If you step back to consider just how big the internet is, it’s easier to understand why search engines lie at the heart of it. For decades, search engines have served as the primary gateway to the internet, enabling users to discover websites, articles, images, videos, products, and services and find the information they need.

The essential role of search has made it indispensable to digital marketing, an industry that is in the midst of being disrupted by generative AI applications for the better. 

Today, brands around the world use search engine optimisation (SEO) as well as search engine marketing (SEM) with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to generate traffic, encourage product discovery, drive conversions and more.

Though still in nascent stages, the integration of generative AI with search is poised to elevate SEO and create new playing fields for SEM — particularly in the diverse and digitally-first APAC region. As industry leaders like Microsoft’s Bing and Google lay the groundwork for this new paradigm, the time for brands to educate themselves on the inherent opportunities of generative search is now. 

A new era of personalised search   

When it comes to AI, innovations to search have been ongoing, with applications like Google’s iterative AI helping marketers drive efficiencies for many years now. But generative AI’s ability to converse with users and be trained on the fly has the potential to fundamentally change the way people use and interact with search. 

For example, Google’s SGE (currently an experiment in Search Labs) now uses AI on search queries to provide an answer. In Google’s case, the user’s entire Knowledge Graph would likely be deployed to ensure that generative AI provides the most relevant information for the user since Google prizes relevancy and trust above all else. SGE also cites sources when responding to the query, allowing users to click through to cited websites to learn more.

While this isn’t too different from current search capabilities, users can now also choose to stay on the search page to ask follow-up questions, continuing their conversation with the AI and narrowing the scope of their research until they find their desired solution. Each question helps the generative AI to build a deeply tailored and unique user journey funnel — all without leaving the Search page. 

Also Read: Rewriting the creation process of ad creatives using generative AI

To understand the opportunities this new search format offers to businesses, let’s consider an e-commerce use case. Say you are trying to decide which ski jacket to purchase for a winter trip; you could start with a broad question about different types of ski jackets, then ask the AI to compare the pros and cons of a particular type of jacket before finally asking it to find a retailer who stocks that jacket, and purchasing on their website. 

This change will have huge implications for Organic and Paid Search. For organic, instead of appearing at the top of the search results page, the objective could be to appear as one of the first sources cited by the AI.

Similarly, for Paid, the objective would revolve around being the first ad to be shown during the conversation, which means an ad would have to be deemed by the AI as being the most relevant to the user’s search experience.

While it’s still too early to tell how ad placements or AI optimisation will work, one thing remains certain — having relevant, rich content that is crawlable by the AI will be the key to “winning” in the era of generative search.

Optimising for generative search in APAC 

As one of the most populous and diverse regions that are leading the world in internet penetration and mobile adoption, APAC’s users and brands have everything to gain from the personalised and localised experience that generative search offers. 

Also Read: How to leverage personalised advertising in 2023

For example, Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine in the world, holding over 85 per cent of the global search market share. But in APAC, localised search engines like Baidu (China), Naver (South Korea), and Yahoo.jp (Japan) play integral roles in the daily lives of users in their respective regions. And some platforms are already ahead in the AI game. 

South Korea’s Naver, for example, integrated AI in late 2021 to support a significant shift in South Korean search behaviours becoming more “exploratory,” with users going deeper into topics that aligned with their interests and search intent. Naver saw a significant increase in these exploratory searches, accounting for nearly 65 per cent of all queries.

As a brand, now is the time to review your SEO and SEM strategies and consider if additional attention to localised content, ad budgets, or search engines will be beneficial to your targeting.

Considering APAC’s high rate of mobile adoption, it is also worth considering how you can optimise your strategies to be mobile-first. Region-specific nuances and search best practices will be key to setting up for success in the new era of generative search.

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This article was first published on August 14, 2023

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With the never-ending changes in the tech world, the latest modern, intelligent technologies continue to grow, further pushing the importance of digital transformation.

According to Klaus Schwab, the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is said to be upon us. The concept refers to how innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the internet became increasingly involved in human life, blurring the lines between the two.

The abundance of digital solutions available could be seen to be spoiling decision-makers with choice, but having too many options often causes decision paralysis. How do you know what software or plug-ins suit you and your business?

There are many factors to consider, including likeability, flexibility and the investment required when choosing the right digital solution. In this article, we discuss the concept of decision paralysis and how to overcome it.

What is decision or choice paralysis?

Psychologist and author Barry Schwartz is well-known for his work on the paradox of choice – deducing to having an abundance of alternatives to the point one feels trapped and even more paralysed instead of freer. Having way too many options can cause confusion, anxiety and regret. ‍

All business decisions require effort, but decisions that involve heavier investments or cause grander changes weigh more; hence decision paralysis takes effect. Just the thought of a simple digital transformation can be daunting – especially with more prominent companies that are so accustomed to a particular way of operating that switching to a fully remote or digital workflow may scare off bosses and employees too.

Nevertheless, the digital age is upon us, and many companies will start to lose out if they’re not, at the very least, looking in the direction of a digital revamp.‍

Ways to overcome decision or choice paralysis

Prioritise your decisions

More often than not, managers are faced with multiple important decisions simultaneously, which can magnify the impact of decision paralysis on individuals. Start by listing everything that needs to be decided on, then reorganise the list according to priority.

Also Read: The digital decade in SEA: How the UK plans to embrace it with the local startup ecosystem

While it (usually) may seem necessary, you can’t solve everything at once, and prioritising tasks will make it easier to know where to start. It may also help to input specific criteria with each decision; you’ll see more about what it takes to make that decision. Include a timeline, standards, and other essential factors to consider when making this decision.

Simplify the process

Once you’ve weeded out your top decisions to be made, you can now simplify the process by breaking it down into smaller, more digestible steps. It is easy to procrastinate or get scared when looking at a big chunk of incomplete tasks and breaking the decision-making process into smaller steps.

Almost like a maths equation, start by taking important factors like criteria and timelines, and lay them out in front of you. Slowly work from there by breaking down each step you can take to develop a resolution. For example, if you’re picking between software, list the pros and cons of each and how they can benefit or burden your company.

If you’re deciding on whether something is right for your business, list what your company needs and compare that with a list of what the software provides to determine if it suits your business needs.

Get qualified help and support‍

Of course, as much decision-making work can be accomplished on our own, sometimes getting help from a third party is helpful. Being involved in a company may make it harder to see the bigger picture, and getting qualified help can provide new and different perspectives on your decision-making process, making the process smoother.

Some of these practitioners are so used to making decisions daily that they can immediately see everything laid out and swiftly point out the best decisions. Suppose you find yourself in a position where you could use a little extra help determining the next steps for your business.

In conclusion

Incorporating digital changes or tech advancements into a business should be at the top of your to-do list, although we understand it’s never easy.

Such tech advancements aid in many areas, such as productivity, organisation, workflow and so on, and overlooking this may bring about more issues in the long run. Every leader should seek to simplify their employees’ tasks and jobs to give them more room to breathe and learn.

Employees should not be treated like cogs in a well-oiled machine, and today’s employees should be given more attention and care. Switching to automated digital platforms can boost workflows tremendously, and there’s no better time to start than now.

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This article was first published on May 17, 2023

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As I went looking for a new pair of sneakers the other day, you could immediately feel the buzz, or not, with the different brands.  Adidas looked revitalised with the “Samba” or “Gazelles” lines. Hoka and their big, almost platform-like soles seemed to be everywhere.  “On”, as a new brand, seems to be pumping, and even New Balance has a bit of pizzazz.

For streetwear like sneakers, there is either buzz or not…. a zeitgeist that captures what’s “in”. Nike, in comparison to other brands, looked stale, like an also-ran brand. It also seemed to be less prevalent — I just didn’t see it as much in my sneaker-shopping journey.

As I dug a little deeper, I saw that the stock has tanked and is half of what it was a year and a half ago. And as we speak, there is a huge investor activist push for significant change.

Yikes, Nike, what happened?

Nike has long personified innovation and leadership in key sporting goods categories such as basketball or running.   The new incoming CEO (John Donahoe) inherited this rich legacy but wanted to show his leadership.   Lots of media coverage and analysis love to point out that he engaged McKinsey, and the strategy outcome was to reorganise and double-down on “digital-first” to drive new efficiencies.

The theory behind the new strategy was to move away from divisions around individual sports categories and go deeper on demographic/persona data and analytics.   This would enable the company to sell more to each market segment.   Simultaneously it would increase digital direct-to-consumer, improve margin and adjust its ecosystem players, such as reducing on-prem wholesaler and retail partners.

“These changes led to hundreds of layoffs and a reorganisation of the company into men’s, women’s, and kids’ categories, moving away from divisions focused on individual sports.”

Nike took its eye off the ball.

True category innovation at the sport level was stifled.  The focus became initiatives such as “how do we sell more to the 35 – 45 male, runner segment?”   And it is less about innovation, and driving the sports categories, and more about a 360 view of consumer behaviour.

Also Read: Lead, don’t follow: The essential guide to category creation and market domination

In other words, I don’t lead you, I listen to you. And that perspective went all wrong: “the company’s failure to innovate and reliance on classic models like Air Force 1s, Air Jordan 1s, and Dunks have left it vulnerable in a rapidly evolving market.”

The leadership and innovation at the category level was kicked aside, in favour of a flawed go-to-market strategy.

If you want to read more on this monumental failure, then The Atlantic had a great article in January this year pointing out the raft of issues from flooding the market with too many of the same line, to a market exhaustion with the retro-cool of Air Jordans.  Unfortunately, they weren’t cool anymore and competitors stole a step on Nike.

And that is at the heart of the issue: true Category Designers and Innovators don’t just look at the data. They look beyond past behaviour. They look at the problem from a different perspective. What’s happening on the urban basketball courts? What happens before and after the hoops game? What’s the missing and how can I attack and solve this gap/problem? How do I define and truly lead the Category?

Also Read: Leading the category, then losing it all: What WeWork can teach us

So Nike whiffed big time on creativity and innovation in the key categories that they used to lead.  And then they made it worse.

Categories don’t exist as a singular company and need an ecosystem to endure. Nike by all accounts messed that up as well.  The overwhelming focus on D2C seemed like a great way to drive improved efficiencies and margin. They exited multiple wholesale and retail relationships (and are now negotiating to get them back). The reality is that many consumers still wanted the physical experience to look and feel the shoe.

Key analysts have commented “Nike’s decision to disengage from long-standing wholesale partners in favor of a direct-to-consumer strategy backfired.  This move allowed competitors like Hoka, On, and New Balance to capture market share at key retail chains.”  Nike clearly blinked, and the competition moved on it.

Will Nike get its “soul” (“sole” ahem) back? They are hiring previous talents who left and that may help, but at the heart of the issue is innovation at Category level, reinforced with an ecosystem that buys into that vision and leadership.

Of all brands, we expect Nike to lead, and not follow. Somehow that got lost, and we will now need to see if they can just do it.

For nimble startups and aggressive growth companies, it offers a master-class in how to look at their own category and ecosystem, and seize opportunities when the competition blinks.

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As we continue to see the impact of climate change around the globe, the push for corporate sustainability initiatives has never been greater. It is increasingly essential that organisations develop and adopt sustainable practices that reap long-term benefits.

Through adopting sustainable practices, businesses can see a reduction in operational costs and boost in profits by up to 60 per cent, and experience 27 per cent higher profitability and a 22 per cent increase in productivity.

Consumers are gradually eliminating corporations that adopt unsustainable practices, with 73 per cent of Gen Z consumers willing to spend more on sustainable products. In fact, 62 per cent of consumers are keen to adjust their purchasing habits to reduce environmental impact, according to an IBM Institute for Business Value Survey.

Giving the green light on sustainability

As a co-owner of PRIZM Group, a digital marketing agency, I lead the team at the Singapore office and have seen the rise of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities throughout the pandemic since we started in 2020.

These campaigns include forums on mental wellness, ocean clean-ups, air quality index, sustainable food and lifestyle choices and, in general, more calls for social causes. Looking back to go forward, we strive to build a better world for the present and future generations.

The hard truth is that adopting sustainable practices is no longer just about doing what is ethical. With a company’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals encapsulating its relationship with stakeholders and the environment, 85 per cent of investors consider ESG factors before investing in a corporation.

Also Read: Preference for green jobs is the “most exciting” climate tech development: Lightspeed

ESG goals show how companies can be part of the solution, uncovering opportunities for growth while raising awareness on issues such as the climate crisis. It is crucial for corporations to have well-defined ESG goals, which would ultimately influence their reputation and public trust.

Walking the talk

However, the biggest challenge for businesses would be to find grounds for compromise between profitability and sustainability. In my current position leading Prizm Group Singapore, an integrated digital-first agency championing sustainable businesses, we are committed to bridging the gap for sustainable, profitable businesses through technology.

Through the digitalisation of sustainable strategies, our businesses are able to move closer to achieving their ESG goals. We also help companies showcase their sustainable strategies, products and services by raising awareness via digital content to their consumers, investors and shareholders.

In line with that, one of the main growth goals for Prizm Group is to work with companies who are trying to make a difference for the next generations to come and also to innovate and pioneer more strategies in ESG, leaving a green legacy.

A case study to highlight is one we have recently worked on for Doctor’s Anywhere (DA), a telehealth company based in Singapore. DA is a strong advocate for women’s health, providing education and access to sexual and reproductive health services.

A timely reminder of women’s rights to their own bodies, given the change in abortion laws in the US. Our team recently produced a discussion video educating women about contraceptive pills and taboo topics not normally discussed openly in Asian culture.

We have also created an Instagram AR filter game to encourage women to take charge of their own health. We have garnered up to 17k impressions through the AR filter, and it is a great way to introduce controversial topics in a lighthearted manner.

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“I don’t have time for marketing” and “I’m doing enough marketing for my current needs” are two of the most common refrains heard from startup founders. It’s easy to fall into these comfort zones when you need to manage everything else (product management, tech, operations, HR, finance) day-to-day and put out the frequent fires in all of these above functions.

But amidst the maelstrom, it makes sense to set aside some time to figure out your marketing.

That’s because marketing isn’t just a function. It helps you refine your startup’s concept, its raison d’etre, its ikigai. In some cases, it doesn’t just refine it. It defines it.

I once worked with a startup that wanted a website. But what they needed was a brand narrative that defines and guides everything they do across mediums. A manifesto of what they are and are not, and the four pillars of their purpose, all articulated by an external agency (us) with a fresh pair of eyes. Once we gave them that, they took it way beyond the website task and embedded it into everything they did.

Having worked with startups and scale-ups in health tech, fintech and food tech, I’ve identified three stages in any startup’s marketing. Depending on the startup, its age, its funding, and the vision of its founders, different startups need to work in various stages of their marketing.

Also Read: How to use Twitter to market your product as a founder

Here’s my attempt to simplify and articulate these three stages. As we discuss this spectrum, feel free to ascertain where your startup is currently situated on it.

Brand fundamentals

The first stage is what I call brand fundamentals. This requires ascertaining the very essence of your brand and distilling it into a form that governs every communication ever done by your brand. Yes, your startup is a brand, however large or small.

This sometimes looks like a brand pyramid or brand house. There are many different variants of this, but they all have certain foundational concepts at the base, such as product attributes, functional benefits and emotional benefits.

As you move up the pyramid, the concepts take a loftier form, such as product personality and product positioning. At the very top would be the loftiest essence of a brand. This could be “real beauty and self-esteem” (if you’re a skincare brand) or “health and hygiene” (if you’re a hand sanitizer brand), or “helping people make connections over coffee” (if you’re a café or coffee brand)

It would be best if you weren’t plucking these from thin air to fill up an artefact such as a pyramid or a house. It would be best if you had strategists who spend a lot of time researching your company, its current users, prospective users, their pain points, competitors, and so on before sieving out your unique essence and encapsulating it succinct yet informative way.

Foundational creative outputs

The second stage is what I call foundational creative outputs. This is how your startup looks to the world.

A website that’s not just aesthetically pleasing but also high on its SEO creds. A delightful presence on the social media of your choice. Out-of-home ads or print materials if you deem fit. Or, in the light of our increasingly digital world, you might be better off investing in a podcast or an event platform.

Meanwhile, don’t neglect the bare necessities like your everyday business collaterals and how your office looks. All these things need to draw directly from the fundamentals you’ve formulated in the first stage. Your brand essence cannot just remain in your internal docs and decks.

The foundational creative outputs are how it sees the light of day and becomes visible to the wider world beyond those who work with you.

Also Read: Diversity and inclusion marketing campaigns: Everyone, everyday, forever

Advanced creative outputs

The third stage is what I call advanced creative outputs. You might want to announce your brand in a big way through a stunning video. You might attempt time-bound or market-specific social media campaigns. You might need an in-store presence, in which case your shopper marketing needs to be well thought out. You might even decide to go apeshit with an experiential AR/VR activation in a public place. This is arguably the most fun part of marketing.

Ideally, stage one (brand fundamentals) should be done once, and it should be solidly in place. Occasionally you might want to rethink it, for example, if you’re entering a new market. But if you find yourself revisiting your brand fundamentals repeatedly, chances are you’ve yet to crack it.

Stage two (foundational creative outputs) may need a regular rethink, given ever-evolving website design trends. But even that should ideally not change a whole lot. Think of your favourite brands, and chances are, they don’t drastically alter their social media voice or the aesthetics of their event pages on a whim.

Stage three (advanced creative outputs) can be in flux. In fact, to keep things fresh and exciting, I recommend that they should be in a state of flux. Have fun with unexpected and creative ways to bring your brand to life while consciously filtering against what your brand is and isn’t.

Some brands have the right to do humour. Some don’t. Some brands can talk with the authority of knowledge. Others with the familiarity of a friend. Ensure that every creative output stays true to who your brand is. Note that I said who your brand is, not what your brand is.

No startup wants to remain a startup forever. But that risk is there if you get caught up in the whirlwind of the here and now and fail to strengthen the fundamentals that’ll take you where you want to be.

The three-stage process I’ve outlined is meant to be a simple guide that can give you that bit of extra clarity you seek. I hope it helps!

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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This article was first published on May 1, 2022

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Unlike the previous generations, today’s students –those who are in K-12 education, colleges and universities– were born and brought up in a digital world. A world that fully embraced the advantages of digital platforms, tools, and the hyper-connectivity that these allow.

In response, schools and colleges are expected to facilitate learning, collaboration, and communication using platforms and devices that are familiar for students. Not only is this more convenient for students and teachers.

It also greatly improves the learning experiences, makes education more accessible, and has a positive impact on the futures of students outside the education environment.

Why education providers have been slow to embrace a digital future?

Unlike other sectors, education can be slow at embracing change and innovation. One reason for this is the source of funding. Governments provide the bulk of funding at many levels of the education sector, so securing funds for digital projects wasn’t always a priority for a number of years.

Governments own experiences with massive IT projects are one reason for this. IT and digital projects in the 1990s and early 2000s weren’t always successful. Often, a massive budget and timescale overruns set back digital innovation in the government sector, with knock-on effects in education and other sectors reliant on government funding for large-scale projects.

Also Read: 1 tech, 4 ways: How blockchain disrupts the education sector

In Europe in particular, the impact of the global recession created over long-term budgetary pressures in the education sector. In the UK and other European countries, governments out of necessity implemented austerity programmes.

In practice, this meant that schools and universities couldn’t have the money needed to implement digital transformation and other IT projects that they needed to enhance the student experience and learning outcomes.

Schools are still struggling, even today, to balance budgets. Although in many countries, money has gradually been found over the years to provide tablets in classrooms, smart whiteboards, and communication platforms for keeping parents and students informed about what is going on in schools.

Yet in other areas, school leaders are still struggling to provide everything that students need to learn and thrive, including stationary and even essentials, such as the salary for cleaners. Hence the difficulty schools have to find more money for digital technology projects and creating a positive environment that would improve the teaching of science and technology subjects.

In colleges and universities, educators have larger budgets, but the willpower and desire to make changes weren’t always as strong It took time for the business case to make sense. It took time for the right people to understand the value of digital systems in higher education.

It also took time for those systems to become sufficiently popular and in-demand before higher education providers started to embrace digital technology en-masse.

Also Read: Netflix partners with Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture to boost local film industry

Benefits of embracing digital transformation

Students now expect digital platforms and tools.

Not only do students at colleges and universities get to know one another before arriving on campus through social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat); they also collaborate on course and lecture notes using tools such as Google Docs. Joint projects can now be managed within project management tools, such as Basecamp and using email and messenger platforms.

Students have found ways to make their own education easier and more effective using digital tools that universities don’t need to provide.

As effective as these grass-roots innovations are, educators need a way of maintaining centralised control and keeping in contact with students. Custom-built and off-the-shelf education management systems are a great way to give students access to course materials, provide feedback to essays, upload lecture notes, and reading lists, and even give them videos of lectures for those who can’t attend.

It also proves a quicker and more effective way to communicate with students than physical noticeboards, news pigeon holes, and email.

Convenience aside, this is what employers expect and need.

The wider economic impact of education: providing students with the knowledge and most importantly, digital skills that make them ready for the world of work, is one of the main reasons for education providers embracing a digital future today.

Also Read: Edutech in SEA is still “far behind compared to North America” – but there is some hope

Employers expect and need graduates with the skills and experience with digital environments, tools, platforms, ways of sourcing information, collaborating, and managing project. In some sectors, such as IT, employers need more intensive sector-specific skills too, such as knowledge and experience writing code and solving technical challenges.

As Renee Patton, Director of US public sector education at Cisco says: “Effective digital transformation must be continual and evolutionary in order to enhance teaching and learning, support business processes and improve efficiency. It also necessitates collaborative working; vision and leadership; culture; process and methodology.”

Embracing digital transformation is the way forward for educators, schools, colleges, students, and society as a whole when students graduate.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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This article was first published on May 3, 2020

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Learning is a forever journey and not something that should be halted or resumed as and when it is seemingly needed. From children requiring tuition in addition to classroom education, or adults in need of self-improvement courses, education has become a necessity.

This situation has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic threatening jobs in almost every industry, leading to the need to re-skill and upskill.

However, courses, whether academic or non-academic, have become more and more expensive over the years. Many of them charge exorbitant fees but do not impart lasting impact, knowledge, or significant skills to their students. In the end, students often walk away from these courses feeling disappointed and harbouring a recurring question: What have I learnt from this?

I noticed this phenomenon among my peers when I was in university. At the same time, I fell in love with training, speaking, and educating — basic skills that I felt everyone should have access to. Because of this, I became very disillusioned with these issues within the education industry and set out to change the norm.

Addressing gaps in the education industry

I have been a serial entrepreneur since graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS). After learning all I could from my internships, I realised that I could combine my love for public speaking and training with my goal of making education and learning, not only transparent but also accessible and affordable — by having students of my own. I began with teaching the skill I was most familiar with and had mastered by the age of 18: forex trading.

To polish my speaking and training abilities, I decided to join multiple firms and take up a variety of leadership positions which I felt accelerated my training as a public speaker. They included positions like Academy Director of Forex100 Academy, a forex trading school; Head of Blockchain Development at Jigsaw Capital, a consulting firm; and Vice President of InvestPage Holdings, an investment holdings company which provided opportunities to investors while serving as an education hub.

Also Read: HH Investments VC Founder Maarten Hemmes on why the entrepreneurial journey is more important than the end result

Each of these roles required me to lead others, imparting the lessons and skills that I had learned as I polished my skills over the years. However, the journey towards becoming a professional trainer and speaker was not easy.

One of the challenges which I faced in becoming a professional trainer was my age. As I started with financial coaching, many believed that I was too young to be coaching other people and that age reflected my calibre. Despite giving it my best in terms of teaching, many still found it hard to trust me because of my youth.

Another challenge I faced was my own conscience; while I did not believe in overpriced courses, I was constantly pressured to follow the “market rate” while setting the prices for my courses. It troubled me greatly because in my heart, I knew that education and the price tag attached to it, should be affordable by the masses. These challenges, especially the latter, continue to haunt me as I struggled to find my compass in life.

Soon, I started Reubiks Academy in 2014, which began as a transparent and trusted learning ecosystem for aspiring traders and those looking to boost their financial literacy and wealth management skills.

The road to digitising education and making learning transparent

As I continued to hone my skills as a trainer, the path to success was even rockier. I unexpectedly experienced failure after failure in my pursuit of entrepreneurship. I was even betrayed by ex-business partners resulting in a financial loss of approximately S$200,000 (US$150,000) by the time I was 27 years old.

This betrayal was extremely painful because I had trusted my then-partner so much, leaving him to handle day-to-day operations while I focused on running the sales component of the company.  At one point, my losses had become so enormous that I only had S$289.60 (US$217) to survive. However, I learned a valuable lesson; a true blue entrepreneur might not be the best at every component of the business but he or she must be able to, at least oversee and execute it at a basic level.

Despite falling on hard times, I only became even more determined to create viable options and transparent avenues for everyone looking to learn. More than that, I aimed to protect students, young and old, from potentially unscrupulous individuals, who would charge large sums of money in exchange for a curriculum that provided little value.

Also Read: SMU’s Protégé Ventures as a catalyst for entrepreneurial education

To recover my losses, I took on multiple part-time jobs just to get by. I worked part-time as a sales associate in the Merchant Acquisition department at GrabFood, gave tuition to primary school children, taught blockchain technology to adults, and took on website and app development projects.

During this period, I discovered that not only did parents find it difficult to find affordable and reliable tuition for their children, but that people looking to learn a skill were not given sufficient choices like price comparisons of courses, and previews of their selected curriculum, among others.

Most importantly, the entire education industry needed disruption as parents and learners were still making phone calls to arrange tuition for their children with a tutor they have never seen before.

The culmination of my part-time gigs, especially during a time where online marketplaces like Grab were gaining notoriety, led me to create a platform that would allow students to “shop” for tutors and lessons in a marketplace setting. With this, Reubiks Academy evolved into Reubiks mobile app, an education marketplace that gives students access to any educational curriculum imaginable, whether academic or non-academic.

How education marketplace benefits both tutors and students

 In line with the goals that initially spurred me on to embark on this journey, an education marketplace like Reubiks mobile app provides students with transparent, accessible, and affordable education that was never available before.

By browsing through a list of tutors, their curriculum, their teaching styles, and their fees, and filtering them via a simple comparison feature, students of all ages can make informed choices in their learning journey with us. Transparency is further guaranteed by the marketplace as students can experience free trials before deciding on their lessons.

Meanwhile, trusted tutors who utilise a platform such as Reubiks mobile app are able to tap into a network of eager students, enabling a more efficient method of teaching while ensuring a healthy transfer of knowledge.

Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in education becoming an increasingly virtual process, tutors must find new ways to reach their students and conduct classes effectively. Therefore, an education platform such as Reubiks mobile app which matches students to prospective tutors and vice versa might just be the answer!

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This article was first published on December 14, 2020

The post How my entrepreneurial failures led me to rethink learning and upskilling appeared first on e27.

There’s no denying that 2020 disrupted business norms. Driven by the pandemic, organisations were faced with the need to accelerate change in the way they do business and engage with employees and customers. As organisations, we grappled with how to reach our communities – wherever they may be – in a seamless way.

As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD strives to deliver exemplary experiences for its students, staff and faculty alike. In the face of the pandemic, which closed off most of our global campuses like Singapore, we faced a new challenge: a seamless transition to digital learning experiences. 

What’s more, the pandemic motivated many to future-proof their skills and secure their position amidst a period of uncertainty.  Interest in MBAs grew significantly at the peak of the pandemic, INSEAD saw applications for its MBA programme increase by 58 per cent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels. 

In the face of this new challenge we found an opportunity to continue delivering the standard of experience our students and staff expect, underpinned by strategic digitalisation initiatives we’ve implemented to modernise our systems around student scheduling and enrolments.  

Overcoming our integration roadblocks

Unlocking and connecting data across applications and systems is one of the biggest challenge organisations face today. In a learning environment, a disconnect in the ability to bring student information together with legacy IT inhibits our ability to power undisrupted, digital learning experiences.

Our technology ecosystem was composed of more than 100 disparate and siloed applications, which made it difficult to keep up with evolving student and faculty expectations.

During high-traffic periods, such as enrolments and scheduling, this created a frustrating experience for students while overwhelming staff with manual work and driving up IT costs for operations and maintenance. 

We needed to modernise our legacy systems, unlock important data–wherever it was and promote connectivity and reusability across our technology systems. An integration approach was critical in bridging our data divides and overcoming silos across our applications and systems.

Put simply, we needed to modernise how we operated on the backend to meet the expectations of our students and faculty.

In an increasingly crowded market, where people have the choice between several business schools and programmes, digitisation and integration were no longer ‘nice-to-haves’ but ‘must-haves’. 

Streamlining scheduling and enrolments through automation

Scheduling and managing course enrolments are tedious, time-consuming tasks for students and staff alike. By far one of the biggest challenges faced was not having a universal system to navigate scheduling, which led to weeks’ worth of additional manual work on the part of staff and often led to technical issues scheduling classes on the part of students. 

We needed a more efficient system, one that freed our staff from having to manually book thousands of courses when the system failed to do so. We also needed to provide a universal scheduling view for staff across various departments which had become accustomed to using their preferred specialised scheduling tools.

Also Read: For the digital economy, traditional education needs an update

By building 36 APIs, supported by platforms such as MuleSoft, we’ve been able to reduce manual work across the organisation by 60 per cent and increase developer speed by 44 per cent. This has also allowed us to automate the enrolment process, further liberating staff from extra work.

Less time spent on cumbersome processes such as scheduling and course bookings means we can focus on boosting our digital learning experience through new services. 

Furthermore, we’ve also been able to integrate our student information system with other systems to give all staff access to a universal and holistic view of scheduling while using their preferred tools. 

Building the classrooms of tomorrow

Organisations today need to take a holistic approach to understand their core audiences and the education sector is no exception. 

Empowered by MuleSoft and a focus on reusable assets, we’ve boosted productivity across the institution, cutting around two weeks of manual work and development every semester to enrol and deliver student life capability. 

We plan to continue innovation in the future, such as relaunching our Alumni Portal so past students can reap the benefits of a connected experience too. The way we work and live is constantly changing – the way we learn must also be reimagined to meet students’ needs and build the digital classrooms of tomorrow. 

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This article was first published on March 26, 2021

The post How this B-school aims to reinvent its learning experience in a year of disruption appeared first on e27.

The era of artificial intelligence (AI) is here, and one function that could quietly reap its benefits is HR: specifically recruitment within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

SMEs continue to be blighted by talent shortages, with one global study of SME leaders revealing that talent acquisition and retention is a key challenge for nearly half of all businesses, only behind survival and expansion. An apparent challenge for smaller firms in Singapore is that they are recruiting from a shallow pool of candidates and, within that, competing with large, well-established businesses for talent. 

Given that SMEs are key drivers of economic growth, addressing these issues at a policy level is important and must be done consistently and continuously. Equally, though, it is time for small businesses to reimagine the hiring process entirely.

Exploring AI solutions to tackle talent gaps

Small business owners typically spend too much time writing job descriptions and sifting through hundreds of résumés, speaking to interested applicants, and establishing meaningful connections with talent for future recruitment. It is a tedious and expensive undertaking under normal circumstances – but especially so in today’s economic climate where business costs are rising and fears of a recession are looming.

In a recent survey we conducted among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 81 per cent of Singaporean SME business leaders believe they can’t compete with multinational corporations for talent given the rising costs of recruitment. In order to expand and grow, employers need to find an easier, more seamless way to secure and maintain talent. 

Once considered an expensive, futuristic tech investment, AI solutions are now well and truly within the reach of small businesses. From sourcing and screening candidates to scheduling interviews and even reducing bias in the process, there are sophisticated AI tools that are increasingly improving recruitment results for businesses on a small budget. 

Also Read: What can local companies do in 2023 for workplace mental fitness?

This was one of the key considerations that went into developing Swag – our own AI-powered solution that’s specifically designed to level the playing field for SMEs in the current employment landscape. Conversations with several small businesses made it clear that finding and retaining employees due to increased overheads and limited resources hinders their productivity, growth and oftentimes their survival in a challenging macroeconomic environment. 

Reaping rich rewards 

The return on investment for AI-driven recruitment solutions can be tremendous. New, emerging studies already point to remarkable returns for businesses using AI-driven solutions in the form of cost and time savings as well as strategic business benefits. 

What’s more, these solutions are punching above their weight to drive value beyond talent acquisition. For example, Swag is also a primary interface for work-related tasks, offering features like shout-outs, time and attendance management, leave tracking and rostering, which plays an important role in retaining and engaging talent.  

Addressing AI critics

As with any technological innovation, but especially with AI – there are plenty of critics. Within the recruitment industry, the reticence to adopt AI solutions has to do with risks of bias and redundancy of recruitment roles. The answer to both issues is the same: regardless of what solutions SMEs choose, recruiters won’t be replaced by AI.

If anything, AI can help recruiters spend time on higher-value tasks, including improving the candidate experience, building on candidate insights and engaging with passive candidates. Importantly, talent acquisition teams can focus on scrutinising bias and demanding greater transparency from the AI platforms they use. 

Small businesses are crucial to the nation’s economy, and today they face challenges on two key fronts: a lack of skilled and qualified staff needed for better productivity and future growth and a serious cost-of-living crisis faced by their employees, leading them to look externally for job opportunities.

AI-based solutions proactively address both these pain points by empowering employers to streamline key parts of the recruiting process, leading to improved talent attraction and retention, saving costs and time in the process.

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This article was first published on August 17, 2023

The post Levelling the playing field: How AI can transform SME hiring appeared first on e27.