The bank is also cooperating with Big C Supercenter to launch new automatic self-service payment machines at stores in October.

Thanapong na Ranong, managing director of Beacon Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Kasikornbank, said the company would by year-end invest in four more startups, both local and overseas, having already backed two startup firms – Jitta and Horganice – in the first half.

He said that planned investment for the four startups is expected to total more than US$10 million, or Bt300 million. Kasikornbank has already approved a total budget of $135 million to back startups, of which $70 million has been invested so far.

“For some investment projects, we don’t expect any returns. Instead we hope the investment will help develop our banking business. The startups we choose for investment don’t have to be related to financial services, but can be from a more diverse background. They will help the bank solve problems faced by its clients and also strengthen their capabilities for the future,” said Thanapong.

Supreecha Limpikanjanakowit, senior vice president at Kosikornbank, said the new automatic self-service machines at Big C Supercenters would cut checkout queues and offer shoppers greater convenience. Big C’s Samyan Mitrtown branch is trialling the machines from the end of September.

The airline is also urging the government to cut down on airport fees at secondary provinces.

“Anticipated advance bookings sold together with Thai Airways International and Thai Smile show that bookings on this route are quite low, at 6 per cent per flight on average,” Pravej Ongartsittigul, chair of the airline’s executive committee, said.

Nok Air normally flies twice a day three times a week – Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – to and from Mae Hong Son.

“We found that only 40 of the 80 seats in the aircraft are normally booked, which burdens the airline with losses of several million baht,” he said, adding that the airline was now considering new routes that have better potential.

Nok Air started flying to Mae Hong Son since March last year, in line with its policy to boost tourism in secondary provinces. However, it’s overall operational results show that the number of passengers using this route has been quite low, and on Wednesday only 10 seats were booked.

Pravej said the government should introduce some stimulus measures for airlines that fly to secondary provinces, such as reducing air-traffic control service fees and landing fees.

Preeda Chuaykong, director of Mae Hong Son Airport, said Nok Air has already informed the airport of its plan to cancel flights, but the airline has yet to confirm whether it will resume flights after October 25.

“We just know that the number of passengers flying to Mae Hong Son has dropped gradually since April this year, and that might be due to the haze problem that has hit the city,” she said.

However, Preeda said people visiting the province has been on the rise, with some 60,000 arrivals per year, rising 5 per cent year-on-year in the first half of this year.

“Arrivals drop during the low season as normal, but they will rebound again during October and December,” she said, adding that passenger load of airlines that fly to Mae Hong Son stands at more than 70 per cent on average.

In the letter, the company said it is committed to the improvement of its mobile services: 4G, 3G, 2G and various other digital communication technologies, connecting its customers to what matters most and , at the same time, empowering society.

Huawei’s highest-ever ranking on the list, which evaluates the world’s largest companies in terms of revenue and profit, comes thanks to revenue of US$109 billion.

The ranking indicates the company’s continuous growth in the world market and its increasing brand influence, despite being hit by US and European trade sanctions over security concerns surrounding the telecom firm.

Chief corporate officer Weerawat Kiattipongthaworn said today that the partnership reflects AIS’s status of a digital life service provider.

The farm grows organic vegetables and melons.

AIS has also created an intelligent farm platform featuring its ICT networks with Internet of Things devices to enable the farm’s management via smart mobile devices.

Among the digital solutions currently in use at the farm are an evaporative cooling system for greenhouses, a sensor controlling box for planting devices, sensor devices, an IP camera connected with AIS fibre optic network, and the intelligent farm platform.

Weerawat believes that Thai farmers are now ready to embrace advanced technolgy to improve production and management.

Meanwhile, AIS signed a memorandum of understanding with Chiang Mai University for a joint trial of 5G technology at the campus.

Cecelia Herbert joins the company as lead EX scientist for the APJ region. In this role Herbert has established the APJ EX Advisory Services at Qualtrics, which advise organisations as they design and manage EX programmes. Herbert is a doctor of organisational psychology and brings more than 15 years’ experience in nurturing employee experience innovation, supporting leaders to take action on feedback, and transform workplace culture. She most recently led diversity, equity, and inclusion across multiple functions for Google in Asia Pacific.

Stephen Choo joins Qualtrics as an EX senior solution strategist for APJ – the first appointment of its type in Southeast Asia. In this role Choo will partner with businesses across the region to develop EX strategies that drive employee and organisational performance. Choo has more than 20 years of experience helping business and HR leaders develop a long-term sustainable employee engagement culture. Prior to Qualtrics, he was at Qualtrics’ partner Korn Ferry.

“In today’s experience economy companies with high levels of both employee engagement and enablement have up to 4.5 times more revenue growth than those with low levels. This means it’s never been more important for organisations to focus on driving experience breakthroughs for employees,” said Bill McMurray, managing director for Qualtrics in Asia Pacific and Japan.

“Herbert and Choo are two of the region’s leading EX experts with proven credentials, and we are delighted to welcome both of them to Qualtrics,” added McMurray.

“It is a pivotal time of transformation for the HR industry. The mindset of business leaders is shifting towards people strategy as the core driver of innovation. They are understanding the value of employee feedback and creating a seat at the table for HR to accelerate businesses forward. Qualtrics has a unique role to support organisations everywhere by using evidence-based best practices to transform EX. This is a massive opportunity for all involved, and I am excited to partner with our customers to improve the everyday experiences for their employees.”

Choo said: “As the war for talent intensifies in Southeast Asia, businesses are prioritising EX to compete in attracting, engaging and retaining employees. EX is the new battleground for competitive advantage, which is why it’s critical for organisations to have meaningful experiences with their employees. Technology like Qualtrics EmployeeXM is central to unlocking these experiences and equipping leaders with real-time insights and tools they need to deliver breakthrough experiences.”

The Qualtrics XM Platform enables brands to manage the four core experiences of business: customer, employee, product, and brand. The XM platform is a system of action that makes it easy for brands to gather experience data (X-data), which are the beliefs, emotions, and intentions that tell you why things are happening, and what to do about it. Combining X-data with operational data (O-data) pulled from existing systems such as HRIS, CRM and web analytics ensures business decisions are based on facts and the intangibles, the company said.

The stock purchase will make OCA the largest external investor and a representative from OCA will join the bank’s board of directors.

Established in 2006, the bank focuses on micro-finance and micro-SME loans, with its clients including small entrepreneurs, fresh market vendors, and restaurants.

It has total outstanding loans of over US$1.5 billion. The bank has developed technology for credit analysis system and debt collection tracking system and will launch an e-wallet by the end of this year.

OCA purchased the bank’s shares from Polaris Capital, managed by the Northstar Group.

OCA is a regional investment company that invests in non-listed private equity firms. It has investments all over Asia, including in Thailand.

“The bank is confident that it can continue to grow its business in micro-finance and micro-SME loans, and we are delighted to have OCA’s support, given its vast level of expertise,” said Winyou Chaiyawan, chief executive officer of the Thai Credit Retail Bank.

Daniel Mintz, managing director at Olympus Capital, said: “We are confident that the bank has an outstanding business opportunity to maintain their market leadership by expanding their financial services and making the transition into the digital era by using new technology to analyse customer groups and increase the level of customer satisfaction through a more efficient operation process.”

The Global Workspace Survey from IWG was conducted on over 15,000 professionals from a range of different industries in 80 countries.

When employees were asked to prioritise their preferences on workplace perks, 80 per cent said that when faced with two similar employment offers, they would turn down the one that didn’t offer flexible working.

In addition, 54 per cent said that having a choice of work location was more important to them than an increased holiday allowance, suggesting that workers will deal with the daily grind, as long as they know they will have a little flexibility about where they can open their laptops.

The development of new technologies has long meant that many of us should be able to work anytime, anywhere. The challenge for businesses has been how to make the most of these new opportunities.

Many companies have been quick to realise and adapt to the benefits of flexible working, which not only allows employees to work in huge numbers of locations around the world, but also improves productivity, job satisfaction, talent retention and business performance. Indeed, many employees now consider it to be the “new normal” when looking for the next step in their careers – as the demand for flexible working is increasing year on year and is showing no signs of slowing.

Knowledge-based industries such as consultancy and ICT businesses in particular have embraced their location agnostic structures to make remote working a possibility, as many business leaders have noticed that being flexible can play a critical role in broadening their access to the top talent pools, and employees confirm that it makes a difference to their enjoyment of their role.

The importance of being able to choose your work location was also cited in the study as one of the most important factor that prospective employees now look for: 70 per cent of respondents felt that having a choice of work environment is a key factor when evaluating new career opportunities.

Once considered the preserve of parents with young children, flexible working has seen its popularity boom among employees at all stages in their careers. In particular millennials, who make up the majority of the current workforce in Thailand that display an ever-present preference for flexibility, due to their accustomed nature of being connected all the time.

The attractive prospects of cutting down on time spent commuting and ending the need to squeeze in errands into a lunch break empowers the worker to have more ability to decide how they distribute their working day.

It is also helping businesses to improve diversity within their organisations as the age of retirement in Thailand creeps up to accommodate the problem associated with being an ageing society.

Lars Wittig, vice president of sales in Asean, Taiwan and South Korea for IWG, said: “As one of the world’s pioneer in flexible working, we are an advocate of the ever-increasing mobile working trend, as employers and employees adapt to accommodate to new conventions.

“In the years ahead, agility will be more important than ever in making businesses succeed, and flexible workspaces will play a key part. As a result, we remain committed to offering a no-frill tailor made solution for companies to expand into new markets and locations efficiently, scale up or down at speed, as well as manage risk and reduce expenses.”