LG Laundry Love - Libreng Laba para sa Marikina

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As the city of Marikina is still reeling from the aftermath of typhoon Ulysses’ devastation, help has been coming slowly and steadily through various government agencies, private corporations, and individual volunteers. The road to rebuilding lost homes is going to be a long one, and the residents of Marikina need all the help they can get.

As people slowly try to go back to their homes, one necessity that is often forgotten is the need for clean clothes. As it stands, all of the resident's clothes are dirty and muddy because of the floodwaters. LG Philippines, recognizing this need, mobilized a Laundry Love campaign in various places in Marikina so that victims of typhoon Ulysses can have access to clean clothes. LG set up the event in Nangka Elementary School where 392 families and 1,591 individuals were able to do their laundry for free.

LG’s Laundry Love initiative has been a recurring event which started back in 2019. It was first launched during National Women’s Month as a way to empower and challenge gender norms at home. Laundry Love events have also been launched for outreach programs and disaster response, the last one held in Batangas during Taal Volcano’s phreatic eruption.

For the next few days, LG will be visiting the various evacuation centers in Marikina in order to ensure that everyone in need can have access to Laundry Love.

 

UnionBank translates DSAI (data science and artificial intelligence) insights into a very individualized and personalized way of banking

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Union Bank of the Philippines held the 6th virtual TalkTales on November 18, discuss more how Unionbank leverages data science and artificial intelligence to deliver data-driven, convenient, and personalized banking experiences to customers.

AI a vehicle for customers to achieve aspirations – UnionBank Senior Advisor for Data and AI

Data science and artificial intelligence (or “DSAI”) are two “tandem”-technologies that are now taking over many industries across the globe. 

Artificial intelligence has brought about many exciting prospects that have ushered more personalized, “tailor-fit” digital experiences for many of us. This has made many of the things we do in our lives simpler, more instantaneous, and, thus, more convenient.

As Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is now in the next phase of its digital transformation journey, the country’s leading digital bank has continued to invest in talent, infrastructure, and other resources needed to innovate and co-create using data science and AI, which is led by global data science expert Dr. David Hardoon Ph. D., as the Bank's Senior Advisor for Data and Artificial Intelligence.

On the sixth installment of UnionBank’s exclusive “eTalk Tales” with Media, Dr. Hardoon discussed how UnionBank is translating data science and artificial intelligence insights into a very individualized way of banking, making sure that everyone is statistically significant and provided the ‘VIP’ treatment with a wide range of personalized services and solutions.

“DSAI is a key element within UnionBank’s digitize or perish journey. It is the differentiator between just “Digitize to survive” versus “Digitize to flourish,” Hardoon said.

Hardoon emphasized that AI is a must-have to enable scalable customer-centric finance of tomorrow, today. The goal is to make finance relevant, specific, and contextual to each individual consumer.  His use of AI is not artificial intelligence but ‘augmented intelligence’.  Reality is that humans are phenomenal in creativity that machines do not have. Machines may be able to replicate but it cannot originate. This, according to Hardoon, is where augmentation comes in. Data science uses insights from machines to operationalize and contextualize. “It’s not a question of ‘can we do it’ but ‘should we do it’.”

“AI is the engine of the digital renaissance.  It is a vehicle to achieve an aspiration. It is important to anchor AI on what truly matters—people, whether customers or employees. AI is truly about being human-centric first. The purpose is us, primarily as customers, and how do we leverage on the insight and knowledge that can be derived from AI to help shape financial services around us.”

Digital transformation is heralded as the game-changer for the banking sector in today's reality and for tomorrow's necessity. The transformation is rooted on the aspiration of inclusive and resilient financial services and is about achieving a reality where ones’ moments of life are not defined around the financial products available, but where financial services and products are created to support the milestones in life. 

 

“The Bank has been introducing and enhancing countless digital touchpoints for customer ease and fluidity of engagement. These touchpoints mean exactly that, that customers engage with the Bank on a more regular basis. It is our responsibility to...imagine. Imagine the ability to provide bridging or intra-day loans without a customer's need to submit hefty financial historical statements,” Hardoon said.

 

UnionBank uses AI to upgrade its existing strategy and accelerate further innovation, an example of which is its use as an additional layer of defense against financial crimes. AI enables the Bank to detect more instances while making sure that the existing defense and process will not be disrupted to ensure operation efficiency.  AI is also being leveraged by the Bank to predict future volume of inbound calls that can reduce some of the volatility in call management.  Through AI, the cash management solutions team are provided with data-driven relevant recommendations and proposals for customers.

Data Science and AI (DSAI) enables capabilities in understanding customers' needs through their various engagements with the bank and providers and the ability to go beyond a templatized approach to ascertain relevance, suitability, and affordability.  This makes UnionBank, Philippine banking’s best in the data science and AI field.

Consistent with its commitment to make banking simpler and more inclusive via best-in-class digital and mobile capabilities, UnionBank President and CEO Edwin Bautista believes that leveraging Data and AI is a key driver to the next-level of its digital transformation as the Bank continues to put the customer—both individuals and corporates, at the heart of its business.

About Dr. David Hardoon

Dr. David Hardoon is Senior Advisor for Data and AI at UnionBank of the Philippines. As part of his responsibilities, he works with various centers, groups, and units to reinforce data infrastructure and governance, behavior modelling, machine learning, and AI capabilities as well as applications in the Bank.

In addition to his responsibilities at UnionBank, Dr. Hardoon also serves as advisor for a number of other institutions on matters related to data and AI.

Tuloy Pa Rin ang Pasko: TM FunPasko Brings the Joys of Pinoy Christmas Traditions Online

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A typical Pinoy Christmas is not complete without two things: family and traditions. While this year’s celebration may be different from what we are used to, as long as the family is together, tuloy pa rin ang Pasko ng mga Pilipino. Traditions such as yearly gift-giving, caroling, and movie marathons, on the other hand, have to be done in new ways due to current limitations. 

To help keep the holiday spirit and bring families and friends together, TM is spreading GV during the Christmas season with its FunPasko celebration featuring virtual holiday events, delighters, activities, and its catchy jingle that will surely get you LSS-ed! Performed by SB19, The Juans, and Donnalyn Bartolome, it showcases the unique ways Pinoys can celebrate this year’s Christmas together even when apart with the help of TM – Samahang Pina-easy! 

Awesome surprises are in store for all Ka-TMs with the TM FunPasko celebration, from November 18 to December 31. Win exciting prizes such as 5G phones, laptops, Noche Buena packages, and PHP 50,000 cash when you join the TM FunPasko Monito Monita Raffle. To join, just text TMFUNPASKO to 8080. 

Christmas traditions are also made more fun and special for everyone! With the FunPasko Grand Pakain, TM subscribers can win free Christmas baskets and Chooks-To-Go Chicken from November 23 to December 11 and PHP 30 off on Chooks-To-Go Oven Roasted Chicken from December 16 to 20 to complete the Noche Buena table. Also leveling up the caroling experience are TM Ambassadors: SB19, The Juans, Silent Sanctuary, and Matthaios for a Christmas concert on December 15 via the TM Tambayan Facebook page. 

Families can also continue the tradition of watching the Metro Manila Film Fest (MMFF) from home, as Globe Telecom partners with MMDA to be the exclusive presenter of MMFF 2020. The partnership brings this year’s festival onto Upstream, the newest video streaming platform, to allow you to enjoy the official MMFF entries from wherever you may be. Tickets will be affordably priced and can be purchased on GMovies, the country’s largest aggregator for online cinema ticketing platform. Ka-TMs can also win free tickets during the FunPasko Monita raffle. 

“Given that this year’s Christmas celebration from what we are used to, TM is finding ways to delight Ka-TMs in the spirit of Chill be different Christmas to help make this season an enjoyable one for everyone. By bringing beloved holiday traditions online, we aim to spread the holiday cheer and bring Filipinos together despite being apart,” said KD Dizon, VP for Consumer Mobile Business, Globe Telecom, Inc. 

Be the first to greet your loved ones this holiday season and plan your virtual Christmas party ahead through Facebook. You can also organize a holiday Mobile Legends tournament with your barkada all with the newest TM FB10 and ML10. Ang 10 Pesos mo, pang-1GB na! 

Just dial *143# or text FB10/ML10 to 8080! You can also download the TM app here [http://onelink.to/tm-app] to register to these promos. 

Visit https://www.tmtambayan.ph/ and follow TM Tambayan on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/TMtambayan/] to stay updated on the upcoming FunPasko events. 

IKEA Philippines set to hire almost 500 for Pasay City store - Swedish home furnishing retailer launches mass recruitment drive in the Philippines

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The world’s largest home furnishing retailer is looking to hire another 496 co-workers for its first Philippine store in Pasay City. IKEA Pasay City will be the largest IKEA store in the world, with a Call Centre operation and a supersized warehouse to support eCommerce fulfillment. The online store will open before the store in Q2 2021. 

“The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for many people. Creating meaningful, stable jobs and great workplaces is just one way that we fulfill this vision – more important than ever during these challenging times,” said Christian Rojkjaer, the Managing Director IKEA Southeast Asia & Mexico, owner of IKEA stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Mexico. 

The company is looking to fill a wide range of vacancies—including Sales Associates, Recovery Associates, Food Assistants, Customer Service Associates, and more. There are also many open posts for part-timers. 

Georg Platzer, Market Development Manager and Store Manager of IKEA Philippines, noted that the IKEA culture and values make it different from other retailers. At IKEA, co-workers at all levels are encouraged to lead, ask questions, share ideas, and drive the business. There are endless possibilities to grow and develop as co-workers take charge of their own learning journey and move across functions. Part-timers are treated like full-time members of the family, with all the same benefits as full-timers on a prorated basis – including health insurance, annual leave, subsidized meals, and IKEA discounts. 

When asked what IKEA is looking for, Platzer was quick to answer: “The right attitude.” He added, “At IKEA, it’s all about putting we before me, empowering people to make decisions, and challenging the status quo.” 

Bringing Filipinos home 

The newcomers will join a team of 73 people already working for IKEA in its Makati office as well as a project office at the Pasay construction site. As part of its recruitment drive, IKEA will be bringing home 20 OFWs from IKEA stores abroad — primarily from the Middle East. 

“Family is very important to us, and we’re glad that we’re able to reunite some of our Filipino co-workers with their families in the Philippines,” said Mr. Platzer. 

Throughout the pandemic, IKEA’s Southeast Asia and Mexico has retained all its co-workers, despite closures of up to 73 days. The company will continue filling local positions in June 2021.

For more information about IKEA recruitment and how to apply, visit the IKEA Philippines website, WWW.IKEA.PH

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About IKEA Southeast Asia & Mexico 

Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has created a better everyday life for the many people by offering well-designed, functional home furnishings at affordable prices. As a franchisee, we inspire and enable people to make home count in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – and has plans to enter the Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam. Our portfolio of five shopping centres, operated by Ikano Centres, are anchored by IKEA and create meeting places at the heart of our communities. With partners and investments in other types of real estate, we also create walkable communities where people shop, work, live and play. Part of the Ikano Group, we are the only IKEA franchisee owned by the Kamprad family that founded IKEA.

TikTok Enhances Privacy with New Family Pairing Options

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This latest update provides parents with the industry's most comprehensive suite of options to better guide their teen's online experience

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile videos, is enhancing privacy and browsing options for families on the app by building on its existing Family Pairing features. 

As more families continue to turn to internet platforms like TikTok to stay entertained, informed, and connected, parents now have the option to manage their teen's online experience by linking their TikTok account to their teen's, and setting discoverability and safety controls. Developed for parents, this suite of new features is intended to jumpstart digital wellbeing and online safety education for families.

The new features include:

Search: This allows parents to directly control whether a teen can search for content, users, hashtags, or sounds on the app. 

Comments: Parents may decide who can leave comments on a teen's videos - Either all users, friends only, or no one.

Discoverability: This lets you regulate whether your teen's account is private or public. With a private account, your teen can choose who can see their content. When the account is set to public, anyone can search for your teen’s profile, and view their content. 

Liked videos: Here, you decide who can view the videos your teen liked.

"Parenting a teen's digital life can be daunting and many parents feel as though they're playing catch-up when it comes to the latest technology and apps their teens use. Working with our community and industry partners, we are committed to helping facilitate important conversations within families about internet safety," said Arjun Narayan, Director Trust & Safety, TikTok, Asia Pacific. "Family Pairing was developed to help parents build upon their online safety education and define the experience that is best for their families."

Family Pairing, which allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their teen's, already offers features such as Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Message regulation to provide parents with insight and control over how their teens use TikTok.

Over the past year, TikTok has taken steps to improve and enhance its teams, policies, controls and educational resources. Along with its tools for families, the platform continues to strengthen its youth safety and well-being policies. Just recently, TikTok added more guidelines and resources to support body positivity within the community, and remove harmful content such as hateful ideologies. Sending of images or videos in comments or messages is also not allowed on TikTok, because studies have linked the spread of child sexual abuse material to messaging on apps, especially those with encryption.

TikTok has developed global partnerships to protect against child exploitation and to remove such content, terminate accounts, and report cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and local law enforcement agencies. Protecting minors – online and offline – is highly important and requires collaboration between platforms, governments, and child safety organizations. This is why TikTok supports the implementation of the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which offers a framework that can be consistently applied across sectors and services to respond to changing behaviors and protect young people.

For families who want to learn more about online safety, TikTok has created several resources, including its Youth Portal, Parents page, and educational safety videos. TikTok remains committed to the security of its community – especially the youth – and will continue to develop resources, tools, and policies as it aims for the highest level of safety.