Talk

51Talk’s Social Media Campaign Brings Attention to Teach from Home

The Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on May 20 that his department estimated around 4 to 5 million Filipinos will be unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic, following the month-long nationwide lockdown. Though lockdowns have been effectively flattening the infection curve, the trade-off is painful. As tourism, trade, and consumption drastically drop during the lockdowns, Philippine labour market may face an even more gloomy future. Though the onsite job opportunities keep shrinking in the following months, another chance is opening for the Filipinos who have to work from home. Since February, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced K-12 school districts to close, and sent more than 290 million children and youths home, data from UNESCO showed. Learning online has then become the only choice. This increase in demand has boosted online education platforms like 51Talk in China. 51Talk is China’s largest online English education company, and is publicly traded on the Ne

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Approaching business resiliency amid supply chain disruptions

Supply Chain managers have long been familiar with managing the fluctuations in supply and demand to minimize risks. The arrival of COVID-19, however, has created unprecedented challenges not only on supply chains’ key performance indicators but also on people’s lives and the foundation of global and national economies. All companies, regardless of industry and region, are experiencing extreme fluctuations in demand across the product, SKU, and channel level. When instability in the supply of input materials is added into the equation, supply chains may be disrupted. Consequently, the Philippines’ supply chains were not spared from the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since community quarantines were implemented in the country last March, restrictions on mobility and transportation, as well as strict implementation of stay-at-home orders and curfews were enforced to prevent the virus from spreading.  With the slowdown of the country’s sea and airports, a great number of

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Industry Leaders Launch PayID, the Universal ID for Payments

Today, leading technology, finance and nonprofit companies join forces to announce the launch of PayID, a universal payment ID to simplify the process of sending and receiving money globally – across any payment network and any currency. GoPay, Ripple, Coins.ph Blockchain.com, BitPay, Brave, Flutterwave, Mercy Corps and others have collaborated on the development of PayID through the Open Payments Coalition, a multinational alliance of industry leaders. PayID brings together companies across all industries with an open solution for payments, marrying traditional finance, and the new world of fintech under one standard. More than 40 global companies and nonprofits reaching more than 100 million consumers worldwide have joined the Open Payments Coalition to break down the proprietary silos and standards that exist in payments, accelerate the adoption of digital payments, and change the way money is sent around the world today. “We are excited to support the launch of PayID, which is in

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Palo Alto Networks Launches World's First ML-Powered NGFW

As organizations defend their ever-increasing points of entry against cyberattacks that continue to morph and rise, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, introduces the world’s first ML-Powered Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), which embeds machine learning (ML) in the core of the firewall to proactively assist in intelligently stopping threats, securing IoT devices, and recommending security policies — once again redefining the standard for network security. “Thirteen years ago, we completely changed network security when we created the Next-Generation Firewall,” said Nir Zuk, founder and chief technology officer at Palo Alto Networks. "As enterprise networks are widening — with hybrid clouds, IoT devices and home offices — and attacks rapidly and automatically evolve, we again need a radical new approach to cybersecurity. PAN-OS version 10.0 ushers in the world’s first ML-Powered NGFW, which is continuously learning and proactively improving security acros

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Fortinet Establishes Corporate Foundation to Protect and Positively Impact Our Communities Worldwide

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet “Since the beginning when Fortinet was founded 20 years ago, we deliberately created a culture built on technology innovation and continued learning. Through the establishment of a Corporate Foundation, we are extending investments in security training and education, employee community engagement and disaster relief efforts to empower and protect our communities, as well as positively impact our business, employees, customers and shareholders.” News Summary Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced the creation of the Fortinet Corporate Foundation to further its impact on global communities and expand the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. · Fortinet Foundation commits to matching multi-million dollars in employee contributions and in-kind to support global and local response to Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pande

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How COVID-19 shows that technology is critical to getting SMEs back on track

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the critical role that technology plays both as an operations player and for business continuity purposes. SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio said the global health crisis changed how businesses operate as employees, customers, and organizations adjust to a new way of working such as working from home, transacting via online or virtual channels, as well as being able to manage business operations remotely. “These quarantine guidelines demonstrated how technology continues to play an important role in supporting business continuity. Organizations now rely more on digital tools and platforms to move labor-oriented practices into more automated and technology-oriented processes," said Panlilio. Technological advancements, on the other hand, will, most likely, continue to grow in significance even after the government eventually lifts quarantine guidelines, Panlilio noted. He also encourages local Small and Medium-sized Enter

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Sustainability Advantages Among Top Business Ink Benefits

With sustainability becoming an ever-increasing objective of today’s companies, it is no wonder that business inkjet products are garnering growing interest. In fact, Keypoint Intelligence forecasts a 3.2% compound annual growth rate for these products in Asia Pacific through 2021, driven by “green” features as well as their simpler design and lower cost per page compared to laser technology. What is a business inkjet printer? Business inkjet printers are inkjet-based devices targeted to home office, SMB, and in some cases enterprise business environments. Compared to consumer-based inkjets, they offer higher speeds, higher paper capacities, higher cartridge yields, and a lower cost per page. Keypoint Intelligence’s inkjet segmentation Business inkjets may also integrate features like a standard automatic document feeder (ADF), standard automatic duplexing, finishing capabilities, and support for more than six users. These devices have been growing in popularity in recent years as

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PLDT Enterprise partners with AIM for local hackathon to fight COVID-19

PLDT Enterprise, through its innovation arm PLDT Innolab, recently supported the local hackathon launched by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) which aimed to crowdsource digital solutions and ideas that would help in the battle against COVID-19.   The Bayanihan@AIM hackathon was held to generate innovative ideas and practical solutions from participants across the country which could help the nation cope with the prevailing economic and long-term impacts of the global pandemic.  As an industry partner for the hackathon, PLDT Innolab provided mentorship to over 70 participating teams and gave away a number of mobile phones in addition to the cash prize. PLDT Innolab supports the development of emerging technologies with the group's infrastructure, service capabilities, expertise, and facilities especially in improving today's situation amid COVID-19. “We need to use technology as part of disaster response and in support, we at PLDT Enterprise collaborated with AIM and ADB for t

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Approaching business resiliency amid supply chain disruptions

Supply Chain managers have long been familiar with managing the fluctuations in supply and demand to minimize risks. The arrival of COVID-19, however, has created unprecedented challenges not only on supply chains’ key performance indicators but also on people’s lives and the foundation of global and national economies. All companies, regardless of industry and region, are experiencing extreme fluctuations in demand across the product, SKU, and channel level. When instability in the supply of input materials is added into the equation, supply chains may be disrupted. Consequently, the Philippines’ supply chains were not spared from the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since community quarantines were implemented in the country last March, restrictions on mobility and transportation, as well as strict implementation of stay-at-home orders and curfews were enforced to prevent the virus from spreading.  With the slowdown of the country’s sea and airports, a great number of

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PLDT Enterprise, Century Pacific join hands for COVID-19 response operations

Amid the ongoing modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, PLDT Enterprise pledges connectivity support to the Century Pacific Food, Inc. to ensure its continuous flow of operations. PLDT Enterprise provided Smart Pocket Wi-Fi units for the Filipino food manufacturer to help them in shipping tuna and sardines from Mindanao to Luzon as part of their ongoing COVID-19 operations.  The Smart Pocket Wi-Fi units will be used by Century Pacific’s personnel and teams deployed in Laguna, Taguig, and Manila. The devices are currently utilized to access the company’s internal systems, to enable employees monitor the pace of their product delivery which include dispatch of canned goods, frozen goods, and dairy products. Moreover, the pocket Wi-Fi units also help Century Pacific’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) team to speed up their communications in terms of distributing food packs and charity donations to different local government units and communiti

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