Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Workplace Technology Critical to Positive Customer Service Outcomes, Research Shows

    Workplace Technology Critical to Positive Customer Service Outcomes, Research Shows

    Only four percent of workers believe that technology did not play a role in their ability to serve customers today 

    Research by Humanforce, a provider of intelligent workforce management solutions, has shown seventy-four percent of frontline workers in Australia, including retail staff, believe that technology plays a critical role in customer service today.

    Alarmingly, while technology is being recognised as increasingly important to meeting customer needs, only twenty-eight percent of Australian retail workers feel that the technology they use in their workplace is advanced, with thirteen percent identifying that the technology in their workplace was either poor or limited.

    “Part-time and casual workers are at the frontline of customer service in Australia, making them commonly the first point of contact for customer queries and taking the lead for any issue resolution. Importantly, these workers rely on technology to connect with their employers and colleagues, assist in their roles and meet customer needs,” said Clayton Pyne, CEO, Humanforce.

    Workers themselves identify that they need advanced technologies to do their jobs, with only four percent of people surveyed saying that technology did not play a role in their ability to serve customers.

    Today, frontline retail workers not only prefer employers that offered workplace technologies that support their work but sought out companies that used technologies that empowered workers to manage their own shifts. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed would be more likely to join a company if they used automated technology to help better manage their work – including tasks, shift availability and pay. Conversely, twenty-three percent of frontline workers would consider leaving an employer if they did not offer technologies in the workplace that helped employees plan and manage their work.

    After mobile phones, tablets, and computers. the workplace technologies reportedly most used by frontline workers in Australia were:

    • Scanners – thirty-six percent
    • Point of sale (POS) systems – twenty-three percent
    • Wearable technologies – eleven percent

    “One bad experience or poor customer service interaction today can lead to customers abandoning a purchase and forming a negative perception of a brand, that may never subside. To meet Australian consumers’ expectations, businesses need to step up their customer service game and support workers with the right technologies,” said Pyne. “Solutions that can speed purchase processes, instantly surface a customer’s purchase history, or provide background on a product issue or complaint, equip frontline workers with invaluable tools and information to better meet customer needs, while in the flow of work.”

    Training was identified as a priority by retail workers to help them adapt to new workplace technologies, with hands-on training provided by a manager or colleague and online training accounting for 49% of respondents’ preferred training metholodogies.

    “In a competitive hiring environment, businesses need to focus on the employee experience by offering workers technologies that support positive customer service outcomes and enables them to better manage their work; while allowing businesses to optimise costs, improve productivity and realise compliance. Workforce management solutions can help simplify workplace processes and empower employees to manage their working lives through automating shift management, onboarding, training and more, while ensuring business objectives are met,” said Pyne. 

    Methodology

    • Humanforce contracted Zoho Survey to survey 500 Australian frontline workers (part-time and casual worker respondents) on technologies used in their workplaces in Q4 2021.

    About Humanforce

    The intelligent platform for your shift-based workforce.

    Almost every shift has its no-shows, late arrivals, and special requests, but you’ve also got to stay up to date with the big shifts in how people work – everything from new employee expectations to new technologies, new regulations and more. Humanforce brings a whole new approach to managing your teams by simplifying the process, giving you complete visibility and allowing you to stay ahead of the curve. That’s why thousands of businesses of all sizes – from hotels to hospitals, resources to recreation, stadiums to shops and more – use Humanforce to get ready for the next shift. www.humanforce.com

    Media Contact:

    Sarah Park

    Mulberry Marketing Communications

    +613 9023 9110

    spark@mulberrymc.com

  • Standards drive growing opportunities for the satellites industry

    Standards drive growing opportunities for the satellites industry

    Terry Bleakley, SVP in Asia, Intelsat, discussed in an interview the importance of standards in the satellite industry and highlighted how the company is leading in this area. He also shed light on the main growth opportunities presented to Intelsat in different areas of the satellites industry.

    How are satellite operators planning to integrate their satellite capabilities with terrestrial telecoms technology? 

    Organizations have different strategies. Looking back at the history of the satellites industry, it’s been very heterogeneous and sits outside telecom networks in general. We really need to become homogeneous and fit more with the telecom network. Statistics have shown that telecommunications and paid TV spend every year about $1.6 trillion and satellite makes up around $16 billion, which is about 1%. Therefore, to become more relevant, our solutions should interact more seamlessly with standards.

    At Intelsat, we have a $2 billion unified network made of three components, namely virtualization, standards, and smart edge terminals. The virtualization is about software-defined satellites which are very flexible. The second component is standards; Intelsat is working towards open standards. The satellite industry has been heterogeneous which makes it difficult to interface and doesn’t allow you to get scale. Being part of the telecom network gives us scale.

    In this framework, we will chair the NTN segment of the 3GPP as part of the Release 17 of 5G standardization efforts, which is considered a first in the industry. Never before has a satellite operator been involved in 3G or 4G standards.

    Moreover, we’re the first satellite operator to get MEF Ethernet certification which will allow our network to interface seamlessly with the Ethernet portion of the network.

    The third part of the standards is: DIFI (digital IF). At the moment the radio signal- IF is analog and we need a standard around the digital IF.

    As the 5G standard is adopted, new markets will evolve for satellite operators, IoT, private 5G network and cellular backhaul for densification because the wave form of 5G doesn’t go as fast as transmitting more information so it needs more cell sites and edge devices. Based on some of those opportunities, a market doesn’t really exist today for satellite; it’s just starring and in 2030, it will become an 8 billion dollar market of satellite operators. There’s a driving force for us to adopt 5G and embrace it and work with the telco operators.

    How will this impact the affordability and accessibility of satellite broadband services in the future? 

    The market we see growing is cellular backhaul, cloud connectivity, and private networks. People have this strange idea that satellites are not able to do video and voice over and the first thing people want to see from our network is whether Teams works and when they see it working seamlessly, they are convinced that geo-satellite works.

    If we look outside the traditional telco, we see a lot of growth in mobility. Our FlexMaritime Networks is a managed service that we provide and that connects ships using our capacity. We connect 9,000 ships today. In addition, we acquired in-flight connectivity company GOGO commercial aviation as well this year and we’ve incorporated that into Commercial Aviation Intelsat.

    We are looking at how we can bring our relationships with the media companies to aircraft passengers and how to strengthen our opportunities in that area. We already work in the US with T-Mobile for providing a more seamless experience for the passengers when they get on an aircraft. As we build out our 5G core, and we have a 5G network on the plane, we become a roaming service provider for them.

    Will the industry see the same growth cycles back in five or 10 years ago?

    Satellites industry has gained more awareness in recent years which has allowed us to meet more MNOs and high profile executives and has given us the chance to tell our story: We’re a 5G multi-led multi-orbit satellites network. We are getting a lot of business for growing cellular backhaul.

    We also see opportunities in government-lead initiatives to connect schools, hospitals, and governments remotely. These government-funded projects aim to reduce the digital divide and found in satellites the solution to solve their issues.

    Moreover, private LTE is getting more interest in terms of extending the cloud to remote areas.

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  • McDonald’s eyes selling its South Korea unit

    McDonald’s eyes selling its South Korea unit

    McDonald’s Korea, the local unit wholly owned by the US fast-food giant, is seeking a new owner — joining the latest burger chain sales rush here.

    The company confirmed Friday that its US headquarters is selling its entire stake in the Korean unit as well as its business license after its first failed attempt six years ago.

    According to news reports, Mirae Asset Securities, the deal’s lead manager, plans to send letters as early as next month to invite potential bidders.

    With the addition of McDonald’s Korea, the largest fast-food chain by revenue here, four out of six major burger franchises — including Burger King, KFC and Mom’s Touch — are looking for new owners.

    Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners is selling Burger King Korea, along with the burger chain’s Japanese unit. Meanwhile, Korean chemicals conglomerate KG Group is seeking an exit after its five-year ownership of KFC Korea. Mom’s Touch, a home-grown chicken burger chain owned by private equity firm Korea F&B Holding, recently delisted from the nation’s second bourse Kosdaq in a move to search for a new owner.

    Unlike the four, the remaining Lotteria and No Brand Burger are subsidiaries under retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae, respectively.

    The valuation of McDonald’s Korea is yet to be estimated, but market forecasts put it much higher than 2016’s 300 billion-500 billion won ($234 million-$469 million). Crosstown rival Burger King is currently valued at around 1 trillion won.

    US private equity giant Carlyle Group is cited as one of the potential buyers of McDonald’s Korea. In 2016, when the company was put up for sale, Carlyle created a consortium with Maeil Dairies — the nation’s leading dairy company — but later backed out from the deal. After its failed attempt to take over the Korean unit, it acquired the Chinese and Hong Kong branches in 2017.

    Along with the deal price, the US headquarters’ push to maintain its control over the Korean unit even after an exit could become a key factor in the acquisition talks. In 2016, the US head office insisted that it resume quality control of burger products and receive royalty payments from McDonald’s Korea, which evidently became another deal breaker.

    According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korean unit has paid 54.3 billion won in 2021 and 50.1 billion won in 2020 in commission payments for the US headquarters.

    Industry watchers say growing demand for premium burgers has led to heated competition in the market and an influx of newcomers. The food unit of Daewoo Development recently launched Good Stuff Eatery, a handcrafted burger chain frequented by former US President Barack Obama. BHC Group and Hanwha Solutions are poised to open Korean branches of Super Duper Burgers and Five Guys this year.

    As of 2021, McDonald’s Korea operates 404 stores nationwide. It posted 867 billion won in sales, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier, while logging 34.9 billion won in net losses.

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  • E-wallet MoMo buys stake in securities firm

    E-wallet MoMo buys stake in securities firm

    The owner of e-wallet MoMo has purchased more than 4.4 million shares, or a 49 stake, in Hanoi-based CV Securities JSC (CVS). The deal was struck Thursday and Online Mobile Services JSC, or M Service, has received more than 4.4 shares from two shareholders of CVS – its vice chairman Jiang Wen and general director Nguyen Kim Hau – the securities firm said in a statement sent to the State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SCC).

    Established in 2009, CVS was first known as Hong Bang Securities JSC and renamed Hung Thinh Securities in 2015. The company also moved its headquarters from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

    Its annual revenue was VND4.4 billion ($190,000) and VND4.8 billion in 2020 and 2021 respectively. As of the first quarter of 2022, CVS had recorded a cumulative loss of more than VND80 billion.

    The new deal makes M_Service the second fintech firm to invest in a securities company after Finhay, who bought shares in Vina Securities early this week.

    Both Momo and Finhay are invested in by Thien Viet Securities (TVS). As of March 31, TVS recorded the original cost of investment in M_Service at VND27.8 billion and nearly VND62.5 billion at Finhay.

    Momo had 31 million users and 140,000 payment acceptance points last year. The wallet is now a partner of more than 50 banks, and financial and insurance companies.

    The e-wallet has completed a $200-million Series E funding round funded by a consortium of investors led by Japan’s Mizuho Bank. Investment funds Ward Ferry, Goodwater Capital and Kora Management make up the rest of the consortium.

    A media representative said he could not announce a specific figure, but MoMo’s valuation exceeds $2 billion, making it a startup unicorn.

  • Cleanery, eco-cleaning start-up set for Australian launch

    Cleanery, eco-cleaning start-up set for Australian launch

    Cleanery, the innovative Kiwi eco-cleaning and personal care products company, has closed an oversubscribed Seed Round of $2.34 million.

    Kiwi eco-cleaning start-up attracts big name backers for Australasian growth

    Cleanery, the innovative Kiwi eco-cleaning and personal care products company, has closed an oversubscribed Seed Round of $2.34 million.

    The raise attracted significant interest from the New Zealand business community, including Peter Cullinane, Nicola O’Rourke, and Michael Stiassny (via their company Founders Advisory), Shane Bradley (formerly GrabOne), and Lance Wiggs, via the newly minted Climate Venture Capital Fund.

    The Climate Venture Capital Fund is the largest investor in this Seed Round. Also investing is Icehouse Ventures, Angel HQ, and friends and family who have supported the company from day one.

    “This is an exciting time for us,” says Cleanery co-founder Mark Sorensen. “The size of the investment is larger than we initially anticipated and the quality of the people backing us is incredible. To have the likes of Peter Cullinane who made such a success with Lewis Road Creamery, or the Climate VC Fund, which sees our emissions reduction potential, gives us real confidence.

    “The money raised will be used to deliver an exciting New Zealand and Australian marketing plan, a USA e-commerce pilot, and resourcing the business for rapid growth,” says Sorensen.

    After a successful launch supported by Farro in October 2021, the products are already loved by many New Zealanders, with a growing direct-to-consumer offer.

    Woolworth’s launch

    The successful Seed Round coincides with Cleanery’s launch into Australia with a national rollout in Woolworths supermarkets, starting this week.

    “We have great capacity in our Auckland factory – and so it’s all about growing market share. The products work exceptionally well, and we’ve been selling online and in select outlets since last year, so we know there’s demand. It’s now about getting scale, which Woolworths and other supermarkets will bring in spades.”

    Just add water!

    Cleanery’s patented technology is revolutionising the cleaning and personal care categories by removing the water and the plastic bottle and simply using a sachet.

    “There’s no point shipping water when we’ve all got perfectly good water in our taps at home. And we all know the problem caused by packaging waste – so let’s reuse what you’ve already got under the sink,” says co-founder Ellie Brade.

    Cleanery products come in a recyclable sachet that can be mixed with water in a bottle the company supplies – or one of your own.

    “We’ll even give you a sticker to put over the old label,” she says.

    Cleanery estimates its products reduce plastic by 99%. And by not shipping water Cleanery can fit the equivalent of over 200,000 bottles in one shipping container – up to 20 times more than traditional products and at a fraction of the weight.

    Cullinane likes the disruption

    The proposition was immediately attractive to Peter Cullinane, whose former company Lewis Road Creamery shook up the dairy aisle. “The cleaning and personal care products industry is very large and very much ready for a disruption,” he says. “Cleanery is such a simple proposition: it’s the cleaner we want, not the bottle. And it works. It really does.”

    Tests demonstrate how Cleanery’s products clean more effectively than other mainstream cleaning products – eco or otherwise – while still having a safe, natural, plant and mineral based formulation.

    “So you have a cleaner that works better than any other, has such an elegant packaging solution, costs less, and has impeccable environmental credentials. What’s not to like?” says Cullinane.

    Emissions saved

    Dr Jez Weston, a partner in the Climate VC Fund says Cleanery meets its strict criteria for emissions reductions.

    “Our mission is to fund high growth companies that deliver significant emissions reductions. Cleanery means you’re not making more single use plastic bottles and spray heads and it means you’re not hauling that weight of water around the world. Every household uses cleaning products, so the emissions savings are going to be substantial.”

    This is the second investment by Climate VC Fund. Rohan MacMahon, partner of the fund, says Cleanery’s environmental credibility is matched by a strong management team. “We have huge confidence in the technical and commercial talent that Mark has attracted.”

    Born on a beach

    The investment in Cleanery is sweet reward for Sorensen, whose journey to solving plastic pollution started aged 14.

    “When we launched the company, my mother dug out an old essay I’d written in Social Studies about the urgent need to address the problems with packaging. I’d forgotten I’d even written it. I got an A+ by the way.”

    The essay was forgotten but the sentiment remained and during a three-day tramp in New Zealand’s Far North in 2017, Sorensen was surprised to find plastic on the coastline. “Here I was on remote beaches in the most remote country on Earth and I was still finding plastic. I was really motivated to do something.”

    Having worked with many of New Zealand’s most exciting science and technology companies as an advisor, he was well placed to know how to start and who to call on. But the technical challenge proved immense. “it’s one thing to slap together something that looks and smells like a cleaner – to create something that actually does the job, and can truly replace mainstream products, is another thing altogether.”

    Through a series of collaborations and explorations, the initial chemistry was developed and the real work – scaling up a factory capable of producing these novel formulations – began.

    “The timing is right. Consumers want to address the problem. China has stopped taking our so-called ‘recycling’ and the government and industry realise they need to do something.

    “And Covid helped highlight the need for scalable, local, manufacturing. The decisions we made during early Covid lockdowns, when supply chains started looking dicey, are paying off as we are now in control of our destiny with our own plant based here in Auckland and can produce product at any volume.”

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  • Vietnam’s Luna investors face turbulence

    Vietnam’s Luna investors face turbulence

    The ‘revived’ Luna cryptocurrency has dashed many investors’ hopes by falling to an all-time low. Hoang Anh, a marketer in Hanoi, said he owns both the new and old versions of Terra’s cryptocurrency, Luna and Lunc, or Luna Classic.

    He had viewed Lunc, whose market cap has fallen to less than a billion dollars from US$40 billion a couple months ago, as a gamble, but was hopeful about the new version.

    Like many other amateur investors, he too bought Luna in early June at $8 a token after it had doubled to over $11 on May 31. But it has since plummeted to $2-3 despite a rebound in most large-cap cryptocurrencies.

    Anh said he had to sell to cut a portion losses, but kept the rest in the hope the price would recover following measures by the development team.

    Another Hanoian investor, Duc Duyet, bought $1,000 worth of Luna on May 31 as a long-term investment and also bought some Lunc to try bottom-fishing.

    But Luna has lost over 70 percent of its value since, while Lunc has fallen close to his cost price after making some gains.

    “Perhaps I should delete the trading app so that I don’t have to worry about it any more.”

    The Luna investor community in Vietnam is in pain. Some bought not only Luna and Lunc but also some other Terra-related cryptocurrencies like ANC and USTC. Overall, their values have fallen by at least 20 percent.

    “Are we being scammed for a second time, everyone?” Ngoc Bach, an investor, posted in a cryptocurrency group.

    In those groups, members are divided into two camps: some still have faith in the development team and are holding on to the tokens, waiting for prices to surge, but others have thrown in the towel and sold out.

    Nguyen Tien Bac, an administrator of a group, said many Vietnamese investors are still looking to profit from Luna and Lunc.

    They believe Lunc, once among the top 10 cryptocurrency by market cap, is “too big to fail” while the new Luna reached the billion-dollar mark immediately after listing.

    But Bac warned that prices are unlikely to climb any since supply of tokens in the trillions now.

    “Gains, if any, will possibly be because of manipulation.”

    A recent expose and the development team’s silence have dragged Luna’s price down, according to the blockchain-focused website CryptoSlate.

    On June 6, a Twitter-based Terra community whistleblower known as “FatMan” revealed that Terraform Labs, developer of Luna, and its founder Do Kwon had other secret and shadow wallets holding at least 42 million LUNA tokens, worth over $200 million.

    This went against their claim of only issuing to the community and not holding any Luna.

    Terraform Labs has yet to respond to FatMan’s allegation.

    Do Kwon’s Twitter account has also been silent about future plans recently, and even went private for some time, heightening investor fears over crypto rug pulling.

    CoinDesk reporter Krisztian Sandor said investing in either Luna or Lunc was “highly risky at this point”.

    “It’s like purchasing a house burned down to ashes or putting money upfront for plans that only exist on paper, respectively.”

    He called Lunc’s prospect “uncertain”, as developers now have little incentive to build any project on top of it.

    For the newer cryptocurrency, the challenge is how many of the numerous protocols and development teams that were building on old Terra would stick around to develop applications.

    Therefore, activity and user numbers pertaining to the new blockchain “would ultimately determine how much Luna is worth and if it will succeed,” he said.

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  • Vietnam ranks 5th globally in NFT users

    Vietnam ranks 5th globally in NFT users

    Vietnam ranks fifth globally in the number of non-fungible token users at over two million as of last year, a study has found.

    The country had 2.19 million users last year, behind Thailand, Brazil, the U.S. and China, according to the Digital Economy Compass 2022 study by Germany-based data portal Statista.

    In terms NFT penetration rate, it also ranked fifth at 2.24 percent, behind Thailand, Canada, Australia and Brazil.

    The penetration rate is the share of active paying customers (or accounts) from the total population last year.

    Another recent survey by Australian data research company Finder revealed Vietnam ranks fifth globally in the ratio of non-fungible token game players.

    Twenty-three percent of respondents in Vietnam said they play NFT games, according to the survey conducted between March and May.

    It was ranked behind India, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.

    Vietnam has made headlines in the non-fungible token world in recent years with Axie Infinity, one of the most popular NFT games globally.

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  • Hong Kong Must Reopen to Remain a Financial Hub

    Hong Kong Must Reopen to Remain a Financial Hub

    Outgoing city chief executive Carrie Lam makes frank comments to CNBC before her departure at the end of the month.

    Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive Carrie Lam, who has faced a difficult, tempestuous five-year term that included the 2019 pro-democratic protests, the subsequent introduction of the city’s National Security Law, and the Covid-19 pandemic, appeared to be more forcefully speaking her mind than had previously been the case in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

    She apparently indicated to viewers that the city could not continue to function as a financial hub if the current border controls remain in place, as this has made people impatient.

    The border control measures have really made people very impatient. Of course, they’ve undermined Hong Kong’s status as a hub. If you cannot travel freely to other places and into the mainland, how could you be a hub?

    Despite recent steps to relax some pandemic restrictions, Hong Kong continues to require a 7-day quarantine for any foreign arrivals. It also continues to employ extensive contact tracing and testing requirements city-wide, among other measures.

    Lam discussed the departure of foreigners and expatriates, saying that this was not due to the National Security Law, but the extent and duration of the strict pandemic controls. Other topics that were discussed included the one country, two systems governing principle in Hong Kong, which she believed had been mischaracterized by overseas media.

    I sometimes find it very disturbing that a lot of Western media try to portray Hong Kong as just another Chinese city and have no proper recognition or understanding of one country, two systems, Carrie Lam said.

    She maintained that freedom of expression, assembly and media continued to be upheld in the city.

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  • Mongolia to Take Digital Development to a New Level

    Mongolia to Take Digital Development to a New Level

    At Asia Tech Singapore 2022, HE Bolor-Erdene Battsengel, State Secretary, Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, Mongolia, took to the stage to share her views on the changing roles of women in tech with fellow guest panellists.

    Digital governance is a key agenda for many countries. What have been some initiatives rolled out?

    Mongolia aims to build a digital nation. In this context, a number of basic system and structural changes have been made. For example, to accelerate digital transformation, the former agency named Communication and Information Technology Authority was reorganized this year into the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications. E-Mongolia platform has successfully launched an integrated e-government system. The E-Mongolia academy has also been established to further develop, improve and maintain the E-Mongolia System. The fundamental laws of digital governance, such as the Law on Public Information, the Law on Digital Signatures, the Law on the Personal Data Protection, and the Law on Cyber ​​Security, have also been approved by the Parliament of Mongolia.

    Mongolia implemented the e-Mongolia platform a couple of years ago to digitalize public services. Can you tell us about the progress of this initiative and how this has impacted the lives of Mongolians?

    We first introduced the E-Mongolia system on 1 October 2020. The main achievement is that today, it has become a large system that includes 656 services from 61 government organizations. In total, more than 12 million services have been provided online through this system. The system currently has 1.3 million users. That means one-third of the adult population uses the E-Mongolia platform. A total of 656 most demanded public services can be obtained from this system, from applying for a driver’s license to applying for a passport. Features such as offering services based on customer behavior have recently been added.

    Mongolia is a vast and one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Can you tell us how this has been a challenge for 5G adoption and what is the 5G journey like so far?

    Our country has approved a policy to introduce 5G networks in 2020. In 2021, 5G pilot tests were successfully conducted twice. This year, the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications and the Communications Regulatory Commission are preparing the spectrum management for the introduction of 5G in Mongolia. In addition, mobile operators are preparing to invest in 5G. It has also successfully completed a 5G readiness assessment with the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

    Our country has a large territory and a sparsely populated region. This situation poses the biggest challenge when building a 5G network. In other words, the investment for establishing a 5G network will require a lot. In addition, 5G requires more robust fiber optic infrastructure. The next big challenge is a small, but highly competitive market. For instance, Mongolia has more than 3 million citizens served by 5 mobile operators.

    What are some plans in the pipeline for the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications of Mongolia?

    As I mentioned, our country aims to become a digital nation. The government has announced that information technology is one of the priorities of the economy. The Ministry of Development was implemented within the government, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Innovation and Digital Development was established. Our ministry has also approved a digital nation strategy. The strategy has six sub-objectives: digital infrastructure, e-governance, cybersecurity, digital literacy and inclusion, innovation and production, and national development accelerator.

    As I have said before, we have passed laws to accelerate the nation’s digital development to a new level. Emphasis will be placed on the implementation of these laws and the approval of compliance regulations.

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  • Banana exports to China boom despite Covid restrictions

    Banana exports to China boom despite Covid restrictions

    Banana exports to China increased by 10 percent in the first five months though total vegetable and fruit exports to that country were down 28 percent.

    Vietnam was China’s largest supplier of bananas at 742,000 tons or 43 percent of its total imports, according to the Vietnam Fruit & Vegetables Association (Vinafruit).

    Vo Quang Huy, director of agriculture firm Huy Long An Co. Ltd, said his company’s banana exports to China were up almost 30 percent year-on-year despite the Covid-19 restrictions and safety measures in place there.

    Nguyen Van Cu, director of a northern exporter, agreed, saying his company’s exports doubled to around 500 tons.

    “Prices have surged from VND3,000 (13 U.S. cents) a kilogram last year to VND5,000-8,000.”

    Vinafruit chairman Dang Phuc Nguyen attributed the rise to falling output in China, where banana farms have been plagued by Fusarium wilt, a lethal fungal disease that has no cure, and rising input costs.

    But packaging and logistic costs of up to VND13,000 a kilogram eat up profits, exporters said.

    They expect exports and prices to rise sharply in the second half of this year.

    Vietnamese exports need to improve their quality and origin traceability to increase their chances of entering the Chinese market, Nguyen added.

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  • Delivery work most lucrative among 5 largest job categories

    Delivery work most lucrative among 5 largest job categories

    Delivery workers earn the highest salaries among the five largest groups of workers as companies compete with each other amid a shortage of candidates, a study has found.

    They get an average post-social distancing salary of VND10.1 million ($435.82) a month, 11 percent more than the next group, factory workers (VND9.1 million), according to recruitment platform Viec Lam Tot.

    Their salary also increased the most in March — 11.2 percent — indicating high demand as delivery companies competed to hire drivers.

    Salesclerks had an average salary of VND8.1 million per month this year, followed by security guards (VND7.1 million) and hotel and restaurant staff (VND6.7 million).

    Viec Lam Tot said there is a shortage of delivery staff as e-commerce demand remains high.

    E-commerce had grown by over 20 percent last year, according to the Vietnam E-commerce Association.

    Nguyen Hoang Trung, CEO of delivery app Loship, said people have picked up the habit of ordering things online.

    An average delivery person could make VND400,000-600,000 a day if they work for eight hours, and some work for up to 18 hours, he added.

    The report also said the highest salary for drivers is paid in the southern province of Binh Duong at VND11.72 million, followed by Dong Nai Province (VND11.6 million) and HCMC (VND9.78 million).

    Factory workers, waiters and salesclerks in the two provinces also get higher salaries than their counterparts in HCMC.

    The exodus of over 500,000 workers from HCMC to their hometowns at the end of last year partly explain these figures, the report said, citing data from the General Statistics Office.

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  • U.S. Agency Asks Tesla For Information On Canadian Fire Incident

    U.S. Agency Asks Tesla For Information On Canadian Fire Incident

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday it has asked Tesla Inc for information about a recent 2021 Tesla Model Y fire in Vancouver, British Columbia, in which a driver reported struggling to exit.

    The NHTSA told Reuters the agency “is aware of the incident and has reached out to the manufacturer for information.”

    Electrek posted a video of the incident in which the owner said he received an error notification and then saw smoke. The driver said that to get out he “had to smash the window. … I kicked through the window because everything stops. The power didn’t work. The door didn’t open. The windows didn’t go down.”

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  • Ferrari Teases 2023 Le Mans Challenger, To Begin Testing Soon

    Ferrari Teases 2023 Le Mans Challenger, To Begin Testing Soon

    Almost 49 years after Ferrari last participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Italian carmaker is back as it teased its latest challenger before testing starts for the 2023 edition of the French endurance race. Ferrari unveiled the first details of the Le Mans Hypercar that will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2023 and shows strong design references to the stylistic features that distinguish the models in the Prancing Horse range. Additionally, the design and the parts used for the 2023 Ferrari Le Mans challenger would make way for the company’s road car range as well.

    The last time team from Maranello took part in the Le Mans was in 1973, while the last win came in 1965 with the Ferrari 250 LM, before the run of six consecutive victories ended in 1966 by Ford GT40. We still don’t know the name of the new hypercar for Le Mans but do know that the new prancing horse would join the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The teaser image of the new Ferrari Le Mans hypercar shows off blade-thin DRLs connected by an illuminated red highlight, to a deep lip spoiler angled down at the edges. We expect that the new hypercar would be mid-engine driven, built on a completely new chassis, and hybrid system, as well as new parts that would eventually trickle down to the company’s road car range.

    The hypercar is in the prototype stage and is early in the day to announce the drivers and the official crews that would be part of the team. But if we had to speculate, then the bets are high on Callum Ilott, Alfa Romeo driver Antonia Giovinazzi and perhaps even former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen. Then there are rosters like Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra and Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina, and Sam Bird.

  • Sony says smartphone cameras will soon produce better images than DSLR cameras

    Sony says smartphone cameras will soon produce better images than DSLR cameras

    When it comes time for you to capture an important event by snapping a photograph of it or recording it on video, do you tend to use the camera array on your smartphone or do you turn to a dedicated SLR camera to handle these tasks? Smartphone photography has come such a long way that these days most consumers are willing to trust their handsets to deliver outstanding family photos.
    One executive who has a great vantage point showing him the future of smartphone photography is the President and CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS), Terushi Shimizu. The executive runs the team that is the leading supplier of image sensors for smartphones and as a result, Shimizu has a unique look at what is happening in the industry. Shimizu says that “still images (from smartphones) will exceed the image quality of single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras within the next few years.”

    An SLR camera uses a combination of mirrors and prisms so that the image seen through the viewfinder is the same image that will be captured by the photographer. DSLR cameras are Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras that use image sensors rather than film. Sony’s Shimizu made his comment during an industry conference and a slide from that event shows that Sony expects that the quality of smartphone camera images will start to exceed those of interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) in the calendar year 2024.

    That is the same as saying that images from smartphone cameras will start to surpass those achieved by DSLR and mirrorless cameras in as soon as two years. One of the reasons for the improvement will be an increase in the size of image sensors to over one inch in size allowing them to capture more data.. Sony also has created a new structure that saturates each pixel with twice as much light to create more dynamic range while reducing noise on pictures snapped in low-light.
  • Google Tasks gains an important new feature for mobile and desktop

    Google Tasks gains an important new feature for mobile and desktop

    Google has added a new feature to its Google Tasks app. Tasks allow you to make reminders and create to-do lists and a simple but powerful new feature is being added to Tasks that frankly, should have been on the app before. This new feature will allow you to put a star on any task to highlight the importance of a particular task. For example, you can use the star to designate tasks that you consider to be a higher priority.

    Other similar apps such as Microsoft To-Do also allow users to put a star next to a particularly important task in order to help the user quickly find those that are more important than others. Google said in announcing the new feature, “We hope this update makes it easier for you to prioritize your tasks and quickly navigate to important tasks across your projects.” It will be offered to users of both the desktop and mobile versions of Google Tasks.

    On the Google Workspace blog the company wrote, “In Google Tasks, you can now mark important tasks with a star. This is similar to functionality that already exists in Drive today.
    Google started rolling out the feature on Wednesday, June 8th. Still, it might take 15 days or more to arrive to everyone so don’t start freaking out if it hasn’t landed on your phone by the time June 23rd comes around. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer for an update to arrive at its destination.