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Startup monitors electricity consumption, helps users to improve energy efficiency

SmarterMeter, a platform that monitors electricity consumption via Wi-Fi, allows consumers to track their usage prior to receiving their official bill. The collected data—said to be 96% to 99% accurate—can be used to double-check kilowatt-hour (kWh) readings from an electricity provider.

Founded in May 2019 as a spinoff project from an electronics engineering undergraduate thesis, it consists of an electricity meter installed onto a household circuit panel and an electricity management platform capable of comparing consumption results, generating user-friendly charts, and sending notifications when a user is about to exceed a set electricity budget. 

 A performance report is also sent via e-mail every other week, along with feedback aimed at  improving energy efficiency. 

“We believe that real energy efficiency comes from a community of informed smarter consumers,” said Reinelle Jan C. Bugnot, founder and CEO of SmarterMeter Inc.

“We plan to partner with condominiums, housing developers, or subdivisions to launch multiple SmarterMeter units at scale to produce localized communities of Smarter consumers, which then yields a culture of energy efficiency,” he added.

SmarterMeter won the Blue Legacy Innovation competition last year, which provided the company enough funding to have it incorporated in the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2020.

Three- to 12-month subscription plans, starting at P375 per month, are available. A bond fee is collected at the start of subscription as insurance for the device installed in the subscriber’s home, which will be returned in full upon device retrieval at the end of subscription. 

SmarterMeter participated in QBO Innovation Hub’s incubation program. Launched in 2020 in partnership with the US Embassy in the Philippines, the program provides financial support in the form of grants, loans, and fundraising opportunities, and mentorship to startups. — Patricia B. Mirasol

Philippines reports largest daily rise in COVID-19 cases in nearly six months

MANILA – The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday recorded 3,749 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase in cases in nearly six months, and 63 additional deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 607,048 while confirmed deaths reached 12,608. Authorities have warned the public not to be complacent and practice physical distancing to avoid the spread of the virus accelerating further. — Reuters 

Vimeo reviewing use of its platform by Myanmar military-controlled TV network

SINGAPORE – U.S. video sharing platform Vimeo said on Thursday it is reviewing a channel by Myanmar military-controlled television network MRTV created in the wake of bans by Facebook and Youtube.

The move comes as activists call upon technology firms including IAC-owned Vimeo to restrict the Myanmar army from access to their services after dozens of deaths during weeks of protests against the military’s seizure of power.

“The videos in question are under review by our Trust & Safety team,” a Vimeo spokeswoman said in response to a Reuters question. She noted the platform’s “chief” principle is that it does not allow the upload of content that can cause real-life harm. “If they are determined to violate any of our guidelines, we will take the appropriate action of removing the videos and potentially terminating the account.” Since it was created in March, the MRTV (Myanma Radio and Television) Vimeo channel has posted 141 news bulletins, including many announcements by the military leadership.

Neither MRTV or a spokesman for the army immediately responded to requests for comment.

Google-owned Youtube removed a channel from MRTV on Friday, while Facebook banned MRTV pages in February.

The army seized power on Feb. 1, alleging mass fraud in the November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, and has used state media to make its case. The electoral commission has rejected claims of widespread fraud.

More than 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 people have been arrested since the coup, an advocacy group said. – Reuters

At least 10 hacking groups using Microsoft software flaw – researchers

WASHINGTON – At least 10 different hacking groups are using recently discovered flaws in Microsoft Corp’s mail server software to break in to targets around the world, cybersecurity company ESET said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The breadth of the exploitation adds to the urgency of the warnings being issued by authorities in the United States and Europe about the weaknesses found in Microsoft’s Exchange software.

The security holes in the widely used mail and calendaring solution leave the door open to industrial-scale cyber espionage, allowing malicious actors to steal emails virtually at will from vulnerable servers or move elsewhere in the network. Tens of thousands of organizations have already been compromised, Reuters reported last week, and new victims are being made public daily.

Earlier on Wednesday, for example, Norway’s parliament announced data had been “extracted” in a breach linked to the Microsoft flaws. Germany’s cybersecurity watchdog agency also said on Wednesday two federal authorities had been affected by the hack, although it declined to identify them.

While Microsoft has issued fixes, the sluggish pace of many customers’ updates – which experts attribute in part to the complexity of Exchange’s architecture – means the field remains at least partially open to hackers of all stripes. The patches do not remove any back door access that has already been left on the machines.

In addition, some of the back doors left on compromised machines have passwords that are easily guessed, so that newcomers can take them over.

Microsoft declined comment on the pace of customers’ updates. In previous announcements pertaining to the flaws, the company has emphasized the importance of “patching all affected systems immediately.”

Although the hacking has appeared to be focused on cyber espionage, experts are concerned about the prospect of ransom-seeking cybercriminals taking advantage of the flaws because it could lead to widespread disruption.

ESET’s blog post said there were already signs of cybercriminal exploitation, with one group that specializes in stealing computer resources to mine cryptocurrency breaking in to previously vulnerable Exchange servers to spread its malicious software.

ESET named nine other espionage-focused groups it said were taking advantage of the flaws to break in to targeted networks – several of which other researchers have tied to China. Microsoft has blamed the hack on China. The Chinese government denies any role.

Intriguingly, several of the groups appeared to know about the vulnerability before it was announced by Microsoft on March 2.

Ben Read, a director with cybersecurity company FireEye Inc , said he could not confirm the exact details in the ESET post but said his company had also seen “multiple likely-China groups” using the Microsoft flaws in different waves.

ESET researcher Matthieu Faou said in an email it was “very uncommon” for so many different cyber espionage groups to have access to the same information before it is made public.

He speculated that either the information “somehow leaked” ahead of the Microsoft announcement or it was found by a third party that supplies vulnerability information to cyber spies.

Taiwan-based researchers reported to Microsoft on Jan. 5 that they had found two new flaws which need patching. Those two were among those that began being used by the attackers shortly before or after the friendly report.

They said were investigating whether there had been a theft or leak on their side, since exploitation was discovered in the wild the same week later. So far, the group called Devcore said, they had found no evidence.

Top-flight hackers are also commonly targeted by other hackers. Just this week, Microsoft patched one of the flaws used by suspected North Koreans in attempts to steal information from Western researchers.

But simultaneous discovery happens fairly often, in part because researchers use the same or similar tools to hunt for serious flaws, and many eyes are looking at the same high-value targets.

“It is very likely that some actor groups may have being using these vulnerabilities and led to the result of the attacks being observed by other information security vendors,” Devcore member Bowen Hsu told Reuters.

But the security industry has been abuzz with other theories, including a hack of Microsoft’s systems for tracking bugs, which has happened in the past. – Reuters

The need for women’s support groups in the workplace

Support groups—where members can talk about similar concerns without being judged, blamed, stigmatized, or isolated—play an important role in the well-being of women in the workplace, said Dr. Gia Grace B. Sison, an occupational medicine and mental health expert. 

“During this time, it is crucial to create an accepting environment,” said Dr. Sison, at an International Women’s Month event organized by business process solutions provider Telus International Philippines (TIP). “Understanding and empathizing with what women like you may be going through contributes to you feeling lighter and supported. This can already spark the meaningful connections that people crave as we have to be socially distant for now.” 

Women are more likely than men to experience symptoms of depression, according to the US National Center for Health Statistics in September 2020. The factors that affect women’s mental health include gender-based economic imbalance (such as the glass ceiling, or the intangible barrier within a hierarchy that prevents women or minorities from obtaining upper-level positions) and an imbalance of reproductive or domestic work distribution. 

“A support group is not there to solve problems, but to encourage members to own their narratives and veer away from the victim side,” Dr. Sison said. “I cannot [emphasize enough] the need of support groups for females, because their concerns are different from males.” 

Effective support groups have ground rules, she added, such as beginning and ending meetings on time, and respecting everyone’s privacy. “Back it up with company policy so there’s an anchor,” she said.

TIP, for example, created a resource group to support the professional and personal development of its female team members. Called Connections Women’s Network, the group conducts wellness workshops on topics such as breast cancer awareness, domestic violence, and family budgeting. 

“The best way to be of support is to listen,” Dr. Sison said at the virtual event. “Avoid comparing your journey to others. We journey in different ways.” — Patricia B. Mirasol

Rich, developing nations wrangle over COVID vaccine patents

GENEVA – Richer members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked a push by over 80 developing countries on Wednesday to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations.

South Africa and India renewed their bid to waive rules of the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, a move that could allow generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines.

South Africa argued the current TRIPS system does not work, pointing to the failure to secure life-saving medicines during the HIV/AIDS pandemic that had cost at least 11 million African lives.

Medecins Sans Frontieres in October put together a letter signed by over 375 civil society organisations supporting the waiver.

The South Africa and India proposal was backed by dozens of largely developing countries at the WTO, but opposed by Western countries, including Britain, Switzerland, EU nations and the United States, which have large domestic pharmaceutical industries.

India is a major manufacturer of generics, although many of the largest generic companies are based in Western and developed countries, including Viatris, Sandoz and Teva.

Western nations argue protecting intellectual property rights encouraged research and innovation and that suspending those rights would not result in a sudden surge of vaccine supply.

In its eighth discussion on the topic since it was first raised in October, the WTO’s TRIPS Council spent three hours debating, but failed to agree. Proposals need backing by a consensus of the WTO’s 164 members to pass.

They did at least agree to discuss the matter twice again in April before the next scheduled TRIPS Council meeting on June 8-9.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became WTO director-general on March 1, called the intensifying TRIPS discussions “vitally important,” but said governments and businesses needed to act now to increase production, especially in emerging markets.

She said in a speech on Tuesday that manufacturers should come together with bodies such as the World Health Organization and vaccines alliance GAVI, whose board she used to chair, and business associations to look into options.

“We must make sure that in the end we deliver so that the millions of people who are waiting for us with bated breath know that we are working on concrete solutions,” the former Nigerian finance and foreign minister said.

Philippines’ SMBs score lowest in APAC for work-from-home preparedness

This, and other SMB technology insights revealed in IDC survey commissioned by ASUS

ASUS revealed that only 60% of Philippine businesses believed they were ready for the work-from-home (WFH) requirement brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the lowest across the Asia-Pacific markets sampled.

82% of employers stated they believed they already offered a WFH policy; however, only 66% of employees agreed that such a policy was in existence; and only 59% of business owners are actively supporting WFH.

These findings, among other interesting strategic insights to SMB technology use and how COVID-19 has affected related decisions, were revealed in an ASUS-commissioned, independent survey conducted by leading technology research firm, IDC.

Survey methodology

The “IDC Asia/Pacific Laptops and Workspace Trends Survey 2020” was conducted in mid-2020 in 10 countries across Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines. The survey sought to discover the challenges of remote working and the impact on SMBs’ provisioning of laptops and other work devices and involved 2,018 respondents across the Asia-Pacific, split equally between employers (IT decision makers) and employees who use laptops for work.

Asia-Pacific SMBs not ready for long-term remote working arrangements

At the Asia-Pacific level, the survey reveals that businesses are not attuned to the “work-anywhere” trend brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, only 28% of business owners in Asia-Pacific expect employees to continue working remotely post COVID-19, with almost 40% anticipating a return to office. This short-term focus highlights the challenges that remote working entails — particularly around security, operational, collaboration, communication, and productivity issues. But this also means that businesses are not supporting their employees fully with the right devices for a prolonged work-from-home (WFH) setup. IDC stated that this short-term orientation will have a significant impact on the devices that are being purchased now and in future, with a profound, negative effect on employee productivity

Key Filipino findings

For the Philippines in particular, the survey found that prior to the pandemic, the market had a strong office-based culture. With COVID-19, WFH is likely to leave a deeper imprint in the Philippines than many other markets due to the need and desire to continue with remote working. However, infrastructure-related challenges unique to the Philippines like poorer-than-APAC-average-connectivity is a key obstacle.

Other key Filipino SMB findings from the survey include:

  • 66% of SMBs cited reliable network connectivity as a concern when supporting remote working.
  • Most businesses only refresh their laptops 3 years or longer. This means they are stuck with older models which actually increase business costs.
  • A large majority or 80% of Filipino SMBs provide their employees standard devices.
  • This contrasts with 68% of employees wanting to have a say in the allotment of their devices.
  • The Philippine market is among the top three in APAC that has a heavy focus on smartphones. Forward-thinking organizations are already planning to make additional technology investments in the next 24 months — 71% of businesses plan to increase their laptop investments by 2022.
  • Two-thirds, or 66%, of business owners surveyed in the Philippines are considering procuring laptop/desktop under a lease model, marginally lower than the Asia-Pacific average of 70%.
  • 79% of organizations in the Philippines use a laptop for web conferencing with a built-in camera and microphone, as compared to 74% in Asia-Pacific.

IDC advice

Considering the survey findings, IDC recommends that equipping employees with the latest devices that can support both a remote and hybrid work environment will have a significant impact not only on employee productivity and experience, but also will provide a competitive edge to organizations to attract and retain talent. To effectively transition to a hybrid work model and keep pace with remote working requirements, IDC recommends the following:

  1. Ensure employees have the right tools to do their job — Doing away with a one-size-fits-all strategy and adopting a more personalized approach to computing by offering employees the laptop of their choice, or based on computing needs, will help improve productivity and efficiency.
  2. Refresh laptops faster for better employee experience — Shorten refresh cycles of laptops to keep in step with work force requirements, as well as boost employee productivity and efficiency.
  3. Include laptops in as-a-service agreements — Give employees their choice in devices and move away from inflexible standardization policies. As-a-service model can also provide easy access to features previously found only in enterprise-grade, custom-developed devices.

ASUS means business

ASUS is dedicated to solving the unique challenges facing today’s small and medium businesses. ASUS wants to help SMBs and enterprise unlock innovation for customer and employee-centric experiences, as well as broadly upskill talent with a comprehensive product portfolio that includes laptops, desktops, AiO PCs, Chromebooks, and software to rebound from the pandemic and prepare for the future. To know more about their offering visit www.asus.com/ph/Business/ or send them a message at ASUS For Business (Philippines) Facebook Page.

Link to survey

• For further details, download the full IDC Info Brief here: 

Https://bit.ly/ASUS-IDC-APAC-SURVEY (case sensitive)

• We welcome media to report on any other finding that is of interest.

Trading drops as PSE halts high flying Abra Mining stock

Daily trading in Philippine equities, Asia-Pacific’s second-worst performer this year with a 4.6% loss, has plunged from a record after the bourse suspended its most active stock — Abra Mining & Industrial Corp.

Shares of unprofitable Abra Mining were suspended indefinitely amid a probe by the exchange and the regulator for alleged violations that include trading of unissued and unlisted company stock. The halt, since March 4, will last until the infractions are resolved, the bourse said.

While Abra Mining comprised 77% of the market’s daily transactions this year before the suspension, appetite for other smaller and speculative equities that had skyrocketed amid a buying frenzy by individual investors has also been quelled by the trading halt.

“The suspension exposes the risk of speculative stocks,” said Rachelle Cruz, an analyst at AP Securities Inc. “Some investors playing with speculative issues got scared and pulled out their trades.”

From a record 221.23 billion shares on March 3, the market’s volume turnover plunged to 2.69 billion the next day, when the trading halt was imposed. While volume reached 9.13 billion shares on Wednesday, that’s barely a fifth of average 50 billion shares that changed hands daily in the first two months of the year.

Abra Mining, which hasn’t made a profit in at least two decades, surged as much as 279% this year to a peak in January. While the share’s gain has since pared to 59%, trading volume still jumped to a record 215.45 billion on March 3.

The halt caught traders of Abra Mining by surprise. Danilo, an information technology professional, bought the stock expecting it would again soar.

“I hope this suspension ends soon,” said Danilo, who declined to use his full name. The halt is “a heavy squeeze on those who put in a big sum and chased the stock before the suspension. Many investors are trapped.” — Bloomberg

Warren Buffett becomes sixth member of $100 billion club

Warren Buffett has been a fixture at the top of the world’s wealth rankings for decades, but in recent years he’s slipped down the list as tech fortunes soared and his hot hand cooled.

Now, at 90, his net worth has blown past $100 billion.

The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman’s wealth jumped on Wednesday to $100.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That makes Buffett the sixth member of the $100 billion club, a group including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and his friend Bill Gates.

The clan’s combined wealth has grown rapidly, fueled by government stimulus, central-bank policy and the surging equity market. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill cleared its final congressional hurdle as the House voted to approve the legislation, adding to the $3 trillion or so in stimulus Washington has already disbursed in the past year.

Berkshire, the source of virtually all of Buffett’s wealth, has had a good start to 2021. The firm’s A shares are up 15% this year, outpacing the 3.8% gain of the S&P 500 Index. That’s been helped by Buffett’s recent push to spend record amounts buying back Berkshire’s own stock, a notable shift for an investor who previously preferred to use the $138 billion cash pile to buy other businesses or common shares.

Buffett’s been struggling in recent years to find sizable deals to spark Berkshire’s growth, partially due to the sheer size of the conglomerate. That’s caused the shares to underperform the S&P 500 over the past five years. But in 2020, Buffett spent a record $24.7 billion on buybacks and filings indicate he’s already bought at least $4.2 billion worth of stock through mid-February.

Surpassing $100 billion is all the more notable considering how much the Omaha billionaire has given away. A co-founder of the Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage billionaire philanthropy, Buffett has donated more than $37 billion in Berkshire stock since 2006. Without those gifts, which have cut his holdings of Berkshire Class A shares nearly in half, he’d be worth more than $192 billion.

The staggering amount of wealth accumulated by the ultra-wealthy — $1.8 trillion by the world’s 500 richest in 2020 alone — highlights the K-shaped recovery that’s taking place as the U.S. emerges from the pandemic. While millions of disproportionately poor, working-class and minority people remain unemployed, the rich have seen incomes and net worth levels rise thanks to a buoyant stock market and rising home prices.

Meanwhile, more than 8 million Americans — including many children — fell into poverty in the second half of last year, according to an analysis by University of Chicago economist Bruce Meyer, University of Notre Dame’s James Sullivan and Zhejiang University’s Jeehoon Han.

Buffett added $1.9 billion to his fortune on Wednesday as Berkshire Class A shares hit a record high, helping lead a second day of gains for the S&P 500. — Bloomberg

Bull or bear market? Understanding the stock market post-COVID

BusinessWorld holds first Virtual Stock Market Roundtable

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer

Since March last year, the Philippine stock market has been through quite a ride. After crashing to an eight-year low of 4623.42 due to a COVID-19-fueled investor sell-off, the Philippine Stock Exchange index has since climbed steadily, of late hovering around the 7,000-level mark a year after the crash.

At a glance, it seems bizarrely out of place. Many of the country’s economic prospects remain shrouded in uncertainty as COVID-19 continues to hold the world in a state of constant apprehension.

In the Philippines, especially, as it had just ended 2020 with the worst economic performance the country has seen since it began releasing growth data just after World War II in 1947. The country’s gross domestic product shrank 9.5% last year — the first annual contraction since the Asian financial crisis.

To understand the goings-on in the stock market, BusinessWorld, the country’s leading business daily, held its Virtual Stock Market Roundtable last Feb. 17, gathering financial experts to discuss the stock market’s 2020 performance and its prospects this year.

“This year is really the start of the country’s recovery story,” Michael Gerard Enriquez, chief investments officer of Sun Life Philippines, began.

“I think we’ve seen last year how the market has rebounded from its lows of about 4,600 and we ended the year up to 7,000. You see how the psyche of the market has moved and usually, it’s sentiment that drives markets faster than the actual recovery of the economy,” he said.

Mr. Enriquez pointed out that amid historic low interest rates and the slow resurgence of economic activity among consumers, the prospects of a rebound is likely, especially for the equity markets as consumption drives earnings.

April Lynn Lee-Tan, VP, head of research and chief equity strategist at COL Financial, echoed the sentiment. “It’s easier to be negative than to be positive nowadays. There are so many reasons to be negative, including the disappointing economic recovery of the Philippines relative to other Asian countries,” she said.

“But that said, am I bullish or bearish? When I weigh the positives and negatives, I have no choice but to be bullish,” she added.

Ms. Tan emphasized that despite the high unemployment rates, poor business confidence, and a conservative fiscal response from the government hampering growth, many factors remain in favor of the country’s recovery. For the equity market especially, the rollout of the vaccine and the boost in consumer confidence that comes with it will serve as a blessing.

“Last year, we didn’t know how this is going to end. But now, there’s a little bit more visibility,” she said.

Moreover, since the pandemic forced the country on lockdown last year, many new retail investors have come into the market and they have yet to see a reason to be bearish since.

JC Bisnar, CEO and co-founder of Investagrams, said that many retail investors made money buying stock during the market crash last year. And it could be a reason to remain hopeful for the growth of the market in the future.

“A lot of people had to resort to other means to make money during the pandemic, whether that be online businesses, freelancing, e-commerce, and the stock market,” he said.

“That’s one reason why a lot of new investors came into the market: because people were just looking for a way to make money outside of their regular jobs. I believe that realization will be the catalyst in spurring the growth of retail investors. Moving forward, I think people will realize that they cannot just rely on the stability of their jobs. They need something else for their financial wellness,” he added.

Despite all this, some caution may be warranted. “The performance of the stock market in some ways is not reflective of the general economy. The people who are buying stocks in the Philippines is less than 1% of the population, maybe 2% given the increase in the number of investors,” Ms. Tan said.

“From March to today, the market is up by a lot, from 4600. We have a lot of people making money and that’s why they are a lot more excited to keep on buying stocks. And that’s one of the reasons why retail investors are continuing to invest in this market, and we’ve been able to go up even in the absence of foreign investors,” she added.

“The key now is what to expect moving forward. Recovery will definitely come but it won’t be in one snap,” Mr. Bisnar added.

BusinessWorld Virtual Stock Market Roundtable is presented by BusinessWorld Publishing Corp.; with the support of Management Association of the Philippines, CFA Society-Philippines, Investagrams, and The Philippine STAR.

Preparing for Hybrid Work Setups with Aruba

Available through ICS, Aruba solutions equip organizations for both remote and on-site work.

In the past months, as the pandemic forced employees to continue working at home, both leaders and team players have seen the advantages and limitations of remote work. With several businesses having implemented it to a greater extent, some for the first time, remote work is expected to become a permanent component of work even after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stops spreading.

While convenient and mostly effective, the remote work setup has its limitations and is primarily dependent on factors such as a steady internet connection and the nature of work. Power outages, poor wi-fi quality, and the lack of signal availability can easily slow down internet connectivity resulting in less productive remote work output. The type of job one does also affects remote work as some are not conducive to this kind of setup due to the inherent task requirements of the job and certain essential work resources that are inaccessible remotely. As such, the post-pandemic work environment is foreseen to go hybrid. The new normal work week is set to become a mix of working from home as well as going on-site. 

A local survey conducted by professional recruitment consultancy firm Robert Walters during the lockdown shows that more than nine in 10 professionals (91%), prefer the work-from-home arrangement over in-office work once it resumes.

While this may be the case, Bhushan Sethi, a joint global leader of PricewaterhouseCooper’s People and Organization practice, recognizes that most businesses still need their team’s physical presence on-site. Thus, it will neither be fully remote nor back to a pre-pandemic mode of work in the ‘now normal’.

“With vaccines rolling out, more employees will return to an actual place of work. And managing that return will be tricky,” Mr. Sethi was quoted as saying in an article in Forbes.

Around the world, the remote work setup posed several challenges among company leaders, as identified by a study published in MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR). These include a reduction in serendipitous connections, difficulties in starting new projects, lack of a strong sense of culture, as well as lack of mentoring and coaching among employees.

Therefore, decision-makers are advised to carefully consider how they will combine the best aspects of remote and on-site work. Companies can start by using technology to maximize in-person interactions by identifying who will be in the office at the same time and then suggesting new connections among those also at the office.

Empowering both your organization’s on-site and remote workforces is possible with Aruba’s connectivity solutions. A Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, Aruba has a diverse portfolio of networking technologies that can adequately equip companies for a hybrid work setup. 

Aruba’s Access Points (APs) deliver simple, fast, and secure access for employees anywhere they work. Aruba APs are integrated with AI-powered RF optimization, rich user and application intelligence, and smart management options for improved user experience, seamless cellular and Wi-Fi transitions, and SLA-grade application quality of service (QoS). Under Aruba’s wide range of wireless solutions are indoor and outdoor remote APs that are designed to provide unmatched Wi-Fi experience that enterprises need at present.

Aruba’s InstantOn AP15 is ideal for high-density, fast-paced workplaces with heavy mobile usage, where optimal performance is from numerous endpoints, cloud apps, and volumes of data, is a must.

Aruba APs work perfectly in tandem with Aruba Central, the industry’s only cloud-native command center for all-in-one LAN, WLAN, VPN, and SD-WAN operations across remote, campus, branch, and data center locations. It is ideal for offices embarking on remote work initiatives as it is designed to deliver the in-office experience to remote end-users who need permanent or temporary access. 

Aruba also has its Location Services portfolio, which enables organizations to engage with customers and employees in new and creative ways, including proximity-based notifications and location sharing, to name a few. 

These solutions can be coupled with the Aruba CX switches, which deliver cutting-edge hardware, intuitive management tools, and an operating system built on cloud-native design principles for evolving data centers. Aruba’s family of switches can simplify the management of networks with automation choices, perform intelligent reporting, deliver real-time analytics, as well as enable an ‘always-on’ network infrastructure. 

Aruba’s connectivity solutions for workplaces are available through Integrated Computer Systems Inc (ICS). ICS is a leading provider of IT solutions in the country for over 40 years, empowering clients to jumpstart and accelerate their digital transformation, especially in these uncertain times. An Aruba Platinum Partner, ICS currently offers a free trial of the Aruba Central. Learn more by visiting this link. For more information, you may email info@ics.com.ph. 

FDI inflows slump to lowest in 5 years

REUTERS

By Luz Wendy T. Noble, Reporter

FOREIGN direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines slid to a five-year low in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic drove investors toward safe havens.

Preliminary data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday showed FDI net inflows last year shrank by 24.6% to $6.542 billion from $8.671 billion in 2019.

This is the lowest since the $5.63 billion in FDI inflows seen in 2015, but exceeded the $6-billion full-year projection made by the BSP.

“The disruptive impact of the pandemic on global supply chains and the weak business outlook adversely affected investor decisions in 2020,” the central bank said in a statement.

FDI inflows dropped for the second straight year. In 2019, investor sentiment was affected by the US-China trade war, regulatory risks in the country, and lack of clarity in tax reforms.

“FDI flows slowed as the Philippines may no longer be as bright an investor destination given our fast fading economic prospects while investors are also likely holding on to cash to ride out the storm,” ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in an e-mail.

In December, foreign investments into the Philippines plunged 62.6% to $509 million from $1.362 billion in the same month of 2019.

“The year-on-year decline in FDI in December 2020 was due mainly to base effects given significantly large inflows from net investments in equity capital and debt instruments in 2019,” the BSP said.

Equity other than reinvestment of earnings dropped by 89.8% to $78 million in December, as placements plummeted 87.8% to $97 million while withdrawals dropped 42.9% to $20 million.

The bulk of the equity capital placements came from Japan, the Netherlands, the United States, and Singapore, the central bank said. The funds flowed into the manufacturing, real estate, and the financial and insurance industries.

Investments in equity and fund shares likewise fell by 82.2% to $149 million in December, while inflows to debt instruments went down by 31.1% to $360 million.

Reinvestment of earnings declined 2.6% to $71 million in December.

The BSP expects FDI to reach $7.5 billion this year, up 15% from the 2020 level.

However, Mr. Mapa warned that the pandemic will continue to dampen the outlook for foreign investments.

“Getting the economy back on track will be the only strategy to increase our attractiveness as a destination once more while also quelling the ongoing pandemic,” he said.

The country’s gross domestic product shrank by record 9.5% last year but is expected to grow by 6.5% to 7.5% in 2021.

UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said the relatively high global liquidity might boost FDI inflows this year.

“My guess is that digital-based and essential investments will lead the way and investments heavy on human and face-to-face interactions may be laggards,” he said in an e-mail.

Mr. Asuncion said attractiveness of emerging markets like the Philippines to FDI inflows will depend on the pace of vaccine rollouts.

Uncertainty over the government’s tax reform program also dampened investor sentiment.

“Some foreign investors remained on a wait-and-see attitude before the possible signing of the CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises) Bill into law by President [Rodrigo R.] Duterte any time soon,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.

CREATE, which will immediately slash the corporate income tax to 25% from 30%, has already been ratified by Congress in February and is already awaiting Mr. Duterte’s signature.

For Mr. Mapa, this may not be enough to boost investor confidence in the Philippines.

“Recent legislation to lower corporate taxes and rationalize fiscal incentives will help but that only assumes that the Philippine economy is back on its feet and that the virus has been quelled or at least contained,” he said.

FDI inflows drop to five-year low in 2020

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