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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40004252

How Covid-19 propelled digital disruption transformed Thailand’s business sector

A vast majority of businesses have been driven by digital disruption globally with most executives admitting its transformative impact to an extent. It is, therefore, crucial to identify digital disruption perspectives and approaches to digital implementation in Thai companies.

“Deloitte Thailand conducted its first Thailand Digital Transformation survey in November 2019 to early January 2020. With the unprecedented Covid-19 global pandemic later in 2020 and its seismic impact, a pulse survey was commissioned covering November 2020 to January 2021 as a follow-up to gain an understanding of the pandemic’s impact on digital transformation in Thai businesses. The annual Thailand Digital Transformation Survey intends to serve as a benchmark of sentiment on the progress of digital transformation in Thailand,” said Dr Narain Chutijirawong, executive director of Deloitte Thailand’s clients and industries division.

The two surveys focus on the following topics to draw a comparative analysis of digital transformation implementation before and during the Covid-19 pandemic:

• Interpreting perceptions towards digital disruption

• Exploring digital transformation implementation

• Pinpointing digital transformation skill demand

• Identifying areas of government support in digital transformation

The respondents of both surveys hold managerial positions. For instance, 19 per cent of respondents in the primary survey are members of the board of directors and 16 per cent are CFOs. Meanwhile, for the pulse survey, 34 per cent were CFOs, 30 per cent CIOs or equivalent and 13 per cent members of the board.

The consumer sector has been the leader in adopting basic technology such as traditional web, mobile applications and cloud before and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

For instance, the traditional web was adopted in 79 per cent of companies, rising to 95 per cent after Covid-19.

This sector also surpassed the technology, media and telecom sectors in adopting advanced technology including blockchain, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, with the adoption of AI rising from 4 per cent before Covid-19 to 35 per cent after.

Financial services as well as life sciences and healthcare sectors pushed their digital transformation plan after the arrival of Covid-19. The two sectors, however, face recruitment issues for the key positions of data analysts and scientists.

Up to 56 per cent of companies are now at the “digital adopter” stage after the arrival of Covid-19 compared to 12 per cent earlier, shifting from 59 per cent in the digital evaluator stage to 12 per cent after Covid.

Furthermore, the implementation of advanced technology, except robotics, and basic technologies has increased in the post-Covid-19 era. For instance, a 19 per cent increase in Cloud technology adoption rate was found as well as a 16 per cent increase in the Internet of Things and a 15 per cent increase in mobile applications. This indicates a digital adoption of all technologies across business sectors at a rapid pace during the Covid-19 period.

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Viney Hora, executive director of Deloitte Consulting, said: “The major challenge in implementing digital transformation is not the technology itself, but rather a lack of internal and external expertise in the relevant fields. Thai corporates reveal the three main challenges they face include talent gap, digital culture and organisation silo. All of which have almost nothing to do with technology but revolve around recruiting people with the right skill to get the job done.”

According to the survey, in 2020, analytical thinking and innovation, as well as active learning and learning strategies, ranked first among the country’s skill demand, which aligns with the global market’s expected skill demand in 2025. The outcome also demonstrates that Thailand is moving in the same direction as the international market.

“The higher digital transformation rate coupled with an immense and unforeseeable impact from the Covid-19 pandemic across all businesses is evident. Businesses should therefore be more vigilant about the digital transformation movement and the digital environment in the market especially during this period of turmoil,” added Dr Narain.

Click https://www2.deloitte.com/th/en.html to check out the full Thailand Digital Transformation Survey 2021.

Published : August 05, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40004082

Digital Marketing in 2021: How SEO Has Become an Essential Part of Online Strategy for Businesses

68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, do business owners really realize just how essential SEO has become today as an online marketing strategy? Many actually don’t, and therefore tend to take it lightly.

It is generally known that search engine optimization (SEO) is what a business owner does to ensure their digital properties (such as web pages) can be found online when their target audience searches the web with keywords related to their industry, products or services.

But, given that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, do business owners really realize just how essential SEO has become today as an online marketing strategy? Many actually don’t, and therefore tend to take it lightly.

No wonder the experts at Inspira Digital Agency here in Thailand see the need to highlight how SEO has become the key to digital marketing success for businesses in 2021 and beyond.

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Digital Marketing in 2021: How SEO Has Become an Essential Part of Online Strategy for Businesses

First, it’s important to understand that organic search today is the major source of website traffic for businesses, whether small, medium, or large. In fact, according to research by Bright Edge, up to 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search; and Google, as the organic search market leader, controls a whopping 92.96% of this organic search traffic.

What this tells us is that PPC campaigns, social media and other traffic sources pale in comparison to organic search when it comes to traffic generation, and SEO happens to be the only way business owners can claim their share of organic traffic.

When it comes to building trust and credibility, and being recognized as an industry authority, any business with an online presence simply cannot disregard SEO. As Cookie Veeratat, Account Manager at Inspira Digital Agency, states, “our clients are beginning to understand more and more, the necessity of SEO to strengthen their target consumers’ perception of their brand as an industry authority.”

She further explained that “this could be as a result of them coming to realize that the more their target audience keep seeing their brand name and web pages on the number one search engine results page of a leading search company like Google when they search for pertinent information, the more these consumers will regard their business as relevant, credible, and authoritative.”

For a brand looking to build authority and trust which are vital for success in marketing, ranking its web pages high on Google’s (or any other search platform’s) SERPs can only be achieved with good SEO, which accounts for optimized content and on-page elements, quality backlink profiles, positive user behavior, and machine-learning signals.

As the use of mobile devices to access the web continues to grow, so does the need for small and medium-sized businesses to optimize their web pages for local search. Consumer insights obtained from a study by Think with Google have it that 30% of all mobile searches are related to location, and 76% of people who use their smartphones to search for nearby products and services visit a business within a day.

Digital Marketing in 2021: How SEO Has Become an Essential Part of Online Strategy for BusinessesSo local SEO, which involves the optimization of digital properties for a particular locality such as a town or city, ensures consumers who are in the same vicinity as a locally optimized business can find it quickly and easily.

Commenting on how essential local SEO can be for businesses, Xavier Cloitre, Managing Director of Inspira Digital Agency, notes that “local SEO is a sure way to increase engagement, traffic, and conversions.” Going further, he revealed that “in order to boost engagement on the local level, the first thing our SEO pros do is to optimize a brand’s Google Business Profile, its Knowledge Graph panel, and its social media profiles…”

Ultimately, in order to market better to their target audience and position their brand for constant growth, business owners need a good knowledge of the web environment, the tactics used by their competitors, and their own level of performance at any point in time. The good news is that the process of SEO can equip them with such useful insights as it incorporates in-depth research, tracking, and analytics.

“The bottom line remains that the essentiality of SEO as part of the online strategy of businesses today and in the future cannot be overemphasized – it is absolutely necessary for successful marketing,” Cookie Veeratat concludes.

Digital Marketing in 2021: How SEO Has Become an Essential Part of Online Strategy for Businesses

About Inspira Digital Agency

Inspira Digital Agency is a full-service digital marketing and SEO Company in Thailand focused on helping businesses achieve their online marketing goals. Find out more about how Inspira creates and executes effective digital strategies at inspiradigitalagency.com. You can also reach out via contact@inspiradigitalagecy.com, or call +66 (0)8 1466 7837.

Published : August 02, 2021

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40002559

To disclose or not to disclose?

Nu To Van Partner, Tax & Legal – Global Trade Advisory Deloitte Thailand Tom Cachet Manager, Tax & Legal – Global Trade Advisory Deloitte Thailand

After a year completely disrupted by the Covid 19 pandemic, there were some indications by the beginning of 2021 that Thai Customs had picked up their audit activities on importers, most likely to make up for the limited controls on imports that preceded and in search of foregone duty and tax revenue.

Companies, which are audited by Customs, are at risk of having to pay back duties and VAT together with fines, penalties surcharges in case of non-compliance issues.

However, by April of 2021, a third Covid-wave hit Thailand and Customs decided to scale back their enforcement activities in an effort not to place an undue burden on companies already suffering from the pandemic.

To disclose or not to disclose?

Temporary incentives for self-disclosure of non-compliance to Customs

Instead, incentives are being made available to companies to self-disclose non-compliance issues with duty and tax exposures. The One-Stop-Service for Additional Duty Payment (One-Stop-Service Program) already allows importers to disclose self-identified import duty/VAT shortfalls centrally to Customs Headquarter. As long as the importer can prove that there was no intention to evade duties, Customs would waive the customs fines. This program still runs until 30 September 2021.

In addition, a new Ministerial Regulation was released on 28 May 2021 to reduce monthly duty surcharges to 0.25% of any outstanding duty payable for those companies making a self-disclosure to Customs. Duty surcharges are calculated monthly on top of the duty shortfall amount, which is either detected by Customs or self-disclosed by the importer, from the date of import/export until the date of payment (but capped at the total amount of duty shortfall). Normally, duty surcharges range from 0.25% to 1%, depending on when payment is made. However, under the new Ministerial Regulation the percentage is fixed at 0.25% regardless how far back the import/export is dated.

The duty surcharge reduction is a temporary relief measure in response to the lingering Covid situation in Thailand, and applies from 1 June until 30 September 2021.

By promoting both a waiver on customs fines and a reduction of duty surcharges in case of a self-disclosure, Customs is making an attempt to convince companies to independently come forward with any self-assessed non-compliance findings. This will still allow them to secure some duty revenue despite not being able to conduct their usual audit activities. Now may be the time for companies to seriously consider taking them up on their offer. After the relief measures expire on 30 September 2021, and if the situation allows it, Customs is expected to increase their audits once again.

What to look out for?

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Some of the typical non-compliance issues that Customs assessed companies for before restricting their audit activities were related to the use of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), payments of royalties and declaration of tariff code (HS codes).

Importers who make use of FTAs to obtain import duty privileges must present to Customs a Certificate of Origin (CO) issued in the exporting country. Thai Customs is known to rigorously verify whether COs have been completed in accordance with FTA guidelines and are consistent with other submitted customs documentation such as the import declaration, invoice and bill of lading. If any errors or inconsistencies are detected, the duty privileges are usually denied. One area that has caught Customs’ recent attention was related to FTA imports that involved multiple party sales transactions and “breakbulk” transactions in an intermediary country where a regional distribution center is located.

Currently, these kind of transactions are only allowed under the ASEAN FTA. Using the same kind of transactions under different FTAs are currently not allowed in Thailand and can lead to claw back of duties and taxes together with fines and penalties for historic shipments.

Another area is related to the declared value of imported goods. During audits, Customs normally reviews whether any additional payments (e.g. for royalties or license fees) were made on top of the price of the imported goods. In case Customs views that these payments should be dutiable, Customs will reassess the original declared value and claw back duties with fines and penalties.

Finally, tariff codes (HS codes) have traditionally been a hot target area for Customs challenges given the ambiguity of the classification system and the possibility for Customs to opt for codes which would normally attract higher duty rates. Companies must review whether they have been declaring tariff codes that can be defended in accordance with the customs classification rules and if not, consider whether to make a change and disclose past mistakes.

What’s next?

Given that Customs has temporarily decided to scale back their enforcement activities, companies are encouraged to conduct an internal review of their company’s import/export activities to determine whether they have complied with customs rules and regulations or not and identify potential risks and exposures. If any significant non-compliance is identified, it may be worthwhile to make the self-disclosure to Customs before 30 September 2021 to mitigate the potential financial exposure in the future and close the issue.

On the other hand, companies must keep in mind the possibility that following a self-disclosure Customs could expand investigations into other customs issues. Therefore, companies must have a clear picture of their customs risk areas and exposures before deciding to proceed with the self-disclosure.

With only limited time before the self-disclosure incentive programs close, now may be a good time for companies in Thailand to start reviewing their import and export activities.

Published : June 28, 2021

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40001958

U.S. water and power are shockingly vulnerable to cyberhacks

When the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was hacked in 2018, it took a mere six hours. Early this year, an intruder lurked in hundreds of computers related to water systems across the U.S. In Portland, Oregon, burglars installed malicious computers onto a grid providing power to a chunk of the Northwest.

Two of those cases — L.A. and Portland — were tests. The water threat was real, discovered by cybersecurity firm Dragos.

All three drive home a point long known but, until recently, little appreciated: the digital security of U.S. computer networks controlling the machines that produce and distribute water and power is woefully inadequate, a low priority for operators and regulators, posing a terrifying national threat.

“If we have a new world war tomorrow and have to worry about protecting infrastructure against a cyberattack from Russia or China, then no, I don’t think we’re where we’d like to be,” said Andrea Carcano, co-founder of Nozomi Networks, a control system security company.

Hackers working for profit and espionage have long threatened American information systems. But in the last six months, they’ve targeted companies running operational networks like the Colonial Pipeline fuel system, with greater persistence. These are the systems where water can be contaminated, a gas line can spring a leak or a substation can explode.

The threat has been around for at least a decade — and fears about it for a generation — but cost and indifference posed obstacles to action.

It isn’t entirely clear why ransomware hackers — those who use malicious software to block access to a computer system until a sum of money has been paid — have recently moved from small-scale universities, banks and local governments to energy companies, meatpacking plants and utilities. Experts suspect increased competition and bigger payouts as well as foreign government involvement. The shift is finally drawing serious attention to the problem.

The U.S. government began taking small steps to defend cybersecurity in 1998 when the Clinton administration identified 14 private sectors as critical infrastructure, including chemicals, defense, energy and financial services. This triggered regulation in finance and power. Other industries were slower to protect their computers, including the oil and gas sector, said Rob Lee, the founder of Dragos.

One of the reasons is the operational and financial burden of pausing production and installing new tools.

Much of the infrastructure running technology systems is too old for sophisticated cybersecurity tools. Ripping and replacing hardware is costly as are service outages. Network administrators fear doing the job piecemeal may be worse because it can increase a network’s exposure to hackers, said Nozomi’s Carcano.

Although the Biden administration’s budget includes $20 billion to upgrade the country’s grid, this comes after a history of shoulder shrugging from federal and local authorities. Even where companies in under-regulated sectors like oil and gas have prioritized cybersecurity, they’ve been met with little support.

Take the case of ONE Gas Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Niyo Little Thunder Pearson was overseeing cybersecurity there in January 2020 when his team was alerted to malware trying to enter its operational system — the side that controls natural gas traffic across Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

For two days, his team was in a dogfight with the hackers who moved laterally across the network. Ultimately, Pearson’s team managed to expel the intruders.

When Richard Robinson at Cynalytica fed the corrupted files into his own identification program, ONE Gas learned it was dealing with malware capable of executing ransomware, exploiting industrial control systems and harvesting user credentials. At its core were digital footprints found in some of the most malicious code of the last decade.

Pearson tried to bring the data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation but it would only accept it on a compact disc, he said. His system couldn’t burn the data onto a CD. When he alerted the Department of Homeland Security and sent it through a secure portal, he never heard back.

Robinson of Cynalytica was convinced a nation-state operator had just attacked a regional natural gas provider. So he gave a presentation to DHS, the Departments of Energy and Defense and the intelligence community on a conference call. He never heard back either.”We got zero, and that was what was really surprising,” he said. “Not a single individual reached back out to find out more about what happened to ONE Gas.”

The agencies didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Such official indifference — even hostility — hasn’t been uncommon.

The 2018 break-in to the L.A. water and power system is another example.

These weren’t criminals but hackers-for-hire paid to break into the system to help it improve security.

After the initial intrusion, the city’s security team asked the hackers to assume the original source of compromise had been fixed (it hadn’t) while hunting for a new one. They found many.

Between the end of 2018 and most of 2019, the hired hackers discovered 33 compromised paths, according to a person familiar with the test who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Bloomberg News reviewed a report produced by the hackers for Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office.

It described 10 vulnerabilities found during their own test, along with 23 problems researchers had discovered as early as 2008. (Bloomberg News won’t publish information that hackers could use to attack the utility.) The person familiar with the operation discovered that few, if any, of the 33 security gaps have been fixed since the report’s submission in September 2019.

It gets worse.

Soon after the hackers produced the report, Mayor Garcetti terminated their contract, according to a preliminary legal claim filed by the hackers hired from Ardent Technology Solutions in March 2020. The company alleges the mayor fired the hackers as a “retaliatory measure” for the scathing report.

Ellen Cheng, a utility spokeswoman, acknowledged that Ardent’s contract was terminated but said it had nothing to do with the report’s substance. She said the utility frequently partners with public agencies to improve security, including scanning for potential cyber threats.”We want to assure our customers and stakeholders that cybersecurity is of the utmost importance to LADWP and that appropriate steps have been taken to ensure that our cybersecurity is compliant with all applicable laws and security standards,” Cheng said in a statement.

Garcetti’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The case of the Oregon network — the Bonneville Power Administration — is no more encouraging.

The testing went on for years beginning in 2014 and involved an almost shocking level of intrusion followed by a pair of public reports. One published in 2017 admonished the agency for repeatedly failing to take action.

By 2020, two-thirds of the more than 100 flaws identified by the Department of Energy and the utility’s own security team hadn’t been resolved, according to interviews with more than a dozen former and current Bonneville security personnel and contractors and former members of the Department of Energy cyber team, in addition to documents, some accessed via Freedom of Information Act request.

Doug Johnson, a spokesperson for Bonneville, didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether the vulnerabilities have been resolved, including some detailed in documents reviewed by Bloomberg in 2020.

Dragos estimated in its 2020 cybersecurity report that 90% of its new customers had “extremely limited to no visibility” inside their industrial control systems. That means that once inside, hackers have free rein to collect sensitive data, investigate system configurations and choose the right time to wage an attack.

The industry is finally focused on fighting back.

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“If the bad guys come after us, there has to be an eye-for-an-eye, or better,” observed Tom Fanning, chief executive officer of Southern Co., at a conference this week. “We’ve got to make sure the bad guys understand there will be consequences.”

Published : June 13, 2021

By : Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Kartikay Mehrotra