Showing posts with label business trends. Show all posts
Business Model
In the biometrics industry, I was once introduced to this findbiometrics.com website, a portal covering news of the industry. Because its revenue model is based on sponsored ads, it publishes mostly positive business news boasted mainly by the project-based biometrics companies, rather than their journalists’ own coverage. I found the website was not of much use to me. Read more to learn why.
Five Marketing Philosophies: Is That Why We're Here?
One of my Economics lecturers used to always say, "Welcome to the real world, babies". This was usually delivered whenever he shared industrial applications of textbook knowledge, followed by the usual sounds of "Oh my god, it makes so much sense now" his students' awe and amazement. It wasn't condescending, not at all. In fact, it was liberating. He was acknowledging that we were still 'infants' in the field, with limited knowledge of its workings, but we're at least welcome to learn.
In remembering his teaching methods, I've decided to talk about the five main approaches of marketing through a small child's eye, and lollipops. Each of the five concepts (Production, Product, Selling, Marketing & Societal Marketing) will roughly explain the main objectives of doing business in a simple manner so the knowledge won't be kept just for the 'smart people'. So, read more to share some understanding with these babies!
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
The Perks of Remote Maintenance
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| How does remote support work? |
On the same issue, I read this related article from
Detektor, a security magazine, November/December 2012 issue entitled, “Remote
Maintenance: The Key to 21st Century Customer Care”; which stated that despite
the obvious benefits of using high-tech maintenance solutions, some installers
are still reluctant to embrace the change. A desire for face-to-face
interaction, tradition, and caution about the ramifications on their business
model are the key hurdles to this hesitancy.
Resource Sharing
As we embrace the coming year, our plan is to further enhance the concept of resource sharing. |
Concept of Resource Sharing
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There are a lot of resources and components surrounding FingerTec hardware and software. Instead of merely a product supplier, we should consider ourselves an information provider. And digital technology and the Internet gives us the value-added enhancement to deliver adequate information more efficiently to our resellers and customers.
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Something Larger Than Biometrics
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| The biometrics device is simply 'soulless' if you skip the software |
Biometrics products have their own attractions more than the industries they really served.
That's why most of the biometrics players like to put forward their amazing hardware before you, and eager to show how fingerprint verification or face recognition machine works on you during a demonstration session. Their software easily escapes tight scrutiny with this strategy.
The truth is, the real purpose of a biometrics device is basically defined and decided by its software. The biometrics device is simply 'soulless' if you skip the software.
Humor Elements
A lot of people when they read Reader’s Digest, first page they’d turn to is Laughter the Best Medicine, followed by Life’s Like That and All In a Day’s Work. After they are done with the humors and jokes, then only they peruse other serious topics or skip them entirely.
Many of us are fond of jokes, or contents that have humor elements. Adults need laughter to release tension, children simply laugh to express their happiness. That’s why talk shows, cartoons, comics and comedies have permanent markets. Even in courting, when you can make a woman laugh, half of the battle is over.
Integration
What is the proper word to describe the revolution of Information Technology?A lot of people might find “digital” or “digitalization” well suited to explain the trend. I do agree, but “digitalization” is hard to be comprehended by the layman on how the 0 and 1 or bits and bytes did wonders for changing the world. I choose “integration” as the single word that clearly shows the changes.
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| Integration |
When PCs invaded offices in the late 80s, some different types of works used to handle by different people, later consolidated to be managed by a lesser few. For example, typist is a bygone job. Why need a typist when you can write on your own PC? For the newspaper industry in the pro-PC era, typesetters used to typeset titles in different typefaces and font size, and contents in smaller point size, and later pass their work to designers to cut and paste with the related photos to construct full pages - but now things have changed as sub-editors took over the task of paginating a whole page.
When PCs were introduced, some workflows were fast to become redundant. The multi-tasking of PCs and transferable of data destroyed plenty of old rules and joined many related professions together. It made the used-to-be natural workflow become unnatural, and started a reformation based on the integration of jobs.
Later when the Internet connected every PC in the world to become one giant web network, the norm of integration was more apparent. A lot of small merchants saw the opportunity and forayed online; but to succeed, they have to show how good their integration ability is. Because to open a brick and mortar store you’ll need money and some intelligence, but to open an online store, you need money with much more intelligence. The complexity to integrate the sales of tangible products in an intangible system sometimes is beyond comprehension.
When cloud-computing started becoming the megatrend, the complexity of the integration level is at all heights - customers, billing, payment, sales & marketing, technical support, products & applications, admin & control, etc., are all intertwined. The biggest challenge for the vendor is keeping the complexity behind doors, and displaying the simplicity up front.
And finally, our TimeTec Cloud is making a debut for customers to try after we opened for resellers to register in July. I use this single word, “integration” to conclude our three months of hardwork, and brain-straining labors. And yet we can’t expect any congratulatory flower basket delivered to our storefront; to hope for the glitches to be reduced to a very minimum is good enough.
While all integration efforts go to TimeTec Cloud, another integration task is turned on: consolidating the FingerTec USA website into FingerTec main portal, as a move to promote the effective share of online resources.
I expect further collaboration with our partners to integrate websites around the world of theirs into ours by next year.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Patent War
Patent war has become nasty nowadays. Even when it comes to your original work, you still might have a chance to infringe other people’s rights. The absurdity of the fact could be explained in this following scenario: Your product was launched for quite sometime but you didn’t file for patent application while the other company (that made the same product as you) had filed and granted the patent though the product is still under incubation. They could sue you for violating his patent, you could lose the case and compensate their losses, although technically, you’re not stealing anything from them. And, there is a possibility that they copied your idea in the first place.
Most technology startups, especially those from developing countries, have high chances of losing when engaged in intellectual property war game. Most of them are even unaware of the magnitude of the IP right, or in the state of penny-pinching, any budget allocation for patent expenditure seems unrealistic, and would instantly be considered excessive in their plan; to be dropped without much hesitation.
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| Patent War |
But when we look at startups in the Silicon Valley, whom are showered with all kinds of funds from angel investors and venture capitalists, and whom have enough exposure and guidance to survive and prosper in the modern warfare, who knows how to play lawyer first, inventor later. According to Bloomberg Businessweek (August 13 – 26, 2012 issue), in an article, Hiring a Mercenary for The New Patent War, a new startup, Tactus Technology, filed 20 applications before even beginning to bring their inventions to life.
How much do you have to spend to start a patent application? Schox Patent Group responded to Businessweek interview by saying that they charge a flat rate of US$15,000 per patent. For big corporations, this sum is peanuts, but a big sum to smaller companies.
“Decades ago a machine might have five or ten patents,” says Schox. “But today, the phone in your pocket has about 5,000.” It seems that the patent filing is a lucrative business, but the huge incentive lies on the patent litigation war.
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| Patent War |
On 24th August 2012, Apple won its patent lawsuit against Samsung on the infringement of its multiple patents in the US, including scrolling, zooming, navigation features, as well as icon design and appearance, which awarded the company a US$1.05 billion in settlements. The patent war ignited by Apple is also a strategy aimed at Google to suppress the advancement of its Android powered smart phones and tablets.
The impact? The initial objective of patent rights was to protect the novelty of an invention; now it has become a double-edged sword to subdue competition and innovation to some extent.
We are a technology company, no matter how I loath the twisted development of patent application; it is still one of the indicators to measure the technology strength of a company or a nation. As a technology company, we have to file more patent applications to protect our intellectual property. This month, we filed in a patent application for “A Time Attendance tracking method and system” for TimeTec Mobile App, and another patent on one-touch technology is to be filed next month. Here is our part done in the patenting world.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Fooling Nobody
It was like a dream that had finally been realized. This night scene photograph that I picked to be used for my faculty magazine in my sophomore, is still fresh in my mind. The all-white pillars magnificently stood as the base structure of the Memorial Hall, and the dim yellow lights solemnly bathed the Statue of this great man, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, in his regal sitting position, in between two pillars inside the hall.
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| Lincoln Memorial at night |
And now, after more than two decades, I stood yet again before the Statue of Lincoln with a better idea of its proportion, and with one of his famous quotes always lingering in me, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
Even though there are 44 Presidents since the US’s independence in 1776, the greatness of Abraham Lincoln is still distinguishingly highlighted in the State that was named after its first president, George Washington. Even the tour guide spent more time on this 16th President, showing the spot he got shot, and the hospital he was admitted in after the assassination in April 1865. What made Lincoln the greatest American president? He ended slavery, guided the country through the constitutional, military, and moral crisis – Civil War.
No man is born to be great. What makes a man great depends on what he did in his lifetime. The same for a brand, to become a great product or a great brand, you need to have something extraordinary to deserve an appraisal of greatness. And one good thing about brand, unlike human beings that have a biological lifespan, it can last long when all the factors are right.
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| Fooling Nobody |
As a brand in the Internet era and social media technology that widespreads everything in the speed of light, the famous quote of Lincoln has to be upgraded to a more stringent level to “you fool no people at any time”. And you take no chance, because any wrongdoing can hurt your brand almost instantly.
Last two weeks, a leading Chinese newspaper in Malaysia was uncovered with plagiarism in its editorial article, and the news spread fast on Facebook. Within two weeks, readers exposed another 20 more plagiarized articles by simply using Google as their investigative tool. The newspaper demonstrated the worst kind of response by merely publishing a perfunctory apology on its Facebook fan page, but played dumb in its printed dailies, to limit the right to inform their readers, as a damage control solution. But I dare say you fool nobody in the Internet age. The virtual world and the real world coexist and are interactive, insincerity would eventually rebuke and haunt your credibility.
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| Wall Street Bull |
To summarize my US trip, it was a pleasure to have met our FingerTec partner in New York, to exchange ideas, to better understand the local market, and to explore on how to expand the FingerTec brand in North America for the coming years.
Overall, I had a pleasant stay in New York this summer. The weather was not too hot, especially in the breezy sunny days, wind blew with an unexpectedly soothing cool air, and walking in the vibrant metropolitan city was quite enjoyable. I even managed to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, besides some other popular tourist spots.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
The Trend of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing technology is not something new. When you first registered your Hotmail or Gmail account many years back, it has already existed, not to mention all the social media websites like Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, where you create and host your personal data over onto their servers.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
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| IBM mainframe computer |
IT development trend has always been a scaling down process. For example, it started from mainframe (1950s) to minicomputers (1970s) to PCs (1980s) to laptops (1990s) and later to tablets (2010s). The path software developers underwent was also in this sequence, offering solutions first to big organizations, later to the small ones, and lastly for personal use. But for cloud computing, the sequence is the reverse, which involves a scaling up process.
There are two different modes of reception for individuals and corporations for technology and cloud computing adoption. Normally, individuals would embrace technology faster and more freely than corporations if not due to the fact that the computing power was too expensive to acquire in the past. And the size of IT devices mattered too. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, the computing power they used was only as good as today’s iPhone. Who would reject an iPhone if they can afford one?
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| How to hit the right button for cloud services? |
For the consumer market, the term cloud computing shouldn’t be of their concerns and in fact might never cross their minds. Just like how they picked up on the iCloud concept effortlessly, starting to use it as though it is second nature to them.
But when cloud-computing technology moves up to corporate level, there are processes and crucial issues for consideration. Hence the migration becomes a very tough decision, particularly when they have to deal with the idea of letting a third party vendor host their classified data.
In short, cloud computing is a term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that is often used to represent the Internet in flowcharts and diagrams.
For Amazon Web Services and GoogleApps, they provide IaaS and PaaS with development tools respectively for developers to host their services for customers; they are not situated in the front line for direct interaction with users.
But for our TimeTec Cloud in the Software-as-a-Service cloud model, we provide the hardware infrastructure (even though it is via Amazon’s cloud computing power), the TimeTec software application and the interaction with the user through a front-end portal. Because we host both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from any location.
TimeTec Cloud - A Letter to Resellers
Dear Valued Resellers,
We all seek stability in a volatile business world all the time.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
We all seek stability in a volatile business world all the time.
Most of us are not accustomed to a roller-coaster pattern of sales, because even though it evokes excitement to some people, it could cause a heart attack in others.
The fast changing nature of technology makes business sustainability a constant worry for business owners, regardless of the stability and profitability of their existing industry. When a certain technology goes obsolete, it could drag the whole industry down with it, and you may find yourself out of business almost instantly.
We are fortunate. Our biometrics business started to boom in 2005 when the technology stabilized and the market was ready to accept the new technology, and so far we have registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40.68 percent from 2005 to 2011. But new technologies are quickly becoming old; we can't just expect the line on the chart to continue going upward as we please. Eventually it would slow down, progress into a plateau and even start a downhill progression if nothing is being done to improve the trend; this is the norm for most businesses.
It occurred to me that a recurring revenue business model could be the solution to our worry. When we deal with hardware, customers would buy once and only repurchase when their hardware encounters irreparable damage or a breakdown, or if they happen to open a new branch. In this situation you would be just hoping that they will stick to your brand. Even if you have secured some maintenance contracts and received recurring fees every year, the revenue contributed from this segment is minute in comparison. However, a recurring sales model might seem beyond our reach for our industry.
A few years back when I was contemplating on the cloud computing technology concept, it transpired to me that we could offer TimeTec Cloud to be seamlessly integrated with our FingerTec products, as a recurring revenue business model to be operated concurrently with our current business model.
We built on that idea when we planned and implemented a CRM system four years ago to improve our sales and support system. We settled on Salesforce.com without much argument, and our exposure to the world's most successful Software as a Service (SaaS) model, gave us a hands-on experience from the world’s best. To be the best, we learn from the best.
Unlike Nokia that was promoting their cell phones as hardware only, Apple which came out with their smart phones in 2007, offered various services which included apps and content uniquely integrated with its hardware to guarantee recurring revenue. And, without much struggle, they became the most valuable company in the world.
Equipped with our own vision, it took us almost four years to materialize it. Of course, as our valued resellers, we have factored you into our plans for the future of FingerTec. Successfully changing goals from a product-based company to a service-based one will take one large and contributive effort from all parties - preparation and foresight is essential in this effort.
And along with TimeTec Cloud, you may even want to start considering a change in your product sales model to a rental based business model.
The future is now, and the question is: Are you up for joining us?
Teh Hon Seng
Chief Executive Officer
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Clouds of Memories
Sometimes I think I am destined to do cloud computing.
Even when I started this blogfive years ago and named it Traveling Mind, it was the outcome of freely traveling cloud that first struck my mind.
Saturday, 23 June 2012
When I was young, aged around 4 or 5, I liked to lie on my back, and watched the clouds drifted above in the meadow nearby my house in the bright blue sky. I liked seeing some strands of clouds gathered and formed some unknown shapes that looked like animals such as elephant, cat, dog, horse, and even a dragon, while my childhood mates were playing tag and running around. I also wondered to where the cotton candy-liked cloud would float? Somewhere faraway beyond or within my reach even after I've grown up? That thinking always fascinated me, and occupied my mind most of the time.
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| Memories of clouds |
The little village was my entire world at that time. The coconut trees, grass field, small hills, scattered houses, and even flowing river, pedaling bicycles, loitering dogs and passing train were all still images in my early days’ memories. The only moving objects were clouds, hung high and low, thin and thick in the sky, in thousands different expressions and appearances, easily spilled out of my childhood boundaries, and has rooted deep down in my dream.
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| Artist's impression of cloud city |
And, anyone who knows Chinese would know that I have cloud city in my name. The name seems to bind my fate to clouds even more. And, as I write poems and published books, the simple but rare formed of words that contained artistic conception are often thought by people as a pen name.
Besides, I like the way Chinese landscape art-paintings with light colors or without the use of any color. The simple Chinese ink painting uses the Taoist principles of harmony to depict white clouds, the liu-bai technique, or intentionally leaving it blank, is best capturing not only the outer appearance of a subject but its inner essence of energy, life force and spirit. The empty spaces to portray clouds provide the room for viewers to fill it up with their own imagination.
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| Leave Blank technique to depict clouds |
Due to my liking of cloud, I felt the closeness and attachment to this buzzword Cloud Computing, not merely because it would be the future trend of software application development.
We devote a large part of our resources to build TimeTec Cloud services, hoping it will drive us to somewhere farther with greater achievement. And, we finally come to this most anticipated event - the launch of TimeTec Cloud next month and certainly one of the big moments of FingerTec.
To build a city full of computing activities in the clouds, the dream is so vivid now, and the direction is unmistakable and clearer when the days get closer.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Cultural Collapse
Three years ago when we had a company trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou, one of our programs was to visit a tea farm at the West Lake Xi Hu, Hangzhou. That place is famous with its unfermented Longjing green tea and after a short teatime session, most of us bought home some tealeaves.
My friend in Beijing who knew our tea farm tour told me after sometimes that the tealeaves we bought must be brought over from anywhere BUT the West Lake. He explained to me that the good grade Xihu tealeaves are quite in demand and available in short supply in the country. They are normally pre-booked before harvest and regular group tourists like us who are not tea hobbyists, wouldn’t be served with the original Xihu tea.
In fact, if we study modern history of China, we would know that the decade-long Cultural Revolution from 1966 through 1976 has vastly destroyed good values of the nation. To restore the missing values in human nature, experts estimate, it takes generations.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
Thursday, 17 May 2012
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| XiHu Longjing Tea Farm |
If his statement was true, it means that we were cheated right under our noses. Isn’t it bizarre to see the tea farm before your eyes, but later being served tealeaves planted from somewhere else? Could this really happen? But when this happened in China, I couldn’t be certain.
And I was shocked again after reading a headline on an IT magazine of China last month. The investigative report divulged a set of unspoken rules being played and resulted in the cultural collapse in TaoBao, the largest local B2C and C2C e-commerce portal being operated in China. Founded in 2003, TaoBao is owned by a conglomerate Alibaba Group, which based its headquarters in Hangzhou, China, and also the owner of a very successful B2B portal alibaba.com. After they ousted its rival eBay in China, TaoBao e-marketplace grew so big that any e-merchants who want to sell goods online in China have to deal with them and pay substantial fees accordingly.
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| Jack Ma &Taobao.com |
However, online tenancy is just the beginning. To prosper further, e-merchants have to gain certain privileges and that is where TaoBao managers come in to assist you, unofficially. You would be “assisted” by the managers to jump queue when you participating in online promotion activities, and/or to make your merchandise more “noticeable” compared to other products and the list goes on.
Or for a naïve new e-merchant, you may receive a call from a stranger who tells you that your products have just been blasted with 10 bad reviews from different “customers”, and he could help you to remove the reviews with a price, specifically, USD50 per review. And for all the ten reviews, he will try to get you a quantity discount. He may further offer you to sign the credit promotion package and guarantee a Diamond for your company goodwill level by posting enough of positive reviews.
The best of all strategies was, TaoBao manager would recommend you to sign up for an agent dedicated to you; a person who has an immense experience dealing with TaoBao, and he would be in charge for all your online matters. He will be charging a fee monthly and the best way is to cut some of your profits from TaoBao. To prosper even more, you may consider offering some stakes or partnership in your company to TaoBao managers (of course, they will use proxy to hold the shares).
The periodical further observes, “Every evening, some luxury cars owned by e-merchants would stop by at Alibaba Group’s headquarters to pick up some managers to be entertained at nightclubs and bars in Hangzhou.”
The unspoken rules are becoming an open secret. No matter how drastic the actions taken by Alibaba boss, Mr. Jack Ma, to fire the top and middle executives from time to time, the sleazy activities continued.
TaoBao’s problem was not exceptional, because corruption always involves two willing parties. If fraud is a norm, the entire society has to be blamed. The Biweekly concludes, TaoBao is entrapped in such a quagmire, and predict if the corruptive culture persists, it will backfire one day; but if Taobao does clean up the mess, it will jeopardize its current business.
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| The Red Guard march in The Cultural Revolution |
The idea is quite absurd to the outside world. When Yahoo! new CEO Scott Thompson had to step down after a resume discrepancy scandal, we saw how the Chairman of Alibaba Group, Mr. Jack Ma still standing strong even when he span off and swallowed up the company’s payment business AliPay without the knowledge of any key shareholders, including Yahoo! Inc. With this, we have no more doubt as to why TaoBao suffered a cultural collapse.
And for a country or a corporate that has no Cultural Revolution to blame, we have to bear in mind, a fish rots from the head down.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
FingerTec Website’s Facelift
After 6 long years of having the same look, for the first time our website went through a total facelift. Let me walk you through its major changes. We consolidated the initial two front page contents into one page, and rearranged the scattered icons in a more orderly manner. We also adopted SEO (Search Engine Optimization) concept and integrated its elements holistically.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Our website never had a conventional structure that incorporated our company profile as one of the major features, even when its appearance was minimalistic. When we first started the simple look, I even calculated to reduce the total wording for the front page just like Google’s striped bare search page. I also removed the lengthy company achievements, investors’ relationships and the content I felt was unnecessary. I wanted the website to be a fully useful and straightforward e-commerce site. And I did all these for another reason: to reduce the burden of translations for our multilingual contents.
My SEO consultant friend who is famous in his profession once reminded me that our website was not SEO-enabled. After I explained the rational, he agreed that our website should stay as it is. The unconventional design had attracted more customers than what I had expected. We prosper in business, and I attributed the success to the practicality of the webpage and its component sites.
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| The Old |
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| The New |
Unlike many B2B websites that focus more on resellers and particularly sales but with minimum support, our major efforts went into technical support for resellers, and it has been extended to the end-users as well.
Our contents swelled over the years. More functional icons were created. The initial simplified design could no longer accommodate our advancement, resulted in some new icons landed on unsuitable spots. It had also becoming difficult to keep pace with various translations. And to maintain simplicity on the first page, we have to expand to the second page. But it had cost users a few more clicks to get to the target. Eventually our website’s concept of simplicity had lost its original appeal. The worse part is, this is just the present, how about two years down the road when our contents doubled?
Hence, the restructuring of our website became inevitable in our case. This time, we had to embark in a different direction. We had to fix the existing weaknesses. We had to sacrifice some ideologies. We had to consider conventional wisdom. But we still have to uphold the ultimate objective of providing sufficient service to the resellers and end users. The consolidation and restructuring should help us enhance our objective to a greater extent.
In the process of creating a new front page, we debated endlessly about the new order - what would be primary, and what should be secondary? What would be the buttons with reduced point size, and what should be kept as icons? What would be in the drop-down menu, and what should take center stage? We had brainstormed extensively to come up with this new look. And Tamy Phoon, who has been assigned to head this revamping project, had, and still has to take care of the SEO efforts at every turn taken.
Replacing the old with something new is always an excuse for pride. But for a website that had done so much for us and carried a houseful of meanings and oversaw the growth of our brand, I felt nostalgic for the farewell too.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
CeBIT, Losing Its Clout
I think inevitably the influence of CeBIT is declining over the years. Undeniably, CeBIT is still the world's largest ICT Trade Fair but I just didn't feel like I walked into the cyclone of the digital world. It showcased a little bit of everything - a little bit of tablets, a little bit of communication, a littlebit of security, a little bit of cloud computing, a little bit of social media, and a little bit more on business applications, but hardly was there any stimulant strong enough to excite me. The show felt like a weak theme song with disappointing lyrics.
I didn't see much coverage of the 6 - 10th March CeBIT Hannover on any online technology media like TechCrunch, AllthingsD or Wired. In fact, the launch of the new iPad in Cupertino on 7th March, easily received more attention. And if I am not mistaken, there weren't any star products using CeBIT as their launching platform.
When Norana told me to forego CeBIT due to its diversified audience, we decided not to take part last year after our first participation in 2010. But being the largest ICT trade fair on earth, I was still pulled by its magnet. Hence, I came to see for myself this year as a visitor with the hopes to get a first-hand feel and figure out how to reposition or to blend ourselves into it.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
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| CeBIT, a little BIT of everything |
I didn't see much coverage of the 6 - 10th March CeBIT Hannover on any online technology media like TechCrunch, AllthingsD or Wired. In fact, the launch of the new iPad in Cupertino on 7th March, easily received more attention. And if I am not mistaken, there weren't any star products using CeBIT as their launching platform.
There were, however, old boys like SAP, Microsoft, IBM and Intel that played it big and dominated some halls, while new boys like Google and Salesforce tagged along halfheartedly with moderate booths spaces. In recognition of this post PC era, PC giants like Dell and HP knew their place and played a much lower profile in CeBIT, while other PC big boys had shied away from the show.
Many influential big names were missing from CeBIT this year, which made the show less attractive. At its peak during the dot-com boom, CeBIT grossed visitors up to 850,000 and pulled almost 8,000 exhibitors, but declined half for both to 334,000 and 4,000 in 2010. With only 15% foreign and diversified visitors, exhibitors might not get their target audiences easily.
Some says that CeBIT is meant for B2B and it is not a consumer technology trade show like CES in the United States. They continue to argue that this is a good platform for CIOs to meet up, to exchange views and sharing experiences. If so, CeBIT is indeed a very expensive gathering event for the IT guys. IT guys are a bunch of people that could find all their stuff over the Internet, and communicate to the right personnel online. For example, if their company wants to implement Cloud Computing ERP, they would know where to look for the right solution, where to do thorough research and comparison, and where to get a free trial before making any decisions.
CeBIT is obviously more focused on B2B, but when personal technology is becoming the trend of the digital world, business computing has to rethink on how to accommodate personal technology into their offices. For example, when fewer PCs and notebooks were sold, we had no doubt that more and more consumer gadgets like tablets, iPad and smartphones are appealing for office purpose. Since digital technologies have become a part of everyone's lifestyle and the convergence with consumer electronics, smart gadgets and the home entertainment market, the line for personal devices and office devices can no longer be drawn.
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| I finally found this Van Gogh's Sunflowers in Pinakothek Art Museum in Munich |
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| To visit Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg is a bonus |
My interest waned after the visit, and I had to agree with Norana to drop the idea to rejoin the show entirely. What can visitors expect out of an IT Show when the leading companies from Silicon Valley show a lukewarm response while China companies overwhelm the exhibition halls?
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
The Complexity of Translation
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| Every language has the substance of its own culture |
It’s simply because every language has the substance of its own culture; the complexity of the culture is even extended to the names of its people. For some famous Chinese writers who originally write their novels in English like Jun Chang, Ha Jin and Geling Yan, when their stories set foot in China, the Romanized Chinese names of the characters still bother me. Not only that they're hard to remember, the vivid meanings behind a Chinese name can no longer be discerned. It's the same effect when I read celebrity names like James Watkins, Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz in Chinese, you have to sacrifice extra brain cells to figure out who is who.
We are lucky because our commercial products have nothing to do with literature. The language we use to explain our products can be very simple and straightforward, users do not need to read between the lines. But still, you simply cannot trust any machine or software or Google Translate to do the job; to translate accurately, human factor is crucial.
We have no doubt that translations and localizations are vital for business to compete successfully in the global market. According to 2006 Common Sense report that surveyed more than 2,400 consumers in eight countries, in fact, 52% of consumers will only buy something from a website in their own language. In France and Japan, that figure increased to more than 60%. We have to bear in mind that consumers who do not speak any English are six times more likely to avoid English websites altogether.
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| Can you speak my language? |
Customers would perceive companies that can speak in their native tongue as more credible, but that’s not the reason why we privilege translations and localizations. As we steer our practical branding in full gear, we don’t want language to become the barrier for our customers to understand and to use our products.
And for that particular reason, we are managing a large volume of contents for translations everyday.
Let me explain why our translation work is complex. We have websites, software, hardware, usual manuals, video guides, technical tips, training and marketing materials, voice clips and etc, and for some materials, we translate them to more than 10 languages. We also frequently upgraded our software and hardware, and improving all kinds of support materials all the time. The contents around the products have to sync with the latest upgrades, hence the translations need regular updates as well.
When it comes to details, we know that translators always stumbled at literary works and sometimes decided to rephrase the sentences to bring the gist out rather than translating them directly, the same might happen to our products as well. For example, when we created some usernames as the sample data in software user manual; translators would need to be reminded to create different set of localized usernames instead of using the same names for translation. Isn’t it weird for users in the Gulf to read Wong Ah Kow as a name even if it is written in Arabic?
To manage contents and translations more professionally, this month, we have promoted Nattalina Zainal to this new position, Content Manager, to oversee the market and support of FingerTec products across languages.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
My 2011 Read List
This time around, I want to talk about books. Particularly about titles that I read in 2011 that are worth some reviews; I reckon too much of FingerTec talk sometimes could bore the audiences.
6. The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Friday, 20 January 2012
Last year, I bought about 100 books in total and a few eBooks from Kobo and not counting my magazine subscriptions. Some books are for references; some are trashed after a few chapters, and only 30 or so that I read cover to cover. Here I introduce a few English books that I like.
1. MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and The World - Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Tapscott is a thought leader in digital world. This MacroWikinomics should be an extension of his observation for mass collaboration, in a larger scale after the published of Wikinomics in 2006. In this book, he gives some true examples on how MacroWikinomics happened in business, government and civil society.
2. A World Without Islam - Graham E. Fuller
This book is NOT about criticizing Islam. In fact it concluded that the global confrontations wouldn’t be lesser if the world is without Islam. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA gives a lot of analysis and proofs that the conflicts and tensions that exist between the West and the East are geopolitically mounted, rather than caused by religious origins. The discussions are not confined to Islam only; in relation to Islam, it broadly covers the Christianity, cultural, politics, economic, history and more.
3. Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacton
I don’t prefer celebrity biographies, and I hardly buy or read any memoir. But this was an exception to me. We are in an IT-related business and a person like Steve Jobs is such a legend that the details of his life are worth a look at.
4. The Takeover - Stephen Frey
I bought this book in a second-hand bookstore. I have a few books of Stephen Frey, some I finished and some I discarded half way. My last purchase, Hell’s Gate unfortunately felt in the latter category. This one so far I think is his best. If you want business world’s thriller, this is it.
5. Fall of Giants - Ken Follet
I have a full collection of Ken Follet’s books. This is the first book of his trilogy about the change of the major world powers before and after the World War 1, written in a style that gives it a lot more fun than a history book. I would definitely consider getting his second installment due this coming September.
This is Aravind Adiga’s debut novel that won him a Booker Prize. I bought the book, expecting some surprises to be in store and it didn't disappoint. I must say that I enjoy books written by Indian writers, especially one like Rohinton Misty who beautifully and powerfully depicts the harsh life in India.
Aravind’s White Tiger novel has a more comical feel. The low-life chauffeur turned “social entrepreneur” tells his own story, justifying his crime, and at the same time, revealing the rampant corruption that has eroded the Indian democracy system.
7. The Fear Index - Robert Harris
In my view, I found Ghost Writer more interesting in film rather than a read, but nevertheless, Robert Harris is still one of my favorite writers. His latest work, The Fear Index, is a combination of technological, financial and psychological fiction, which brings an interesting and creative turn to the book.
His ancient Rome trilogy, based on the tale of Cicero’s slave secretary, Tiro, is another intriguing piece although it seems like Robert Harris has totally forgotten his mission to complete the trilogy - after the publication of Imperium and Lustrum, I, for one, have been eagerly awaiting for news of the third and final part.
8. Animal Farm - George Orwell
We all know George Orwell because of his classical 1984, which was first published in 1948, the famous prophetic haunting tale about the “Thought Police” and the “Big Brother”. This novel was first published in 1946; and I bought the digital copy, as the printed copy is a rare in major bookstores. Both Animal Farm and 1984 criticize totalitarianism, and the author uses animals as characters in his Animal Farm.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
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