Last year, when we conducted our first Asia IoT Business Platform in Vietnam in Hanoi, we saw great interest among participants, especially in the smart cities space. Back then, we featured local speakers and panelists that represented some cities which are emerging with their own smart city initiatives..

As a result of Myanmar’s economic isolation, which lasted until 2010, urbanisation in the country lagged that of its regional neighbours. According to the 2014 Myanmar census, the urban community shared only 30% of the total population in the country; a low figure in both the global and ASEAN index.

Although Myanmar saw a rapid growth in internet usage and smartphones, knowledge of cyber security did not progress at the same rate. As companies transform digitally and turn to cloud technology, data protection and security have never become more important. Microsoft’s 2017 report, Security Intelligence Report Volume 22, has revealed that Myanmar is now the 4th most exposed country in Asia Pacific to malicious programmes, among Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam (Read the article on cyber security in Vietnam.)

Digital transformation is no longer identified as a mere term but a practice to many companies. It is not only about new technologies but also a realization on the need for improvement. By end of 2017, it is predicted by analyst firm, IDC, that two-thirds of Global 2000 companies’ CEO will be involved in digital transformation as the crux of their corporate strategy.

Back in 2014, Andy Yee wrote a report for the AsianScientist on why "For The Internet Age, Taiwan’s ICT Industry Needs A New Model". He identified Taiwan as a world leader in high-tech hardware manufacturing since the export-oriented industrialization in the 1960s, but the ICT industry has remained stuck on the lower rungs of the value-added chain and required a new model that is suitable for the internet age.

We had the opportunity to visit Ho Chi Minh City last week to meet up with some of the key stakeholders in the country’s IoT ecosystem - one of which we have the honour to be working with for this year’s 19th edition of Asia IoT Business Platform: Saigon Hi-Tech Park.

A region with 630 million people and a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion; ASEAN has accelerated in economic growth and social progress since its founding in 1967.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 50 years ago with the goal of facilitating economic and political collaboration among its members. The initiative, which includes a free trade agreement that enabled great intra-regional trade, has propelled ASEAN to be the world’s sixth-largest economy in the world.

With the help of the international telcos, telecommunications infrastructure has been strengthened, with ever-increasing demand. This led to one of the neighbouring countries to come in and build the fourth telco of the country: that was Vietnam.

ICT has always been an important driver of the Southeast Asian economy. A market study by International Data Corporation (IDC) on Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Philippines, forecasted the Southeast Asia’s ICT industry to be worth US$48 billion by 2019 and will be the key enabler of economic development. 

The future is the cloud. These fast-changing times are making traditional learning obsolete. In Myanmar, even if the kids manage to finish school, there is a high probability that they are not ready for the workplace.

The ICT sector has always been Taiwan’s source of pride. Since the 1980s, Taiwan has been highly regarded as a vital player and major procurement centre for global ICT companies and buyers. Taiwanese companies hold huge market shares in semiconductors, PCs, mobile devices, broadband appliances and display products and technologies and is the world’s biggest supplier of these products, contributing 16.5% of the total GDP in Taiwan.

“You need to have bold vision and having a vision on how things are going. When we speak IoT, there's always a excuse i.e technology is not there, i.e but there's no optimum point for IoT. We need to be bold in pushing things forward, move away from discussions to pushing things out.” - Gio Abaquin, Category Head, M2M & IoT, SMART Communications.

A common theme arose from the discussions held during Day 1 of the Asia IoT Business Platform being held in Jakarta, Indonesia:- IT divisions are no longer seen as mere supporting units of the enterprise, but rather as a driver of their overall strategy. As such, IT division heads have to be more cognizant of business outcomes instead of just being able to manage costs. 

Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, Philippines seems to be quite ahead in terms of IoT adoption and digital transformation, especially in the industrial and logistics sectors. Throughout our panel discussions among leaders in telecommunications, industrial & manufacturing, transport & logistics, issues not dissimilar to discussions in other countries arise: manpower, education, connectivity, yet the industry leaders seem to be optimistic about The Philippines’ potentials in digital transformation. Is that the case?

One of the technology leaders in the region, Malaysia is set on growing the IoT ecosystem and clear about the role and potentials of IoT in improving the economy and public sector.

We had the honour and privilege to host 10 distinguished local enterprise leaders on day 1 of Asia IoT Business Platform - the 13th edition in Bangkok, Thailand - who were discussing IoT and digital transformation in the country. From telecommunications, industrial and manufacturing, to transport and logistics, we heard particularly interesting topics with regard to the opportunities as well as challenges regarding IoT adoption.

During March this year, the parliament announced the budget allocation of USD 15.3 Billion for fiscal year, 2017-2018. Ministry of Planning and Finance received the largest amount at 22%, Ministry of Electricity and Energy was allocated 20%, and Ministry of Defence has the third highest at 13%.

For the past months, the issue of cyberattack has been a hotly discussed topic due to the global “ransomware” attack that disrupted factories, hospitals and even schools. Purchase of cybersecurity products increased significantly which then resulted in the rise of shares of some cybersecurity firms.

The Saensuk municipality has joined hands with Dell Corporation and Intel Microelectronic (Thailand) to kick off Thailand's first smart city for elderly people in Chon Buri. 

In an annual survey conducted by Computer Weekly/Techtarget among CIOs in ASEAN, it was found that IT decision-makers across the region are expecting another positive year for their IT budgets. 25% of CIOs in the region are expecting an increase of more than 10%, compared to 2016. A further 26% of CIOs predict a small increase, but a rise nevertheless.

It's halfway through 2017 and IoT remains a buzzword in the tech industry. Almost every day we'd come across a new article on latest technology trends, disruptive models, new partnership announcements...but may I repeat - when was the last time you spoke to a user?

When Myanmar opened up to the world after 49 years of military rule, many corporations turned their eye to glance at the local market. As time goes by, it has been realized that the country poses enough challenges to profit corporations in a few years’ time, and not for the present.

Earlier this week, we took a first look into our ongoing annual enterprise survey and found that while more than 70% of enterprises in Southeast Asia have implemented IoT or are exploring IoT projects currently, only 7% have reported successes.

It was a hectic past week for us at Asia IoT Business Platform as we hosted press briefing sessions in both Bangkok and Jakarta. At the same time, we also concluded our annual IoT survey which looks at the perspectives of local enterprises and organizations in Southeast Asia pertaining to IoT deployment and implementation.

Smart mobility might have been a concept lost in Myanmar previously, but starting from this year, the country has been making massive changes to its public transport system. Yangon is the commercial and probably the most developed city in the country.

I don’t even know where to start when it comes to Jakarta’s roads. Is it bad? Horrible? A nightmare? They are probably the kind of roads that you can find in the deepest bowels of hell.

A Forbes article last week asserts that partnerships are key to IoT success. In the article, the author highlighted a study from Cisco that showed an alarmingly high rate of failure for IoT projects -75%. Even the remainder of the projects that were delivered were also seldom regarded as success.

The numbers weave together a tapestry of opportunities for solution providers, and we cannot deny that. In a world of economic uncertainty, countries in ASEAN somehow manage to rise above the sluggishness to project expected growth averaging 5 - 6 per cent over the next couple of years.

WHO recommends a minimum threshold of 2.3 health workers (doctors, nurses, midwives) for 1,000 people to achieve health-related Millennium Development Goals: reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 

The next time you chug down the ever-popular Chang beer in Thailand, you will be consuming the fruit of robots’ labour. Thai Beverage Group (ThaiBev) and Charoen Pokphand (C.P.), two of Thailand’s—and Southeast Asia’s—biggest F&B conglomerates, are planning to develop robots to respond to the Thailand 4.0 scheme.

A study by Gartner predicted 25 billion interconnected devices will exist by 2020 - it is no surprise that IoT (Internet of Things) is no longer a mere buzzword but our future. IoT enable devices to collect data to derive useful information for better decision making.