KPMG sees holes in global corporate responsibility reports

Carbon reporting from the world's largest companies lacks consistency, making it almost impossible for stakeholders to compare one company's performance easily and accurately with another's, according to the 2015 edition of the KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting*.

Professionals at KPMG member firms reviewed the carbon information published by the world's largest 250 companies in annual financial and corporate responsibility reports. They found that although four out of five of the companies discuss carbon in these reports, the type and quality of information published varies dramatically. For example, only half the G250 (53%) state carbon reduction targets in their company reports and, of these, two thirds provide no rationale to explain why those targets were selected.

The type of emissions reported also varies considerably, KPMG said. While a majority of reporting companies report on emissions from their own operations (84%) and from purchased power (79%), only half report on emissions in their supply chains. Even fewer, less than one in ten (7%), includes information on emissions resulting from the use and disposal of their products and services.

Around half (51%) of the companies that do discuss carbon in their company reports refer readers to further detailed information in alternative sources such as the CDP database** for investors. The other half does not.

Wim Bartels, a partner with KPMG in the Netherlands and KPMG's Global Head of Sustainability Reporting & Assurance, is the lead author of KPMG's survey. He said: "All stakeholders should be able to access good quality, comparable information on a company's carbon performance quickly and easily from the company's annual financial or corporate responsibility reports. That is simply not the case today.

"There is a clear need for improvement and global reporting guidelines on carbon could help to address this problem. It should not be left to companies alone to figure this out; industry bodies, regulators, standard setters, investors and others all have a role to play."

KPMG's study follows a recent proposal to the G20 by the Financial Stability Board for a task force to develop consistent climate-related disclosures for companies to help lenders, insurers, investors and other stakeholders to understand material risks¹. The Climate Standards Disclosure Board (CDSB) has also introduced a voluntary framework aimed at helping companies include investor-relevant climate information in mainstream financial reporting².

The KPMG study includes guidelines on data, targets and communication that KPMG member firms believe companies should follow when publishing carbon information in annual financial and corporate responsibility reports.

KPMG's researchers devised a scoring methodology based on these guidelines which they used to assess the quality of reporting from each of the 250 largest companies. Key findings include:

• One in five large companies in high carbon sectors such as mining, construction and chemicals does not report on carbon in its annual financial or corporate responsibility reports
• European companies have a higher quality of reporting than companies elsewhere in the world
• Companies in the transport & leisure sector produce the highest quality reporting by sector, and oil & gas companies the lowest
• Only half the companies that report on carbon in their annual financial or corporate responsibility reports explain how cutting carbon benefits their business

The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting includes a view of global trends in corporate responsibility (CR) reporting based on analyses of reports from 4,500 companies across 45 countries. It shows that the rate of CR reporting is now higher in Asia Pacific than it is in Europe or the Americas. Nearly eight in 10 (79%) companies in Asia Pacific report on CR.

The highest rates of CR reporting are now found in emerging economies such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Africa. These high rates are often driven by regulation, either from governments or stock exchanges.

The research also shows that it is now standard business practice to include CR information in the annual financial report – more than half (56%) of the 4,500 companies studied do this.

Interested?

Download the report

*The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting is now in its 9th edition and was first published in 1993. Research is carried out by professionals in KPMG member firms and is based on publicly available information published by companies in their corporate responsibility reports, annual financial reports and websites.

In the 2015 edition, the sample of the world's 250 largest companies is based on the 2014 Fortune 500 listing³. Global trends in CR reporting are based on a study of reporting from the top 100 companies by revenue in each of the 45 countries.

**The CDP database is the largest collection globally of self-reported climate change, water and forest-risk data.
1 Source: http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/wp-content/uploads/Disclosure-task-force-on-climate-related-risks.pdf Retrieved 17 November 2015
2 http://www.cdsb.net/what-we-do/reporting-frameworks/climate-change Retrieved 19 November 2015
3 http://fortune.com/global500/2014/

ASEAN is biggest FDI recipient in the developing world for 2014

Source: ASEAN Secretariat.

This year, the annual ASEAN Investment Report reviews the rise of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into ASEAN and highlights the role of corporate players in infrastructure development and regional connectivity.

In 2014, ASEAN became the largest FDI recipient in the developing world. FDI flows into the region rose for the third consecutive year from US$117.7 billion in 2013 to US$136.2 billion in 2014 – despite a 16% decline in global FDI flows and uneven global economic growth. The improvement of the region's investment environment, as well as regional integration process to establish the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015 contributes to the attractiveness of the region for FDI – in addition to the strong regional economic fundamentals and market growth. FDI flows from the majority of ASEAN's Dialogue Partners have been strong, while intra-ASEAN investment also rose by 26% to US$24.4 billion in 2014 from US$19.4 billion in 2013, making ASEAN the second largest investor in the region after the European Union in 2014.

ASEAN Member States are economically connected through the operations of MNEs and ASEAN companies that involve regional value chains and regional production networks. ASEAN Member States are also increasingly physically interconnected through infrastructure development at national, subregional and regional levels. Huge national infrastructure plans have been announced to meet rapidly growing economy. At least US$110 billion a year will be needed in the region through to 2025 – which covers transport, power, ICT, and water and sanitation developments. The private sector has been an important player in both physical and economic connectivity in the region and will need to play a greater role in building infrastructures that will further connect the region.

The ASEAN Investment Report is prepared under a technical cooperation arrangement between the ASEAN Secretariat and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and supported by the Government of Australia through the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Phase II (AADCP II).

Interested?

Download the ASEAN Investment Report from: 

http://www.asean.org/images/2015/November/asean-investment-report/ASEAN%20Investment%20Report%202015.pdf

http://investasean.asean.org/news-and-events/asean-investment-report-2015.html

http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/unctad_asean_air2015d1.pdf

Odin's SMB Cloud Insights for Indonesia shows much potential for cloud growth

Odin today released its annual SMB Cloud Insights research for Indonesia. The report forecasts that cloud-based business applications, or software-as-a-service, will soon become the fastest growing cloud category in Indonesia, growing at a CAGR of 43%.

Business applications such as file sharing and online backup are currently the most commonly used applications in Indonesia and adoption by small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) is expected to increase. Less commonly used business applications such as payroll and HR applications, as well as customer relationship management apps, are expected to see rapid growth in adoption over the next three years as well.

Said Pavel Ershov, Odin VP and GM, APAC and Japan: "Increasingly, more SMBs in Indonesia are using the cloud for their core business functions in order to compete with larger corporations. This is a scenario we expect to see play out across today's dynamic Asia Pacific business environment."

Key findings include:

The market represents more than 4 million SMBs using cloud services. 

Unified communications – which includes hosted business voice services, email, and collaboration applications – is the second-largest category of the Indonesian cloud market (Rp4 trillion or US$324 million) and is poised for expansion.

Nearly 80% of Indonesian SMBs do not use email services. Only 1% use in-house servers for email, another 7% use a service provider, and the remaining 12% use free email services.

Today, only 11% of Indonesia’s SMBs have websites. The market, worth Rp1.6 trillion (US$128 million), is set to double in the next three years to Rp4 billion (US$322 million).

More than half (55%) of Indonesian SMBs with websites have mobile optimised sites in keeping with technology adoption for many in Indonesia beginning with mobile devices. This compares to just 30% of SMBs in the US and 25% of SMBs in Germany.

“Optimising mobile sites” was ranked by respondents as the top feature, more than double the second priority of “displays on mobile without optimisation” (22%), and “only displays properly on a computer” (23%).

Interested?

Download SMB Cloud Insights reports

*The Odin SMB Cloud Insights report focuses on the cloud services that have the most current and future appeal for SMBs across four key categories: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), Web presence and Web applications, unified communications, and business applications (also known as software-as-a-service). Research reports are available for 15 countries including Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the US. Regional reports are also available for Europe and Asia Pacific. 

CIMB shares regional strategies for joining the ASEAN Economic Community

Source: CIMB. Chairman of CIMB
Group YBhg Dato' Sri Nazir Razak
(right) and Director, Southeast Asia
of The Economist Intelligence Unit
Justin Wood showcasing the
special report Re-drawing the
ASEAN Map: How companies are
crafting new strategies in
Southeast Asia. 

CIMB has launched Re-drawing the ASEAN Map: How companies are crafting new strategies in Southeast Asia in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The report, an independent management brief co-sponsored by CIMB and Baker McKenzie, is aimed at preparing companies for the pending unveiling of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on 31 December 2015.

Justin Wood, Chief Economist and Director for South-East Asia at the Economist Corporate Network, part of the EIU, said, “We surveyed 170 business leaders running companies in ASEAN for this report. Of those companies, 76% now have a strategy in the region that is specifically oriented around the ASEAN bloc. Most companies in our survey are clearly taking steps to organise themselves around the unfolding economic liberalisation and integration in South-east Asia. 

"Interestingly, though, non-ASEAN companies are much more likely to have an ASEAN-oriented strategy (81%) than local companies (only 55%). The big global multinationals are further along in recognising the significance of the ASEAN story and are positioning themselves to benefit from ideas like achieving scale in the region, consolidating operations and manufacturing, and exploring how product and service strategies, as well as sales and marketing strategies can be harmonised and regionalised.”

Dato' Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman of CIMB Group said, "The independent findings of the report further reinforces the importance of ASEAN as an economic region, and validates our decision as a bank to fully-embed ourselves in and across ASEAN. Foreign multinationals are very much aware of the potential that the region represents and local companies really need to step up their game. Generally speaking, local companies in ASEAN countries have an incumbent advantage but need to clearly define their strategy to both realise the opportunities and face the challenges of ASEAN liberalisation and the increased competition that this brings to the table.”

“CIMB has prepared for ASEAN. We have more research analysts on-the-ground in every country, a diverse staff force of over 41,000 individuals in every market across the region and the most extensive network of branches and ATMs. I would say that in terms of advisory, investment banking, trade finance, treasury and markets capabilities, we are best placed to advise any company located in an ASEAN country on how best to strategically leverage the potential of the region."

Q314 saw cyberattacks grow in volume and sophistication: Trend Micro

Source: Trend Micro website.

The third quarter saw a new critical vulnerability, Shellshock threaten more than half a billion servers and devices worldwide. This major development, as well as an uptick in volume and sophistication of cyberattacks, are detailed in Trend Micro's latest quarterly security roundup report, Vulnerabilities Under Attack: Shedding Light on the Growing Attack Surface. 

The report also reveals web platform and mobile app vulnerabilities that have broadened significantly, resulting in high-impact attacks on businesses and consumers alike.

“Our findings confirm that we are battling rapidly moving cybercriminals and evolving vulnerabilities simultaneously,” said Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro. “With this fluidity, it’s time to embrace the fact that compromises will continue, and we shouldn’t be alarmed or surprised when they occur. Preparation is key and as an industry we must better educate organisations and consumers about heightened risks as attacks grow in volume and in sophistication. 

"Understanding that cybercriminals are finding vulnerabilities and potential loopholes in every device and platform possible will help us confront these challenges so technology can be used in a positive way.”

The report dissects vulnerabilities such as Shellshock, which affects popular operating systems, including Linux,UNIX and Mac OS X. The surprising discovery of the Shellshock vulnerability emerged after going unnoticed for more than 20 years, suggesting the likelihood of more long, undiscovered vulnerabilities lurking within with operating systems or applications.

Vulnerabilities in mobile platforms and apps are also proving to be a greater challenge. As in previous quarters, the report cites that significant and critical vulnerabilities were found in mobile platforms, such as Android. Exploit kits were highly utilised in Web platforms and provided cybercriminals with another resource to compromise victim’s systems.

In an effort to steal credit card information and money, the report also reveals that threat actors are targeting large retailers’ Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems to execute massive data breaches. This ongoing practice further indicates that PoS networks are highly accessible and vulnerable. Cyber thieves also utilised updated versions of older versions of popular malware and online banking malware to successfully target victims.

Click here for the complete report, and read the associated blog post here.

Cisco discovers how technology is shaping the way we work

Workforce demands by Generation (Gen) X and Millennial workers to increase flexible work styles have been met with employers shifting their own policies to accommodate changing attitudes, according to the 2014 Cisco Connected World Technology Report* (CCWTR). Generation X, typically describes those born in the 1960s to 1980s, and Millennial workers or Generation Y are those born in the 1980s to the 2000s.

As in previous years, the CCWTR shows the mindset, expectations, and behaviour of the world's next generation of workers, but this year has added insights into Gen X and human resources workers, and how they value their connectivity (over physical needs), view their availability for work communications (24/7) and the consequent shaping of enterprise IT and security policy, product development and design, and the ability of businesses to compete.

The report, which includes inputs from India, China, Japan, Korea and Australia, demonstrates the fundamental ways in which technology is shaping the future of work and how the devices, apps and solutions preferred by these generations are enabling new ways of working – including the rise of the "Supertasker" who uses four devices – and changes in the way workers and businesses view remote working (44% of Millennials feel most productive in the office), application use (six in 10 respondents prefer a pen and paper to the hottest note-taking app) and global talent recruitment (50% of hiring managers would hire from only video interviews).

Key findings:

Supertaskers
Nearly two thirds believe in the year 2020, Supertasking will be most coveted by their organisation. More than four in 10 Gen X and Gen Y professionals, as well as nearly six in 10 HR professionals, consider themselves to be a "Supertasker," defined as an individual who can successfully do more than two things at once, and do them well.

HR professionals feel that Supertaskers increase the expectations of a "high performer" at their organisation and as such, most feel Supertaskers are best suited for a managerial role, an individual contributor or an executive role.

About half of Gen X and Gen Y professionals believe Supertasking would make an individual more productive. Similarly, HR professionals (62%) predominantly believe Supertaskers increase their organisation's productivity.

Most indicate learning to become a Supertasker by managing their personal lives, and the majority typically mix work and personal activities, particularly Gen X professionals (70%).

Gen X versus Gen Y
Gen Y (Millennial) professionals are more likely to indicate being "wired" differently than Gen X employees when it comes to efficiency and multitasking. More than half (56%) of Gen Y professionals say that they are more efficient than Gen X employees.

More than four in 10 professionals believe Gen Y employees are most effective at Supertasking, relative to other generations. Six in ten Gen X professionals and 81% of HR professionals think that Gen Y employees are able to perform tasks faster than older employees using mobile devices and apps. Further, seven in 10 HR professionals think Gen Y employees are able to perform tasks faster if they are allowed to use their mobile devices and apps instead of desktop PCs or laptops.

Managing Gen X and Gen Y employees
Nearly two thirds of Gen X and more than eight in 10 HR professionals have previously managed or currently manage Gen X and Gen Y employees. Among those who have managed both Gen X and Gen Y employees, the largest proportion notes that Gen X professionals are easier to manage than their younger counterparts. On the other hand, roughly one third indicate both groups are easy to manage.

More than one third of Gen X and HR professionals who have experienced managing Gen Y employees cited the greatest challenge is their "I want it now" ambition. Gen X and HR professionals agree managers in the future will need to change their approach to coaching/mentoring and collaborating with Gen Y employees as a result of more of them joining the workforce.

The future of HR and recruiting
Nearly six in 10 (58%) HR professionals would be willing to hire a candidate by only interviewing the candidate using video conferencing (without ever conducting an interview in person). When asked of hiring managers in general, slightly less (50%) believe hiring managers would be open to hiring someone without an in-person interview.

When it comes to hiring based on their organisation's culture, HR professionals are equally divided on whether having the best talent or finding the best fit for their culture is most important. Most HR professionals (40%) believe personal skills are most important to hiring managers when looking to fill entry-level positions.

While one third of professionals indicate their job hunting approach will always remain local, nearly one in 5 indicate their approach is already national or worldwide, including those from India.

The always-on lifestyle
More than half of professionals (Gen X and Gen Y) consider themselves accessible for work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including three in 10 who are accessible by both email and phone.

Which leads to the abolition of the 9-to-5 workday. It is more like a 7-to-8, with 9am to 12am being next-most popular. These are followed in popularity with the 2am-to-5pm and 9am-to-10pm workdays. Professionals are somewhat evenly divided when it comes to the typical white-collar workday, with slightly less than half indicating that they desire the freedom to work and play from anywhere at anytime with no restrictions (vs. having a traditional, scheduled workday of 9am to 5pm).

Most Gen X professionals believe Gen Y employees would prefer a flexible work schedule, although Gen Y professionals actually tend to slightly prefer a traditional work schedule, at 54%.

The largest proportion of Gen Y professionals (44%) indicate being more focused and productive when working in the office, while Gen X professionals (38%) cite being equally focused and productive both at home and in the office. Though somewhat evenly split, slightly more professionals believe there should be a traditional time for work and time for personal life – especially those in China, Korea, Russia and Mexico.

Flexible working schedules
About half of Gen X and Gen Y professionals feel their organisation's Human Resources department is adjusting to enable a more mobile, flexible work style for its employees, though nearly one third feel it is not doing so quickly enough.
From an HR perspective, 56% indicate their HR department has already implemented or is planning on implementing a more mobile, flexible work style.

Most professionals believe physical offices will still exist in 2020, though about four in 10 believe they will be much smaller. Further, more than half of Gen X and Gen Y professionals believe their job will sometimes require them to be in the office depending on their schedule. HR professionals are split when it comes to the future work schedule, though 4 in 10 believe employees will be able to work from home occasionally.

About one quarter of Gen X and Gen Y professionals indicate their organisation allows them to work from home, but Gen Y professionals who have the opportunity to work remotely are more likely to prefer working from the office, relative to their Gen X counterparts. Despite this the minority of Gen X and Y professionals say they prefer the office - 28% of Gen Y, 19% percent of Gen X and 6% of HR professionals prefer to work in the office.

Among those who are employed by organisations that allow them to work from home, more than four in 10 Gen Y professionals indicate they are most focused and productive when working in the office.

Driven by those in Germany and France, more than one quarter believe organisations will be more nationally and/or globally distributed by the year 2020, where managers will not need to be in the same office as their direct reports every weekday.

Roughly two thirds of professionals believe that an organisation that has adopted a flexible, mobile and remote work model has a competitive advantage over one that requires employees to be in the office from 9am to 5pm every weekday.

While salary is the most important factor for most, the flexibility to set their own schedule or the ability to work remotely is most important to roughly one in five Gen X and Gen Y professionals, as well as one third of HR professionals. Overall, professionals are unwilling to take a pay cut in return for greater work flexibility, although, those in HR tend to be most willing, with four in 10 indicating they would accept a pay cut. Similarly, HR professionals are willing to accept the largest pay cut, with 56% accepting a pay cut of more than 10% (versus 35% of Gen Y and 34% of Gen X professionals).

Said Rowan Trollope, Senior Vice President of Cisco Collaboration: "These days people in the office are looking for instant access to great communication and collaboration tools. And we expect these tools to be always on, global and available on any device, anywhere. The findings in the Cisco Connected World Technology Report provide businesses with insights that will give them a competitive advantage when it comes to IT decisions and HR processes. 

"In fact, it suggests new approaches to consider deploying technology tools and solutions for the workplace. Users will continue to drive adoption, while demanding a terrific experience with the products they use. We are focused on delivering that excellent experience as we bring them the tools to be more productive and work better, regardless of from where or at what time of day."

Added Lance Perry, Vice President of IT Customer Strategy and Success, Cisco: "The results of the Cisco Connected World Technology Report provide valuable insights into the care-abouts of our evolving workforce. Businesses should grab this opportunity to re-examine how they need to evolve in order to attract top talent and shape their business models. 

"Without a doubt, our world is changing to be much more Internet-focused and becomes even more so with each new generation. CIOs can plan and scale their networks now to address the security and mobility demands that the next-generation workforce will put on their infrastructure. At the same time, they can use this information to assess and evolve their corporate policies for a win-win transformation that will position technology as an enabler of collaboration and business success."

*The annual Cisco Connected World Technology Report examines the relationship between human behaviour, the Internet and networking's pervasiveness. Examining this relationship unearths data about how companies will remain competitive amid the influence of technology lifestyle trends. The fourth annual Cisco Connected World Technology Report was commissioned by Cisco and conducted by InsightExpress, an independent market research firm based in the US. The global report, based on surveys of professionals between the ages of 18 and 50 in 15 countries, includes 100 respondents from each of 15 countries: the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Poland, India, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Ericsson unveils consumer video consumption insights for Singapore

Need to know where to park your marketing dollars? The latest edition of the annual Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media Report* may have some clues. 

The study, now in its fifth year, covered 1,000 respondents in Singapore for the first time. The report shows that 80% of Singaporeans stream their TV/video content more than once a week, while 72% watch broadcast programmes on TV. In comparison, 75% of consumers around the world watch streamed content several times a week, compared to 77% who watch scheduled broadcast TV programmes several times a week.

“People do not watch TV any more, they watch content. They are relating to content categories and titles rather than to TV or access technologies. Today, almost any content category can be consumed on its own merits and most content categories are diverging from the traditional TV context,” says Afrizal Abdul Rahim, Head of ConsumerLab, Ericsson South East Asia & Oceania.

“Consumers expect to access content across all devices, turning the TV into just another screen. For example, in Singapore, 55% of consumers access the Internet on one or more of their TVs.”

More consumers are into binge watching, Abdul Rahim added. More than half (51%) want all of the episodes released at once so they can watch the story unfold at their preferred pace, versus 48% globally.

The findings have implications for service providers, Abdul Rahim said. “The landscape is changing rapidly, and business and delivery models will have to keep pace if they are to continue to deliver perceived value to consumers.”

Traditional TV broadcast content is also viewed differently, as consumers prefer to record it on the digital video recorder to watch later, at their convenience. In Singapore, the survey found that 19% percent of consumers record content from broadcast TV for viewing later, and 40% switch between screens while they watch content. An example of multiscreening, or place switching, they start watching on one device, pause the stream and resume watching it on another device. 

Screens may also be used simultaneously, such as when consumers watch TV and discuss the content with others, or find out more about the TV content online. More than half (51%) say they read email while watching TV/video content, while 41% use apps or browse the Internet while the TV is on.

As mentioned by 66% of respondents, YouTube is the most popular platform (for streaming and downloading) for on-demand TV and videos in Singapore, particularly if it is user-generated content as opposed to content from commercial entities. Content-wise, news is the most important for consumers (76%). 

Smartphones and tablets have become more popular for consuming content. Smartphone penetration rates are 80% for Singapore, ahead of Australia with 70% penetration, Abdul Rahim commented. The drivers for mobile viewing include better Internet connectivity, increased smartphone use, services enabling on-the-go viewing such as Netflix, the availability of relevant content, pause-and-resume capability and more mobile devices at home, he said. 

Each week, Singaporeans spend an average of 10 hours watching video content on their TV screens, compared to six hours per week on their desktop computer and seven hours per week on their laptop. They do the same with smartphones for five hours a week, and three hours per week on their tablets. 

The mobile devices see more use at home, with smartphone viewing taking up three hours at home, and two hours outside the home, such as at the office or while commuting. Tablets are used for viewing for two hours at home, and one hour away from home, Abdul Rahim shared. In fact, 25% of consumers watch video while commuting on a weekly basis.

Singaporeans revealed that they will view video content on a mobile device if the content is good, they have network connectivity that supports it, and they are using a smartphone. However, the content should have pause/resume capability for place switching, and services must support mobile viewing.

The place shifting phenomenon is driven by smartphones, says the study. Four in ten respondents from Singapore said they do this on a weekly basis against global figures of 36%. 

Barriers to adoption are very consistent with global findings, Abdul Rahim added. Cost of data as well as cost of content are two of the main barriers, while the mobile data connection might be too slow. 

A third of Singapore respondents say their mobile data connections are too slow stream video, despite the fact that Australia followed by Singapore have the highest network connections in Asia Pacific, noted Abdul Rahim. 

*All charts from the The Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media 2014 report.

*The Ericsson ConsumerLab TV & Media 2014 report is based on 23,000 online interviews conducted in May 2014 with broadband users in Brazil, Canada, Chile, mainland China, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, the UK and the US. Almost all respondents use the Internet on a daily basis. The results of this study represent the views of more than 620 million people.

This data was complemented with 22 in-depth interviews with consumers in San Francisco, London and Stockholm, as well as 11 interviews with media industry professionals.

Tracking global travel trends with Euromonitor

Source: Euromonitor website.

Euromonitor International has released the World Travel Market Global Trends Report 2014, which has predicted future travel trends for the past nine years.

Key trends are for Asia Pacific and the Middle East are:

The Middle East is changing perceptions about the region through design tourism, which promotes design in tourism. The trend is helping to revitalise visitor arrivals and attract creative minds.

Messaging apps are becoming e-commerce platforms in China. WeChat, the second largest global messaging service after WhatsApp, has emerged as a viable sales channel for Chinese travel companies with customer service, bookings and payments.

Online and mobile bookings for India's rail network represent a strong driver for travel and tourism, and are recognised by the new government as a vital component for the country’s overall growth.

In 2013, Euromonitor identified trends such as:

The mobile concierge: travel companies are increasingly using mobile channels to satisfy customers’ needs before, during and after the trip. 

Luxury low-cost carriers (LCCs): Middle Eastern consumers love for luxury has led to LCCs introducing business class-style services.

Business microstays: Hotels are targeting business travellers for stays of 24 hours. 

Download the 2014 report here.

Australia, Singapore, and UAE on top 10 for relocation wishlist

The fifth Global Professionals on the Move Report from Hydrogen Group, a leading global recruitment company, has found that the number of people willing to work abroad has doubled over five years (16% in 2010 to 35% in 2014), and 40% believe that there are no barriers to moving abroad. 

While the US and UK were top on relocation wishlists, followed by Australia at no. 3, Singapore was the top Asian country of choice at no. 7, and the UAE topped the Middle Eastern region at no. 8.

In key Asian markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, governments have tightened controls in job markets to favour home-grown talent rather than overseas executives, which favours the 'return homers' - those returning home after an international opportunity, Hydrogen Group said. 

Companies and countries are recognising the value of this hybrid solution to talent shortages, looking to retain these nationals with international experience to help develop local economies and stem the over-reliance on expatriates.  

City-wise, Sydney was no. 3 on the wishlist, Singapore was no. 5, Hong Kong no. 9 and Melbourne no. 10.  

Key findings: 
· Singapore remains the top destination in Asia to relocate to, followed by Hong Kong and mainland China 

· The percentage of people who want to work abroad has more than doubled from 16% (2010) to 35% (2014) 

· 27% surveyed were 'return homers'; 34% of Asian return homers were female, and 82% were aged between 31 and 50 

· 40% working abroad said there were no barriers to moving abroad, compared to 0% in 2010 

· Only 17% of people working abroad in 2014 have a professional qualification over and above a degree compared to 30% in 2010. 

· 98% of Asian respondents would work abroad again 

· 48% of respondents were likely to move on to a new country rather than return home - this figure compared to 38% five years ago. 

Simon Walker, Hydrogen Group COO, APAC, said: "We now have a worldwide talent pool to draw candidates from. The return homers are of particular interest in Asia, where countries are legislating to ensure their local talent is developed, retained and attracted back." 

The report was compiled alongside ESCP Europe, the university, with 2,444 respondents from across industries in 99 countries. Click here to access the report. 

*All images from the 2014 Global Professionals on the Move report 

New McAfee Threats Report identifies two major security challenges

McAfee Labs has released the McAfee Labs Threats Report: Fourth Quarter 2013, highlighting the increased threat from credit card theft. The company also said problem software is increasingly disguised to look legitimate, making the likelihood of getting infected more likely.

Each quarter, the McAfee Labs team of 500 multidisciplinary researchers in 30 countries follows the complete range of threats in real time, identifying application vulnerabilities, analysing and correlating risks, and helping to protect enterprises and the public.  

Detailed research of the high-profile Q4 credit card data breaches found that the point-of-sale (POS) malware used in the attacks were relatively unsophisticated and likely purchased “off the shelf”. McAfee Labs’ ongoing research into underground markets further identified the attempted sale of stolen credit card numbers and personal information known to have been compromised in the Q4 retail breaches. The researchers found the thieves offering for sale some of the 40 million credit card numbers reported stolen in batches of between 1 million and 4 million at a time. 

“The fourth quarter of 2013 will be remembered as the period when cybercrime became ‘real’ for more people than ever before,” said Vincent Weafer, Senior VP for McAfee Labs. “These cyber thefts occurred at a time when most people were focused on their holiday shopping and when the industry wanted people to feel secure and confident in their purchases. The impact of these attacks will be felt both at the kitchen table as well as the boardroom table."

In the fourth quarter alone, McAfee Labs found more than 2.3 million new malicious signed applications, a 52% increase from the previous quarter. The practice of code-signing software validates the identity of the developer who produced the code and ensures the code has not been tampered with since the issue of its digital certificate. The vast majority of growth is due to dubious content development networks (CDNs). These are websites and companies that allow developers to upload their programs, or a URL that links to an external application, and then 'wrap' it in a signed installer. 

“We can see from the threat statistics in the Q4 report that Asia Pacific comes in third place after North America and the Europe-Middle East market, with 8.4% of servers hosting suspect content here,” said Wahab Yusoff, Vice President for McAfee South Asia. 

“Although only a rather small number of suspicious content is hosted in Asia, we should remain vigilant and monitor the situation as cyber attacks don’t know physical borders.” 

The McAfee Labs team warns that the growing number of maliciously signed files could create confusion among users and administrators, and even call into question the continued viability of the long-established certificate authority (CA) model for authenticating “safe” software. 

“Although the expansion of the CA and CDN industries has dramatically lowered the cost of developing and issuing software for developers, the standards for qualifying the identity of the publisher have also decreased dramatically,” said Weafer. 

“We will need to learn to place more trust in the reputation of the vendor that signed the file, and less trust in the simple presence of a certificate.” 

Click here to read the full McAfee Labs Threats Report: Fourth Quarter 2013 report.