Jianjun Zhou, vice president of Huawei Global Carrier Business Group, said Myanmar should draw up a comprehensive ICT plan for the next 10 years, focusing on 5G deployment to drive forward the digital economy.

Speaking at the Myanmar 5G Forum2018 on Wednesday, he urged the government to urgently draft a clear national 5G development plan, as it will take some years for a 5G ecosystem to mature in an emerging market such as Myanmar.

He suggested four pillars that Myanmar must prepare before the 5G era comes into being: policy, spectrum, site, and fibre.

“Firstly, the government should create the policy and regulatory environment to support a more efficient rollout, given its potential benefits to the economy. The government’s direction should support the timely rollout of 5G to enable the next wave of broad-based industry in Myanmar,” he said.

“Secondly, carriers lack spectrum. The government needs to plan a 5G-oriented spectrum roadmap, and release sufficient spectrum resources for 5G deployment. Thirdly, site resources are still insufficient for both 4G and 5G, and the cost is very expensive. Carriers need government support with site resources. Lastly, the government needs to unify and manage the fibre rollout. Fibre should be introduced in synergistic with 5G rollout. No fibre, no 5G.”

He urged the authorities to avoid inflating 5G spectrum prices – such as through excessive reserve prices or annual fees – as they may limit network investment. He suggested encouraging heavy investments in 5G networks by allowing long-term licences and renewal.

“If the government allows carriers to share the infrastructure of other public utilities, it will greatly help reduce costs and speed up deployment,” he said.

According to the executive, the government should also encourage the backbone transition to fibre by letting fibre connect every site before 5G deployment.

“Deploying new networks is not easy. We have to deal with many |challenges in terms of the technology, resources, regulations, and business cases. But we believe that 5G will make an important |contribution to Myanmar society,” he said.

The executive pledged that Huawei will closely work with other partners on technology development and standardisation, to make 5G a reality in Myanmar.

Worapat Patram, director of public policy at Intel Microelectronics (Thailand) Ltd and a representative of Global Mobile Suppliers Association, stressed the importance of multi-stakeholders collaboration to drive the success of 5G in Myanmar.

“Ensuring affordable access to spectrum is fundamental. The preference is for exclusive licences. Auctions represent a fair regime by providing a rational market value of dedicated spectrum to users who value it the most,” he said.

Worapat said spectrum auctions should not be designed to maximise revenue but should be designed to stimulate infrastructure investments and spectrum usage.

Ismail Shah, head of Southeast Asia and Timor Leste at International Telecommunication Union, urged authorities to prepare for addressing regulatory challenges including licensing, spectrum allocation, identification, security and privacy, infrastructure sharing, data analytics, and the disposal of electronic waste.

As the year comes to a close, consumers in Asia Pacific have flocked to popular e-commerce sites to maximise deals from hefty discounts, since the Singles’ Day in November to “12.12” and now to Christmas – the grand finale of this year’s shopping season.

Amidst the popularisation of online shopping sprees during the holiday season, customers are leaving traces of their digital footprints and preferences across multiple channels ranging from desktop, mobile and even brick-and-mortar stores. With data on customers’virtual shopping carts, payment preferences, social profiles, and even internet browsing histories, retailers stand a chance to understand their customers better. But there’s a challenge too: how to gather, store, manage and analyse all of this data to provide better products and services and ultimately create the best customer experience?

This is where we’re seeing artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cloud services come into their own, helping businesses across the region use this information to build the personalised, data-driven and secure customer experience that’s not just a possibility, but an absolute necessity.

Connecting Online and Offline Experiences

More and more customers today expect a personalised, seamless cross-channel approach to their shopping, whether that’s in-store or online. According to Oracle’s recently published Topography of Retail report, 74 per cent of consumers want “knowledgeable in-store staff that could meet their specific needs quickly”, while 64 percent of consumers from emerging markets including China and India said they loved the idea of virtual reality “try on” apps, for personalised shopping experiences. Imagine looking online for the perfect Christmas gift and then going into a store the next day, to find a shop assistant who points you towards the gift you were looking for. That’s the level of cross-channel expectation we’re gearing towards.

Data, when analysed correctly, is at the heart of this genuinely connected customer experience. It requires brands to effectively establish an understanding of their customers by analysing existing behaviours, so they can give favourable, precise recommendations quickly, based on the results.

Here Comes the AI Revolution

AI is making data-powered personalisation possible. Using cloud services powered by a combination of emerging technologies led by AI, machine learning and blockchain, retailers and brands are able to build a detailed understanding of a consumer’s behaviour both within their stores and across their online channels, as well as understanding their likes and behaviours beyond their shopping experiences. With this information, marketers can create appropriate content, specifically targeted to their audiences and delivered during key daily purchasing moments.

ZALORA, the largest e-commerce fashion company in Southeast Asia, is an organisation that relies on machine learning and AI to drive new levels of customer loyalty. It was important for ZALORA to have a tool that helps them listen and respond in real-time to each personalized interaction with the customer. With Oracle Marketing Cloud, ZALORA has moved from a batch and blast model to become an orchestrator of personalized conversations, where they are able to speak to customers in a relevant and tailored manner. Some of the benefits achieved by ZALORA from Oracle Marketing Cloud include the halving of time needed for a lead conversation to capture a large customer base, resulting in a multifold increase in revenue.

Connecting Data Cross-Platforms

Looking beyond targeted offers, it is also essential to bring all data related to customers in one centralised location, especially if you want to improve service efficiency and accuracy. With connected access to data from the marketing team, the supply chain and the back office all centralised in the cloud, companies can better coordinate internally and then create an integrated, end-to-end engagement plan without breaking into fragmented point solutions throughout the customer journey.

Bangkok Airways has become the first airline in Thailand to deploy the Oracle Service Cloud to improve its customer service and engagement. The carrier expects the software to help it quickly identify and respond to requests and incidents, minimising any disruption to customers’ travel plans and improving the customer experience through greater visibility supporting informed decisions. Agents and supervisors can now route, track and audit emails, and generate reports to measure the performance of the incident resolution process and agents themselves.

Protecting Information

Yet, many will say that AI and cloud-based data-sharing present a major risk to identity security.  After all, if brands are able to know so much about us, isn’t there a risk that hackers could easily access the data?

This is where blockchain comes in. Contrary to the belief that this is simply a vehicle for volatile cyber currencies, blockchain can create ultra-secure tokens which contain an individual’s unique personal information. By using encrypted authentication, this information can only be accessed through use of a secure key, providing totally personalised information, alongside cryptographic security.

It’s about Trust

All these innovations are available right now, but companies need to carefully adopt this innovation while ensuring customer trust.Over 90 per cent of consumers in developing markets such as India or China and nearly half in developed markets such as the US or Australia that Oracle spoke to, said it was important that they themselves had control over the personal information that retailers held on them. So, while one in three customers in Australia, New Zealand, and India would welcome a personalised digital experience based on previous interactions with brands, there has to be boundaries.Retailers need to tread that fine line between customers appreciating good Christmas present recommendations based on their Singles’ Day purchases, and, feeling a bit uncomfortable with gift suggestions based on their mood in their latest Instagram story.

The continuous pursuit of customer happiness remains at the heart and core of companies. As many customers are demanding the future now, companies need to either predict their needs or lose them.Emerging technologies including AI-enabled cloud solutions can help companies find more value from data, and ultimately, up their game in perfecting the digitally-transformed customer experience journey.

Digital transformation is a requirement for ongoing competitiveness that clearly helps businesses run more efficiently and deliver great experiences. However, many of today’s point solutions only solve part of the digital workflow problem, don’t play well in existing software ecosystems like the broad HR technology space, or just don’t provide the enterprise-grade identity assurance required in industries like financial services.Today we are thrilled to further differentiate Adobe Document Cloud with industry-first signer identity and workflow improvements focused on enabling seamless digital customer onboarding for FSIs, the industry’s most comprehensive HR solution support and even stronger document security as Adobe Acrobat becomes Microsoft’s preferred PDF solution for Microsoft Information Protection.

Adobe Sign introduces industry-first Government ID Authentication for FSI customer onboarding

Implementing an e-signature solution is a simple way to digitally transform your company, attract new business online, and help customers save time in any enrollment or onboarding process. But for some industries, especially banking and other financial services, e-signatures are a no-go unless they can confidently verify the identity of their customers before providing digital onboarding services.

Adobe has solved this problem with the latest release of Adobe Sign that pioneers an industry-first signer identification option called Government ID Authentication, whichuses a physical ID, like a driver’s license or passport, as a form of digital ID authentication. When enabled, signers are guided through the simple process of using their mobile phone to snap a photo of a physical ID card. Adobe Sign automatically and comprehensively evaluates the ID card’s security features, like patterns, fonts and layout, to authenticate the identity of the signer and allow them to complete the signature process. This smart new way to authenticate a remote signer takes only seconds, but it delivers a great signer experience, while reducing identity fraud concerns for the company.

Providing this higher level of signer identity authentication will help our customers implement e-signatures in a whole host of new business processes. Many of the world’s largest financial service providers already trust Adobe Sign for their customers’ digital enrollment and we expect many of them to adopt Government ID Authentication to make the process an even better experience for everyone involved.

Adobe Sign expands its comprehensive support of HR solutions with industry-first integrations in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent and ServiceNow HR Service Delivery

Every HR leader understands that employees expect a modern, digital experience.According to Jacob Morgan, best-selling author focused on the future of work, organizations that invest in employee experiences have 4.2x the average profit and 2.1x the average revenue of those that don’t. And while the HR technology industry is laser-focused on employee experiences, there are still so many paper-dependent HR processes that degrade employee experiences and waste limited HR resources.Integrating e-signatures into HR solution-based processes is critical to delivering an end-to-end digital experience for employees that eliminates paper-based processes like offer letter and onboarding document approvals. Adobe Sign has integrations with the most widely used HR solutions to help deliver an all-digital employee experience. And now to support even more HR organizations, we’re releasing new, industry first integrations with two powerful HR solutions: Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent and ServiceNow HR Service Delivery.

Adobe Sign is the first and only e-signature solution to be integrated with these HR platforms, giving Adobe customers even greater choice in how they adopt e-signatures into employee-centric processes. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent and ServiceNow HR Service Delivery integrations join the other Adobe Sign integrations with widely adopted HR solutions like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors to make e-signatures part of company-wide document processes.

Adobe Acrobat Now Microsoft’s preferred PDF solution for Microsoft Information Protection

As the leaders in digital document solutions, Adobe and Microsoft continue to work together to help modern enterprises digitally transform. In addition to the new Adobe Sign integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent, today we’re enabling even higher document security in PDFs thanks to Microsoft Information Protection support in Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader on Windows. Now companies that require the comprehensive protection of sensitive data provided by Microsoft Information Protection can open and view PDF files in Acrobat DC that have been secured by Microsoft Informaiton Protection. This new capability makes Acrobat DC the preferred PDF viewer for Microsoft Informaiton Protection solutions. This is another great example of how Adobe and Microsoft’s ongoing strategic partnership helps make work both frictionless and secure for our joint customers.

All of the ground-breaking new functionality introduced today in Adobe Document Cloud focuses on giving our customers, partners, and their customers more flexibility, more security and more options to deliver great digital experiences at any scale. Learn moreabout the new functionality and integrations in Adobe Sign. Learn more about Microsoft Informaton Protection support in Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader.