In a sector that’s been typically more bricks and mortar than bits and bytes, technology is rapidly finding application across the world’s largest asset class.

Technology is transforming every industry, and real estate is no exception. The world’s largest asset class, Savills Global Research valued global real estate at $228 trillion in 2017. Residential property accounts for about 75% of that and is growing at 5% per year. The picture across Southeast Asia is more mixed, with Vietnam and Indonesia flat or in a downcycle, Singapore and Malaysia growing modestly, and Thailand the most buoyant, according to data from the IMF.

Technology is playing a key role across both commercial and residential property sectors, from property listing portals, to big data and analytics, blockchain, cloud platforms, and virtual reality, there are start-ups solving industry problems from all angles. JLL research found that, in 2017, Asia-Pacific accounted for 65% of global proptech financing deals, which highlights the expectations that investors have for proptech to take off around the region.

Part of this is due to the rapid urbanisation happening in many Asian countries. Globally, 55% of the world’s population lives in cities, a figure that the UN expects to rise to 68% by 2050. China and India alone account for 27% of this projected growth, pointing to a high level of internal migration and demand for urban real estate.

Despite being a relatively nascent industry, residential proptech has already gone through several evolutions from the early versions of online marketplaces and collated property listings. While not necessarily at the cutting edge of technology, the listing sites have been key to creating transparency.

Real estate technology is “creating an environment of trust,” says GeorgChmiel, chairman of Juwai.com, China’s largest international property portal, and ex-CEO of Malaysia’s property portal iProperty. “In the past, someone who wanted to purchase a property had to go to an agent and look what they had on offer but could never be sure if they had covered the whole market.’’

The second wave of the residential proptech evolution has been providing value-added services. To increase the attractiveness of their platforms, websites introduced data and analytics and virtual viewings. For example, Chmiel says that Juwai can advise developers targeting the Chinese market before they have started building. Juwai is the largest source of global properties for the Chinese audience, with over 2.8 million property listings representing about $1 trillion, according to its website.

“We can provide information about what Chinese buyers really value,’’ says Chmiel. ‘’What they want to see and whether they like two bedrooms or three. This is the power of data, where it becomes knowledge and it is really changing the industry.”

In the third evolution of proptech platforms, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology will play a role. Machine learning could accurately whittle down a property search according to a customer’s needs and their changing preferences. Meanwhile, chatbots could help automate real estate processes such as appointment bookings, saving time for real estate agents to concentrate on more value-added services.

In a real estate context, a blockchain – a digitised, distributed ledger that immutably records and shares information – offers a way to improve transparency. Smart contracts, essentially programs coded on a blockchain, would offer a means to do away with consuming face-to-face interactions with various parties such as lawyers or bankers.

Meanwhile, several companies are using blockchains as ways to ‘tokenise’ property; representing ownership of real-world assets in a digital form to reduce the cost of investment for investors and increase liquidity. However, regulators have cautioned that the anonymous nature of blockchains leaves certain platforms susceptible to potential abuse by criminals.

According to KPMG, in terms of digital innovation, real estate has typically lagged behind other industries, potentially due to the long-term nature of property investments and the apparent security they provide. Yet there are signs that this is changing and some of the most valuable US start-ups including WeWork and AirBNB are proptech companies that have already revolutionised the way we work and how we monetise our properties.

By applying technologies such as virtual reality and user-intuitive spatial planning tools for construction and development, or 3D printing to provide affordable homes, proptech could become a powerful force for good. “When people talk about disruption some people think it’s all about destroying something,’’ says Chmiel. ‘’But the ultimate source of disruption is really making things better in the real world and solving a real issue.’’

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The agriculture industry faces a variety of challenges such as climate change, low agriculture productivity and yield, high operating cost, and health hazards to farmers. Leveraging digital technologies, TM One Smart Agriculture solutions are opening a promising ability to address the industry’s long challenges through the Smart Farming revolution.

TM One Smart Agriculture offers a diverse set of solutions to help farmers adapt to technological advancement. One of the features is a centralised monitoring dashboard that is integrated into the IoT-powered machines, which enables farmers a holistic view of their entire machinery performances and crop conditions.

Watch this video and know more about how TM One Smart Agriculture solutions can provide more efficient and sustainable farming practices.

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According to Technologist Dr. Saiyid Abdallah Syahir Al-Edrus, General Manager for Cybersecurity Services and Product & Innovation at TM One, every organisation has the responsibility to ensure that their cybersecurity strategies run in tandem with their business growth.

“Organisations are responsible to protect and safeguard their business and customer data from cybercriminals. They need to have the right tools, processes and above all the right people, a team of cyber-intelligence experts or security analysts, in place at all times.”

BusinessToday spoke to the industry expert who has over 15 years of experience in consulting, network security, endpoint security, cloud security, application & data security, and cybersecurity risk management, and who has leveraged his expertise to help organisations protect their businesses from the increasing challenge of cyber-attacks and threats.

He pointed out that many Malaysian organisations of all sizes and across all industries faced gaps between their perceived capabilities and their actual performance when it came to ensuring their cybersecurity strategies addressed the needs of their business.

“Organisations may believe that they have taken all the necessary steps to protect their data and systems, when they have not. This false sense of security has resulted in major global corporations and regional government agencies falling victim to massive security breaches.”

Dr. Saiyid also noted that organisations tended to become complacent. “Organisations often take for granted that they will not be the target for cyber-attacks, because they feel that they are not managing critical infrastructure and sensitive data. However, attackers will target any organisation that can provide them with a lucrative payoff.”

Lack of resources was a third factor, he added.

“Most organisations may not have the budget to invest in robust cybersecurity measures or the necessary expertise/personnel. Instead they often rely on general IT support. Unfortunately, cybersecurity itself encompasses a very huge spectrum and domain, for which you need specific skills, experience and knowledge.”

“Having an external partner that can provide professional and advisory services will help enterprises navigate and manage their cybersecurity strategy.”

Dr. Saiyid noted that while TM One, the enterprise and government sector arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad is fully capable of providing a complete outsourced cybersecurity service to its customers, his preferred approach involved a hybrid solution between organisations and their cybersecurity partner.

“Cybersecurity strategies must be based on the organisation’s needs and priorities. My recommendation would be that policies are governed in-house, where the client dictates and determines which security services are needed and cybersecurity framework the organisation should adopt.”

Shifting Resources Purposefully

Responding to an IDC Enterprise Services Sourcing Survey, which stated that over 70% of Malaysian organisations recognised that security is not their core expertise, Dr. Saiyid pointed out that this view stems from understandable reasons – cybersecurity is generally underfunded and under-resourced.

“Businesses are often challenged to find and retain the right talents to manage digitalisation, cybersecurity, and innovation within their organisations. IT departments are now expected to support new revenue streams, on top of managing operational efficiency and reducing cost. Business leaders find it difficult to understand the ROI of IT security, and are more focused on growing their digital revenue – especially in the wake of COVID-19.”

As a result, meeting the need to secure these digital platforms can weigh on businesses’ priorities, requiring them to divert limited budgets and resources from opportunities to risk avoidance, Dr. Saiyid highlighted.

“In large organisations, managing cybersecurity efficiently requires a significant amount of resources and effort. Aside from the need to secure a well-equipped and complex IT environment, setting up a dedicated team means organisations need to invest in the technology and put together the security controls for the entirety of their IT environment. This can prove difficult as there is a marked scarcity of cybersecurity professionals, not only in Malaysia but internationally.”

With these realities, individual organisations should decide whether they want to outsource a certain portion of their cybersecurity responsibility or outsource the whole function.

“For instance, they can choose to retain identity management, which is the heart of IT operations and sits with Active Directory and domain controllers, while the rest, such as perimeter security, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, or the 24/7 monitoring of the overall environment can be outsourced to the experts, like TM One.”

Service providers such as TM One can also provide organisations with round-the-clock protection, ensuring that their systems are always safe and secure. Furthermore, outsourcing cybersecurity can help organisations free up their internal resources so that they can focus on other areas of business.

TM One’s Professional Services supports organisations to assess their cybersecurity capabilities, and provides consulting and advisory services to help them strengthen their capabilities to respond to potential threats.

Specifically, TM One’s Cyber Defence Centre (CYDEC) is an end-to-end cybersecurity service which includes cybersecurity consulting or professional services to guide organisations carve out the best cybersecurity solutions that fit their needs and budget.

Through continuous support from TM One’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) and CyberAssurance services, organisations can benefit from managed security services to discover and address potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities, leverage solutions that help strengthen the readiness of in-house security teams, test systems to identify exploitable gaps, and monitor their broader business ecosystem to detect attacks or indicators of compromised systems and data more efficiently.

This includes Security Posture Assessment (SPA), Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) services and Digital Attack Simulation either as a one-time engagement or a retainer programme.

Organisations who are interested to learn more about how TM One can help enhance their cybersecurity profile can visit its website at https://www.tmone.com.my/solutions/cybersecurity-services/.

This article was first published in Business Today

Cyberattacks have now become a constant threat for businesses everywhere incurring cost and causing reputational issues, on top of other economic conditions that organisations have to contend with.

Despite the inevitability and increasing frequency of these attacks, most businesses have yet to adequately safeguard their infrastructure and systems, with today’s more sophisticated hackers finding new ways to attack businesses of all sizes.  

International Data Corporation (IDC) has reported that in 2021, Southeast Asian organisations spent a whopping US$3.2 billion on cybersecurity services, software and appliances.

Closer to home, the Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy 2020-2024 report states that the country may face economic losses of up to RM51 billion due to cyber threats. A study in VMware’s “The State of Incident Response 2021” report also found that 49% of organisations lack the expertise and tools for adequate incident response.

According toTs. Dr. Saiyid Abdallah Syahir Al-Edrus, General Manager, Cybersecurity Services, TM One, “A proactive strategy is when businesses wholly employ a good cybersecurity framework including leveraging new technologies and trends to keep their systems secure. Utilising artificial intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity and automation to bring benefits to their overall operations.”

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AI has revolutionised the world by leaps and bounds, with AI in cybersecurity making it much faster to trace potential attacks, reduce the delay in response time and ultimately save man hours. Technology enables cybersecurity solution providers and analysts to analyse similar attack patterns and provide the necessary responses if there is a behaviour change. 

Emerging cybersecurity technology will now help to facilitate organisations become more proactive. This includes the utilisation of security information and event management through technologies such as Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) and Next Gen Security Operations Centre (SOC).

This ensures that enterprises and the government sector are able to implement and maintain a proactive cybersecurity strategy, leveraging the skills and capabilities of dedicated specialised talents and reducing the impact to their own over-stretched IT teams.

TM One works closely with its customers by thoroughly assessing their security posture, technology maturity and business needs through its consulting and other value-added services. The firm has positioned itself apart from its competitors through Managed Security Services (MSS) as its core solution offering. 

TM One also recently received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Best Practices 2022 Cybersecurity Company of the Year award. 

Their credibility is seen in the development of its products and solutions offered for the cybersecurity scene. According to TM One, most Malaysian organisations lack in-house security expertise, professionals and tools. This leads to them importing or outsourcing their security operations to ensure the security posture of business infrastructure and manage their cyber risks.

To address this issue, TM One provides a wide spectrum of cybersecurity solutions, helping organisations improve their security posture and business infrastructure as well as better manage their cyber risks via TM One’s Cyber Defense Centre (CYDEC).  

CYDEC’s extensive and comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio includes MSS, encompassing managed unified threat management, managed SOC, managed detection and response, cyber threat intelligence, managed anti-DDoS, managed web application firewall, vulnerability management, capture-the-flag service, cyber deception service, digital risk protection and many more. 

TM One’s cybersecurity consulting services also include, and are not limited to, security assessment and posture, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, cybersecurity design and implementation, compromised assessment and digital attack simulation.

Fuelled by TM’s SOC and centralised cybersecurity platform, TM One’s CYDEC incorporates advanced technologies like predictive analytics and machine learning to help customers address evolving cyberattacks on-premises and on the cloud. As an added advantage, this extensive cybersecurity portfolio allows TM One to curate and customise solutions based on customers’ needs across various business sizes. 

TM One has continuously proven that the right solution alongside robust technology will augment organisations in safeguarding systems, especially within the current complexities of today’s digital landscape. Prioritising cybersecurity skills as one of the most important areas to be addressed, TM One is committed to addressing the industry’s current challenges and support businesses navigate the digital space with greater confidence. 

To find out how TM One can help you achieve world class cybersecurity, visit Cybersecurity Services and Solutions — TM One CYDEC

This article was first published in CEO Morning Brief – The Edge Markets

Innovation is a key driver for organisations to generate new opportunities and to create greater value. It enables organisations to find fresh solutions to problems and generate value that they otherwise couldn’t access. It takes leadership’s commitment to drive innovation across an organisation. With the right mix of people, tools and leadership, organisations can unlock their next advantage, today.

How organisations can move towards their NEXT phase of economic growth and create new business growth

What are the five top of mind factors that organisations should consider their NEXT phase of innovation?

• Rebalancing organisational focus across three areas – business and operational performance; compliance; and being future-focused. Being future-focused must be an organisation’s main agenda in order to embed a new transformative culture, and to pivot towards making businesses more efficient to achieve a new measure of success.
• Building for scale and resilience – adopting technology, cloudification, smart solutions, business analytics with AI and machine learning, and stronger cybersecurity is key for business growth and sustainability.
• Partnerships – offer a unique opportunity for collaboration across ecosystems and cultures. By combining competencies and different perspectives, companies can quickly create innovative solutions that would otherwise be challenging to develop. Embracing partnerships allows companies to tap into new ideas for growth, and create value in a way that wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration.
• ESG – embracing sustainability includes forward-looking value creation that enriches mid- to long- term value for communities, businesses and the Government. Tapping into resource-efficient solutions will also bring about differentiated user and consumer experiences.
• Talent management –  in becoming future-focused, managing talent is key with greater emphasis on talent reskilling, upskilling, retention and effective recruitment. Improving talent management also includes adopting agile practices and digital workspaces, embracing a digital-first mindset that sets organisations apart.

“It is clear that taking advantage of technologies, coupled with strong partnerships will help build a more resilient and responsive ecosystem.” Shazurawati Abd Karim – Executive Vice President at TM One

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TM ONE is your trusted partner in enabling your next advantage today and tomorrow by harnessing the power of human centered technology and innovation. We provide secure and robust fit-for-purpose business solutions to enterprises and the Government from across diverse industries, from banking to retail, oil & gas and energy, logistics, education, healthcare and many more.

We understand that every organisation has different needs and goals, with different business models, systems and operational landscapes.

Our end-to-end managed services and vertical solutions built across our pillars of connectivity solutions, data centres, cloud, cybersecurity and smart services which leverage the latest technologies empowers organisations to harness the power of big data and IR 4.0.

Together with our professional services teams across Malaysia and Indonesia, TM One offers value-based innovative solutions to businesses in line with TM’s role as the enabler of progressive innovative transformation.

TM One’s 5G Sphere, our circle of local and global smart solutions and technology partners, will also enable the next phase of enterprise innovation and transformation, harnessing 5G capabilities.

TM One’s 5G Sphere offers the opportunity for enterprises to springboard and accelerate their transformation, offering bespoke solution ideation and implementation to drive and generate positive business outcomes that address the unique needs of diverse businesses.

Register for your next advantage now at: 5g.tmone.com.my Your Next is Now.

This article was first published in Reuters Breakingview 2023