Talk

Online learning as a disaster resilience response—A Lenovo perspective

Lenovo’s EdVision program braces the education sector for disruptions, upskills students for a digital future As disasters often disrupt schooling in the Philippines, the education sector must strengthen its resilience to uphold the continuous education of children. A tech-assisted shift will significantly change the game for the sector, making online learning a solution for schools to keep the academic year uninterrupted in the face of any calamity, without compromising the safety of students, teachers, or staff. Tech-assisted learning is the future of education, enabling schools to digitally equip students for the jobs of the future. Its geographic location makes the Philippines highly prone to natural calamities, which often forces schoolsto cancel classes or temporarily shut down. Add to that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that magnified the need to make education disaster-proof. Thanks to technology,this is now possible. This tech-assisted shift will significantly change

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DepEd strengthens preparations for distance learning with NEAP transformation and dry-run simulations

With the opening of classes being moved from August 24 to October 5, the Department of Education (DepEd) continues to strengthen its rigorous preparations for SY 2020-2021. DepEd is using the weeks leading up to October 5 to fill in the remaining gaps for this year’s school opening, and to address the challenges of adjusting to education’s new normal.  The printing of self-learning modules (SLMs) has been the utmost priority of the Department, especially with modular learning being the preferred learning modality across different regions. Most regions such as Region I, Region IV-A, and NCR are already at the advanced stage of preparing these modules, with 80-100% of SLMs already printed. Other regions are also making good progress, with only four out of over 200 School Division Offices (SDOs) having a completion rate below 25%.  DepEd also has the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) transformation, which is set to provide interventions for schools throughout the scho

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PLDT strengthens defenses vs child porn, blocks over 2,900 sites

PLDT is ramping up its efforts to protect children from online predators. The telco said it has blocked more than 2,900 sites linked to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. PLDT added that it is constantly working with the government to beef up cyber defenses against these crimes. The company is also exploring opportunities with other organizations to promote children's welfare. After seeking the guidance of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), it has integrated child-safeguarding policies into its business. These cover various processes and programs for the workplace, marketing activities, product and service offerings, and trade community engagements. PLDT and its wireless unit, Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), have also provided connectivity and technical assistance to the PNP text hotline 7444-64 for quick reporting of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The Philippines' largest and only integrated telecommunications company is also going bey

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ePLDT to enable PH businesses with Salesforce partnership

ePLDT, the ICT arm of PLDT Enterprise, continues to strengthen its foothold in the local cloud arena through its strategic partnership with a global leader and pioneer in cloud computing, Salesforce.  Salesforce is the world's number one customer relationship management (CRM) solution based on the 2019 revenue market share worldwide ranking by premier global market intelligence firm IDC. The US-based cloud and CRM giant is one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies of all time with over 150,000 enterprise customers around the world, spanning from startups and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.  ePLDT has built the expertise and resource pool to deploy, administer, and manage Salesforce for any organization across various industries. This roster of certified professionals, with Salesforce's class-leading business applications for sales, service, marketing, and industry-specific workloads built on a secure and scalable platform, equips ePLDT to enable enterprises

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Mastercard Launches Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) Testing Platform

● The innovative virtual and custom testing platform allows central banks to evaluate use cases and test roll-out strategies for CBDCs by simulating a CBDC ecosystem ● Central banks, commercial banks, and tech and advisory firms invited to partner with Mastercard to evaluate the suitability of CBDCs in a country or region With the global economy racing to embrace digital payments, central banks also are looking to the future and investigating how to support innovation while maintaining monetary policy and financial stability as they issue and distribute currency. In fact, 80 percent of central banks surveyed are engaging in some form of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) work, and about 40 percent of central banks have progressed from conceptual research to experimenting with concept and design, according to a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements. Today, Mastercard announced a proprietary virtual testing environment for central banks to evaluate CBDC use

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Microsoft Non-Profits & employer partners launch program to increase employability for people with disabilities in Asia Pacific

The Microsoft Enabler Program launched today pioneers disability-inclusive workplaces across the Asia Pacific by removing the barriers for a more diverse workforce. With more than 1 billion people with disabilities (PwDs) in the world, disability-inclusive employment can lead to a 1-7% rise in GDP in the Asia Pacific through increased economic productivity. [United Nations ESCAP] The program will pilot in five markets: Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, before expanding to the rest of the region by the end of 2020. Organizations committed to the program will receive training from the Non-Profit organizations (NPOs) to become inclusive employers, and these businesses will in turn provide job shadowing, internships, mentoring, and opportunities in tech jobs for PwDs identified by the NPO’s. Microsoft will provide industry required training in the cloud & artificial intelligence, as well as a platform for all three to collaborate towards an inclusive future for ev

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CDO Foodsphere makes Globe Cloud its top digital solution

CDO Foodsphere Inc., one of the largest food enterprises in the Philippines, commended Globe Business for its role in the successful migration of the company’s warehouse management system from on-premise to the cloud. Globe Business, together with  Amazon Web Services (AWS), conducted a Proof of Concept (POC) with CDO Foodsphere. This allowed the latter to test and experience AWS functionalities before fully migrating applications that monitor the company’s inventory. Satisfied with the results of the POC, CDO Foodsphere decided to migrate its workloads to the Cloud. Since then, there has been no application downtime attributed to the service.  In addition, the business was able to reduce the time to resolve system incident reports from 150 days to merely a day. The company also saw a significant improvement in the performance and stability of the system amid the pandemic—a stark contrast from what CDO Foodsphere's IT and Operations teams had experienced in the previous years. “Our

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ePLDT launches 'Simply ERP' for streamlined business operations  

Digital transformation for many industries globally – whether for small or medium business, or large corporations, have compelled the need for not just strong and reliable connectivity, but simplified solutions as well. As more and more organizations look at transforming their legacy systems to cloud-based solutions especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ePLDT introduces Simply ERP—a simple, affordable, and accessible system to address the challenges that industries face. ‘Simply ERP’ is an ERP solution for SAP Business One, established by ePLDT and powered by its subsidiary, AGS.  “The effect of business operations and strategies brought about by COVID-19 has forced significant restructuring of small and medium-sized organizations. The supply chain requirements, dynamic customer needs, allowing remote work, upskilling of workers, and managing cash flow and liquidity are but some challenges of SMEs. Simply ERP addresses all these with features and services that are simple, reliable,

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ISG Paragon Awards APAC Recognize Unisys and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for Civil Registry System Modernization

The award recognizes the modernized PSA Civil Registry System’s success in fulfilling citizens’ needs for official documents in minutes with advanced digitization and records management. Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced that Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, has recognized Unisys’ work on behalf of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in the 2020 ISG Paragon Awards™ APAC. The ISG Paragon Awards APAC, awarded in August 2020, recognizes the year’s most innovative and impactful sourcing partnerships. Unisys and the PSA’s work to modernize the Civil Registry System (CRS) won the Impact category, which recognizes the impact of a client/service provider(s) relationship on a community. “We selected Unisys and the Philippine Statistics Authority because the digital transformation of the government’s Civil Registry Service tangibly improved Philippine citizens’ ability to access critical documents, such

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Holcim highlights reliability, partnership in digital campaign for flagship brand Excel

Holcim Philippines has started a social media campaign highlighting its flagship general-purpose cement brand Excel, which has established itself as a preferred choice among local contractors for reliability in building quality structures in its nearly two decades in the country. Leading cement manufacturer Holcim Philippines, Inc. has rolled out a new digital campaign for its flagship general-purpose cement brand Excel that highlights the product’s reliability in building durable and quality structures that supports user’s aspiration for progress. The company has started a series of posts on Facebook and Instagram focused on how its Excel brand is trusted by contractors having established itself as among the preferred cement brands in the market for building important structures from homes to infrastructures. The campaign features Filipino words “kasangga” at “pag-angat” in reference to the attributes Excel is associated with as well as images of builders and homeowners. Holcim Phi

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