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Benjamin Cher

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Singapore
As seen in: The Business Times (Singapore), Wiley Online Library, Yahoo Singapore, Yahoo Finance, Flipboard, The Straits Times, Tech in Asia, Tech in Asia Indonesia, The Drum, AsiaOne, The Malay Mail and
Reporter with The Business Times, banging words together till they stick, views expressed are personal. Got a tip? Email me at BenjaminCher at SPH.com.sg
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'Digital window' closing fast for hotels: FastBooking chief

'Digital window' closing fast for hotels: FastBooking chief

digitalnewsasia.com — Hotels need more than just a website to attract today's guests The need to be more digital-friendly extends to guest services GOING on a holiday is now a smoother process, with consumers able to explore and book travel and accommodations without having to go through middle-men. The online market for travel is huge. According to Statistics Brain, 148.3 million online travel bookings are made each year, and they comprise 57% of all travel reservations. This is an issue for hoteliers, according to FastBooking co-chief executive officer Jean-Luc Chrétien. "The hotel industry is a service business and not a technology business," he told Digital News Asia (DNA) in Singapore.
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Singapore’s Hive to bring data science goodness to the people

Singapore’s Hive to bring data science goodness to the people

digitalnewsasia.com — The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has launched IDA Hive, the new home for the Government’s Digital Services team, and will house almost 100 data scientists, coders, engineers, designers, and other experts.
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Cutting the wire: IoT security Part I

Cutting the wire: IoT security Part I

digitalnewsasia.com — Companies grappling with the new threat vector the IoT provides Security needs to span from IT policies to firmware design EVERYONE is excited about the Internet of Things (IoT), which promises to connect everything from your fitness tracker to your fridge, to the Internet. The predictions range from 26 billion ( Gartner) to 50 billion ( Cisco) smart devices being connected by 2020. The IoT is the new reality that both consumers and enterprises live in, where the 'always-on' paradigm rules. However, in this initial rush to connect everything to the Internet, security seems to have taken a backseat, leading to well-known hacks such as the one involving carmaker Jeep, among others.
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Navigating the new world: IoT security Part II

Navigating the new world: IoT security Part II

digitalnewsasia.com — Shadow IoT threatening to produce a snowball effect Need 'security by design' outlook, not latched on later With the Internet of Things (IoT) fast becoming the default setting of our professional and personal lives, more attention needs to be paid to security. In this, the second of two parts, Digital News Asia (DNA) speaks to experts from a range of backgrounds. Click here for Part I. IN their attempts to secure IoT devices, companies cannot bank merely on simple measures such as installing perimeter defences, or slapping on a hardware box.
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E-signatures, the last piece in the paperless puzzle

E-signatures, the last piece in the paperless puzzle

digitalnewsasia.com — Will transform and streamline all sorts of processes More accountability via digital audit trail, encryption possibility THE industry has been going on about the paperless office for, oh well, a couple of decades now, but certainly the idea has picked up in recent years, with email footers even telling you to think before you print. However, the reality is that the last step in almost any business process requires paper to be used to sign an agreement, invoice, or claim. Such archaic processes, like the need for wet signatures, are all still happening in the age of touchscreens, augmented reality, and hyper connectivity, as Singapore startup Otonomos pointed out.
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Fledgling legal startups take flight in Singapore

Fledgling legal startups take flight in Singapore

digitalnewsasia.com — Just a handful of legal startup services in Asia DragonLaw looks to instigate change in the sector IN a dimly lit room bustling with noise and bodies, yet another startup was gearing up to launch in Singapore. However, instead of a typical launch party, with pumping music and free-flowing booze, this was a seminar on legal terms, with a workshop on how to use them. That was how Legalese.io, one of Singapore's first legal services startup, was officially launched - no pomp or pretence, just a room full of angel investors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs, over at the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI.Asia) office.
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Legal eagles: The computer science-law mashup Legalese.io

Legal eagles: The computer science-law mashup Legalese.io

digitalnewsasia.com — Open source way to help VCs and startups take care of documentation All geared to face legal, continuing technical, and business challenges ahead WITH the deal flows starting to gush in South-East Asia, startups and venture capitalists (VCs) are beginning to need a better and quicker way to get past the legal fundamentals. Starting a company often requires a number of legal documents, and raising money will require even more. Incorporation documents, term sheets, vesting clauses, milestones and deliverables - all these need to be spelt out clearly and appropriately.
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The threat landscape runneth over, here's what we need to do

The threat landscape runneth over, here's what we need to do

digitalnewsasia.com — Automation needed to keep up, but people are still crucial in the security equation The skills shortage and a culture of secrecy make Asia ripe for the picking ADVANCED Persistent Threats (APTs), malware targeting zero-day vulnerabilities, state-sponsored attacks, cybercrime toolkits and increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks - it would seem all gloom-and-doom for cybersafety, especially in Asia where IT security budgets are being reined in. The industry has not given up, of course, arguing that the security equation today should take into account both man and machine - we need both technology and people to work together to secure networks against attacks.
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GrabTaxi's 'hidden' Tan, and why she came back

GrabTaxi's 'hidden' Tan, and why she came back

digitalnewsasia.com — That Harvard Business School plan, and why it was about taxis 'It's always been about ... local champions and understanding local needs' IT is not uncommon for one founder to become the public face of a company while the other stays behind the scenes, ensuring things run smoothly. From Apple's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to Salesforce's Marc Benioff and Parker Harris, quiet cofounders are chugging away. The yin-and-yang of the public and the quiet cofounder relationship is pretty evident in South-East Asia's first unicorn, ride-hailing startup Grab, previously GrabTaxi ... and MyTeksi before that.
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