HOT JOE 23 - PLDT ALPHA

VOLUME
23
J U LY
2015
BIG
DATA
"THE GOOD THING IS THAT THE
DIGITAL REVOLUTION IS NOT
ONLY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY –
BUT IT IS ULTIMATELY EMINENTLY
HUMAN."
- MANUEL V PANGILINAN
PLDT GROUP CHAIRMAN
PLDT ALPHA: Enabling the Digital Enterprise
The disruptive nature of the digital-powered economy has flipped the world
on a new edge. And with this shift, enterprises across industries need a reliable
ICT partner that provides solutions leveraged on social, mobile, analytics, and
cloud. PLDT ALPHA Enterprise is more than ready to lead Philippine enterprises
through a transformative, digitally powered journey towards continued success.
Let’s get to it. Let’s disrupt the world further.
DIGITAL
Learn more at www.pldtalpha.com
88-ALPHA (25742)
HAS TURNED THE WORLD
UPSIDE DOWN
ASC REF. CODE: P069P063015P
THINK
Jovy Hernandez
Editor
Nico Alcoseba
Mikey Smyth
Managing Editors
Gerrard Fabie
Editorial Adviser
Markus Jentes
Creative Director
Andrew Batiduan
Art Director
Vickie Perez de Tagle
Rissa Golloso
Ram Anciro
Erika Legaspi
Jason Mejia
Emily Reyes
Murielle Sarmiento
Check Trayfalgar
Gio Abaquin
Editorial Coordinators
Michal Perez de Tagle
Enrique Estagle
Inez Golamco
Kaye Pineda
Igor Cruz
Dessa Malaluan
Mac Lubaczewski
Paula Venturina
Daniella Marfori
Patricia Mariano
DIGITAL
BE
Editorial Contributors
Executive Producer
this issue of Hot
Joe, readers will
get a better look
at how PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise
is expanding upon its
role as your trusted
expert end-to-end
ICT partner. In an age of increasingly
digitally enabled enterprise organizations,
we are determined to become your
technology leader for a brave new world.
Our PLDT Insider feature of
Winston Damarillo, PLDT’s new Chief
Strategy Officer and CEO of Talas
(page 22) is especially relevant, given
the new digital realities for enterprise
organizations. His comments and views
dovetail with our Main Window story
(page 6) featuring Big Data.
More enterprises are recognizing
our earnest efforts and vast investments
in improved networks and infrastructure.
The recent partnership with AirAsia as
well as the challenge set to us by Holcim
East Asia’s Dr. Richard Parcia in our
Live Wire section (page 14) are great
examples. Undoubtedly, our expansion
efforts have been bolstered through the
fruitful collaboration with NEC and Intel
featured in Partner Peek (page 28). More
of this great partnership strategy can be
seen in the addition of IBM’s SoftLayer to
PLDT Cloud’s capabilities in our Sleeper
Hit (page 68). On the mobile front, Smart
Enterprise and GMS Philippines have
likewise partnered for connected e-vehicles
on MoBiz (page 72).
In our Solved section (page 50)
featuring ePLDT Big Data Platform
as a Service, it is evident that PLDT is
more intent than ever in enabling digital
business organizations. The gauntlet has
been hurled our way, to continue in our
innovation, commitment, and leadership as
your true ICT partner. This is a challenge
readily accepted in the rapidly transformed
and disrupted business landscape we find
ourselves in. From now on, when you
think digital, think PLDT.
Jovy hernandez
Editor
JULY 2015
VOLUME 23
Calls
CLIENT
JULY 2015
03 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Jovy Hernandez on Enabling the
Digital Enterprise
05 CLIENT CALLS
Letters from actual PLDT clients,
written to share their own unique
experiences with PLDT.
06 MAIN WINDOW
Get to know more about Big Data
and how it becomes the catalyst
for disruption.
14
28
LIVE WIRE
AirAsia Philippines turns to
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and
Smart Enterprise for end-to-end
digital enablement.
Holcim East Asia Business’
Dr. Richard Parcia shares his
professorial outlook on Big Data
and challenges PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise for a stronger,
more valuable partnership.
22
14
PLDT INSIDER
The remarkable journey of
Winston Damarillo– from the
Philippines to Silicon Valley
and back.
50
54
22
62
20
PARTNER PEEK
NEC’s Dr. Yoshiki Seo talks
about the infinite possibilities
of Big Data, especially for the
PLDT Group.
Intel’s Eddie Toh shares
how his organization provides
Big Data computing power
to PLDT.
36
WE WANT TO
HEAR FROM
WERE YOU THERE
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
celebrates the Big Data
Launch, ALPHA Track Day
2015, and International
ICT Awards.
68
72
SOLVED
Get a closer look at ePLDT’s
state-of-the-art Big Data
Platform as a Service.
CAUGHT ON PAGE
Partnerships with Blue Cross
Insurance, ADP-PPC, Ascott,
and more.
COMING + GOING
What’s coming, what’s going,
and what’s staying still in the
world of tech.
SEND YOUR THOUGHTS,
COMMENTS, OR FEEDBACK
AND RECEIVE PREMIUM
ALPHA ITEMS!
MOBIZ
GMS Philippines talks about
how the synergy of M2M and
Big Data is fuelling the adoption
and usage of e-tricycles.
74
THE ALPHA BITS
76
THE LAST SAY
Email: pldtalpha@pldt.com.ph
Call: 88-ALPHA
(88-25742)
or visit
www.pldtalpha.com
Bits of knowledge any
ALPHA should know.
Eric R. Alberto sustaining
the leadership position of the
PLDT Group in the digital era.
I would like to compliment Maria Charina Ann “Chary” S. Mariano for the excellent service she provided
NutriAsia and Del Monte Philippines, Inc. from the time she took over our account up until NutriAsia
transferred to our new building last July 24, 2013. Chary extended the extra mile in facilitating and ensuring that
our voice, network, and Internet requirements are made available before the critical move-in date. She was quick
to respond to our requests and even extended support to the other telco links not under her official portfolio
(i.e., PLDT accounts under IBM and Unilab), only to make sure that we will not encounter any problems
meeting the “D-Day.”
I, together with my team, am pleased with the kind of service we received from your company. Ms.
Mariano's professionalism and ability to respond to situations quickly far exceeded our expectations. The work
that Chary exemplified should be held up as an example for others to try to emulate. Such a commitment to
superior customer service is to be commended and recognized.
Relationship Managers like Chary, and with the proper guidance that you provide, are what make
PLDT great!
Sincerely,
Cesar R. Canlas
Group Head, Information Technology
Del Monte Philippines, Inc. and NutriAsia, Inc.
Dear Ms. Hilao,
Thank you very much for your services.
Please extend my appreciation to Ms.
Shandra Tecson for the superior support
she is giving EasyCall and other TDG
member companies. She analyzes our
business requirements effectively and
gives me comfort that feedback will
be provided immediately. She is very
efficient, professional, and easy to work
with. Our employees are very pleased with
the quality of her service and her attitude.
Hi Precy and Chet,
SLEEPER HIT
The PLDT Cloud adds a
solid dimension with IBM’s
SoftLayer.
Dear John,
I would like to share my feedback on Ann’s support in
managing the Unilever account.
She has been a strong pillar of strength in managing
Unilever’s requirements– from attending the monthly
stakeholder engagement meetings to providing local onground engagement in interlocking with Unilever, those
have really provided us with a great success story and a very
positive customer feedback.
Looking back from when our partnership started
in 2014, I am very happy to see the change in customer
perception, from us being unhappy clients to eventually
becoming happy customers. The issue log tracker with zero
open items speaks for itself.
I want to thank Ann for her tireless efforts in supporting
Unilever’s requirements whilst attending to my numerous
calls and emails. I also would like to thank you both for
your management level support whenever I reach out with
an escalation, especially in closing those DoVs and legal
documents.
Many thanks Precy, Chet, and Ann for your fantastic
support and engagement with Vodafone in managing the
Unilever account.
Thank you!
Subscribe to our e-newsletter,
ALPHA Mail, and keep up-to-date
with our latest news and offers.
Pramod Chalak
Regional Service Manager, Asia Pacific
Vodafone Global Enterprise
I wish you and your team all the best in
your future projects. The superior level of
service has ensured that I would have no
hesitation in recommending PLDT as a
telco partner for TDG’s communication
requirements.
Truly Yours,
Renato Vicente R. Martinez
General Manager
Easycall E-Services, Inc.
Hi Amy,
Thank you so much. Internet is working
perfectly. Its people like you who make a
difference!
Teej Arboleda
HR Director for Asia
Microsemi Corporation
MAKING ROOM FOR
LET’S IMPROVE THE WORLD
BY DISRUPTING IT.
JULY 2015
It turns out that we are data, or at least we are
the generators of immense sets of the bits and
bytes that increasingly define us. As we acquire
and use more connected devices that track our
movements and ultimately our preferences, the
mountain that is Big Data grows larger still. For
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise, there is no way but
forward on Big Data.
JULY 2015
early as 2001, Gartner (then the META
Group) described the growth of data
as having three “v” dimensions: bigger
volume, greater velocity and variety. A
more recently added “v” is veracity, a
dimension that has acquired its own
relevance in later years.
The PLDT Group has actually been
one of the largest Philippine generators
and users of Big Data. Everything
from locational data on smartphones,
water and electricity usage rates across
households and industries, and perhaps
soon cashless payment patterns—these
are just a few types of the large data
sets which could inform better business
decisions. More effective businesses,
in turn, could detect trends earlier and
yield an improved customer experience.
Retail organizations, for example, can
now correlate seemingly unrelated data
sets such as point-of-sale information,
demographics, and footfall for smarter
store site selection.
Enterprise organizations and
individuals alike have been generating
so much data over the years, in fact,
that putting a specific number on the
bytes puts us squarely in the Carl Sagan
territory of cosmic estimation. “Billions
and billions and billions” of planets and
stars may have nothing on the true size
of Big Data.
The most sober efforts at placing
some kind of figure on that size gives us
some idea, and it is quite astounding. In
2012 for example, it was estimated that
2.5 exabytes—that’s 2.5 times 10 with
eighteen zeros behind it—was created
daily.
JULY 2015
“BILLIONS AND
BILLIONS AND
BILLIONS”
OF PLANETS AND STARS
MAY HAVE
ON THE TRUE SIZE OF
Big Today, Small Tomorrow?
The final figure is so exceptionally
large that quite obviously, it requires
massive investments in infrastructure
and expertise to manage or capitalize
from it. This is not a job for small
players. Although as techniques, software,
and hardware inevitably improve, data
that is considered “big” today may be
infinitesimal tomorrow.
In addition, it’s still unclear for many
exactly what data set size can be useful for
management. It may take either side of the
tens of hundreds of terabytes mark before
insightful patterns can be discerned. This
is what makes Big Data a “moving target”
for enterprise organizations who are still
setting their own Big Data management
policies and protocols.
This makes the PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise proposition on Big Data so
compelling. The task of managing a
moving target such as Big Data may be
too arduous for one or a few enterprise
organizations to undertake alone.
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise essentially
makes Big Data accessible to everyone
by “democratizing” the sophisticated
technology and expertise through a
subscription-based, minimal-risk business
model embodied in its Analytics Compute
Engine or “ACE” Explorer Kit. In this
case, it makes more sense than ever to
entrust Big Data tasks to one single expert
technology partner.
It Will Change Businesses
The bottom-line value for Big Data
is better and more cost-effective decision
making for governments and businesses all
over the world. For government agencies
in such time-sensitive and critical areas
such as healthcare, employment, crime,
and natural disaster response, the positive
effects of Big Data can be absolutely
transformative. In health care research for
example, decoding the human genome
once took 10 years to accomplish. Big
Data techniques can map it out in a day.
Clearly there is unmistakable power in
Big Data.
In manufacturing, processes will
become less opaque and more efficient.
Big Data will diminish risks in onceuncertain areas such as component
availability and real-time factory
capabilities. Big Data may spawn an
entirely new form of manufacturing
called “predictive manufacturing”
that, as its name suggests, predicts the
probabilities of machine breakdowns and
the sustainability of productivity rates.
It may do this from massive inputs such
as acoustics, pressure, and voltage that is
provided from sensors throughout factory
floors.
Of course one of the more popular
terms going around is the Internet of
Things or the Internet of Everything.
Many experts and analysts agree that it is
prime territory for the media industry. As
consumers buy, move, marry, have kids,
and go through their lives, the heaving
mountain of data represents countless
“actionable points” from which to launch
micro focused campaigns.
MANUEL V PANGILINAN
PLDT GROUP CHAIRMAN
"The good thing is that
the digital revolution
is not only about
technology – but it is
ultimately eminently
human."
JULY 2015
“THE RISK OF GOING
DIGITAL
Demystifying Digital
“A study showed that more than 50%
of CEOs would like to go digital, but
wouldn't know how to proceed. Many talk
about it, but few are actually doing it.” For
him, it is absolutely crucial to establish a
“path towards embracing digital,” which he
himself has taken on for his organization.
AND THE COSTS ASSOCIATED MAY BE
GREAT.
Big Data, the Internet of Everything,
the idea of an organization going digital—
all these must be embraced by the entire
organization, according to Mr. Alberto.
There is also a necessary paradigm
shift. “Enterprises could shift from the
traditional in-house controls of IT to
working with—and trusting—an expert
IT partner,” he said, later citing a popular
adage from Silicon Valley culture.
“Don’t be afraid to fail, start small,
measure the gains, and move fast. When
you decide to go digital, think PLDT,” he
said.
BUT HOW ABOUT THE EVEN
GREATER RISK AND COSTS OF
NOT GOING
IS
THE
NEW
OIL
BECAUSE IT FUELS INNOVATION,
EMPOWERS BUSINESSES, AND
ERIC R. ALBERTO
PLDT EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
AND ePLDT PRESIDENT AND CEO
Set to “Disrupt”
During PLDT ALPHA Enterprise’s
latest Big Data event “Digital Evolution
and Transformation,” industry watchers
and experts from all over the world
gathered to reveal the real face of Big
Data. One key insight gleaned was
that Big Data will move beyond mere
“incremental” business gains. In a larger
sense, it may lay the groundwork for
unprecedented disruption across industries
wherein companies must not look for
more business, but they must also seize
upon entirely new business models before
anyone else.
JULY 2015
Disruption may spell profit for
the first movers in new transformed
economies (see Uber in the new “sharing
economy”). It may also outline protracted
but certain doom for entrenched
businesses that perhaps may have grown
too comfortable.
PLDT Executive Vice President
and ePLDT President and CEO Eric
R. Alberto pointed to a classic example:
the bricks-and-mortars demise of the
much beloved RadioShack brand. Once a
mammoth chain of stores across the US
that served hobbyists and self-proclaimed
proud geeks, RadioShack was in danger
once those geeks found their natural
environment—online.
“The risk of going digital and the
costs associated may be great. But how
about the even greater risks and costs of
not going digital?” he said at the recent
conference.
ENERGIZES THE
ECONOMY."
NERISSE RAMOS
ePLDT GROUP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
JULY 2015
"IN ANY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION,
"BIG
DATA
IS NOT AN END, IT'S A
YOU HAVE TO HAVE A
WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK."
DR. BHASKAR CHAKRAVORTI
WINSTON DAMARILLO
PLDT CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
THE FLETCHER SCHOOL AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY
SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN
"WE'RE SEEING A
"WE CAN
TRANSFORM
THE WORLD THROUGH THE
DR. YOSHIKI SEO
NEC BIG DATA STRATEGY DIVISION SENIOR EXPERT
JULY 2015
"
FROM REACTIVE TO
PROACTIVE."
GREGORY SHEA
HORTONWORKS
PRINCIPAL FOR APAC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
JULY 2015
A
PLDT ALPHA ENTERPRISE AND SMART ENTERPRISE
SOAR WITH AIRASIA TO HIGHER SUCCESS.
The AirAsia success journey is well-documented in
the annals of enterprise history. In a span of just
over a decade, Tony Fernandes turned around a debtladen Malaysian airline into one of Southeast Asia’s
largest low-cost regional carriers. In the process, the
transformed airline has won sustained recognition such
as the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World
Airline Survey by Skytrax for six consecutive years.
JULY 2015
JULY 2015
“PLDT ALPHA
ENTERPRISE AND
SMART ENTERPRISE
HAVE THE CAPABILITY
TO MAKE OUR
CONNECTION
BECOME SEAMLESS.”
ATTY. JOY CAÑEBA
AirAsia President and CEO
Taking Southeast Asia By Storm
With their operations primarily based
in countries under the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, it is
no surprise that AirAsia is at the forefront
of encouraging both SEA-based and
foreign travelers to experience the beauty
and wonder of the entire region.
“In an effort to boost travel by
making it a seamless experience within
the SEA region,” said AirAsia President
and CEO Atty. Joy Cañeba, “we started
offering the ASEAN Pass and ASEAN
Pass+.” It essentially allows travellers to
fly with pre-paid credits to any ASEANmember nation, such as the Philippines.
In addition, they are lobbying for an
ASEAN Single Aviation Market or ASAM,
JULY 2015
which will spur region-wide aviation
development and regulation, as well as an
ASEAN common visa for travellers.
A Stronger Local
and Regional Presence
Their presence in the Philippines
began in 2011 with their hub located in
Clark, Pampanga. Two years later, the
company sealed a strategic partnership
with Ambassador Alfredo Yao’s Zest Air
to form AirAsia Zest. This prompted
a move to the more accessible Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The strengthened group now serves top
destinations here in the Philippines as well
as selected countries within the Southeast
Asian region.
According to Atty. Cañeba, their
transfer to NAIA back in 2013 came at
an opportune time to demonstrate their
added dimensions in value. “It allowed us
to better promote ourselves not only as a
low-fare carrier, but also one that values
the customer experience throughout all
points of the journey– from the purchase
of a ticket to ultimately reaching the
destination.”
And she fully believes in using ICT
to help enhance the customer experience.
“We are constantly investing in technology
to make flying easier, more enjoyable, and
comfortable for our guests,” she says.
She also added that as an airline, they rely
on multiple channels of communication
running 24/7 to help them immediately
respond to any concern whatsoever.
To further realize that goal,
AirAsia Philippines teamed up with
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and Smart
Enterprise as a key digital enabler.
Collaboration Towards
Digital-Powered Innovation
“We needed a partner who can
provide the right infrastructure to
enhance the services we provide to
our customers,” she said. “PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise and Smart
Enterprise have the capability to make
our connection become seamless.”
Through the newly formed partnership,
solutions from PLDT (led by its IP
VPN and iGate solutions) and Smart,
(with its mobile plans and Smart
Messaging Suite solutions) buttress
the AirAsia Philippines IT network.
It greatly contributes towards better
communication with more discerning
customers.
Atty. Cañeba praised the people
behind PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and
Smart Enterprise for their dedication
and expertise. She noted that they
fully understood AirAsia Philippines’
requirements, mindful of the neverending stresses and demands on her
organization.
She also values the team’s engaging
and forthcoming attitude. “They kept
us updated on every step and alerted us
on what to expect in coming days,” she
said. They were pleased that through
the collaborative process, their vendorclient relationship evolved into a true
collaborative partnership.
PLDT Corporate Relationship Business Head Ben Melasa, PLDT Relationship Manager Luis Asistio,
Smart Enterprise Senior Manager for Segment Marketing Debbie Ledesma, PLDT Vice President and Head
of Corporate Relationship Management Precy Katigbak, PLDT First Vice President and Head of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise and Smart Enterprise Jovy Hernandez, AirAsia President and CEO Atty. Joy Cañeba, AirAsia CFO
Franz Lopez, AirAsia Commercial Head Gibby Peñaflor, and PLDT Project Manager Vener Mendoza
“Big Data, nowadays, is a necessity
for any business,” opined Atty. Cañeba,
“because we all have our digital
footprints.” She added that a modernday business should be able to know and
predict customer behavior.
“With AirAsia, the enhancement
from Big Data is getting all this raw data
and properly analyzing them to give us
a better glimpse of the market’s many
facets,” she said. Today the company
is more empowered to better provide
responsive customer services.
“If you don’t add value for your
customers,” she said in summary, “I
think you should be out of business.”
The PLDT ALPHA Enterprise,
Smart Enterprise, and AirAsia
Philippines partnership has kicked off
on high spirits. They are optimistically
looking forward to further collaboration,
exploring digital innovation on what one
may call a stratospheric level.
“The digital world presents
a paradigm shift in how we
work, serve, and engage
with our customers. As the
digital enterprise enabler,
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and
Smart Enterprise look forward
to further collaborate with
AirAsia in finding new and
better ways to use digital
technologies to optimize
business and enhance
customer experience.”
PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise and Smart Enterprise
Jovy Hernandez
Big Data Taking Flight
Atty. Cañeba is pleased that AirAsia
Philippines, PLDT ALPHA Enterprise,
and Smart Enterprise share an insatiable
drive for innovation. “We don’t stop at
this point,” she says; “we just keep on
looking for ways to improve ourselves.”
During the contract signing
ceremony, the PLDT team gave a brief
presentation to Atty. Cañeba and AirAsia
Philippines on how their state-of-theart Big Data solution can impact their
business.
Reflective of all AirAsia
offices worldwide,
Atty. Cañeba doesn’t have
her own separate unit. She
encourages her employees
to approach her anytime to
share ideas and concerns.
JULY 2015
THE
HOT JOE CHATS WITH HOLCIM EAST ASIA’S
DR. RICHARD PARCIA ON THE REALITIES OF BIG DATA
AND THE DELICATE TASK OF CEMENTING PARTNERSHIPS.
Upon entering the office of Holcim
East Asia Head of IT Infrastructure and
Operations Dr. Richard Parcia, it is hard
to miss a certain sentence scribbled on
top of his white board.
JULY 2015
JULY 2015
“WHEN ENTERING THIS OFFICE, PRACTICE
CONSTRUCTIVE CONFRONTATION.”
“We are not even talking about total cost
of ownership. We are talking about value.”
Parcia, an IT industry veteran with
years of solid experience under his belt,
elaborated that he took this philosophy
to Holcim East Asia from one of his
previous employers, Intel. “Constructive
confrontation,” he says, “means that if
somebody violates or is not following
the values of the organization, anybody
has the right to call out that person,
regardless of that person’s position.”
That philosophy challenges organizations
to instill an egalitarian and honest
culture, one in which ideas trump rank
or position. In a way, “constructive
confrontation” did set the stage for our
almost two-hour interview with him,
one that was as illuminating as it was
provocative.
Big Data and Its Value
As a concurrent lecturer at the
University of Santo Tomas Graduate
School, Dr. Parcia presaged his answer in
academic terms, when asked about Big
Data.
For Dr. Parcia, there’s little that’s
new to the main concept of Big Data, at
least as we know it today. According to
him, Big Data is merely an “expansion of
your recognition or cognition that data is
actually all over you.” The difference today
is of course, that technology is available to
process and capitalize on it.
“Before, when you talk about
multivariate statistics,” he said, “it usually
doesn’t go out of academic circles.” But
JULY 2015
with today’s availability of machines and
platforms that are finally able to process
all this data, it has all transcended theory
and is applicable towards real business
world usage.
But his professorial tone soon
turned pragmatic as he shared with us a
perspective on Big Data, sans the hype.
This is where he puts on his regional head
hat.
“A lot of companies are cognizant of
the fact that there is a need for them to
expand their data source,” he said. “But
the important thing is that you also have
to identify what kind of data you should
be processing.” Otherwise, it may lead
an organization to process way too much
data, to the point that it won’t be able
to make decisions anymore (aka analysis
paralysis). Instead of making things easier,
data could become a chokepoint.
According to Dr. Parcia, this is why
in order to make Big Data effective for an
organization, it needs people who have
wisdom, experience, and intelligence to
understand not only how to utilize the
tools and technology, but also how to
ultimately interpret the data according to
Dr. Parcia (middle) is joined by
PLDT Head of Corporate Relationship
Business Jeff Mendoza (left) and
PLDT Corporate Relationship
Manager Eena Samonte.
what is appropriate and what is applicable.
Of course, he was quite reticent
on the specifics of Holcim’s Big Data
strategy. But he assured that it is “on their
radar screen” as the company is already
equipped with the right data, technology,
and people to make it happen.
At the end of the day, Big Data and
other disruptive technologies should
generate greater dimensions of value
including positive effects to both top and
bottom lines. “In this day and age, we are
not only talking anymore about ROI,” he
said. “We are not even talking about total
cost of ownership. We are talking about
value,” measured both quantitatively and
qualitatively.
the case of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
and other providers, Dr. Parcia issues a
challenge to discard the traditional vendorprovider identity and become Holcim East
Asia’s true partner in the strictest sense of
the word.
With any vendor he partners with,
he requires an exacting level of trust. An
organization as huge and global such as
Holcim will depend on a true partner’s
technology and manpower to maintain
and manage an evermore complicated IT
and network infrastructure for them in the
long term. But beyond that, they must also
trust that a partner provides them only
with the solutions that add greater value
for the company. This goes way beyond
selling just for selling sake. And for Dr.
Parcia, once trust is built, a partnership is–
by default and undeniable logic– built for
the long haul.
Through this “constructive
confrontation,” Dr. Parcia has set a
challenge for PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
to become that trusted end-to-end ICT
partner as well as a technology leader for
his organization. Needless to say, PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise rises to the challenge.
Unmistakably, there is vast potential in the
horizon for the two companies in forming
a true partnership that ultimately leads to
mutually enriching each other’s value.
The Partnership Challenge
As Dr. Parcia is currently assessing
and forming Holcim’s regional enterprise
architecture, he noted that he is also facing
the same challenges common among
organizational IT departments. “We are in
an age right now wherein IT departments
are shrinking,” he said. “But that doesn’t
necessarily mean that the functions or the
technology is also shrinking– in fact, it’s
evolving and becoming more complex.”
With less manpower handling
increased demand for performance,
organizations such as Holcim are calling
on vendors to outsource larger portions
of in-house IT responsibilities. And in
Strummin’ the Blues
Playing the guitar is one of the ways Dr. Parcia deals
with stress. In fact, he jams with some of the country’s
biggest Blues acts after work hours and on weekends.
He treated us with an impromptu performance of the
B.B. King classic, “The Thrill is Gone.”
JULY 2015
MEET MR.
WINSTON DAMARILLO AND HIS VISION
OF PLDT AS DIGITAL ENABLER
As the PLDT Group’s new Chief Strategy Officer
and CEO of Talas, PLDT’s Big Data Unit,
Winston Damarillo is here to shake things up.
And it comes at a time when the company wants
it most, to seamlessly bridge its transition from a
technology provider into a technology leader in
this digital age.
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new stint at PLDT represents his first
formal job in 15 years. Prior to PLDT, he
was a Silicon Valley veteran, developing
successful ventures for Intel Capital
and founding various startups as a serial
entrepreneur. In addition to his stellar
work experience, one of his larger goals
is to contribute to building a world of
“digital inclusion.”
“The world will be better when we
achieve digital inclusion, no matter how
it comes,” he says. One of its aspects
involves a cashless society that may
include Smart Money, RFID– things
that make transactions as digital as
possible. Ultimately, it is better for the
country because this way more people
can participate in the economy, and it
eliminates bad lenders and financial
predators.
Lessons from Silicon Valley
and New Realities
Winston has a proven track record in
transforming businesses from the inside.
Intel was a company he had wanted to
work for since graduating from De La
Salle University and arriving in America.
He successfully sold a suite of software to
Intel that was instrumental in helping the
company make its “pivot” into the new
realities of the digital age.
Those new realities center on the
continuing wave of disruption that is
washing over traditional— some would say
overly comfortable— business models and
power structures. Driving that disruption
is the digital transformation apparent
right now in many levels of society and
the economy. VOIP disrupted phone
carriers. Airbnb disrupts the hospitality
industry, including giant hotel chains.
Uber has disrupted taxi services that, in
some jurisdictions, still operate on archaic
licensing and regulatory arrangements that
serve entrenched interests.
A Wave of New
Opportunities for Filipinos
Disruptive new technology gives
rise not only to new threats but new
opportunities, creating a world of
possibility in the burgeoning creative and
digital economies in the region. Winston is
a staunch believer in the Filipino potential
to shine in the strengthening creative
economy, which is built on the creation
and valuation of intellectual property.
Filipino firms in such fields as advertising,
architecture, design, R&D, and technology
are already making an impression in a
hyperconnected global marketplace that
is free to interact and transact across
“The world will be better
when we achieve digital
inclusion, no matter
how it comes.”
JULY 2015
borders, all made possible by digital
technology.
In contrast to the knowledge
economy, which is built on the value
generated through the storage and
processing of information, the creative
economy presents yet another opportunity
by producing and distributing content
through new platforms, technologies, and
other creative outlets.
It would be easy to delineate the
creative economy in terms of industries
that we generally consider “creative,”
such as those in the arts, music, and
entertainment, but this would be an
incomplete description. The full breadth
of participants also include workers who
participate in industries that generate new
knowledge and information, even those
in science, engineering, and education.
All told, it is estimated that the creative
economy employs 38 million workers in
the United States, comprising about 30%
of the workforce and generating new
ideas, technologies, and creative content
that all together is valued at around $1.3
trillion.
Those are astounding numbers, and
they represent a crescendo in productivity
that the Philippines may one day realize
if it successfully makes a transition into a
developed nation. By helping to nurture a
creative economy in the country, Winston
sees an opportunity for the Philippines.
Like many stakeholders in the rising
creative economy, Winston sees people
and their creative output as valuable
economic assets. Talent is increasingly
becoming the key definer of capital. And
most experts agree that the Philippines has
the kind of talent conducive to building a
creative economy.
In addition to nurturing a creative
economy, the Philippines is also in a good
position to usher in the “digital economy,”
the new ecosystem fueled by the Internet
and the widespread availability of new
digital devices. In this economy, people
spend a good amount of time to search,
shop, and consume content on digital
devices. The creative economy scales
itself through technology and by taking
advantage of mass participation in the
digital environment. Key players in
JULY 2015
this system include telcos who develop
digital connectivity, enterprises who offer
digital services to their consumers, and
consumers who demand these services
as daily necessities. Furthermore, the
application of Big Data helps the digital
economy thrive because data leads to
discoveries, insights, and better decisionmaking crucial to the creation of new
products and services. Part of Winston’s
mission is to ensure we invest in the
technology infrastructure and human
capital needed for us to lead in the new
digital economy.
Entrepreneurial Lens
Coming from a family that was keen
on business, Winston is always fascinated
and involved with how things work. He
graduated with twin degrees in Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering from De La
Salle University. As digital technologies
started to make their transformative power
felt, he soon “taught himself ” coding,
and landed a job at Intel mainly by selling
them a key suite of software. To this day
his tinkering passion continues; he even
designed his own modular office furniture,
an eye-pleasing play of levels and layers
that are simply yet elegantly designed.
“Let’s not forget that Intel was
number one in microprocessors; and
when you’re very successful, you’re used
to success,” he said in describing the
inertia that is harder to overcome in large
corporations. “It’s hard to pivot.”
And perhaps it is this reality which
gave the PLDT Group the foresight to
recruit a disruptive innovator like Winston.
At Intel, he also headed its Venture Capital
group, scouting for– and eventually
financing– new technology startups and
coming in as a key managing partner. This
is a model he seeks to emulate through
PLDT Capital that will fulfill the same role
for homegrown startups.
Time to Pivot
“You may look at PLDT, and say
‘they’ve sold all the phones they can.’”
Winston describes PLDT as a massive
telco organization ready for its own
pivot. “One thing unique I’d like to bring
JULY 2015
in aside from my experience in Silicon
Valley is my culture, different office
procedures, different approach.” One gets
the impression Winston appreciates the
fact that PLDT knows where it needs to
go, and what it needs to do to get there.
“Everyone has to enjoy the journey.... if
they don’t have fun then they’ll half-bake
it. To avoid that, we make it a fun place.”
The Digital Spine
Winston has an interesting take on the
Big Data picture for PLDT. “Internally,
we’d refer to Big Data as our digital spine.
If we tie in all PLDT assets, a single thread
producing data, which combined with
intelligence, tells us how PLDT is doing.”
And several companies within the MPIC
Group are enthusiastic for leveraging Big
Data in this way.
To individual and enterprise
customers of course, Big Data’s benefits
are well known in delivering new and
personalized services. “Business customers
can opt in, engage with PLDT Big Data,
and utilize geo-fences.” As an example,
Winston cites benefits for quick-service
restaurants. Geo-fencing can influence
potential restaurant diners who are in
the immediate vicinity by means of
customized offers based on customer
profiles and the time of day.
In Winston’s view, Big Data becomes
the “great equalizer” for businesses who
must now engage with customers on
a more personalized basis. Customers,
in turn, enjoy more responsive and
differentiated services and products.
Addressing worries of data privacy
and security, Winston allays these fears
by pointing out a key fact. “PLDT is a
staunch protector of data. Who owns
most of the data in the country? It’s
PLDT, and we can protect it from the
likes of Google or other third parties,”
he says, adding, “Big Data is a trust
business.” Adhering to the country’s data
privacy laws, PLDT utilizes advanced data
anonymization techniques to safeguard the
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
of its users.
“PLDT is a better steward of
data because it’s publicly listed, and
conscientious in reporting.” This is
certainly a reputation and standing that
the group will not forsake in the name of
mishandled or bungled data. The PLDT
Group will be utmost professionals, as
always, in handling all forms of customer
data.
The New Role of Telcos
Looking ahead on the mission
at PLDT, Winston is optimistic and
determined in navigating his latest pivot.
“Like all telcos, our business in PLDT is
saturating. We should no longer think of
PLDT as a backbone of messaging and
conversing but of digital enablement,
e-commerce, and as thought influencers.”
With this new outlook, it’s easy to be
optimistic about the bright future ahead
for PLDT.
"Big Data
is a trust business."
JULY 2015
HOT JOE SITS DOWN WITH NEC’S DR. YOSHIKI SEO
TO DISCUSS THE VALUE OF BIG DATA AND NEC’S
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PLDT GROUP.
HOT JOE first met NEC Big Data Strategy Division Senior
Expert Dr. Yoshiki Seo during the ePLDT Big Data Platform
as a Service launch at the Makati Shangri-La, an event widely
seen as a watershed moment in the emerging Philippine digital
economy. His presentation, titled “Transforming the World
Through Big Data,” was one of the afternoon’s showstoppers,
receiving praises for its clarity, depth, and revelatory power.
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Big Applications:
From the Konbini to the Churn
very next day, we went to the headquarters
of NEC Philippines to get to know more
about this veritable Big Data master.
We exchanged pleasantries, mindful
of intricate Japanese decorum. Knowing
how particular the Japanese are in being
addressed, we asked if we should call him
Seo-sensei for this interview. (In Japanese,
the “-sensei” suffix is used to properly call
someone who is a teacher or a doctor.)
“Just call me Seo-san or Yoshiki,” he
replied, permitting himself a little laugh
afterwards.
Behind the simple, mild-mannered
man of humble understatement is a true
computer science Superman who coauthored numerous scientific papers and
co-owns various patents for data-based
inventions that laymen will never fully
understand.
We decided to continue calling him
Dr. Seo out of much deserved respect.
“Big Data has the big power to
change businesses drastically,” said Dr. Seo
when asked of its importance in today’s
world, adding that it is a critical facet in
any organization’s digital transformation.
To gently guide us through a concept
that is as potentially overwhelming as Big
Data, he pointed out concrete examples
of Big Data in action. The first involved
an integral operation of the quintessential
Japanese retail institution: the convenience
store, colloquially referred to as the
konbini.
“In the old days,” Dr. Seo illustrated,
“the store managers have to do the
ordering of items, particularly fresh food,
three times a day on a daily basis.” He
added that these store managers put a lot
of effort using their personal experience
on determining how many items must be
ordered at their particular konbini in order
to minimize waste. “A lot of the burden
goes to them.”
Eliminating the flawed human factor
and its pitfalls, a Big Data solution uses
a sophisticated, data-driven, demandforecasting model to change the item
ordering process. The result: a smarter way
for a store to fulfill daily orders of fresh
food items such as rice balls (onigiri) with
very minimal wastage.
Dr. Seo’s second notable Big Data
example concerned something of high
value for their partner telco provider:
churn management, or the art and science
of making sure your customers stay
with you.
“You have to get the probability of
each customer to churn and rank him or
her accordingly to properly address this
concern,” he said. As compared to the
tedious, manual-based churn management
process, Big Data can drastically quicken
the pace by analyzing different customer
data sets simultaneously. This informs and
designs effective, intelligent, data-driven,
campaigns aimed to minimize churn and
enhance customer loyalty.
Big Challenges: Value, Expectations,
and Determination
As it is a fairly new– yet revolutionary–
technology concept, even Dr. Seo
recognizes that there are big challenges
with regards to selling Big Data to
enterprises.
“The first challenge,” he noted, “is
determining the customer value.” He said
that a Big Data seller has to clearly present
at the onset to its prospective customer
how Big Data can radically affect the top
and/or bottom line.
The second challenge relates to
expectations. “You (as a Big Data provider)
have to clearly set with the customer how
the data available can be applied to achieve
the desired target.”
Finally, Dr. Seo noted the challenge of
inspiring determination within and around
the customer’s organization. “It has to
be top-down,” he says. “And you have to
make them understand that there are risks
involved.”
It was easy to see that top
determination within the PLDT Group in
its drive for digital transformation. And
this was one of the many reasons NEC
selected them as their first Big Data partner
in the Philippines.
Big Partnership
Towards a Bigger Future
“PLDT has a lot of potential for Big
Data,” Dr. Seo said, noting the group’s
diversity as well as its ubiquity. “In the
Philippines, it is in the best position to do
Big Data as it can easily access a variety of
data. It also has the best way to provide
the desired result to end users through its
numerous channels.”
“We at NEC are very proud that we
have a lot of excellent machine-learning
based technologies,” Dr. Seo said, noting
that this technology is one of the main
value drivers for PLDT’s Big Data
solution. It can analyze immense amounts
of unstructured data– notably text and
images– all with a shorter processing time,
using lower memory capacity, and with
fewer errors.
Beyond technology, NEC also brings
considerable expertise to the table. Dr. Seo
said that this partnership might capitalize
on NEC’s long experience in handing
Japan’s Big Data needs. This may prove
invaluable in addressing the Philippines’
own unique needs.
“PLDT and NEC are doing something
great together for the Philippines with Big
Data,” he said near the conclusion of our
interview, saying that they are always on the
lookout for new technologies and solutions
that ultimately add value to Big Data. He
looks forward to more discussions with
the PLDT Group on how their close
partnership can transform the Philippines
and the world through Big Data, in ways
we can only yet imagine.
“BIG DATA HAS
THE BIG POWER
TO CHANGE
BUSINESSES
DRASTICALLY.”
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BIG
DATA
INTEL’S EDDIE TOH GIVES US THE SKINNY ON THEIR BIG
DATA EFFORTS AS WELL AS HOW THEIR TECHNOLOGY IS
EMPOWERING THE PLDT GROUP’S STATE-OF-THE-ART
BIG DATA PLATFORM AS A SERVICE.
JULY 2015
Intel’s ubiquity is hard to match in the tech
world of giant and innovative players. Upon
the dawn of the digital age, consumers and
businesses alike chose to use only computers
with “Intel Inside”– the gold standard in
computer processing then and now.
JULY 2015
HOT JOE: What is Intel’s history with
Big Data? When did the company start
to pursue Big Data technologies?
no surprise then, that the tandem of the
PLDT Group and NEC looked to the
power of Intel to engineer those CPUs to
process the voluminous Big Data into Big
Insights.
HOT JOE was privileged to chat
with Intel Regional Director, Data Center
Marketing, APJ Eddie Toh, to learn
more about his vision of Big Data and
how their technology presents a unique
advantage for PLDT’s impressive new
solutions package.
Eddie Toh: Intel has been involved in the
various Hadoop1 research projects since
2009, and by late 2011, we have started
working with customers to jointly develop
solutions in harnessing the capability
of Hadoop. The goal is to accelerate
customer adoption of Big Data solutions,
making it easier for companies of all
sizes to obtain increased business value
from data by deploying Apache Hadoop
solutions, and to create the platform of
choice for Big Data analytics.
Intel’s investment in Big Data
underpins Intel’s strategy to aggregate
machine-to-machine data (e.g. sensors)
generated by the “Internet of Things”
and create value through the power of Big
Data analytics. Through the Intel, NEC,
and PLDT collaboration, businesses can
more rapidly build Big Data solutions and
extract business insights.
for Big Data analytics to be applied to the
data captured by these sensors.
HJ: In your view, what opportunities does
Big Data present for Philippine enterprise
organizations?
HJ: What are some examples of how
Intel’s Big Data technologies have
changed the world today?
Eddie: Big Data will help organizations
in the Philippines capitalize on the data
they already own, to monetize and drive
transformational projects for customer
engagement and experience, as well as
making improvements to product and
service delivery.
For governments, it represents an
opportunity to improve the lives of
ordinary citizens by deploying smart city
technologies like smart grids, intelligent
transportation systems, digital security
surveillance, smart homes and other
smart city technologies. The successful
implementation of a smart city requires
thousands of sensors to be installed and
Eddie: One such smart city
implementation is in Zhejiang Province
in China, which has deployed an
Intelligent Transportation System to
track commercial vehicles and for security
surveillance. The deployment requires
the installation of more than 3,000
cameras across the city and GPS terminals
in each commercial vehicle. Using Apache
Hadoop, the Zhejiang government was
able to solve this Big Data challenge–
storing, monitoring, searching, and
analyzing in real time approximately
2.5Petabytes of data each month–
the equivalent of all the information
contained in all the books in the US
Library of Congress about 170 times over!
Another example of Big Data in
action is in life sciences, specifically
genomics analytics. The dramatic
reduction in whole human genome
sequencing costs, from USD100 Million
per genome in 2001 to USD4,500
per genome in 2014, combined with
the increasing performance gains in
computing technology, have revitalized the
healthcare and life sciences industries in
ways only imagined a few years ago.
With Big Data, the healthcare and life
sciences industries now have the capability
of shifting from population-based
healthcare to personalized medicine where
diagnoses and treatments are prescribed
based on each person’s health history and
genetic profile.
"PLDT’s efforts in these
areas demonstrate
their understanding of
technology and, most
importantly, the impact
that these technologies
can have on Philippine
businesses."
HJ: What can you say about the PLDT
Group’s various endeavors in championing
the usage of third platform technologies–
cloud, M2M, Big Data– for Philippine
businesses?
Eddie: PLDT’s efforts in these areas
demonstrate their understanding of
technology and, most importantly, the
impact that these technologies can have
on Philippine businesses. By providing
the infrastructure or platform for these
technologies, PLDT will enable Philippine
businesses to make a positive business
impact as they develop new and improved
products and services of their own in a
timely and cost-efficient manner.
HJ: Looking forward, what other plans
are on the horizon for the partnership of
Intel and PLDT?
Eddie: This is a new start to the Intel and
PLDT relationship. We will work together
to promote the Big Data as a service
platform and ensure its success. Over
time, we hope to extend this to include
other Intel based products ranging from
PCs, mobile laptops, tablets, and other
solutions.
HJ: Please tell us more about your
partnership with the PLDT Group. How
does Intel contribute to empowering the
group’s new Big Data solutions?
Eddie: Intel is very focused on ensuring
that our CPUs continue to deliver the
best performance and energy efficiency
for our customers’ data centers. We are
pleased that PLDT has chosen to partner
with NEC whose solution is based on
JULY 2015
the latest Intel CPUs so that PLDT’s Big
Data as a service platform will deliver
industry-leading performance to PLDT’s
customers.
In addition to that, we hope to
continue to work with PLDT to jointly
promote Big Data analytics and PLDT’s
innovative Big Data as a service platform
so that more customers can reap the
benefits of Big Data.
1
Apache Hadoop is an open-source software framework essential for Big Data processing, as it is
responsible for distributed processing of Big Data chunks across one or more servers.
JULY 2015
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WERE YOU THERE
WERE YOU THERE
Were OU
There
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DIGITAL EVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION WITH BIG DATA
PLDT CELEBRATES A NEW
MILESTONE AS IT LAUNCHES
NEW BIG DATA SOLUTIONS
AT THE GLOBAL DIGITAL
ECONOMY FORUM.
The recently celebrated Digital
Evolution and Transformation forum
gathered top executives from across
key industries at the Makati Shangri-La
Hotel to learn more about how they can
make the most out of this breakthrough
technology through PLDT’s brand new
Big Data solutions offering. Organized
by PLDT ALPHA Enterprise, the event
was hosted by thought leaders and digital
experts from NEC and the Open Data
Platform, as well as top-tier professors
from the Massachusetts-based Institute
for Business in the Global Context of the
Fletcher School.
“Data is the new oil! Because it fuels
innovation, powers up businesses, and
energizes the economy. And that’s what
we hope to do – empower you with global
insights from thought leaders present
today, on how to best unlock the power of
your data assets to remain competitive in
this increasingly evolving digital economy,”
enthused ePLDT Group Chief Operating
Officer Nerisse Ramos as she warmly
welcomed the guests during her opening
speech.
Following her was a series of
enlightening talks given by Big Data
experts such as The Fletcher School at
Tufts University Senior Associate Dean
Dr. Bhaskar Chakravorti, NEC Big Data
Strategy Division Senior Expert Dr.
Yoshiki Seo, and Hortonworks Principal
for APAC Business Development and
Strategic Partnership Gregory Shea. They
were then joined by PLDT Executive Vice
President and ePLDT President and CEO
Eric Alberto and PLDT Chief Strategy
Officer Winston Damarillo for a panel
discussion on digital transformation, which
was moderated by Smart FVP and Public
Affairs Group Head Mon Isberto.
Mr. Alberto delineated the true
meaning of digital transformation. “Digital
is about connecting people-to-people,
machine-to-machine, and people-tomachine on a real-time basis. But beyond
technology, digital transformation requires
a cultural change. This simple observation
underlies a lot of the latest breathtaking
achievements due to the rise of digital
technologies,” he said.
For his part, Dr. Chakravorti discussed
that “Big Data is not an end, it's a means.
There is a ton of data from multiple
spheres that you can derive patterns from–
and this can inform your decisions.”
Lastly, Mr. Damarillo highlighted why
company leaders should invest in today’s
evolving business landscape, noting that
“in any digital transformation, you need
a leader willing to take the risk, able to
recruit a team that is willing to pioneer the
way for the rest of the company.”
PLDT Group Chairman Manny V
Pangilinan then delivered the keynote
address, expounding on the human angle
of digital transformation. “We’re intensely
pursuing technology not for the elegance
of it – but in the belief that technology’s
whole purpose is improvement of lives.
Thus viewed, the effectiveness of PLDT
and Big Data should be judged not on the
basis of how sophisticated our networks or
platforms may be – but on how both serve
the needs of our people,” he proclaimed.
To officially launch PLDT’s
breakthrough Big Data services, a
ceremonial toast was led by the PLDT
Group and NEC executives. It was
followed by an engaging discussion on
“Getting a Head Start on Big Data” from
PLDT Head of Corporate Business
Solutions Nico Alcoseba, Smart AVP for
Big Data Insights MM Yunque, and AGSX
Managing Director Jerry Rapes, where
they provided the guests an overview of
the unveiled Big Data services: Expert
Consulting, Managed Platforms, and
Breakthrough Insights.
The gathering of great minds
continued, where guests got the chance
to mingle while a select few were lucky to
take home raffle prizes such as Samsung’s
new S6 Edge phones and iPhone 6 Plus
units. A walkthrough of interactive, live
demo booths were also set-up for the
guests to have a firsthand experience of
how PLDT’s solutions can revolutionize
their business.
The Digital Evolution and
Transformation forum truly proved to be
an avenue of new learning and insights
from great technology and business
leaders. Just the first of many more forums
to come, the launch truly left the guests
enlightened, positively enraptured, and
definitely looking forward to what’s next.
3
4
5
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2
6
1.
PLDT Group Chairman Manuel V Pangilinan
2.
PLDT Executive Vice President and ePLDT
President and CEO Eric R. Alberto
3.
NEC General Manager for Greater China and
Asia Pacific Global Business Unit Takeshi
Tsukamoto, NEC Vice President and General
Manager of Information Technology Platform
Division Tomoyasu Nishimura, PLDT EVP and
ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto, PLDT
Group Chairman Manuel V Pangilinan, Smart
Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando Vea, ePLDT
Group Chief Operating Officer Nerisse Ramos,
and PLDT Group Chief Strategy Officer Winston
Damarillo toast to PLDT Group’s launch of Big
Data services in the country.
4.
The panelists respond to questions posed to
them by the audience.
5.
Senior Associate Dean at The Fletcher School at
Tufts University in Boston, MA, and the founding
Executive Director of Fletcher’s Institute for
Business in the Global Context Dr. Bhaskar
Chakravorti
6.
NEC Big Data Strategy Division Senior
Expert Dr. Yoshiki Seo
7.
Hortonworks Principal for APAC Business
Development and Strategic Partnership and
BYG Group Co-founder and CEO Gregory Shea
7
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WERE YOU THERE
WERE YOU THERE
8
9
10
16 17
18
11
8.
Smart First Vice President and Public
Affairs Group Head Mon Isberto
9.
PLDT Group Chief Strategy Officer
Winston Damarillo
10. PLDT Head of Corporate Business
Solutions Nico Alcoseba
11. A row of interactive booths gave
guests a chance to examine some
Big Data technologies and capabilities
for themselves.
12. AGSX Managing Director Jerry Rapes
13. Smart AVP for Big Data Insights
MM Yunque
12
13
19
20
14. Contact Center Association of the
Philippines Chairman and President
Benedict Hernandez and American
Chamber of Commerce Chariman
Don Felbaum
16. Izushi Uehara, Yue Guan, Koji Uno,
and Takeshi Tsukamoto
17. ePLDT Group Chief Operating Officer
Nerisse Ramos
18. Ben Melasa, Franz Lopez, John Gonzales,
and Gerard Penaflor
15. Founder and Group Chairman of
Transnational Diversified Group
Robbie Delgado and ePLDT Group
COO Nerisse Ramos
19. Dr. Jay Sabido, Lope Doromal, Jr.,
Henry D. Lee, and Vic Tria
20. Jay Lagdameo and Mon Duarte
14
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15
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21
22
24
26
25
27
28
24. Accenture’s Arie Sayson together with
IPC’s Dave de Leon, Nino Valmonte,
and Rene Huergas
21. Mike Toledo, Manuel V Pangilinan
and Eric Gutierrez
25. SYKES Asia's SVP Regional Operations,
APAC Mike Henderson and CuroTeknika
General Manager Jojo Uligan
22. Mitch Locsin, Bernard How, and Eric Alberto
23. ASIAPHIL Operations Manager Bong Paggabao,
ASIAPHIL Group President and CEO Victor
Batungbacal, and PLDT VP and Head of Corporate
Relationship Management Precy Katigbak
26. Regus Country Head Omer Softic
and Distribution Head of AIG Scott Judy
27. Dinno Cabanban and Emerson Reyes
28. Luis Pineda and Alvin Martinez
29. Butch Valenzuela, Jeffrey Villanueva,
and Jun Yupitun
23
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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
PLDT ALPHA ENTERPRISE TAKES
THE ANNUAL ALPHA TRACK DAY
TO NEW, DISRUPTIVE FRONTIERS
WITH AN UNFORGETTABLE ALLTERRAIN DRIVING EXPERIENCE.
For the first time in its five-year
history, ALPHA Track Day 2015 took the
rougher roads less travelled. This year’s
event provided attendees an adventurous
and challenging off-road experience, staged
amidst the deeply eroded, ash-filled base
of the ruggedly picturesque and historic
Mount Pinatubo in Clark, Pampanga. This
literal change of scenery and terrain was
allusive to the paradigm shift of PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise towards a more digitalcentered, maverick identity.
After registering at the Green
Canyon Resort, guests were transported
to a majestic ALPHA oasis– a grandiose
Moroccan-inspired ALPHA tent situated
near Mount Pinatubo. There, renowned
race car driver and ALPHA Track Day
2015 Chief Instructor Georges Ramirez
walked the participants through a lineup
of the adrenaline-pumping automotive
JULY 2015
activities: Adventure Trail, Jeep OffRoad Experience, UTV Ride and Drive,
Gymkhana, Target Shooting, Driving
Range, and Segway relay.
One of the highlights of this year’s
ALPHA Track Day was the Adventure
Trail, where the participants embarked on
an amazing 4x4 journey through the laharinfested and highly uneven base of Mount
Pinatubo. It was a rough-and-tumble test
of driving skills and techniques on the best
all-terrain vehicles, and it left unmistakable
smiles on every thrill-seeking ALPHA
gearhead afterwards.
Also contributing to the success of
this year’s highly anticipated ALPHA Track
Day were various automotive partners:
Pampanga 4x4 clubs, Jeep, and Nissan
X-trail and Navarra.
The celebration continued amidst a
more relaxed ambience as they returned
to the Green Canyon Resort. Everyone
feasted on the delectable dinner, as Amber
Davis serenaded the crowd throughout her
sultry performance. The night concluded
with the awarding of star players during
the day’s off-road activities. As part of
every ALPHA event experience, lucky
audience members also took home exciting
raffle prizes such as GoPro cameras,
Samsung LED TVs, and units of the
newest Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
“Congratulations to all the winners
of this year’s ALPHA Track Day,” said
PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise and Smart Enterprise Jovy
Hernandez during his closing speech. “We
have pushed the limits to make this year’s
event equally enjoyable for you, as it has
been for us. This event is a testament of
our enduring partnership, as we continue
to reach the extent of our capabilities
to give you an accelerating and supreme
ALPHA experience as your trusted expert
end-to-end ICT partner.”
“PLDT always makes an effort to
raise the bar and it definitely had
taken this event to the next level.”
5
7
8
9
10
– Rolly del Rosario, BBS
1.
Going through the muddy terrain is cakewalk
for these 4x4 SUVs.
2.
ALPHA Track Day Chief Instructor Georges
Ramirez gave the low down on the fun activities
that were in store for the day.
3.
James Deakin was once again this year’s
ALPHA Track Day host.
4.
PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
and Smart Enterprise Jovy Hernandez is seen
here delivering the opening remarks.
5.
This convoy of 4x4s brought ALPHA Track Day
participants through the Adventure Trail.
6.
Richard Echon surely aimed for the kill at this
target practice activity.
7.
These men happily flash the ALPHA sign in front
of a monster truck.
8.
After registration, participants moved from the
Green Canyon Resort to the activity site amidst
the ash-filled grounds of Pampanga.
9.
This group listened to a briefing by the facilitator
prior to an activity.
10. This group posed for the camera while waiting
for their turn at the Gymkhana course.
JULY 2015
WERE YOU THERE
11. In the middle of the scorching, lahar-infested
desert left by Mt. Pinatubo in Pampanga stood
this Morrocan-themed tent that served as a
cool oasis for the participants.
WERE YOU THERE
11
“A great event professionally organized.”
– Irfan Mahomed, B/E Aerospace
12. Standing: Kent de la Calzada, Vic Tria,
and Eileen Oliveros; Seated: Antonio Reyes,
Erick Suliguin, and Natalie Azarcon
13. Titos Castro, Quiel Delgado,
and Ed Doctolero
– Raymund Austria,
Teleperformance
14. While waiting for their turn at one of the
activities, Team Orange was seen chilling
out at one of the ALPHA Track Day Tents.
15. Jovinz Tiongson, Jojo Gendrano,
and PJ Cruz
“Definitely raising the bar.
Just when you thought and
psyched that this will be
another day at the race.
The rules change.
Definitely raising the
excitement to the next level.”
20
12
13
21
20. This year’s ALPHA Track Day activities were
held amidst the majestic, rugged terrain
near Mt. Pinatubo.
16. Luis Pineda, Quiel Delgado, Dan Reyes, Chito
Dychioco, Jay Nebrao, and John Rowe
17. Jude Tiongco, Andrew Gascoigne,
and Neil Foster
21. Lerry Sangalang, Alvin Martinez, Dipesh
Patel, Jay Nebrao, and Chito Dychioco
18. These three happily smile for the camera while
waiting for their turn at the next activity.
22. Ariel Dela Cruz and Willy Tee Ten
19. Martin Gurion, Raymond Serion,
and Gary Repchuk
23. Team Blue shows smiles for the camera
before heading out to their next activity.
24. Accompanying ALPHA Track Day 2015
attendees were these alluring ALPHA Girls.
14
"Congratulations on the best
ever Track Day! You have
mastered the art of customer
intimacy! Looking forward to
the next event!"
22 23
“Great day with the entire PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise team. Great opportunity to meet
the ALPHA team, meet friends in the industry
and renew bonds with old associates.”
– Jose Dante Marra, OPARR
“It was a very fun day, well organized
and thought out.”
– Jude Tiongco,
St. Peter Life Plans
– Abertito Castro, Total Oil Asia Pacific
15 16
17 18
19
“Previous ALPHA Track Days was being FAST
... This year, it's being FURIOUS. I think this
applies very well to Track Day 2015 since the
events were not meant for being fast, but
being furious!”
JULY 2015
– Francis Paul Cuenca, Teleperformance
24
JULY 2015
WERE YOU THERE
WERE YOU THERE
31
“It was a terrific event that I
enjoyed immensely. Looking
forward to next year!”
32
– Lorenzo Guerrero,
IFFSI (Shakey’s)
“The event was beyond my
expectations. Everything was
considered up to the details.”
25 26
– Chito Dychioco, AFPMBAI
27 28
“A very creative and
enjoyable day. Thank you.”
– Ian Grist, Transcom
“Nice change from the
normal fast cars. It was fun to
off-road and play in the dirt!”
33 34
29
31. This UTV participant expressed his satisfaction
at the conclusion of this activity.
32. Participants also tried out the latest Jeep SUVs
at the Jeep Off-Road Experience.
– Hans Montenegro,
Manulife
33. It was a fun UTV ride as Diana Tibba splashed
around the course.
34. Team Green was all go as they flashed the
ALPHA sign before heading out to their
assigned activity.
25. Team Violet does the ALPHA sign
for the camera.
26. These two tried out these off-road ready
Segways.
30
27. True to their color, Team Red is seen here
unfazed by the summer heat.
36 37
38
39
40
35. Jovy Hernandez (leftmost) and Georges Ramirez
(rightmost) present the Driving Range activity
award to Niccolo Jose of Green Canyon Resort
Raffle Winners
36. Andrew Gascoigne
28. The Adventure Trail provided breathtaking
views for participants in these SUVs.
37. Jude Tiongco
29. Team Yellow takes a short break from their
fun-filled activities to pose for the camera.
38. Quiel Delgado (center), joined by John Gonzales
39. Jose Dante Mara of OPARR (right), joined by
Nico Alcoseba
30. The lahar field was easy for this all-terrain
buggy and its driver.
“Hats off to an event
well done.”
JULY 2015
35
– Jovinz Tiongson,
Banco de Oro
40. Dan Reyes of Genpact Philippines, joined by
Boy Castañeda
JULY 2015
WERE YOU THERE
WERE YOU THERE
2
3
1
OUR GROWING IT-BPM SUPERIORITY
PLDT ALPHA ENTERPRISE
JOINS THE CANADIAN
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
AND THE IT AND BUSINESS
PROCESS ASSOCIATION OF THE
PHILIPPINES IN RECOGNIZING
INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AT THE
9TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL
ICT AWARDS.
Major players in the Information
Technology and Business Process
Management (IT-BPM) industry and
respected corporate leaders once again
gathered for the prestigious 9th Annual
International ICT Awards. Held at the
Manila Ballroom of Marriott Hotel, PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise had the privilege of
contributing to the success of the event as
title sponsor.
Organized by the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce (CanCham) and the Information
Technology and Business Process
Association of the Philippines (IBPAP),
the Annual International ICT Awards
aims to recognize outstanding individuals
and organizational excellence in the field
of Information Technology and Business
Process Management (IT-BPM). This year
is indeed more promising, with six new
categories adding up to a total of thirteen
awards that were given away to companies
and individuals that have exemplified
dynamic business growth and diversified
innovations.
For its part, title sponsor PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise presented one of the
night’s top honors, the Best Company of the
Year Award, to Cognizant Technologies, Inc.
This key award gave tribute to Cognizant’s
exceptional business track record for the
past year.
“On behalf of the PLDT Group, I
congratulate Cognizant for winning the best
company of the year award. We will sustain
our unwavering commitment to building
a more dynamic, vibrant, and globallycompetitive ICT ecosystem, together
with you, our partners in this shared
role of nation-building,” said PLDT Head
of Corporate Business Solutions Nico
Alcoseba after the announcement of the
winner.
2015 International ICT Awards Winners
4
Cognizant Technologies Solutions, Inc.
• Best Company of the Year
• Best Emerging IT-BPM Company for Healthcare
Lexmak Cebu
• Best Employer of the Year
• Best Company of the Year Outside NCR
• Most Innovative Company of the Year
PointWest Technologies Corporation
• Best Filipino-Owned Company of the Year
• Best Mobile App of the Year (for Arko)
ANZ Bank Global Services
• Best Global In-House Center
The Results Companies
• Best Voice Excellence Company of the Year
AffinityX
• Best Emerging IT-BPM Company for Creatives
SPi Global’s Maulik Parekh
• Best ICT CEO of the Year
Fred Ayala
• Individual Contributor of the Year
Accenture
• Hall of Fame
5
6
JULY 2015
7
1.
2015 International ICT Awards winners pose with
Bb. Pilipinas Universe Pia Wurtzbach (7th from
left), Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the
Philippines President and CEO Julian Payne
(8th from left), Information Technology and
Business Process Association of the Philippines
President and CEO Jomari Mercado (2nd from
right), and Awards Night Host Ricky Alegre
(rightmost).
2.
The representative from Cognizant Philippines
(center) receives the Best Company of the Year
Award from Ms. Wurtzbach (left) and PLDT Head
of Corporate Business Solutions Nico Alcoseba
(right).
3.
Ms. Wurtzbach (3rd from left) and Mr. Alcoseba
(rightmost) poses with the finalist and winner of
the PLDT ALPHA Enterprise Best Company of
the Year Award.
4.
The awards night was attended by the who’s who
of the Philippine IT-BPM industry.
5.
PLDT and CanCham officials pose together for
this photo opportunity.
6.
PLDT VP and Head of Corporate Relationship
Management Precy Katigbak (center) poses with
the winners of the Best Dressed Male award,
sponsored by PLDT ALPHA Enterprise.
7.
Mr. Alcoseba shares a few words prior to
awarding the Best Company of the Year Award.
JULY 2015
Ever since the beginning of history, mankind has depended on data to
make sense of the world. The ancient Mesopotamians invented writing in
order to keep records, and it was these crude lists of data that centralized
and organized manpower and resources. This, in turn, gave rise to the first
civilizations. The Roman Empire took careful censuses, and in fact this is
how many surmise that the Holy Family had been in Bethlehem. In 1854,
it was careful data gathering and analysis that allowed London doctors to
pinpoint the origin of a deadly cholera outbreak.
But it is only now, with the rise of modern
sensor and network technology, that data is
truly coming into its own. An unprecedented
amount of data is available to increasingly
sophisticated analysis mechanisms, allowing
people to gather refined insights on a scale
and level once only imagined.
THE
OF
DATA
JULY 2015
PLDT ALPHA
ENTERPRISE OFFERS
COMPANIES A WAY
TO EMBARK ON
THEIR BIG DATA
JOURNEYS.
A World of Data at Your Fingertips
Big Data applications and sources span
across industries, cultures, and sources,
ranging from demographic figures to
sales records to context-sensitive copy
relevant on a per-person level. It can be
drawn from inventory levels, competitor
activity, weather data, industry forecasts,
telemetrics, or energy usage patterns. And
using that information, Big Data can bring
about dramatic cost reductions, substantial
improvements in reaction/production time
requirements, and support internal business
decisions.
Results are already quite promising. GE
estimates that Big Data can help airlines
achieve a 1% fuel reduction by optimizing
engine performance. That would result in a
$30 billion savings for the commercial airline
industry over 15 years. Similarly, every 1%
efficiency improvement in gas-fired power
plant turbines could yield $66 billion savings
in fuel consumption globally.
The Difficulty of Starting Big Data
The rewards of Big Data can be great,
but companies must commit an equally
great amount of resources and effort in
order to fully reap the benefits. Big Data,
by definition, involves data that is not easily
handled by existing business intelligence
facilities– mind-boggling amounts of data,
generated at a speed too fast for humans to
comprehend. All this is drawn from a variety
of sources both structured and unstructured,
and everything needs verification.
A Big Data platform needs immense
storage for mountains of data, platform
infrastructure for the high-performance
processing of that data, software and
hardware, and experts who can manage
the entire process– data scientists with
high levels of IT expertise and the ability
to manipulate data. This is a lot for any
company to pull off on its own.
In fact, a 2013 survey of data
management professionals found that of
339 companies, 71 percent admitted that
they “have yet to begin planning” their
big data strategies. Again, major Big Data
initiative investments are substantial, and
cause most enterprises some apprehension.
It has been described by some as a “moving
target.” Aside from the upfront startup costs,
companies need to continuously provision
for the storage and management of large
amounts of data, as well as for the massive
computing power and skilled manpower
necessary to analyze all that data.
JULY 2015
Experts in Big Data
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise has found a
way to ease Philippine companies’ entry into
the world of Big Data. As the first ASEAN
member of the Open Data Platform,
it is PLDT’s mission to enable various
improvements in the country through Big
Data. The Open Data Platform (ODP) is a
worldwide consortium of Big Data global
technology leaders, with members including
GE, Hortonworks, IBM, Infosys, SAS,
Verizon Enterprise Solutions, and VMware.
ODP aims to standardize the core platform
and accelerate Big Data delivery across
markets, and is a leading organization in the
ever-growing Big Data sector.
Ultimately, the PLDT Group aims
to establish a Center of Excellence for
Big Data in the ASEAN region that will
pioneer world-class data science expertise,
carrier-grade analytics infrastructure, and
market-attuned Big Data services to include
platforms, real time analytics, and insights.
And to this end, they developed an
easy, low-risk way for companies to get
started on their own Big Data initiatives.
PLDT is now offering Big Data Platform
as a Service, the only one of its kind in the
country to offer end-to-end enablement from
expert consulting, managed platforms, and
breakthrough insights.
Expert Consulting
On its own, the PLDT Group already
handles huge amounts of data, specifically 70
terabytes of call records and logs and related
information daily. So they are in a natural
position to transfer hard-earned expertise
and resources to peers in other industries.
PLDT’s Big Data team, staffed with worldclass experts, has successfully implemented
Big Data initiatives and transformed some
of the largest corporations in the ASEAN
region in industries such as retail, banking,
telecommunications, healthcare, and more.
They have integrated Big Data into the
operations of leading hospitals, banks, retail
chains, and telcos in Jakarta, Singapore, and
the Philippines.
That’s what makes their Big Data Expert
Consulting such a boon for companies
eager to begin their Big Data journey.
Each company, after all, is unique; with its
own sources of data, its own management
structures and hierarchies, its own production
methods and institutional knowledge, its own
market and targets and corporate culture.
JULY 2015
PLDT takes all this into account,
working closely with the company to form a
digital strategy roadmap designed specifically
for whatever that company's unique situation
and assets are. They define Big Data's
business value for that particular company,
and come up with a bespoke technology
roadmap, encompassing an overall direction,
positioning, and value propositions for this
technology implementation. It also includes
the necessary activities, laid out in detail,
enabling your company to successfully
integrate Big Data into your business
operations.
Technology transfer, also called
transfer of technology (TOT), refers to the
process of transferring skills, knowledge,
technologies, methods of manufacturing,
samples of manufacturing and facilities
between organizations. PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise's team will get a company's
people, processes, and existing technology
ready for Big Data implementation through
this process.
Finally, with the necessary infrastructure
and knowledge in place, a company
partnered with PLDT can put together an
accelerated proof-of-concept, demonstrating
the systems integration and throughput that
can be achieved in the configuration finalized
in previous consultations. This accelerated
infrastructure strategy is an excellent way
for the business to evaluate the effects
and expected benefits of their Big Data
implementations.
Managed Platforms
The Big Data Platform as a Service runs
off PLDT's Big Data Analytics Computing
Engine (ACE). ACE was co-developed with
PLDT's technology partner, NEC of Japan,
and is designed for agility and versatility. The
ACE Appliance is a pre-configured RTAP
(Real Time Analytics Platform) that can
be deployed on-premise or hosted in the
nearest ePLDT VITRO Data Center. It runs
on a Big Data software stack composed of
the Hortonworks Hadoop Data Platform,
a special Big Data file system, a resource
manager, and Apache Ambari – which takes
care of Hadoop provisioning, monitoring,
and configuration management. Additionally,
clients may opt to enable and disable a wide
variety of software components to fully
customize their Big Data platform for their
own particular situation.
The ACE managed platform uniquely
presents full functionality in a single
appliance, is subscription-based, and able
to easily scale as needed. This managed
platform service offers a preview of a fullscale Big Data implementation on a low-risk
model, perfect for companies who are just
starting to explore their Big Data potential.
Breakthrough Insights
Their data also gives the PLDT Group
a unique way to contribute towards a
corporation’s understanding of the world
around it as well as unique operations and
customer profiles. By drawing on information
and analyzing it carefully, PLDT’s Big Data
can help answer questions like “What is the
best location for me to open a new branch?
What kind of store should I open? How
should I vary my marketing for different
areas? What is the profile of the crowd
passing through these areas, and how does it
vary according to the time and date? Where
do subscribers go most often, and whom
do they socialize with? When are they most
likely to go to certain areas?”
In short, PLDT ALPHA Enterprise's
Breakthrough Insights service can be used to
create intelligent actions precisely calibrated
for a company's target market and situation.
A company can create marketing campaigns
designed to achieve viral-level popularity,
achieve highly accurate churn prediction and
white-space customer targeting, and provide
dynamic recommendations and promotions
that adjust to each individual customer's
profile.
Companies can also opt for Data Science
as a Service, granting them access to a team
of highly-trained expert data scientists who
will collate and analyze the company's data
sources for actionable insights. This service
can be scaled according to the exact volume
and needs of a company at any given time,
and thus saves them the expense and trouble
of having to find, enlist, integrate, and
maintain data scientists on their payroll.
Additionally, they can also utilize external
data insights, derived from PLDT Group
assets. This includes the use of market
research platforms, which allows them
to launch highly effective data-gathering
campaigns, location-based insights, and
device analytics.
Location-based insights analyze mobility
patterns to identify repeated behaviors and
predict future destinations. This allows
users to access data about their target
market like popular locations, home and
work locations, and most frequently visited
clusters. Device Analytics uses data from
automatically tracking each device-related
event on any single customer's device. It
can inform clients of such matters as the
top devices, market share by brand, level of
smartphone penetration, and more. Clients
can utilize this data to evaluate an addressable
market, qualify investment decisions, analyze
churn rate, run contextual campaigns based
on locations, know premium advertising
inventory, and more.
By expanding market research scope
to include all the capabilities of Big Data,
companies can significantly improve business
results and overall market valuations. By
infusing analytics with the vast amount of
consumer behavioral data now available, and
correctly utilizing the resulting knowlege,
companies can gain a huge competitive
advantage.
These insights are made possible
through the PLDT Group’s collection of
relevant data and their ability to analyze
this data for actionable information, while
ensuring compliance with data privacy laws
to ultimately deliver real value to customers.
Enriched Decisions
Transport companies can use Big Data
to achieve advanced route optimization,
reaping the benefits in fuel and maintenance
savings, improved performance, and higher
customer satisfaction. One of the best
examples of this is UPS’s ORION (On-Road
Integrated Optimization and Navigation)
project. ORION uses fleet telematics
and advanced algorithms for advanced
route optimization, analyzing more than
250 million data points to deliver tens of
thousands of route optimization changes per
minute, adapting constantly and in real-time
to changing conditions.
UPS CTO Dave Barnes noted, during
an interview with Bloomberg, that a saving
of 1 mile per day per driver could result in a
saving of 1.5 million gallons of fuel per year,
which equals $50 million in savings annually.
In the case of banks with their large
amounts of multi-faceted data, Big Data can
be used to provide unmatched insights into
their customers’ mindsets and needs. Banks
are using Big Data to create a 360-degree
view of each customer. Analyzing how each
individual acts based on their transactions
and interactions gives valuable insights.
Mexico’s Banorte is using Big Data and
analytics innovations along with marketing
automation so that its employees know which
products best suit the individual needs of
each customer. This creates an experience
that feels more personal and intimate.
Or, consider retailing. Big Data can help
predict what customers want before they
themselves may know it. It can help retailers
formulate the “next best action,” focus and
time their offers, and improve customer
acquisition and conversion. Data-driven
retailing utilizes recommendation and
decision engines, which allows them to use
predictive modeling to rank-order individual
consumers by their likelihood to respond to
any given offer. This type of retailing was
pioneered by online giants like Netflix and
Amazon, and has contributed amazingly to
their bottom line.
So, with managed platforms, expert
consulting, and breakthrough insights offered
at easy, scalable, OPEX-based payment
models, the time has never been better for
Philippine enterprises to plunge into the
ocean of Big Data.
The rewards of
Big Data can be great,
but companies must commit
an equally great amount of
resources and effort in order
to fully reap the benefits.
JULY 2015
PLDT GROUP CEMENTS
DATA CENTER
LEADERSHIP WITH P1.3B
CLARK FACILITY
ASCOTT GLOBAL CITY
MANILA TAPS PLDT
ALPHA ENTERPRISE FOR
PREMIUM INTERNET
CONNECTIVITY
Ascott Limited Philippines signed a
contract with PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
to provide them premium Internet
connectivity for guests of the newly-built
Ascott Bonifacio Global City Manila
Hotel. PLDT and Ascott officials sealed
the partnership through a contractsigning ceremony.
Ascott Bonifacio Global City
Manila is the first serviced residence
in the Bonifacio Global City area. It
is an addition to The Ascott Limited’s
luxurious collection of international
serviced residences. The Ascott
Limited is a Singapore-based company
renowned for developing and operating
JULY 2015
international serviced residences. It has
facilities in over 80 cities spread over the
Asia Pacific, European, and the Gulf
regions. Currently, it has five properties
in the Philippines.
As a premier business hotel, Ascott
Global City Manila requires consistently
fast and reliable Internet connectivity
for its discerning clientele. Thus, they
have subscribed to PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise’s Dedicated Internet Access
Service (iGate).
“PLDT has an extensive global
Internet gateway. It also has the most
resilient network infrastructure covering
the entire Philippine archipelago,” says
Ascott Hotel Residence Manager Philip
Barnes.
“On behalf of the entire PLDT
Group, I would like to express my
sincere gratitude to the Ascott Limited
for selecting PLDT ALPHA Enterprise
to provide Internet connectivity for the
brand new Ascott Global City Manila.
With more foreign investors coming to
the Philippines to set up shop– specially
from the O&O sector– serviced
apartments such as Ascott must be
equipped to accommodate their needs.
We are thoroughly dedicated in providing
them with innovative solutions as their
trusted expert end-to-end ICT partner,”
says PLDT First Vice President and
Head of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise Jovy
Hernandez.
Photo shows PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise Jovy Hernandez (second from
left) and Ascott Limited Philippines Regional
General Manager – Philippines and Thailand
Arthur Gindap (second from right) at the contract
signing. They are joined here by PLDT VP and
Head of Corporate Relationship Management
Precy Katigbak (leftmost) and Ascott Bonifacio
Global City Manila Residence Manager Philip
Barnes (rightmost).
Leading telecoms and multimedia
service provider PLDT, through its ICT
subsidiary ePLDT, has reinforced its
undisputed leadership in the local Data
Center space as it starts building its fifth
facility under its VITRO Data Center line
in Clark, Pampanga.
Including the three data centers
operated by ePLDT subsidiary IP
Converge Data Services, the PLDT
Group now will have eight data centers
with rack capacity of over 8,000– the
largest in the country. PLDT's continued
expansion in data center facilities is
part of its commitment in creating the
nation's digital infrastructure.
Located in the heart of the Clark
ecozone, VITRO Clark, once fully
operational, will cater to the region’s
thriving business communities and
planned IT hubs in Central Luzon, that
could also serve the disaster recovery
requirements for other businesses
elsewhere.
With a total investment of Php 1.3
billion when completed, the construction
of the VITRO Clark facility will boost
the growth of ICT-demanding industries
in the area like the Business Process
Outsourcing, Outsourcing & Offshoring,
and retail.
“This new data center will be
compliant to global standards with
enough rack space to accommodate
the production requirements of the
enterprises based here in Luzon, as well
as the disaster recovery requirements of
those based elsewhere. We are confident
that the PLDT Group will again make
our mark in Philippine ICT history,” said
PLDT EVP and ePLDT President and
CEO Eric Alberto.
“We are not doing this just for the
prestige of becoming the largest data
center operator in the country. We are
doing this because we want to enable
local enterprises to compete in the
global arena and help fulfill our country’s
destiny to become the next Asian
Economic Tiger,” he added.
Adding an additional 1,230 rack
capacity to the PLDT Group, the
5-storey building will have 8 level
access security control and redundant
infrastructures to ensure highest uptime
service level.
When fully complete, the PLDT
Group will have eight operational
commercial data centers with a combined
rack capacity exceeding 8,000.
The planned data center is
anticipated to boost the region’s business
communities and growing IT hubs.
Recently, Metro Clark was reported to
enter the top 100 list of 2015 Tholons
International Top 100 Outsourcing
Destinations Report, making it the 8th
Philippine city in the list.
“PLDT has added value to Clark,
with VITRO coming here, this adds to
this landscape that will make businesses
want to invest and set up here. We are
excited to partner with PLDT for this as
we have always known them for quality
service, and a provider of employment
in the country,” said Clark Development
Corporation President Atty. Arthur
Tugade during the groundbreaking of
the PLDT VITRO Clark facility.
Much like the new VITRO facility
in Makati, the VITRO Clark will be
based on TIA-942 and LEED standard
guidelines and will undergo certifications
once completed, ensuring global
standards are implemented that will make
it at par with data centers in advanced
countries.
Present during the VITRO Clark
groundbreaking event were PLDT VP
Renato Castañeda, ePLDT VP Dave
Simon, ePLDT COO Nerisse Ramos, Clark
Development Corp. Chairman of the Board
Eliseo Santiago, PLDT EVP and ePLDT
President and CEO Eric R. Alberto, Clark
Development Corp. President Atty. Arthur
Tugade, PLDT FVP and Head of Enterprise,
International, and Carrier Business Revenue
and Operations Group Cesar Enriquez,
and PLDT SME Nation AVP and Marketing
Head Amil Azurin.
JULY 2015
ADP PHARMA
CORPORATION AND
PASCUAL PHARMA
CORP. MAKE THE
SMARTER SWITCH
ADP Pharma Corporation and
Pascual Pharma Corp. (ADP-PPC)
recently made the SMARTer switch,
migrating all their mobile voice lines
to Smart Enterprise. The switch was
formalized with a contract signing at
the ADP Pharma Corporation office
in Ortigas, which was attended by top
officials from ADP-PPC, PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise, and Smart Enterprise.
ADP-PPC is the owner and trader
of known products such as Propan TLC
food supplement and Glucolyte Plus oral
rehydration salts, Releaf, and Oncology
JULY 2015
medicines. With the switch to Smart
Enterprise, ADP-PPC will now use
Smart-powered plans to communicate
within and outside the organization.
“They’re willing to really work
with us as partners – they never force a
solution on us. Instead, we collaborate
to come up with a solution that really
fits our needs. As a company that values
innovation, it’s helpful to us to have a
partner who’s also constantly innovating
in terms of products and processes,” says
ADP-PPC Chairman of the Board Atty.
Martin Pascual.
“In my eyes, we share the same
passion in terms of growing our
businesses. The dedicated way we
have conducted ourselves is the same
characteristic I see in Smart and PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise,” added ADP-PPC
President Virgilio Gomez.
“On behalf of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise and Smart Enterprise,
I thank ADP-PPC for switching to
Smart Enterprise for their mobile
communication requirements. We value
the ever-growing partnership between
our organizations and we look forward
to continuously collaborating with the
organization for further enhancement
of their business as their trusted expert
end-to-end ICT partner,” said PLDT
VP and Head of Corporate Relationship
Management Jay Lagdameo.
(L-R): PLDT Corporate Business Head Jeff
Mendoza, PLDT Corporate Relationship
Manager Eena Samonte, PLDT VP and
Corporate Relationship Management Head
Jay Lagdameo, ADP-PPC Chairman of the
Board Atty. Martin Pascual, ADP-PPC President
Mr. Virgilio S. Gomez, and ADP-PPC Chief IT
Consultant Engr. Felix C. Narito, Jr.
BLUE CROSS INSURANCE
MAKES THE SMARTER
SWITCH BACK
Blue Cross Insurance, Inc. has once
again chosen Smart Enterprise, making
the SMARTer switch back, migrating
all their mobile lines to the wireless
solutions provider. This was formalized
recently at the Blue Cross headquarters
in Makati City, attended by top officials
from the two organizations.
Blue Cross Insurance is a market
specialist in medical, travel, and accident
insurance. In addition to its Philippine
operations, the company has a strong
regional presence with sister companies
in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and
Hong Kong.
Blue Cross has returned to Smart
Enterprise, choosing them again as their
wireless solutions provider to address
their constantly changing requirements.
With the switch, the Blue Cross team
is now powered with Smart postpaid
lines for better communication within the
organization as well as with their evergrowing clientele.
“What do you do when your
business is growing? You have to go
with the leader. You have to partner
with somebody who can ably satisfy all
your requirements. And we found that
with Smart Enterprise,” says Blue Cross
Insurance SVP for Medical Sales Maria
Victoria Munsayac.
“We thank Blue Cross for once more
entrusting their mobility requirements to
Smart Enterprise. We eagerly rejoin them
in their journey towards further success
through future-proof connectivity
solutions and insightful applications
that will hopefully prove instrumental
in serving all their enterprise ICT
needs,” says PLDT FVP and Head of
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and Smart
Enterprise Jovy Hernandez.
PLDT VP and Head of Corporate
Relationship Management Jojo Gendrano,
PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise and Smart Enterprise Jovy
Hernandez, Blue Cross Insurance SVP for
Medical Sales Maria Victoria Munsayac,
and Blue Cross Insurance SVP and Actuary
Gerry Salas
JULY 2015
PLDT ALPHA
ENTERPRISE REAPS
MAJOR AWARDS AT
2014 PHILIPPINE QUILL
Leading telecoms and multimedia
service PLDT through its corporate
enterprise arm, PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise received five awards for its
communications campaigns during
the awarding ceremonies at the 2014
Philippine Quill organized by the
International Association of Business
Communicators (IABC) Philippines.
Receiving Awards of Excellence were its
internal business feature magazine Hot
Joe in two categories while its “I AM
ALPHA” audio-visual presentation and
Unified Communications as a Service
JULY 2015
audio-visual presentations, and Smart
M2M Event all received awards of
Merit under the Communications Skills
categories.
The Philippine Quill is the most
prestigious and relevant award for
business communicators held annually.
It recognizes excellent communication
programs, skills, and creative work,
managed by seasoned communication
professionals in the industry.
Above Photo: PLDT Head of Corporate
Business Solutions Nico Alcoseba, PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise Corporate Customer
Engagement Head Mikey Smyth, and PLDT FVP
and Head of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and Smart
Enterprise Jovy Hernandez share this success
with the entire ALPHA group.
Left Photo: Smart Enterprise AVP Chet Alviz,
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise Corporate Customer
Engagement Head Mikey Smyth, PLDT Category
Head for Enterprise Voice Fay Ocampo, Smart
Enterprise Product Manager Gio Abaquin, and
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise Customer Engagement
Graphic Designer Ram Anciro receive the trophies
during the Philippine Quill Awards night.
PLDT ALPHA
ENTERPRISE HONORED
AS ALLIANCE PARTNER
FOR POLYCOM
PLDT ALPHA Enterprise, the
corporate business group of leading
telecom company PLDT, was recently
named the Alliance Partner for Polycom
by renowned regional distributor
Transition System Philippines. The
distinction was awarded to PLDT
during the Polycom Appreciation and
Awards Gala at the New World Hotel,
held by Transition System Philippines
to celebrate its strategic partnerships
and recognize the outstanding work and
contributions of its valued partners.
The Alliance Partner distinction is
given to Polycom partners whose services
drive value for its line of products.
As a recipient of this honor, PLDT
ALPHA Enterprise was recognized
for its strategic approach in mobilizing
complete communication capabilities to
provide topnotch collaboration suites for
its enterprise customers.
“We thank Polycom for this Alliance
Partner Award, as this reflects our
unceasing efforts to make our technology
partners’ innovative solutions available
to our customers,” said PLDT First Vice
President and Head of PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise Jovy Hernandez. “We remain
committed to providing our clients with
top-tier ICT solutions which is part of
our mandate in Enabling the Digital
Enterprise.”
Polycom is one of the top
providers of business collaboration
solutions across the globe. Ranking
second in IDC’s Worldwide Enterprise
Videoconferencing and Telepresence
Equipment Qview, Polycom currently
has a 23.8% share of the worldwide
market. In the Philippines, Polycom
products are part of the PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise portfolio of services, enabling
PLDT customers to enjoy world-class
collaboration solutions such as audio and
video conferencing.
Polycom Regional Manager for Thailand,
Vietnam, Indochina, and Philippines Thep
Ritrangkla, Microsoft Office Division Business
Group Lead Tovia Va’aelua, PLDT Product
Manager for Conferencing Suite John Lao,
PLDT Product Manager for Managed Unified
Communications Laramarie Tubino, PLDT Head
of Enterprise Voice Category Fay Ocampo,
Transition Systems Philippines Converged Group
General Sales Manager Mira Osis, and Polycom
Country Systems Engineer Kim Malinao
JULY 2015
PHILIPPINE DISASTER
RECOVERY FOUNDATION
RECEIVES SUBSTANTIAL
DONATION FROM 2014
MVP CUP RAFFLE
WINNER
The Philippine Disaster Recovery
Foundation (PDRF) recently received
a substantial donation from James
Dantow of Netsuite, who won the top
raffle prize at the prestigious 13th MVP
Cup golf tournament. Declining his
prize of a brand new Toyota Altis, Mr.
Dantow asked instead to have its cash
equivalent donated towards the continued
rehabilitation efforts in areas affected by
Typhoon Yolanda.
Co-chaired by PLDT and Smart
Chairman Manny V Pangilinan, the
JULY 2015
PDRF is the country's major private
organization coordinating national disaster
management. Backed by the country’s
biggest conglomerates, it is active in
Typhoon-stricken areas, focused on
shelter, livelihood, education, environment
and water, infrastructure, sanitation and
health.
The MVP Cup is an annual golf
tournament hosted by PLDT ALPHA
Enterprise for its officers, partners, and
clients. It was during the 2014 tournament
that Mr. Dantow won the top raffle prize,
and his substantial donation is one of the
many other philanthropic efforts made by
MVP Cup attendees. Each player donated
his or her share through purchased
mulligans during the golf tournament.
PDRF also received additional pledges
from other guests.
In his heartfelt message to the PDRF,
Mr. Dantow asked the organization to
continue pushing for donations. “The
larger you sow, the larger you get. Keep on
doing what you are doing,” he said.
“We thank Mr. Dantow for this
selfless gesture to contribute his winnings
to PDRF. We hope that our peers in the
business community take Mr. Dantow’s
exemplary cue to continue pledging their
help for ongoing rehabilitation efforts
in devastated areas still reeling from the
effects of Typhoon Yolanda and other
similar calamities,” said PLDT Executive
Vice President and ePLDT President and
CEO Eric R. Alberto.
(L-R) PLDT Corporate Relationship Manager
Catherine Arellano, Netsuite’s James Dantow,
PDRF President Butch Meily, and PLDT
Vice President and Head of Corporate
Relationship Management Mitch Locsin
PLDT GROUP,
SAMSUNG PH EXPAND
PARTNERSHIP
TO BENEFIT LARGE
ENTERPRISES
Leading telecoms and multimedia
service provider PLDT, its wireless
business group Smart Communications,
and leading electronics manufacturer
Samsung are expanding their longstanding partnership to deliver fullservice packaged business solutions for
the large enterprise market.
Following an already fortified
partnership model, PLDT/Smart and
Samsung Philippines are extending the
tie-up in support of developing and
offering Samsung devices with PLDT/
Smart service offerings designed for
corporate clients like the Smart M2M
(Machine-to-Machine) solutions.
“We are excited to further strengthen
our ties with a globally admired brand
such as Samsung. This partnership
definitely adds value to the services we
provide our customers and bolsters
our position as the preferred trusted
ICT provider of large enterprises,” said
PLDT EVP and ePLDT President and
CEO Eric Alberto.
“We are confident that through this
continued support and partnership, the
PLDT Group will sustain its leadership
and bring forth exciting solution bundles,
both in hardware and software offerings
to the market,” he adds.
Through this partnership, PLDT/
Smart and Samsung will co-develop
specialized business solutions for the
enterprise level with an “Operated
Dedicated Support” agreement including
dedicated after-sales hotlines for
business-to-business handset models, and
full participation in commercialization
and co-branding in marketing efforts.
“We are looking forward to this
extended tie-up as this will greatly benefit
our market in terms of marketability
of Samsung when partnered with a
longstanding enabler such as PLDT
and Smart. We are hopeful that this
collaboration can give compelling
business innovations suitable for the
current market,” shared Samsung
Philippines President Harry Lee during
the formal contract signing.
Since partnering with Samsung,
PLDT/Smart has offered specialized
business packages that bundle unique
Samsung devices with business
connectivity and solutions targeted at
both Enterprise and SME Businesses.
This extended partnership aims to
develop solutions primarily for the large
enterprise level and will greatly enhance
service offerings of the PLDT Group
as it heavily promotes business mobility
solutions for enterprise markets such as
the PLDT Cloud, M2M, and the Internet
of Things.
(Seated, L-R) Smart Segment Marketing Manager
Debbie Ledesma, PLDT First Vice President
and Head of PLDT ALPHA Enterprise and
SMART Enterprise Jovy Hernandez, PLDT EVP
and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto,
Samsung Electronics Philippines President Harry
Lee, Samsung Electronics Philippines Business
Manager for Enterprise James Kwon, and Samsung
Electronics Philippines Sales Leader for Enterprise
Arnold Carlos, together with other PLDT/Smart
and Samsung executives (standing) during the
partnership contract signing ceremony.
JULY 2015
COMING
COMING
In this section, HOT JOE puts
on its Tech Forecaster hat
and takes a look at the future
BIOFUEL
KFC KEYBOARDS
KFC recently rolled out a series
of paper-thin Bluetooth keyboards,
served on trays in German KFC
outlets. Designed to pair with
customers’ smartphones and tablets,
the keyboard is a smart way to allow
customers to enjoy their greasy,
“finger-licking-good” fried chicken
while still using their phones
without messing up the screen.
It is also a very clever marketing
campaign. The so-called Tray
Typers are so popular that every
single customer who tried them
out took the thin, KFC-branded
keyboards home with them.
Fuel sources are becoming an issue
of increasing importance. People all
over the world are actively exploring
alternate energy sources, like biofuels.
Biofuels are organic energy sources
made from living things, or the waste
that living things produce.
In the UK, for example, the
“Bus Hound” (named for the British
Bloodhound supersonic car) runs on
biomethane, which is produced by the
anaerobic digestion of cow biological
waste in a bioreactor. Recently, it
established a top speed of 76.8 miles
per hour at the Millbrook Proving
Ground in Bedfordshire– breaking the
record for regular bus speeds.
The bus (which is painted black
and white in the characteristic “cow”
pattern) is a shining example of
the viability of biofuels, which may
become a significant part of our power
infrastructure in years to come.
BIO-ROCKS
The degradation and destruction
of coral is of rising concern globally.
In Gili Trawangan, a small island
in Indonesia, scientists are trying
out a novel way of saving coral
reefs - electrified “bio-rocks.”
Metal sculptures made out of
rebar and wire mesh (shaped like
giant manta rays, dolphins, turtles,
and more) are placed in the
water, where a weak current is run
through the metal. The electricity
reacts to minerals in the seawater
and causes limestone to ‘grow’ on
the sculptures. This optimum anchor
point eventually becomes the perfect
breeding ground for marine life. Divers
who come across injured or damaged
JULY 2015
coral can transplant fragments to these
structures in order to ‘rehabilitate’
them. Injured coral on bio-rocks heals
20 times faster, and has up to 50 times
better survival rates. Once healed, the
coral is returned to its natural habitat.
The bio-rocks have helped increase
biodiversity and the water quality in the
region, as well as slowing the erosion
of beaches by providing a wave-break.
Certain parts of the local beach have
grown 15 meters in a few years. They
have also proven resistant to natural
disasters, having survived the 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed
230,000 people.
JULY 2015
COMING
COMING
ULTRA-THIN TELEVISIONS
THE FILIMIN
Even simple
things like lamps are
going online. The Filimin
is a WiFi-enabled lamp that
changes color when you touch
it. But because it’s online, its colorchanging capabilities go beyond that.
If you pair your Filimin with another
one, your lamp’s color can be changed
by just a touch from your Filiminowning friend or family– no matter
how many miles away they are, and
vice versa. The lamps’ different colors
can stand for different messages, and
so turn the lamps into long-range
messaging devices.
JULY 2015
Televisions have gone from chunky
CRT sets to sleek flat screens that get
slimmer every year. Now LG Display has
produced a proof-of-concept set that
is thinner than your finger and so light
that it could be stuck to the wall through
simple magnets.
The flexible 55-inch screen is only
0.97 mm thick, and is a demonstration
of LG’s investment into OLED (organic
light-emitting diode) technology.
Also called the “wallpaper screen,”
the television is a symbol of LG’s
commitment to OLED. “We will
put everything into OLED as we are
confident that it will replace LCD as the
TV standard in the coming years,” LG
spokesman San Kim said.
JULY 2015
What things are
on the way out
GOING
GOING
VOICEMAIL
In the 1970s we saw the beginning
of the technology soon to be known as
“voicemail”– first dubbed “Voice Message
Exchange” (VMX). Too advanced for its
time, it was not until the 1980s that it came
into its own. But now voicemail is on the
decline, supplanted by more advanced
technologies.
Vonage reported in 2012 that the
number of voicemails its customers
were leaving fell by 8%. Even more
telling, the rate of voicemails actually
retrieved slid 14% from the previous
year. More recent stats suggest voicemail
has declined even more: in the six
months between October 2014 and
ARABICA COFFEE
The best coffee is made up of
Arabica coffee beans, which produce
a smooth, complex flavor. However,
Arabica is a fragile plant and can only
be grown in very specific environments.
It is particularly sensitive to changes in
temperature and rainfall.
In 2012, research by a team from
the UK's Royal Botanic Gardens
included a computer modelling exercise
to predict how environmental changes
would affect Arabica for the rest of
the century. Their findings: by 2080,
JULY 2015
the number of locations where wild
Arabica coffee can grow may decrease
by 88%– with a worst-case scenario of
99.7%.
“If we don't do anything now and
over the next 20 years, by the end of
the century, wild Arabica in Ethiopia
could be extinct– that's in the worstcase scenario,” says Dr. Aaron Davis,
head of coffee research at Kew, who
led the project.
April 2015, the amount of voicemails
left or checked fell by 8%, as compared
to the same period in the previous year.
And in a real-life manifestation of this
phenomenon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut
off its voicemail service for most of its
consumer bank employees in June 2015.
It is estimated that this would save the
company about 3.2 million
(U.S.) dollars.
Instead of voicemail,
people are opting for more
convenient, advanced
alternatives such as
Skype voice messages,
Google Voice,
and unified communication solutions
that integrate the functions of voice,
voicemail, and text services into a single
easy interface. Voicemail may be fading
away, but its legacy lives on in its nextgeneration descendants.
SAMSUNG WALLET
Samsung is getting ready to roll out Samsung Pay, a new
payment technology embedded right into its newest handsets. It
relies on Magnetic Secure Transmission and allows users to pay
using almost any magnetic stripe payment gateway. This means that
Samsung will be shuttering its previous payment app, the Samsung
Wallet service. Samsung told Wallet users that they would stop taking
purchases by June 30th of this year.
JULY 2015
HARDCORE
WITH IBM
PLDT AND IBM JOIN FORCES TO OFFER AN
ENTERPRISE CLOUD SOLUTION THAT HAS
THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS.
JULY 2015
SOFTLAYER
Cloud computing has recently seen remarkable exponential
growth, and then some. What was once exotically termed
technology, used exclusively by startups as a developer’s
sandbox, has erupted into an essential enterprise tool with
infinite iterations and manifestations. It is hard to find a
forward-thinking business nowadays who hasn’t offloaded a
significant portion of its operations to the cloud.
JULY 2015
IaaS Redefined
there’s the rub. Even as the cloud has
proven revolutionary and cost-effective,
only a handful of large-scale enterprises
are using it as the bedrock of their IT
infrastructure. Conventional ICT wisdom
dictates that as all resources are virtualized
and shared in the cloud, many CIOs find
their roles upended. Those CIOs with
control, performance, and trust issues think
twice before raising the possibility of full
adoption at the next board meeting. It takes
faith to make a leap of faith, after all.
PLDT and IBM are shifting the
paradigm through an enterprise cloud
that offers more choices and control with
SoftLayer Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Bare Essentials
The “traditional cloud” is founded
on skillfully layering multiple
“virtual” servers in one rack.
Space saving and agile as this
may be, real-time performance
(needed for instant analytics
churning and online gaming)
is somewhat sacrificed in the
process. For those time-sensitive
purposes, real “bare metal”
servers with their full access to
raw computing power are used.
JULY 2015
SoftLayer stands out from other IaaS
vendor offerings because of the way it
was designed from the ground up. It is a
truly bespoke, hybrid cloud solution that
makes the most out of an organization’s
IT budget. SoftLayer allows you to bridge
all the gaps in your IT infrastructure layout
using a combination of dedicated and
shared virtual environments and bare metal
server infrastructure.
Yes, most– if not all– cloud providers
can offer hybrid clouds, with interacting
virtual private and public cloud spaces.
But SoftLayer brings a third dimension
of value through high-performance bare
metal servers. This way, you can now
provision all enterprise IT requirements to
the cloud: sensitive data and applications
on private cloud; sandbox environments or
applications that require instant scalability
on public cloud; and input-output (I/O)
intensive applications such as Big Data
analysis on bare metal servers. Plus, its Flex
Images™ technology allow administrators
to easily and quickly move data and
applications throughout these three
environments.
The Cloud with No Smoke and Mirrors
Other IaaS vendors may let you know
the general zone or the data center where
your data and applications might be located.
But IBM believes that transparency begets
trust and eventually, faith. That is why with
SoftLayer, you always know the exact data
center your IaaS profile is based on, as well
as the exact pod, rack, rack unit, power
port, server profile, network controllers,
firmware versions, and serial numbers of all
the equipment your data and applications
are swimming in. You can also view an audit
trail of all actions concerning your data.
You do get the space saving convenience of
the cloud, but you still retain the visibility
and control that was once reserved for
on-premise IT infrastructure.
With SoftLayer, PLDT and IBM
further proves that the cloud is here to stay.
And with its inclusion of high-performance
bare metal servers as well as unprecedented
transparency and visibility, Philippine CIOs
can refresh their cloud strategy. Ultimately
they may make unimagined gains with
an enterprise now totally unanchored by
archaic and rigid IT. Because this time,
they can now freely innovate further– and
bolder– in this digital-driven global
economy.
(Seated) PLDT Head of Corporate Business Solutions Nico Alcoseba, PLDT FVP and Head of PLDT SME Nation Kat Luna-Abelarde,
ePLDT Group Chief Operating Officer Nerisse Ramos, PLDT EVP and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto, IBM Asean General Manager
Kellar Nevill, IBM Philippines President and Country General Manager Luis Pineda, IBM AP Cloud Strategy and Integration Executive Victor
Silvino, and IBM AP Director of Sales and Distribution for Telecom and Media Industry Steven Deskovic, together with other PLDT and IBM
officials (standing) during the recent partnership contract signing.
Other Features of IBM SoftLayer
International
Presence
with 13 Data
Centers and
17 Points of
Presence
Granular
Application
Program
Interface
(API) to better
control your
SoftLayer
system
Triple-network
architecture
with easy
access across
public, private,
and managed
networks
Anytime,
anywhere
management
with a
full-featured,
web-based
customer portal
Predictive
billing with
no surprise
usage fees
JULY 2015
A
SMARTER MOVE TO
GLOBAL MOBILITY SERVICE PHILIPPINES, INC. AND SMART ENTERPRISE
SCALE UP E-TRICYCLE ADOPTION THROUGH ITS DISRUPTIVE PLATFORM:
THE MOBILITY-CLOUD CONNECTING SYSTEM (MCCS)
Powered by a Smart M2M SIM,
Global Mobility Service Philippines,
Inc.’s MCCS-enabled e-tricycle was
featured during the 2015 M2M
Business Platforms Event.
JULY 2015
Love them or hate them, tricycles are
one of the quintessential forms of
Philippine public transportation. But
in the light of greater environmental
efforts and technological innovations,
a more eco-friendly, silent, and
emission-free alternative is now
emerging: electric tricycles.
Unfortunately, owning one is close
to impossible for the common trike
driver as an e-trike is painfully more
expensive, as most new technology
typically is.
For a time, it looked like the story
of a better and greener Philippine public
transport had ended on the first page. But
one Japan-based company followed through
to the happy ending it deserved by literally
changing the way we look at ownership and
usage policies. They did this through M2M
and their proprietary technology platform.
To learn more, Hot Joe sat down
with Global Mobility Service Philippines,
Inc. (GMS) President and CEO Tokushi
Nakashima to talk about how their M2Mpowered technology together with Big Data
spurs e-tricycle adoption through a redefined
business model.
use the e-tricycle only by charging prepaid
payment to the platform, which is powered
by the Smart SIM card. To consistently
track payments, GMS has a simplified and
automated payment record scheme for the
drivers. Those who consistently pay on
time for 3 to 5 years will receive financial
assistance from GMS so they can eventually
own the unit. However, once they fail to
pay the required amount, the vehicle will be
remotely deactivated. Through this system,
GMS can secure their assets, making the
units more sustainable.
A Disruptive Economic Platform
The advent of Big Data adds more
value to GMS’ solutions. Through telematics,
vehicle owners can now monitor and control
vehicle usage more conveniently. They can
track average speed and location, even the
driver’s behavior or implied road etiquette on
any mobile device.
The data gathered ultimately adds more
value by ensuring the safety of all passengers
and providing a fair, objective assessment of
drivers. Through the Usage-Based Insurance
(UBI), drivers pay cheaper premiums
depending on their monitored driving
behavior.
Needless to say, this unprecedented
amount of data and insights can be quite
profitable. Installed for free on e-tricycles,
the MCCS allows for the voluntary sharing
of real-time information, which can be sold
as useful insights and information to other
organizations.
At the core of the GMS-powered
e-tricycle service is a revolutionary device
that is about the same size as today's small
tablets.
Called Mobility-Cloud Connecting
System or MCCS, it facilitates remote control
and tracking of e-tricycles via the Internet.
The MCCS sports features such as remote
control immobilizer, anti-theft indicator, fare
and charging authentication systems, as well
as customer relationship management.
In ultimately improving the quality of
their services, GMS teamed up with Smart
Enterprise in providing M2M SIM cards that
are installed in the MCCS, giving each unit
a reliable data connection over the country’s
largest network.
It essentially enables a revolutionary
and effective e-tricycle lease-to-own model.
The tricycle driver can activate and fully
The Power of Big Data
GMS Philippines President and CEO Tokushi
Nakashima fondly talks about the disruptive
potential his tech have, not only on e-vehicles,
but on car ownership as a whole.
At present, GMS is now serving the
Quezon City Government and other local
government units (LGUs). It is also tapping
into other industries through continuing
initiatives that promote the large-scale
adoption of e-vehicles. In fact, Mr.
Nakashima also mentioned that the company
is developing a web-based transportation
application that easily connects potential
end users to e-tricycle drivers. In this way,
passengers can ensure their security and
safety, as well as choose preferred vehicles or
operators.
Towards the end of our interview,
Mr. Nakashima pointed out that GMS’
disruptive platform may eventually initiate
a paradigm shift in vehicle ownership - one
that is leaning towards a pay-per-use system
rather than a heavy one-time automobile
investment. Moreover, utilizing big data
changes the way one considers vehicle cost.
He added that with a more manageable
OPEX-centric outperforming a CAPEXextensive economic model, GMS is poised
to improve the transportation system in our
country, as well as the living standards of
Filipino tricycles drivers.
For more information, you may email
Mr. Kazumasa Nakashima of Global
Mobility Service Philippines, Inc. at
ka-nakashima@global-mobility-service.com.
JULY 2015
Making Cities
More Efficient
REAL WORLD
IN THE
SOME
INTERESTING
WAYS BIG DATA
IS BEING APPLIED
ALL OVER THE
WORLD.
JULY 2015
Winning Regattas
Considering the highly technological
and competitive nature of team
sponsors, it’s not surprising to find
out that BMW Oracle Racing’s
victory in the 33rd America’s Cup
yacht race in February 2010 was
largely driven by Big Data. Their
sloop rigged racing trimaran, the
USA-17, was fitted out with 250
sensors generating performance data
points 10 times a second. Every one
hour’s worth of sailing generated 90
million data points. Using Oracle
Big Data technology, these data
points were reviewed daily
by crew members, and later
streamed to a data center
for deeper insights by a
dedicated team of data
analysts. Ian Burns, design
coordinator for BMW
Oracle Racing, credits Big
Data for dramatic increases
in USA-17’s speed and
performance.
Organizing the
Australian Open
Tennis Australia, which operates the
Australian Open, leverages IBM’s
real-time data analytics software to
examine the tournament schedule
of play, player popularity, historical
data logs and volume of social media
conversations to predict the data
demands from
fans viewing
the tournament
website, and
assign the
appropriate level
of computing
power required
based on their
findings. To us it
sounds like game,
set, and match for
Big Data from
now on.
With smart parking meters, smart bus
stops, and a citywide sensor network,
Barcelona is using Big Data to make
city life even more efficient and
enjoyable. A Big Data system built on
Microsoft Azure to process and analyze
all generated data points ensures that
Barcelona residents can receive real-time
updates on available parking spaces, city
temperature, air quality, noise level, and
pedestrian traffic. Bus passengers can
even enjoy real-time updates on their
route via touchscreen. Their public
transportation is optimized, their events
are better managed, and they can better
understand the seasonal impact of
tourism - all through the power of
Big Data.
Helping Your Dog
Easing Traffic
Boston is using data from Waze, Uber,
and street cameras to ease congestion
in the busy American city. Officials at
Boston’s traffic management center draw
on their Big Data sources and analytics to
control traffic lights, compare conditions,
and more. Daniel Koh, Chief of Staff
to Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, noted
one concrete benefit with using this data.
The traffic center has learned to hold
a green light if a bus is coming, which
has resulted in a 15%-20% reduction of
commute time.
Happily, Big Data is extending the
lifespans of our beloved pet dogs.
Whistle is a dog collar with numerous
sensors, equipped to monitor a dog’s
activity. But it is not only good for
monitoring your dog. Through the
power of Big Data, Whistle can give you
information that could prolong your
dog’s life. Whistle can analyze millions
of individual data points per animal,
looking for patterns or “vectors” such
as restless sleep or interrupted play that
would indicate something amiss. Users
input their dog’s breed, age, and weight,
and Whistle compares
the dog’s activity
against its
database of
similar dogs.
It uploads
all that data
to the cloud,
and users can
generate detailed
reports for their vets
that help them make better diagnoses.
JULY 2015
Say
Last
Eric r. Alberto
PLDT Executive Vice President
and ePLDT President and CEO
JULY 2015
our privilege of serving the
top enterprise organizations
in the country, I’ve had the
honor of exchanging ideas
with the most inspiring C-level leaders
in the land. Among them are CIOs who
share our vision concerning the coming
digital transformation that shall disrupt
businesses anew.
A common remark I often hear
implies the need to, first of all, demystify
“digital” in business. The basis behind
present emerging technologies such as
M2M, the cloud, and now more recently
Big Data, have actually been with us all
along. The community has necessarily
affixed these terms to give them a certain
easy branding identity, and in the process,
has made them sound cool. And they are
actually cool, make no mistake about it.
In our evolving digital business
sphere we’ve also heard hot new
descriptions of significant new economic
sectors such as the “knowledge economy”
and the “creative economy,” both of
which have leveraged greatly on ICT.
But there should always be a measured
evaluation of these new terms and trends.
For example, experts cite the need to
make the creative economy more efficient
and fair. In some examples, platforms
have actually driven the value to core
creatives—the essential building blocks
of the creative economy– down.
And this brings me back to
demystifying digital. As I had mentioned
during PLDT’s recent Big Data launch
and at other PLDT-led forums,
our team had grappled for a simple
concise definition of the digital concept
as it applies to business. We concluded
that digital is about connecting peopleto-people, machine-to-machine, and
people-to-machine on a real-time basis,
producing efficiencies, by leveraging four
factors: Social, Mobile, Analytics, and
Cloud (SMAC for short).
PLDT, through its ubiquity and
leadership has continued on in making
significant investments in all these
facets of the digital business concept.
Leadership and real genuine partnership
with our enterprise clients will be the only
way to prepare us to ride the crest of the
digital wave, instead of being swamped
by it.
A common agreement I usually reach
with my learned CIO friends is that a
pitfall for enterprise would be adopting a
certain technology for the simple elegance
of it– to adopt or acquire everything
shiny and new in the new digital reality of
business. We need effective and mature
leadership to see past the flash of digital,
and get down to its powerful essence, in
order to make the best concerted use of
all its elements.
In that sense PLDT is determined
to be your technology leader in this
emerging digital age, just as we’ve always
strived to be your trusted expert end-toend ICT partner throughout your journey.
It’s a role we’ve dedicated ourselves to for
the past 86 years, and we’re certainly not
stopping now, or ever.