PLDT Enterprise readies next-gen business solutions for hybrid work setup

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PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the country’s largest fully integrated telecommunications provider PLDT, announced that it is launching several products and solutions next year to deliver the connectivity needs of companies implementing hybrid work arrangements.

By early 2022, PLDT Enterprise is set to unveil new Smart Bro Promo Plans that will provide enterprise-grade 5G fixed wireless connectivity to businesses, enabling users to stay connected while using data-heavy tools and applications.

Vice President & Head of Wireless Marketing for PLDT Enterprise Chet Alviz said that for the upcoming year, PLDT Enterprise is gearing to provide the fastest connection speeds that can support the evolving needs of industries such as BPOs, banking, logistics and transportations, SMEs, and others.

“PLDT Enterprise has been looking into innovations that will help our partners address their common business challenges including connectivity, security, and network infrastructure, among others. We are actively developing solutions that would enable them to maximize their productivity and efficiency while also making their businesses more equipped for a hybrid work setup,” said Alviz.

These solutions will be suited for work-from-home employees across the country who need reliable and high-speed internet connectivity to work anytime, anywhere.

“Now that businesses are transforming into the perimeter-less environment, what they need is an enterprise-grade 5G fixed wireless connection that could sustain their daily workflow even while at home. Since most companies have adopted the work-from-home set-up, we endeavored to develop and provide solutions that empower our employees to stay connected and be productive wherever they are,” Shyr Amador, Head of IoT & Connected Devices for PLDT Enterprise.

Smart Bro provides reliable, high-speed internet connectivity and a flexible internet connection, leveraging on Smart’s nationwide coverage, utilizing LTE and the latest 5G technology. With Smart 5G, users will experience faster and more efficient mobile speeds with lower latency to support their work and digital lifestyle needs.

For more information, visit pldtenterprise.com.

PH Multi-Channel Commerce Platform developer startup, ChatGenie raises additional investment in recent fundraising campaign

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The fast-growing startup is currently gearing up for Demo Day with Accelerating Asia, who led the investment round

No stopping. ChatGenie founders Ragde Falcis and Nico Nicomedes Jr. are gearing up to get more investors onboard to scale their startup and serve more clients.

Fast-growing Multi-Channel Commerce Platform development startup company, ChatGenie, reached another milestone by raising additional capital in its recent fundraising campaign as part of Accelerating Asia’s fifth cohort.

The funding it secured will enable ChatGenie to expand its reach in distributing its product to as many merchants as possible. Currently, the pandemic-born startup has provided online payment and automated delivery services to more than 2,500 merchants.

With the increasing demand of online businesses now, the investment will also help ChatGenie to expand its operations by growing its team to cater to more clients and scale its services.

Opportunity in crisis

Founded a month before the pandemic hit the Philippines in 2020, ChatGenie proved its relevance in the market as online businesses thrive with more people setting up online stores. It was included in Forbes Asia's inaugural "100 to Watch" list because of its relevance in the market today.

To date, over 2,500 transactions have been done on Messenger, GCash and Viber using ChatGenie and a total of P150 million worth of transactions have been done via the store platform. It has partnered with a number of notable brands and digital wallet platforms, such as GCash, PayMaya, and PayMongo.

In November 2021, it introduced its MSME Booster Program which aims to provide micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) up to six months of free online store on Messenger, Instagram, Viber, GCash, and other business tools.

They provided Filipino MSMEs who want to try the features of ChatGenie, a 3-month ChatGenie Pro subscription for free to help them digitize their businesses.

Promising position in the market

For the fifth cohort, Accelerating Asia picked 9 startups in Asia, including the Philippines' end-to-end store platform ChatGenie, for its first batch of investments from its US$20 million Fund II.

Accelerating Asia is a Singapore-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in pre-Series A startups from across Southeast and South Asia. Cohort 5 was Accelerating Asia's most competitive selection to date with 550 applications from 30 countries, of which only 1.5 percent were chosen.

“With retailers across Asia digitising at the fastest rate in history, ChatGenie's platform provides an easy on ramp to potentially millions of businesses to more easily interact with a larger customer base more efficiently. The company's executive team is a perfect fit for executing the business model which is proven by its stellar traction to date. Accelerating Asia is excited to provide support and be an early investor into ChatGenie as it expands across the Philippines and regionally,” Accelerating Asia General Partner Craig Bristol Dixon said.

“Accelerating Asia is a great partner for us in the current stage of our business. They provide us with the tools, network, and mentorship that we need to grow fast,” says Ragde Falcis, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of ChatGenie.PH.

Among the recent investors of ChatGenie are founders of their own startup – Shahab Shababi (MyKuya), Farouk Meralli (mClinica), Saul Molla (FlowerStore), Andrew Koger (GoodWork.PH), George Padin (Abstract Digital), Ray Refundo, Earvin Ang and Paul Cualteros (Qwikwire), Aldrich Tan (NextPay), and Dominick Danao (Magpie.im).

“I firmly believe companies will inevitably adapt to digitalization and AI. This is where ChatGenie will be very beneficial to them, especially when people are looking for convenience.

Convenience with ChatGenie's product will be a game-changer for e-commerce here in the Philippines. A platform where it is easy to purchase goods not only will help the startup ecosystem but also the e-commerce ecosystem here in the country. The timing is perfect for ChatGenie,” said Earvin Ang, Co-Founder and President of Global Real Estate Solutions Startup, Aqwire, on why he invested in ChatGenie.

Shabab Shababi, Founder of MyKuya and CEO of Machine Ventures, see’s ChatGenie’s recent success is a source of inspiration for PH startups to come up with innovative solutions to solve existing market problems.

“The pandemic has exposed the areas of our economy that need to be made more resilient. For that we need to simplify the way products and services are offered & make it more efficient. While our venture, MyKuya does that for the services industry, we saw ChatGenie covering this gap for the product sellers in the country. We need a new mindset for this new world and we are excited for ChatGenie to empower every product seller in the country,” said Shabab.

Looking ahead

In 2022, ChatGenie hopes to partner with more brands so it could provide its services to businesses that are thriving online.

“So far we have been able to partner with one of the biggest telecommunication companies to upsell our product to its business clients. We are looking for more partnerships like this where we can help their existing merchants grow while increasing the value that our partners provide,” says Falcis.

ChatGenie is now gearing up for its next online demo day on December 16 this year as part of Accelerating Asia’s Accelerator Program. It hopes to lure more investors in its next fundraising campaign.

“We accepted ChatGenie in the INQBATION: Leveling up B2B Startups 6-month program because we saw how much they grew during the incubation period so we were attracted to consider them for investment,” said Ben Alderson, Senior Head of Strategy and Investments of QBO Innovation Hub and Ideaspace Foundation Inc.

“We see ChatGenie continuing to grow customer adoption of their core product, adding additional features that make it easier for their users to operate their MSME businesses and expanding to new markets throughout SEA and potentially even further afield,” he added.

If you wish to invest in one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing startups, check out their website and contact them by visiting this link.

UnionBank attributes DX success, innovation in part to BSP's openness

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Embracing digital transformation early on, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) continues to blaze the trail and excite customers with innovative solutions driven by technology and co-creation. Henry Aguda, Senior Executive Vice President, the Bank’s Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer, cites how enabling and essential it is to have your regulator’s support.

"A lot of people claim that if you're in a heavily regulated industry, you won't be able to become agile. Worse, the regulators may stand in the way," Aguda articulated as a panelist during the recently concluded IBPAP International Innovation Summit. But he was quick to say, "Strangely enough, they're the ones encouraging us to innovate."

UnionBank attributes its success in digital transformation and innovation in part to the openness of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which has been opening an environment that is conducive to thinking outside of the box. "I think regulation would normally be the blocker, but fortunately enough, the BSP has created a sandbox for experimentation, like UnionBank's API platform, and open finance experiments," Aguda said.

Another example is the BSP's push for digital payments. It was in late 2017 when the banking regulator launched the National Retail Payment System (NRPS), providing the framework for the modernization of retail payments in the country.

"Prior to the pandemic, the BSP already pushed for the NRPS. It was actually the BSP who was saying, 'hey, we should go to digital payments.' There was some resistance in the industry, but UnionBank signed up for it early. Now, BSP is looking into how to create a responsible regulatory framework for digital currency."

Aguda also mentioned a UnionBank experience with the BSP, reflecting its openness to innovation and willingness to collaborate despite tight timelines, with the customers’ benefit in mind.

"During the pandemic, we had to send out a new product that will allow us to launch an app that will enable our customers to cash out in 11,000 counters nationwide. And the framework for us to execute that, as well as the product approval -- we got that covered in a matter of two weeks. We apologized to the BSP team because we had to work with them over the weekend, up to 11 in the evening. So, talk about a regulator who's responsive to the times."

"Fortunately, our regulators don't stand in the way of moving quickly towards the goal of a more digitized financial industry," Aguda concluded.

TECNO to Deploy Sensor Shift with Latest Technical Innovations, Leading the New Trend for Android Phones

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A premium smartphone brand focused on global emerging markets, TECNO, outlined an array of its latest technologies and achievements at a webinar entitled “Global Mobile Camera Trends 2022: Innovation Talk”. One eye-catching development was the use of Sensor Shift, which will improve stability in photos and video imaging.

First Runner in Android- TECNO Built Innovation in Sensor Shift

At a moment when short-video social media and live streaming are gaining more popularity with youths around the world, a stabler camera will enable users to produce studio-quality videos and therefore have more fun with social networking sharing.

In the face of users’ growing demand for imaging stability, TECNO plans to release Sensor Shift technology in its new products in 2022, making it the first mobile phone brand in the Android system to do so.

TECNO Sensor Shift

Sensor Shift stabilizes images using sensor movements to compensate for vibrations rather than using lens movements as in existing cameras. TECNO has broken through a technical barrier via an innovative circular plane design for FPC, realizing sensor movement on the roll axis, an advanced step forward from movement on the X- and Y-axis. During the simulation, it demonstrated 30% better augmentation in stress performance than the traditional vertical design. Furthermore, TECNO R&D team realized another 60% anti-shaking effect enhancement by optimizing the test environment and software.

Compared to conventional Optical Imaging Stabilisation, TECNO’s sensor shift technology can achieve a response frequency of 5,000 adjustments per second. In addition, further algorithm optimization will be used to improve the control accuracy of the technology to 350% of the current level, relieving consumers from having to worry too much about the occasional hand jitter resulting in a blurry image.

TECNO is committed to continuous innovation, developing professional cameras for photography and videography, and empowering consumers to express their lifestyles through the power of future lens.

Achievements, future projects take the spotlight at UnionBank’s E-TalkTales year-ender event

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In celebration of its numerous accomplishments and milestones this past year, and to give a small preview of what its customers can expect in 2022, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) held another iteration of its long-running virtual media roundtable series E-TalkTales last December 15.

During the virtual event, UnionBank Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer Henry Aguda talked about some of the Bank's achievements for the year, while the Co-Founder and CEO of UnionBank's digital-native banking arm UnionDigital, Arvie de Vera, talked about the role that the newly formed digital bank will play in UnionBank's digital transformation journey going forward.

Aguda began the discussion by recounting how UnionBank's digital transformation journey has enabled it to brave 2020 and the equally challenging 2021. "The pandemic created this shift to digital, which we now refer to as the “new digital normal”. We changed the way we live, the way we travel, the way we interact with one another, and basically we've changed forever in terms of how we transact in the financial sector."

"But even before the pandemic, UnionBank already had this forward-looking view that digital is the way for us to move forward, and when the pandemic hit, not only did we survive, but I'm happy to say that the Bank actually thrived," according to Aguda.

He then highlighted the top 10 most notable achievements of UnionBank in 2021. These include being the only publicly listed Philippine bank to be granted a license to operate a digital-native bank; the successful groundbreaking of the UnionBank Innovation Campus, the country's first-ever learning institution focused on digital innovation; and having 21 patents for its innovative offers already approved and 18 more on the way.

Other notable achievements include the integration of Instapay 2.0 into its digital banking platform; the successful launch of the UnionBank SME Banking App; the launch of wealth management educational campaigns including the NextGen Academy; significant user growths for UBX’s platforms SeekCap, Bux, and Sentro; and the significant increase in its customer base to almost 10 million to date, from just nearly 7 million as of end-2020.

Meanwhile, de Vera provided a quick introduction to UnionDigital. UnionDigital is one of only six financial institutions in the Philippines that have officially been granted digital banking licenses by the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas to date. As UnionBank's digital banking arm, UnionDigital will focus on delivering banking and financial services to underserved sectors which the parent bank is not able to optimally cater to.

"While UnionDigital aims to empower the country's digital economy, we also aim to elevate it by bringing trust and governance into the space. We embrace innovation like a fintech, but offer all the powers, experience, and track record of a fully regulated bank,” de Vera said.

“At the heart of our work will always be the desire to provide our customers with what they want and what they need, while ensuring that they have what they need in terms of security, compliance with regulation, and proper governance," de Vera added.

In terms of what customers can expect from the Bank and its subsidiaries in 2022, some of the things that Aguda and de Vera gave a sneak preview of were the Bank's possible foray into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), several new solutions aimed at helping workers in the thriving gig economy through EON, and participating in the growing interest and opportunities relating to the metaverse, just to name a few.

UnionBank Chief Marketing Officer Albert Cuadrante capped off the event with a promise that the Bank will continue to do even better in 2022 in terms of delivering great customer experience across channels and platforms. He also reiterated that "UnionBank’s goal is not just to help people survive, but to actually enable them to thrive in this new environment through the latest financial technologies; staying true to our commitment to “Tech-up Pilipinas!”

"I hope you are as eager as I am to welcome 2022. What I can promise you is that what you heard today is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more exciting news you can look forward to from UnionBank," Cuadrante concluded.