.

“From our Inspiron range to the renowned XPS 13 powered by 8th Generation Intel Core processors, the launch of these cutting-edge devices at our revamped Dell Exclusive Store reinforces our commitment to customers,” said Jarebb Chua, Country Manager, Consumer Business, Malaysia & Singapore, Dell.

Watch Wah in an Instavideo commenting on PCs. "It is 
really the customer who inspires us," he said.

For those who prefer a traditional laptop, the new Inspiron 7000 laptopshave a slim, light and thin-bezel design in Platinum Silver or Pink Champagne. Available in 15", the Inspiron 7000 offers a brilliant FHD IPS display for a crisp, detailed picture, viewable from a wide range of angles without sacrificing image quality. The laptops take advantage of the outstanding performance, responsiveness and hardware enabled security built into the 8th Generation Intel Core processor.

With the new Inspiron range, consumers can now experience exceptional performance and immersive experiences with new 8th Generation Intel Core processors, DDR4 memory; and flexible connectivity options with USB Type-C with support for DisplayPort and Power Delivery.

“Dell’s global leadership in innovation and gaming across personal computing is driving the very best gaming experiences for every level of gamer. We are supporting the growth of e-sports and making gaming a global cultural phenomenon,” said Wah. “With the new Inspiron 7000 series, we deliver an incredible video and audio experience and exceptional gaming performance - all at an affordable price.”

The new Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Laptop offers NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 discrete graphics and NVIDIA Max Q Design technology, 7th Gen Intel quad core CPU options and dual fans to keep the system cool and quiet while powering through challenging games. Anti-glare IPS wide viewing angle FHD display provides excellent visual clarity while Waves MaxxAudio Pro software delivers precise audio. 

The laptop’s new 2x2 Wi-Fi antenna design provides great wireless performance, while the SmartByte software prioritises gaming and video content to keep games and videos smooth even during large file downloads. A new quick-charge battery gets up to 80% capacity within an hour and the Thunderbolt 3 multi-use port connects multiple devices (including support for up to two 4K displays) to the laptop with transfers up to 40Gbps.

Latitude laptops on display at the Dell Exclusive Store.

The XPS 13 now offers up to 44% more performance with the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processors and Dynamic Power Mode*. With the new 8th Gen processors, with four cores versus two, experiencing exceptional performance while multi-tasking and running multiple applications is possible. The XPS 13, the smallest 13.3" laptop* on the planet, also boasts an outstanding viewing experience with the optional Quad HD+ InfinityEdge (optional touch) display, with sharp visuals and vivid and accurate colour.

John Gillooly, Technical Product Marketing Manager, Asia Pacific South at NVIDIA (left), said that NVIDIA G-SYNC, found in Alienware's new premium displays, is ideal for e-sports. G-SYNC is adaptive refresh rate technology that delivers smoother, tear-free gameplay at refresh rates up to 240 Hz. To prevent blurring and deliver crisper moving images, G-SYNC pulses the backlight at 144 times a second, he said. G-SYNC also prevents tearing, which displays information from different frames at the same time because of synchronisation issues between the display and the video feed, by changing the monitor resolution constantly.

The event also unveiled the latest Alienware Gaming Monitors, Keyboards and Mice.

Details:

All products are available immediately, unless otherwise stated, through Dell and its authorised partners:

Product	Starting price in S$/Availability
Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 (7373)	From $1,599. Available now.
Inspiron 15 7000 (7570)	From $1,599. Available now.
Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming (7567)	From $1,599. Available now.
XPS 13 with 8th Gen Intel Core processor	Available by end October.

Catch #DellGameOn event activities on Facebook and Instagram as well as the Facebook Live replay of the Gaming Showdown

Hashtag: #DellGameOn

*Based on July 2017 internal testing using BAPCo’s SYSmark 2014 SE performance benchmark, comparing an XPS 13 9360 with 8th Generation Intel Core processor with Dell Dynamic Power Mode versus similarly-configured systems with 7th Generation Intel Core processors without Dynamic Power Mode, which offers a blended view of performance in productivity, media creation, data/financial analysis and responsiveness scenarios.  Actual results will vary. For more information, please refer to https://bapco.com/products/sysmark-2014-se/

**Based on Principled Technologies' Report of April 2017, the smallest refers total surface area of the notebooks. (PDF)

Watch the Instavideo of a gamer participating in the Microsoft Forza Motorsport Challenge.