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The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly altered the way we function daily, with notable changes to the way we work, live, and shop. As the masses get comfortable with various online shopping tips, exploitative fraudsters are using the opportunity to make a windfall through unscrupulous tactics. We have been hearing about the many online shopping scams around the country, and it’s time we put a stop to them. Read on to know how to spot these online shopping scams, and how not to fall for them. The Types Of Online Shopping Scams You Need To Know A. JOB SCAM What is it: Text messages sent to you from unknown numbers through communication apps or social media, typically via WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram ad or private message. You will be asked if you are interested in working , or are being informed that you have been selected to work online to earn an extra income. The catch? You have to pay first in order to get paid. How it works in different scenarios: #1: The job offer comes with a daily reward of RM100 – RM300 for completing simple tasks. At the beginning of the job, you will receive a small amount of reward, a tactic to lure victims and shape a false sense of security that a scammer would never give their victims money. To make it promising and convincing, the “reward” will be paid to the victim in batches. You will be added to a group chat that consists of several other “job takers” (but they’re allies of the scammer). This is to drive home the legitimacy of the offer, thereby giving the impression that other people are doing this as well. #2: You will receive an SMS from a “online shopping representative” or even a “seller” claiming that they have overcharged your online shopping purchases and proceed to offer you a refund. A WhatsApp link will be provided so you can contact the scammer. Upon making contact, the scammer will insist on several “procedures” including asking for your full name, bank account number, and ID. The scammer will proceed with the refund, in which you will receive a small amount in your bank account. You will then be asked to perform a “feedback activity”. If you do this, you will receive RM150 in return. However, you need to pay for it and before you can get the RM150 as promised, the scammer would be long gone. How you can avoid it: One thing to remember is that most online shopping sites do not employ any individuals to recruit employees through messaging platforms. There is no such role as “Online Purchasing Agents” in the organisation. They will never request for advance payment or deposits as a requirement to work with them. B. BANK DETAILS SCAM What is it: Scammers send out a text—could be through any messaging platform—informing you of a confirmed transaction through an e-commerce website. Adding to it is that someone has apparently stolen your debit or credit card details. Online shopping scams like this are common and often sent out via blast. How it works: If you call the number in the message, someone pretending to be a bank officer will pick up the call. During the conversation, they will ask for your bank verification details, in hopes of accessing the funds within. How you can avoid it: Check if you have an account with the bank in question. If yes, call the bank directly through official hotlines, which can be found on their respective websites. Finally, never share your personal information (bank account number, IC, credit card number, etc.) with anyone pretending to be an officer in an online scam. C. PAYMENT SCAM What is it: There are a couple of scenarios to this payment scam, but they all aim to do one thing: Dupe you into giving up your personal details or making payments outside of the online shopping site. How it works in different scenarios: #1: Masquerading as a paid social media post using the e-commerce site logo, tempting you into giving your personal information in exchange for exclusive vouchers. #2: Impersonating as the e-commerce site, scammers use messaging platforms to trick you into thinking you’ve won a contest. To claim the prize, you have to key in your login details. #3: A purported e-commerce site employee informs you via WhatsApp to settle outstanding payments. To do so, you need to transfer all monies to a specific bank account. #4: You’re told that you’ve overpaid for an order, and are requested to return the overpaid amount immediately. #5: A supposed once-in-a-lifetime deal pops up and to get it, you’ll need to pay directly to the scammer. #6: Asking for your personal information or one-time password (OTP) to verify your purchases on the online shopping site. In reality, it’s all an elaborate process to defraud you once they gain access to your account. How you can avoid it: Only use the e-commerce site’s in-app chat feature for all correspondence with sellers. Besides, most orders placed with us are protected by the e-commerce site guarantee. D. STOLEN ACCOUNT SCAM What is it: A common online shopping scam tactic, scammers use phishing websites or ad pop-ups to extract your login credentials. More often than not, these places look like the official platform. How it works in different scenarios: #1: Scammers use your login credentials on the phishing website, and use them to access your online shopping account and steal important information such as your bank account details, address, and more. #2: You click into a pop-up assuming you had won a giveaway contest. Then, you must exchange certain particulars for the prize. There’s no prize, and now you are at risk of losing sensitive information to the scammers. How you can avoid it: All announcements pertaining to the online shopping campaigns and prizes will only be through official e-commerce site channels. Anything apart from those avenues? Best to ignore. E. PARCEL SCAM What is it: In this scam, your packages are stuck in transit. How it works in different scenarios: #1: Scammers send you an SMS containing a link with details of uncollected parcels. After clicking on the link, you will see a message telling you that the parcels have been withheld due to several reasons, which include unpaid shipping charges or taxes. You must then pay for these charges if you wish to retrieve the goods. After receiving the payment, the scammer signs off and disappears from the conversation. #2: You get a direct message from someone carrying the e-commerce site logo, congratulating you on winning a prize. A dubious link directs you to a page containing a set of questions. Regardless of the given answers, you have to pay a delivery fee for the prize through your credit or debit card. After which, your details will be harvested for unauthorised transactions. How you can avoid it: When in doubt, cross-check your orders in the online shopping system. Besides, the e-commerce site only contacts winners of any giveaways through official pages or their official app notifications. F. PRIVATE MESSAGE SCAM What is it: A social media-specific online shopping scam, scammers would reach out via direct message in hopes of tricking you to give them your personal information. How it works: The scammer promises complimentary e-commerce vouchers if you vote for them in a campaign. After voting, the scammer will claim to have sent a six-digit code to you via text. Because there’s no code, the scammer proceeds to pester you for personal details. How you can avoid it: Most e-commerce sites are generous with vouchers, but they are only available on the app and website. G. SELLER CENTER SCAM What is it: In this scam targeted towards sellers, scammers tell you that your shop contains prohibited items. How it works: Threatening you with serious consequences, the scammer pressures you to delete said prohibited items within 12 to 24 hours. Via WhatsApp, a link lets you log into your seller account. This gives the scammer full access to your real account, exposing all private and confidential information. How you can avoid it: Any correspondence between the e-commerce site and sellers only happens on official social media pages and their app. It’s unfortunate that there are individuals looking to make a quick buck through such dishonest methods, but this is the world we live in. Online shopping scams have become a lot more rampant especially now as we are spending more time online be it to shop, sell, or browse. It’s highly likely you may encounter or hear about a scam every so often.

Doing searches online everyday is a norm for most people but how do you ensure that it is safe for you? While searching, the possibilities of data and security breaches can happen at any time. Having a search engine that cares about your security and privacy is essential for safer searches. There are many things that a search engine like Google does to make sure it is the safer way to search while protecting your privacy and data. Here are the 6 key features that Google has: 1. Privacy Google protects your privacy with the world’s most advanced security infrastructures. This built-in security automatically detects and prevents online threats, so you can be confident that your private information is safe. It also keeps you safer online with continuously updated security. 2. Encryption Google’s encryption keeps data private and secure while in transit and brings a higher level of security and privacy to their services. When you send an email, share a video, visit a website or store your photos, the data that you create moves between your device, Google services and their data centres. They protect this data with multiple layers of security, including leading encryption technology such as HTTPS and Transport Layer Security. 3. Security Alerts Google gives proactive security alerts that help protect your private information. Google proactively notify you if they detect something that they think you should know about, like a suspicious login or a malicious website, file or app, and they’ll provide guidance to help you strengthen your security. For example, on Gmail, they’ll warn you before you download an attachment that could put your security at risk or if someone logs in to your account from a device not associated with you. When they detect something suspicious in your account, they’ll send a notification to your inbox or phone so that you can protect your account with one click. 4. Blocking Misleading and Malicious Ads Your online experience can be affected and your security compromised by ads that carry malware, cover the content that you are trying to see, promote fake products or otherwise violate Google’s advertising policies. They take this problem very seriously. Every year they block billions of bad ads – on average, 100 per second – through a combination of live reviewers and sophisticated software. They also give you tools to report offensive ads and control what types of ads you see. And we actively publish our insights and best practices to help make the Internet safer for all. 5. Cloud Security Google’s cloud infrastructure protects data 24/7. From custom-designed data centers to private undersea cables that transfer data between continents, they operate one of the world’s most secure and reliable cloud infrastructures. It’s continuously monitored to protect your data and keep it available. And in the event of a disruption, platform services can be automatically and instantly shifted from one facility to another so that they can continue without interruption. 6. Authentication Tools Google provides a safer sign in for all of your online accounts. Online accounts provide valuable, personalised services, but signing into them also presents today’s most prominent security risk. Every day, millions of passwords are exposed in data breaches, which can put your private information at risk. Google’s built-in authentication tools and services are designed to help you quickly and securely sign in to the apps and services you love.

Cybersecurity is generally described as the condition or practice of defending and recovering computer networks, devices, systems and applications against cyber attacks. Businesses can no longer rely simply on off-the-shelf cybersecurity solutions such as antivirus software and firewalls because cybercriminals are becoming more impervious to traditional cyber defences. Bank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, in a keynote during IFCTF 2022, expressed that between 2017 and July 2021, Malaysians suffered losses of about RM2.23 billion due to cybercrimes as our general public switched to mobile phones for online transactions, simultaneously provoking an increase in online banking fraud incidents involving mobile malware. Furthermore, the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Report, have reported an estimated loss of U$D18.7 billion due to cybercrimes between the years 2017 and 2021 for the American public. Within those same years, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 2,760,044 complaints, with 2021 having the highest number. It's no surprise that banks, technological businesses, hospitals, government organisations, and nearly every other industry are heavily investing in cybersecurity infrastructure to secure their business processes and the millions of consumers who entrust them with their data. Implicitly, there is an obvious influx of demand for employing experienced cybersecurity specialists. Candidates with certifications, in addition to appropriate job experience and study qualifications, will possess several career choices in the industry. Cybersecurity certifications provide several advantages to both people and businesses, as not only is it an excellent indicator of a candidate's performance, but they will also help distinguish oneself from the pack and expand one’s professional alternatives. According to a recent report by MarketsandMarkets, the global cybersecurity market size is expected to grow from an estimated value of U$D173.5 billion in 2022 to U$D266.2 billion by 2027, centred around APAC economies including China, India, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore which are predicted to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. This can only imply more opportunities and jobs locally for the industry, and strong competition for the high-paying ones as more individuals attempt to enter the cybersecurity field. However, companies are rejecting candidates with 'paper' certifications and amateurish security skills with no experience, often failing to demonstrate necessary cybersecurity skillsets like advanced exploit code writing, vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, DevSecOps, AI, cyber threat intelligence, blockchain, privacy and governance, risk management, incident handling, cloud deployments, SOC2, etc. This is exactly why Rocheston’s Certified Cybersecurity Engineer (RCCE) Certification will be absolutely essential for future cybersecurity engineers, equipping them with Linux, blockchain, cloud, Kubernetes, mobile programming, threat intelligence, big data artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, quantum computing, robotics, AR/VR, virtualisation, and other skillsets generally required by employers. The RCCE test (accredited by ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024), which has been running since 2019, has been perfected over the years to create, enhance, and streamline the resources needed for the procedures to be applied. Available in a variety of formats (separate question banks), each form has been psychometrically evaluated and has undergone thorough beta testing with a representative target audience, all while being overseen by subject matter experts and psychometric analysts to guarantee the RCCE exam is academically viable and meets test development requirements. RCCE also covers advanced futuristic technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cyberthreat Intelligence, Incident Handling, DevSecOps, Cloud technologies, Quantum Computing, Biometrics, Deep Learning and etc., as the full test creation cycle was completed to ensure that candidates taking the certification programme are tested on real-world domains. In conclusion, Rocheston through the RCCE believes in instilling unconventional thinking and building an instinctive sense of reasoning in one’s self. The listed initiatives are intended to stimulate creativity, achieve excellence, and uphold standards. Rocheston aspires to explore new problems, ideas, and technologies via innovation by creating a new breed of thinkers, which will further push towards new cybersecurity heights in our APAC region.

Awanbiru Technology Bhd (Awantec), which is acting as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Google Cloud as the Cloud Service Provider (CSP), are committed to fulfilling their obligations to speed up the digital transformation process for government agencies as pledged through the Cloud Framework Agreement (CFA). Starting in July 2022, Awantec has organised a CFA roadshow exclusively for government agencies in selected states to showcase their capabilities and capacity in providing the best Google Cloud solutions and services that will ease cloud computing migration for the public sector. Attendees from three different clusters - defense, infrastructure, and education representing their agencies such as the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN), and Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP) among those who were present during the first roadshow that was held in Google Malaysia and The Everly Hotel, Putrajaya respectively. Officiated by Awantec’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Baldesh Singh, this 3-day event covers the topics of starting a cloud journey, Google Cloud products and solutions, Awantec services, and Cloud Clinic, presented by experts from both Google Cloud and Awantec. Tackling issues such as the challenges and solutions to cloud computing, sharing success stories from real-case studies, change management, and how to render Awantec’s services under Pekeliling 2.6 were among the highlights of the event. “We are working closely with our partner, Google Cloud, to ensure that the Cloud First strategy envisioned by the Malaysian government is successfully implemented and achieved. This CFA roadshow, the first of its kind, is a demonstration of our efforts and commitment to realising the mission to support the MyDIGITAL blueprint, which aims to bridge the digital divide and grow the country’s digital economy,” said Mr. Baldesh in his opening speech. There were also quizzes and lucky draw sessions held at the Awantec booth to test the participants’ comprehension and interest. Awantec considers its first CFA roadshow a success with 71.1% of the attendees felt highly satisfied and requested other topics to be included in the future, such as Data Analytics, Google Security, Google Training, and Google Workstation tour. The CFA roadshow is set to resume in August and is expected to end in October 2022.

AwanBiru Technology Berhad (Awantec or the Group) has made substantial progress in its rationalisation plan to monetise non-core assets and reduce operating cost in FY2020 and FY2021. FTSE Russell has also ranked Awantec in the top 25% for its ESG Ratings, amongst public listed companies in FBM EMAS. Today, the Company reported its first quarter (Q1) results for financial year ended 30 June 2022 (FY2022) to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad. Revenue in total grew by over 300% from RM2.8 million in the preceding quarter ended 30 June 2021 (Q4FY2021) to RM11.8 million in current Q1FY2022. There was an increase in revenue for both the Talent and Technology segments which indicated positive traction in Awantec’s transition into the cloud space, recording good growth on its new and wider range of products and services. Revenue in the Talent segment grew from RM1.5 million in Q4 FY2021 to RM3.1 million in Q1 FY2022. While new businesses in the Technology segment, which is now underpinned by Google in place of Microsoft, expanded from RM1.3 million in Q4 FY2021 to RM8.7 million in Q1 FY2022. Key revenue drivers were Awantec’s appointment as the exclusive Managed Service Provider (MSP) to Google for the Government of Malaysia, higher uptake for online training and digital learning, the Selangor Kerjaya Project, and the Ministry of Education contract for supply of G Suite Enterprise for Education SaaS for all public schools in Malaysia. Other revenue contributors include ongoing projects such as the Competency Enhancement Programme (CEP) training programme, Adobe and Autodesk software distribution and management services. The Group recorded a lower loss before tax of RM1.4 million in Q1FY2022 demonstrating an improvement in its core operating results as compared to loss before tax of RM1.8 million in Q4FY2021 which included a one-off gain on disposal of subsidiary, following the deconsolidation of Prestariang Tech Services Sdn. Bhd. (“PTSSB”) resulting from Creditors’ voluntary winding up in Q4FY2021. The significant jump in revenue resulted in a profit before tax of RM255,000 for Q1FY2022 compared to a loss of RM1.7 million for Q4FY2021 for the technology segment. The Company’s strong cash position from the fund-raising exercises, which raised a total of RM77.7m in FY2020 and FY2021 as well as the monetisation of non-core assets supplemented by cash from operations, will continue to provide resilience to the Group’s ongoing business rebuilding plan. In addition to Google, Awantec continues to build on the strengths of its partners like SAP, Huawei, Zoom, and others to offer other Cloud-based products and services to its customers. The Company expects that these new product lines and services, which will be offered in the coming quarters, will further strengthen its pipeline and operating performance. The Company expects that while this growth trajectory may see some marginal fluctuation in the near term, it will stabilise on the back of the recurring income from renewals and continuing managed services revenue in the medium to long term, which is typical for cloud based businesses. The Company has laid all the groundwork to be a key player in tapping the vast opportunities in the national digitalisation process, which is aligned to the MyDIGITAL Initiative and Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint. The Board is of the view that the Group is in a good position to capitalise on the task of meeting the market requirement for technology and talent services to spearhead Awantec’s business growth.

AwanBiru Technology Berhad ("Awantec" or the "Group") a Digital Transformer in Technology and Talent platforms, has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rezal Rahman to elevate the execution of its strategic business following a successful transformation into the multi-cloud management space. Rezal’s appointment as CEO of Awantec will be effective from 1st February 2022. A graduate of Stanford University and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and with experience working in Silicon Valley, Rezal was formerly a Director of Investments, Technology Sector at Khazanah Nasional prior to helming Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios as CEO. Rezal’s portfolio also includes being the COO for Technology Development & Corporate Ventures at Sapura Secured Technologies, being responsible for executing several multi-million ringgit projects under various Ministries in Malaysia. Taking over the CEO role from founder Dr. Abu Hasan Ismail at Awantec, Rezal is the latest addition to Awantec’s senior leadership team. This journey of building a strong professional team started in 2019 with Chief Operating Officer (Baldesh Singh), Chief Business Officer (Hafiza Anom) in 2020 and Chief Technology Officer (Farul Azim) in 2021, whom under Rezal’s leadership will drive the Group’s new strategic business following its transition into the multi-cloud services industry. “Awantec never stops at scouting for good talent. It is in both our business and our practice. We identified Rezal after scrutinizing 178 potential candidates. Rezal has a vast corporate and investment background spanning the US, Singapore and Malaysia. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge in technology development and market trends.”, praised Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin, Chairman of Awantec. Under Dr. Abu’s leadership over the last 2 decades, the Group has transitioned from being one the largest ICT service provider to pioneering Technology and Talent platforms. Awantec just celebrated its 10th year listing anniversary in 2021 and was appointed the exclusive Managed Service Provider (MSP) to Google for the Government of Malaysia under the MyDIGITAL Initiative, aligned to the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint. Rezal now takes on the task to execute the new strategic business in multi-cloud management and talent development services for greater market expansion. In line with the transformation road map established by the Board under the stewardship of Dr. Abu while Rezal takes over the leadership reigns at Awantec, Dr. Abu will be appointed as Founder Mentor at Awantec. He will also remains as the single largest shareholder of the Group and a non-executive board member. “As Founder Mentor in the Group, Dr. Abu will strategically advise the CEO on strategy and support the team in ensuring a smooth transition with key stakeholders ranging from customers, partners, shareholders, bankers, suppliers and many more as he contributes his strength in building alliances and partnership opportunities.”, said Syed Naqiz. Dr. Abu will be on a sabbatical as he has accepted a Senior Research Fellow role in the La Trobe Business School of La Trobe University, where he will be based in Melbourne, Australia for 24 months. “This serves as a recognition of his experience in academia and the successes which he and Awantec have achieved over the years. I am proud and happy that he has been given the opportunity to continue learning and engaging with young minds.”, added Syed Naqiz. With his unique blend of academic qualifications and strong practical experience with technology and transformation, Rezal will look into optimizing Awantec’s current business and future investment plans to effectively improve and expand its market as well as capitalize on its position and market potential for business growth. “My board and I trust that Rezal will deliver the expected growth and enhance shareholder value.”, added Syed Naqiz. “I see potential in so many possible runways in Awantec and I am truly excited to be part of the team. Though it is a tall order to fill in the shoes of Founder Mentor Dr. Abu, one thing for sure is that we are both entrepreneurs at heart and will never shy away from seeking out opportunities. Having worked in various corporate companies both locally and internationally, I appreciate the sound fundamental set up of Awantec and believe that this is key in any successful company. I have high aims and will be sharing more of our plans in due course but first let us do well in delivering Awantec’s many tasks in meeting market requirement for technology and talent services and growing the business.”, quipped Rezal.

Cyberjaya, 29 Aug 2022 – AwanBiru Technology Berhad (Awantec or the Group), a leading Technology and Talent Digitalization Enabler, today reported its fourth quarter (Q4) results for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 (FY2022) to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, recording higher revenue from both Software & Services and Talent segments. The Group Q4FY2022 revenue increased RM9.4 million, to RM12.2 million from RM2.8 million recorded in Q4FY2021. A healthy Profit Before Taxation of RM266,000 was also recorded for Q4FY2022 against a loss before taxation of RM1.8 million in Q4 FY2021. For the 12 months period under review, the Group managed to significantly strengthen its financial performance by recording a Gross Profit of RM27.6 million in FY2022, a huge jump from RM19.8 million recorded in FY2021. This was underpinned by improved margins from higher value-added products and service offerings. While revenue shrunk from RM104.9 million in FY2021 to RM90.4 million in FY2022, mainly attributable to the rebuilding stage of its pivot to the cloud following the expiry of the MLA for Software & Services segment, the Group recorded a turnaround in its core business from a loss before tax of RM6.5 million in FY2021 to a profit before tax of RM5.2 million in FY2022. Good Growth Seeding New Opportunities The two significant contracts from Ministry of Education (“MOE”) and Pernec Integrated Network Systems Sdn. Bhd. (“Pernec”) announced in 1H FY2022 have accelerated the Group’s working capital requirements for FY2022. Nevertheless, the ensuing revenue stream over the term of these contracts will replenish cashflow and see less reliance on cash reserves to fund operations. “We remain confident that our year-on-year revenue and core operating profits since our pivot to the cloud will continue to show improvements. We will leverage our recent success and inroads with clients to build on our deal pipeline and focus on its conversion into our orderbook. ” Dato’ Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin, Chairman of Awantec. “Recently, with Malaysia being included as 12th Google Cloud Region in APAC (i.e 3rd in SEA), we are confident that Google Cloud expansion will strengthen our proposition as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to the Government of Malaysia, as well as a Google Cloud Authorised Training Partner (ATP) in Malaysia. This buildout will enhance Awantec’s capabilities in terms of delivering better customer experiences, in a quick and secure manner. We are cautiously optimistic as our contribution from new business including but not limited to our partnership with Google and existing opportunities in the Talent segment have demonstrated good growth from FY2021 to this FY2022 while we continue to seed new opportunities.”, added Dato’ Syed Naqiz.

AwanBiru Technology Berhad (“Awantec” or the “Group”) held its 12th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) today. The Annual General Meeting was conducted virtually and streamed live from the Doubletree by Hilton, Putrajaya. Going live at 10.00 a.m, the meeting saw discussions between shareholders and Awantec's Board of Directors. Awantec’s Chairman, Dato’ Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin bin Syed Abdul Jabbar, in his presentation, shared the investment and acceleration phase of the Group, efforts taken to expand the market segmentations by offering a range of solutions and the continued investment into the 3 Ps - People, Partners and Products & Services to build a sustainable business for the long term. “Over the 12 months, we have scaled our capabilities to boost national digitalisation using collaborations through new partnerships, human capital development as well as exploration of new offerings. True to the strategic focus, we have also digitalised various key functions and processes within our operations by pivoting to the cloud ourselves. This is part of our effort to deliver more efficient services to our customers, as well as to manage our risks and carbon footprints better”, shared the Group’s Chairman. Dato’ Syed Naqiz added, “Armed with the right people, the right partners with the right products, we brought the value proposition of Catalysing Digital Readiness across both Malaysia’s public and private sectors, towards delivering our commitment to Progressing with Purpose.” Awantec's business expansion will be fueled by the Group's ability to capitalise on the challenge of satisfying market demand for our Technology and Talent services given the encouraging outcomes as we continue to plant new opportunities. The Group is dedicated to both conducting business responsibly and promoting sustainability as a core value. This is done to uphold our fiduciary duty as a company and fulfil our vocation as a technology and talent digitalization enabler that creates a positive impact on our employees, environment, customers, economy, and ultimately society as a whole leading a new digital Malaysia. Most recently, Awantec climbed to the 38th spot out of 100 companies ranked in the Corporate Governance Disclosure in MSWG-ASEAN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AWARD 2021.

However you serve your community, it’s important to understand how you can strategically use technology to evolve the way you work, improve service delivery, and better prepare for tomorrow’s challenges. Zoom’s secure communications solution is easy to deploy, manage, and scale. With consistent and reliable high-quality video, even in low-bandwidth environments, government departments and agencies can reduce costs, improve efficiency, enhance internal collaboration, and extend citizen services. Zoom is for your mission It's more than just meetings! The Zoom platform extends beyond Zoom Meetings and Chat to Zoom Video Webinars and Zoom Rooms to: Boost productivity Maximise resources Extend citizen services Read on to understand how! How the Zoom platform modernises communications through: Zoom Meetings Make town halls interactive and engaging with HD video and in-meeting chat Attract and retain better talent by encouraging a hybrid workplace and flexible collaboration Make your virtual engagements more accessible with auto-generated captions Zoom Rooms Introducing smart, touch-enabled in-office devices that enhance the overall work experience Connect employees from the office, their residences, or while they are on the road. Deploy digital signage in buildings to display important announcements and information Zoom Team Chat Communicate efficiently with co-workers around the country or region through instant messaging Zoom Events Celebrate local events and holidays in an engaging virtual setting Zoom Webinars Scale internal learning courses or compliance training to a broad audience Contact us today to find out how your government agency can implement solutions to streamline and secure your mission-critical functions and communications.

Automation is a rapidly expanding and critical component of contemporary business. In order to stay competitive, organisations must be inventive and capitalise on market opportunities before competitors whilst remaining adaptable towards changes like hybrid work models and digitalisation in their practices. In tandem, constructing sets of repeatable and proven processes optimised for efficiency is vital for organisations to boost positive customer experiences and attain profitable operations, highlighting the importance of automation which can be seen and discussed throughout this article. The worldwide pandemic has influenced practically all organisational processes, bringing additional demands and requiring businesses to reconsider their business practices. On the other hand, process automation may greatly assist a company deal with this significant shift. This is evident in Camunda’s 2022 State of Process Automation report, which surveyed 600 IT professionals within North America and Europe, where about 92% underline process automation as a vital element of digital transformation and its cruciality to attaining corporate streamlining and efficiency, as well as freeing up personnel to concentrate on more complicated, strategic tasks. On top of that, 82% marked automation as a higher priority for their organisation compared to the previous year, mainly seen through the obvious value that it brings. 89% of respondents report significant business growth as a result of process automation, while 33% claim to have earned at least 100% ROI in the previous year alone. This might be one of the reasons why 88% of organisations aim to raise their expenditure in automation over the next 2 years, with 46% planning to substantially increase it. Implicatively, process automation will undoubtedly enable Malaysia’s technology industry to spearhead the modern digital economy, which is exactly where Planally, a SaaS business under the Axceligent umbrella, comes in, as they are able to offer their services at a competitively low price to promote local digital adoption. As the leading brand in Digital Workspace Software, Planally offers a highly dynamic and adaptable Work Management Platform that assists organisations and groups from any sector in quickly transforming manual procedures into digital applications. Being the only Work Management Platform that features the Phase Gate Methodology, Planally allows for complete control over every aspect of the organisation by constructing a well-organised workflow from beginning to end. Its low-cost software also enables users to digitalise, automate, and regulate any business operation with a just few clicks of the mouse. Some of the incredible solutions and benefits that Planally offers are best described down below:- Digital Initiatives Through clear-cut and editable workflow charts of digital initiatives, users are able to immediately visualise to make faster and better decisions, leading to focus on the most critical initiatives that bridge the gap between the user’s digital and business strategies Business Improvement By leveraging reliable, real-time data, users are able to respond quickly to market shifts by realigning initiatives to support business goals Throughout the planning and ex ecution phase, increase the communication and involvement between stakeholders and teams Capital Investment Management Make decisive and confident decisions by utilising dependably accurate real-time data to guarantee a project’s progress Enables collaboration across teams, allowing for faster and more efficient operations that keep stakeholders and teams in the loop at all times Ensuring each investment of time, mo ney and resources goes towards the most viable initiatives to provide results New Product Development Streamline the delivery and introduction of brand-new goods to optimise revenue and market share Integrate and link your innovation ideas with corporate objectives and strategically drive new product development Process and Project Management Enabling confidence to plan, execute, and track the team’s projects in order to achieve quicker and better outcomes Keeping track of every timeline from start to completion and being in charge of a project at all times allows for a holistic view of the fullness of a project Product Life Cycle Management Transparency, accountability, visibility, and alignment are created to work towards the same objective by utilising correct data and clearly stated duties Obtain real-time status updates, track progress, and collaborate with anyone, anywhere Portfolio Management By weeding out poorly matched activities, always prioritise the best prospects for the company Managing portfolio with complete transparency, seeing red flags as soon as possible and making decisive decisions based on real-time data Team Collaboration Seamless connection allows for teams and stakeholders to communicate quickly in order to make quicker, smarter choices Simplified cross-functional deliverables with dynamic workflows, endorsements, and certifications enable improvements in cooperation and responsibility In conclusion, what Planally offers is confidence, regardless of the work area or the size of the undertaking, ensuring the direction is transparent, the goals are established, the procedures have been tried, evaluated, and conclusively demonstrated to be best practice, information is shared accurately and in real-time, and stakeholders are consistently on the same page.

The booming rise of our technological advancement gave prominence to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) concepts. While we ponder upon the wonders and possibilities of future technology, workspace, business and society as a whole, it cannot be denied that the concepts above are integral to the discussions amongst business and technology executives, as they’re seeking to understand more about the possibility of their implications, advantages and hazards. Given the buzz surrounding AI and ML, their core technology can be traced back to more than a century ago when linear regression models were present in the nineteenth century, while neural networks were formulated in the twentieth. Consequently, in the twenty-first century, the application of complex algorithms on concrete business issues became more prevalent, due to the ubiquitous access towards massive quantities of information and an increase in faster processors and processing capacity. In an article from Exploding Topics, statistics show that user-generated data increased at an exponential rate. The exponential jump of 4.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data in the digital universe during the year 2019, grew tenfold, to a whopping 44 ZB in the following year. Today, approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day, with over 70 per cent of the world’s data being created by humans. However, the terms AI and ML are used as they are related but carry different meanings. The general public and media may be uncertain about what AI and ML are and the differences between them. In some other circumstances, these terms are employed as distinct, parallel improvements, while others may leverage the trend to generate anticipation and hype to enhance sales and earnings. A research article by The Verge in 2019 addressed the misappropriation of organisations alleging to apply AI in their services and goods, as far as up to 40% of European startups, whereby the claim can potentially obtain anywhere from 15-50% more funding compared to other startups. In a 2018 TechTalks article as part of their Demystifying AI series, it is even found that some companies will go about claiming to use sophisticated AI and ML to gather and analyse touch points in mobile apps to improve user experience and forecasting user behaviour.

The rate of AI adoption has accelerated with the shift into the Industrial Revolution 4.0, but this enhanced rate is projected to generate substantial demand for computing resources and associated infrastructure. In Appen’s 2022 State of AI survey, 54% of organisations in the US claim to be ahead of their counterparts in adopting AI in their industry, while 42% of them claim to be even. Within the region of the UK and Europe, 44% claim to be ahead while 51% claim to be even. The statistical proof from this survey shows the undeniable growth of AI adoption and will only grow to intensify further. The Economic Times reported on the global revenues for the AI market in 2021, which includes hardware, software and services for both AI-centric and AI-non-centric applications, reaching a whopping (USD) $383.3 billion, totalling an increase of 20.7% over the year prior, based on the International Data Corporation (IDC). It is also forecasted that the AI market value is expected to peak at $450 billion in 2022 while maintaining a year-over-year growth rate over the next five years. Businesses must be versatile when it pertains to infrastructure as the demand for large volumes of data grows further, making hybrid cloud computing the backbone of AI. By utilising a hybrid cloud, companies may fulfil the technical needs of AI at the optimal pricing range for their company and operations. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) enables businesses to utilise, produce, and integrate AI without jeopardizing performance. 5 Points to Consider Computing Power - To capitalise on the potential offered by AI, businesses must have access to high-performance computing resources including CPUs and GPUs. To complete a large number of computations, ML algorithms must be rapid and efficient. Although a CPU-based environment may manage basic AI tasks, deep learning necessitates the capacity to run scalable neural network algorithms across several big data sets. CPU-based computing may not be capable of achieving these goals, and GPUs may be a superior solution. When compared to CPUs, the higher performance offered by GPUs may hasten deep learning. Networking Infrastructure - Another critical component of AI infrastructure is networking. To maximise the delivery of results, efficient, quick, and dependable networks are required. Because deep learning algorithms rely on communication, networks must keep up with demand as AI initiatives develop. Scalability is key, and AI necessitates a high-bandwidth, low-latency network. The service wrap and technology stack must be uniform across all locations. Storage Capacity - Many organisations rely on the capacity to increase storage as data volumes grow. Organisations must choose what kind of storage they need, and there are several things to consider, including the level of AI they want to deploy and if they require real-time judgements. For instance, a FinTech business that uses AI algorithms for real-time trading decisions may need fast all-flash storage technology, but other organisations may enjoy higher capacity but slower storage. Subsequently, businesses must estimate how much data their AI applications will produce since AI applications perform better when presented with more data. Security Because AI might include managing sensitive information such as health records, financial details, and private details, the infrastructure must be secured end-to-end using cutting-edge technology. A security breach would be disastrous for any firm, but with AI, any injection of faulty data might cause the algorithm to draw wrong conclusions, resulting in poor choices. Cost-effectiveness While AI models become more complicated, they become increasingly more costly to run, therefore grinding out extra efficiency from the infrastructure is crucial to keeping costs in check. As businesses grow their use of AI, the server, network and storage infrastructures will experience more strain. Businesses must make cautious decisions and choose IaaS suppliers that can supply cost-effective dedicated servers to improve performance and continue making investments in AI without raising their expenditures. Google Cloud as the Leader in AI Infrastructure Google Cloud has been rated a Leader in Forrester Research's “The Forrester Wave: AI Infrastructure”, Q4 2021 report, produced by Mike Gualtieri and Tracy Woo. Forrester examined AI architecture, training, inference, and management against a set of pre-defined criteria in the report. In 16 different Forrester Wave evaluation criteria, Google Cloud achieved the best possible score. Forrester’s assessment and acknowledgement provide clients with the absolute confidence they require to make key platform choices that will have enduring strategic value. Google Cloud provides consumers with a diverse collection of key components, including Deep Learning VMs and containers, the most recent GPUs/TPUs, and a marketplace of vetted ISV products to assist in the design of your unique software stack on VMs and/or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Google Cloud offers GPU and TPU accelerators for a variety of applications, namely high-performance training, low-cost inference, and large-scale accelerated data processing. Google is the sole public cloud provider that offers up to 16 NVIDIA A100 GPUs in a single VM, allowing incredibly large AI models to be trained on a single node. Users may begin with a single NVIDIA A100 GPU and expand up to 16 GPUs without the need to configure numerous VMs for single-node ML training. TPU pods are also available from Google for large-scale AI research using PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX. The updated fourth-generation TPU pods achieve exaflop-scale peak performance, outperforming previous MLPerf benchmarks with a 480 billion parameter language model. Google Kubernetes Engine offers the most sophisticated Kubernetes features, including Autopilot, highly automated cluster version upgrades, and cluster backup/restore. Given its capability for 15,000 nodes per cluster, auto-provisioning, auto-scaling, and a variety of machine types, GKE is an excellent choice for a scalable multi-node bespoke platform for training, inference, and Kubeflow pipelines. GKE additionally supports dynamic scheduling, coordinated maintenance, high availability, job API, customisability, fault tolerance, and ML frameworks, which help ML workloads. When a company's footprint expands to include a fleet of GKE clusters, its data teams may use Anthos Config Management to ensure uniform settings and compliance with security policies. Security is built into the Google Cloud stack through progressive levels that provide defence in depth. Measures such as boot-level signature and chain-of-trust validation are employed to achieve data security, authentication, authorisation, and non-repudiation. With consumers in control, ubiquitous data encryption provides unified control over data at rest, in use, and in transit. Choices are provided for running in fully encrypted confidential settings utilising managed Hadoop or Spark with Confidential Dataproc or Confidential VMs. Google Cloud collaborates with qualified partners throughout the world to assist clients in designing, implementing, and managing sophisticated AI systems. The increasing list of Google Cloud collaborators with ML specialisations that have exhibited customer success across sectors, including strong ties with the leading Global System Integrators, continuously grows longer. The Google Cloud Marketplace also includes a list of technology partners that enable businesses to deploy ML applications on Google Cloud's AI infrastructure. Typically, even for highly trained data scientists with complex systems, developing well-tuned and effectively maintained ML systems has been problematic. Organisations can now create, deploy, and scale ML models quicker using pre-trained and custom tools inside a unified AI platform thanks to the major pillars of Google's contributions listed above. Google Cloud hopes to keep innovating and assisting customers on their digital transformation adventure.