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NFTs: The Future of Art?

NFTs: The Future of Art?

Written by Science Centre Singapore on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

Illustrations by Sung Jernin

At this point, everybody has heard of an NFT. Some have commended them to be the future of art, while others have been more conservative with their praise, believing NFTs to be a gimmick. 

Let’s take a look under the hood at how NFTs work and decide how viable they are as the artwork of the future or as digital assets.

NFT, meaning “non-fungible token”, refers to an online asset that is not interchangeable; like trading cards or precious artefacts in how they are individually irreplaceable.

NFTs seek to create the same kind of value in the digital space – digital items with their own unique identities. 

They have become a household term after exploding in popularity in 2017, with the craze being started by groups like CryptoPunks, a brand specialising in pixelated avatars. Their work has been traded for astonishing amounts – with Alien CryptoPunk #7523 infamously sold for 11.7 million USD. 

First, let’s try to understand how NFTs work and what makes them unique. NFTs utilise ‘blockchain’ – the same technology as cryptocurrencies. Think of blockchain as a digital ledger that records transactions. The term ‘block’ refers to individual stores of data, and the term ‘chain’ describes the way these different blocks are linked to form one cohesive network. 

When each data block in the network reaches its predefined storage limit, it is rendered totally immutable, and data begins to flow into the next block instead. 

This technology guarantees lasting security, because once a block is set, its contents are forever unchanged. In the case of NFTs, this technology is used to store an address on the web or another method of access. 

The blockchain itself does not store the image or video. A key that enables access to the site on the blockchain where the NFT address is stored is kept in the buyer’s digital wallet.

The appeal of NFTs is difficult to rationalise. It might be their novelty, the futuristic appeal of the blockchain itself, or their hype and celebrity. Their guarantee of uniqueness contributes to an image of absolute exclusivity. 

In addition, the security afforded by blockchain increases buyers’ impression that they have just acquired something irreplaceable, and they take pride in ownership of these digital artefacts. 

Like trading cards, some characteristics in NFTs are more sought after than others. In the CryptoPunks collection, there are some common characteristics and some which are much rarer, like alien skin; those with that characteristic are likely to go for hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. 

These art pieces also act as status symbols. There are events and exclusive clubs/communities that only permit those who have ownership over specific NFTs. 

This desire for celebrity status is a central driving force behind the NFT rage – people seek to take part in a lifestyle they have not yet gotten to experience. 

The example of basketballer Stephen Curry, who spent 180,000 USD on Bored Ape #7990 and made a tweet showing off his new purchase and his acceptance into an exclusive discord server, highlighting the usage of NFTs as a status symbol. 

When high-profile people make these purchases, it beckons more people to enter the market and try their luck.

It seems clear to at least some degree that the explosive growth of cryptocurrency over the past few years, with Bitcoin and Ethereum becoming household names, has had a major effect on propelling NFTs to the global stage. 

The NFT market has also been boosted considerably by an irrational fear of missing out on “the next big thing”. Nowadays we all hear about prophets who made bulk purchases of Bitcoin around a decade ago when it was cheap and are now multi-millionaires; people feel they would be missing out on a trend of a similar calibre if they were to ignore the NFT market.  

Therefore, people are anxious to jump in as fast as possible, leading to questionable financial decisions. To some extent, the hype around NFTs is a self-propelling cycle, attracting more and more prospective buyers as it grows larger and more tempting.

There is also something to be said about NFTs being an inevitable offshoot of the transition from the physical to the digital that has taken place over the past two decades.

Think of the migration of the cinema experience to online streaming services, or the migration of media from discs to files on the cloud. It seems like a natural progression from tangible art to NFT.

The idea of keeping things physically and valuing the ability to touch and to feel seems antiquated.Of course, despite their inevitability with increasing focus on the digital space, NFTs have not been universally accepted.

For instance, game developers are against NFTs specifically because the focus of NFTs has become their selling price rather than the quality of the digital content. Some view NFTs as a platform ripe for illegal acts like money laundering. 

The Ethereum transactions powering most NFT markets are environmentally detrimental – with the amount of computing power necessary to make transactions being a limitation on how time-efficient and energy-efficient these transactions can be. 

According to an article linked on Ethereum.org, Ethereum’s total annual energy consumption was around 112 tera-watthours per year, and their carbon emissions totalled 53 megatons per year. As pointed out in the article, this is equal to the total annual carbon emissions of Singapore! 

NFTs are marketed as being secure due to their decentralisation in the blockchain, but this decentralisation leads to its own complications. 

There is no real central authority or government agency in any country overlooking NFTs. The regulatory guidance on the subject is in a fledgling state and proof of ownership is not as secure as it could be. 

It has even been expressed that there is a risk of hackers making purchases or transferring assets using others’ accounts. This is because, as mentioned before, the code/key to access the NFT in the blockchain is stored on a digital wallet and not on the blockchain itself. 

Therefore, while the web address of the NFT is secure, the code to access the NFT is theoretically vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The decentralisation of cryptocurrency, and NFTs by extension, is a factor contributing to their massive monetary value: the supply is tightly restricted by the costs and high barriers to entry of mining operations, and the demand continues to rise, with neither supply nor demand subject to intervention from authorities. 

This leads to great price volatility (fluctuations in prices) creating a speculative market. It is reliant upon ‘greater fool’ theory; people only fork out their money hoping that a bigger risk-taker will be willing to pay an even larger sum. 

As opposed to other options like the stock market, NFTs come with far greater risks and are subject to greater price volatility, reflecting the cryptocurrency they parallel.

Payment can theoretically also be made in fiat currency, as was the case in the 11.7-million-dollar purchase of CryptoPunk #7523.  However, the issue of unregulated markets and price volatility is not addressed, because while the buyer may be protected from the risk of cryptocurrency investment, any investment into an NFT comes with the same risks arising from the tight supply and growing demand.

Overall, I think that in their current iteration, NFTs cannot fully replace traditional art. However, each has its advantages and disadvantages; and NFTs bring very new and innovative ideas to the table; shaking up the scene significantly. 

And, of course, we must address that while art pieces like physical paintings can technically only be expressed along two dimensions, NFTs can dip into four, as they can be 3 dimensional objects which change over time. 

For example, the supposed ‘first-ever’ NFT, Quantum, which sold at the same auction as CryptoPunk #7523, is a geometric shape that morphs and bends with time. However, their environmental effects and the security concerns limit their sustainability for now.

At the moment, it seems unlikely that NFTs are going to be phased out anytime soon; but outliers with ludicrously high valuations will become increasingly scarce; these are just symptoms of the excitement of the market and are not reflective of the way NFTs should progress. 

NFTs are fundamentally different from traditional art in many positive ways; for one, NFT trading is much more accessible in the modern day given that all one really needs is a computer and internet connection. 

NFT markets and creators should move forward with an intent to promote openness and continue to innovate.

Glossary:

Greater fool theory: It is when people disregard the actual valuation of an asset and make a purchase with the intent of selling it off to a higher bidder.

This relies on a speculative market. When the so-called “speculative bubble” dies down, the asset is left in the hands of the unfortunate highest bidder with nobody to sell it to. 

For further reading: https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/greater-fool-theory/

Fiat Currency: Acts legal tender by the decree of a government or authority without any kind of intrinsic value on its own. As such, it is backed by authorities and is subject to regulation.

Most searched question

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Science Centre Singapore


Categories
HR Tech

Lead the Leaders – Digitizing the 4Cs approach 

Lead the Leaders – Digitizing the 4Cs approach

Written by : Sriparna Sen on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

In today’s world, start-ups have become as common as daily bread. And I firmly believe this is the beauty of our times. Every start-up comes with new dreams, goals and journeys that are waiting to be charted out. The founders start with a vision and then slowly and steadily people join hands and the voyage goes on. 

For each of these voyages, several storms are encountered and surpassed. It takes the whole crew along with their varied areas of expertise and varied personalities to help the ship sail through troubled waters. And every single member of the organization learns through the journey. This is the best example of “on-the-job” learning that can be provided in today’s times. 

Just like a human pyramid, the organization keeps building up through the years. If the foundation is robust and the channels of communication are strong, then every layer in the pyramid is cohesively aligned towards the goal. 

Some start-ups achieve this by maintaining a flat hierarchy so that it’s easier to communicate and some start-ups achieve this by maintaining a strict growth path for their leaders. 

But, the underlying principles are the same to achieve organizational success for these growth-phase start-ups. 

They need to focus on an emerging set of middle managers. It is immensely critical. I call this the “Lead the Leaders” approach.

Like everything in our world today, technology can play an important role in implementing this approach efficiently in your organization during the fast-paced growth phases. If we can digitize the onboarding and learning of early stage managers, it’ll help in minimising losses and maximising productivity. 

In my experience, the 4Cs of Manager Development need to be incorporated into the culture of growth-phase start-ups.

  1. Co-create the learning vision and strategy – Senior leaders, along with HR (and Learning experts), need to stitch a learning strategy for all managers in the organization. The learning strategy has to be customized for the industry and the company. Tools like Appreciative Inquiry can be useful. 

  1. Coaching programs – Ownership and empowerment comes with self-confidence. Every manager needs to act as a coach. For that they need to learn what are good coaching skills. Companies need to create in-house coaches and sponsorship programs for future leaders. There is a quote in the book – A Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt – “Coaching is no longer a speciality; you cannot be a good manager without being a good coach.”

  1. Competency driven career paths – Several start-ups see team and organizational efficiencies in their early days which “seem” to diminish as the company grows. Most of this is due to the lack of capturing the competencies which created the original winning streak. Creating the right competency matrix and then implementing it for every job role is a key factor in developing future leaders. 

  1. Communication and creating a culture of trust – Finally, the one ring to rule them all! The leaders, HR and the systems in the organization – all need to come together to communicate regularly and consistently the learning vision and the competency based approach to the managers. 

The great thing about the market today is that there are several Learning Management Systems (LMS) built and sold which cater to all categories of companies. But this is also the bane of it – how do you choose the right one? 

The simple answer is – always keep your end objective very clearly written when you research the market for the right technology for your setup. And trust me when I say, most of these tools are built for being customized for your company as long as your requirements are crisp and clear.

Any LMS that you deploy for your employees should be able to implement the 4Cs that you stitched for your unique environment. You need to ensure that the system is built with and drives your approach if you hope to see any success in developing your talent.

Here are some of the tips that work well, in my experience: 

  • Define the objectives 

  • Check and review the learning strategy 

  • List your expectations from the system 

  • State all the people and culture constraints 

  • Ensure ability to easily evaluate learning outcomes and generate reports 

  • Do a thorough market research 

  • Compare and get product demos for all your stakeholders 

  • Review and confirm the post launch support 

Companies will thrive only when digitisation and humanisation are used in a collaborative way to understand human behaviour. If you can support your new and emerging people managers to lead their teams well, then your business will not just survive, but thrive in this VUCA world.

Sriparna Sen is General manager HR | People and Culture @ Great Learning

Most searched question

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Categories
Food Tech

Food Security in Singapore Through Innovation with Innovate 360

ISTS Ask: Food Security in Singapore Through Innovation with Innovate 360

Written by Science Centre Singapore on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
Illustrated by Eric Lua

Founder John Cheng gives us a peek at Innovate 360’s development

90% of the food we eat in Singapore is imported. In order to have better food security, the Singapore Food Agency aims to achieve their “30 by 30” goal which is to produce 30% of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. 

Currently, many start-ups in the food tech industry, such as the ones under Innovate 360, are using new and innovative ideas to achieve this goal. 

Food tech is an emerging industry that uses technology to find innovative solutions for food related needs. Through their inventive spirit, consumers can enjoy products that are not only healthier but are also good for the environment. 

In Singapore, food tech start-ups are one of the ways we can enjoy locally produced food!

Innovative 360 is a food accelerator that helps food tech start-ups to successfully grow by providing them with necessary skills, facilities, and fund-raising to help scale their business. 

Additionally, these start-ups are exposed to Innovate 360’s vast network and experience. 

ISawTheScience was privileged to have a peek at the development of Innovate 360 and its start-ups from its founder, John Cheng. He is also the director of Cheng Yew Heng, a sugar manufacturing company in Singapore, and a key driver in Singapore’s food innovation ecosystem. 

What was it like for you as a kid growing up exploring the sugar factory?

When I was growing up, trying to explore the sugar factory was like a wonderland. Basically, it was fascinating visiting different processes and understanding how we manufacture (sugar).

I never really knew much of the processes until I got into the business when I was much older. Before that, it was really just very interesting to see and smell. When you come to our factory, you can actually smell the sugar.

Did your experience growing up in the factory influence how you see the food tech industry?

When I was growing up, I kind of watched how a lot of our processes were done very manually. Some of the things that I wanted to do when I went into the business was to try to modernise this business and that was through automation. 

While automating, I met a lot of people in the industry who knew more than me. So, I tested with them and that kind of influenced how I went into the tech side, which, really, is all about collaborating with people. 

You know, business is about people at the end of the day, but it’s also tapping on the scientific knowledge of the experts in the industry to be able to help my business.

With that knowledge at our accelerator, Innovate 360, we have all the expertise to collaborate and help start-ups. 

What sparked your interest to start Innovate 360?

So, I started Innovate 360 in 2018 for the company to pay it forward, but also to find new products that we could sell through our distribution. So initially, it was really to find ways to help ourselves. At the same time, we wanted to look at innovation and create an impact through start-ups and that was one of the ways we see fit. That is how innovate 360 started.

Why do you think food tech start-ups are important to Singapore’s future development?

Food tech start-ups are important to Singapore’s food system and to Singapore’s future. They not only bring a very disruptive kind of business model, but also help to create new businesses or create some sort of new and bigger impact to what we are trying to achieve, which is a higher opportunity for more people in Singapore trying to create 30% of the nutritional needs by 2030.

In the future, do you see these new food products being used in local hawker centres?

For a lot of start-ups, when they create a new product, it tends to be limited in quantity. Because of that, they normally only focus on the premium market and because of that, people always have the conception that it’s expensive, but sustainability doesn’t need to be just for the rich. 

Sustainability should be for everybody. I hope that our start-up products will be for the mass market eventually. Once the scale is reached, then we are able to lower costs as well. 

I hope the start-ups quickly find themselves in the market. It takes a lot of consumer awareness, knowledge and demand that will help them to drive future demands and then production and that will lower their cost. 

To answer your question, I guess it will eventually be at hawker centres. So maybe, the next time you have char kway teow, then it will be char kway teow with plant-based egg or even cell-based cockles.

With your experience in both business and innovation, what is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs in Singapore who are eager to start their own food-tech start-up? 

My advice to aspiring start-ups is — always try it, go for it but know your consumers, know who you are selling to, know what you are trying to do at the end of the day and with that, improve Singapore’s food system and you would be able to be successful start-ups.

I really hope that aspiring start-ups think about getting into food entrepreneurship. They would think about their customer, what problems they can actually solve, and then, from there, they will have a very supportive ecosystem here. Chances are that they will be very successful as well. 

And I think it is about today’s goal — it is really about collaborating with others. If you don’t have some knowledge on how, it’s always good to work with someone who has.

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Science Centre Singapore

Categories
Sustainability Tech Wellness/Beauty Tech

The Green Age of cosmetics

The Green Age of cosmetics

Written by Science Centre Singapore on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
Illustrations by Lim Daphne

As consumers we have a responsibility to the climate while shopping for personal care items.

The infographic below can be used as a guide to look for what ingredient is climate friendly as we buy our cosmetics.

Text Description automatically generated with low confidence

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Science Centre Singapore

Categories
Ad Tech

Recycled advertising impressions and eco-friendly campaigns

Recycled advertising impressions and eco-friendly campaigns
Recycled advertising impressions and eco-friendly campaigns

Written by : Anas Ech-chaoui on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
Illustrations by Lim Daphne

The idea was born from an inventory recycling idea by Thomas OBJOIS and Julien GALIM.

The two co-founders and entrepreneurs used their previous experience, and they have established this unique technology for digital marketers..

During the rise of programmatic in digital, they realised the downside of the complexity of this technology and established a company for recovering lost ad calls and turn them into valuable/monetizable impressions.

The extent of this phenomenon is still little known, as are the various causes of this consequent advertising mess.

This 100% French-origin company has been combating advertising waste and reducing the carbon footprint of digital campaigns through its pipes.
Ampoule et engrenage contour

Sustainable and profitable solution for publishers

Based on our team’s experience at Lagardère Group, we have seen that more than forty technical problems were preventing the distribution of millions of advertising impressions.

We call them “ghost impressions”.

How this works in a nutshell:

After our script is integrated into the publisher’s code base and we start to analyse the site’s inventory pages and advertising placements, we are able to map the loss and suggest the worth of the “ghost impressions”. After the full launch of the solution, we can identify and recycle the lost impressions in real time. It is important to mention that we respect all Core Web Vitals without impacting the quality of the user experience or the page behaviours such as loading time.

Being in the market for years, we see that the recyclable impressions represent on average 20% of a website’s total display inventory.

In 2022, our technology recovered and monetised more than 19 billion ad impressions.

Where do ghost impressions come from ?

ADVERTISING RELATED ISSUES

      • Connection problems during API calls of solutions (SSPs/Ad Servers/bidswitch…). 

      • Glitches in cross-origin requests to REST APIs or calls to solution servers. No ad response.

    SITE RELATED ISSUES

        • Failed or misconfigured lazyload ad logic that does not allow the execution of the slot 

        • Issues in the ad slot CSS that prevent the ad from being displayed

      VISITOR RELATED ISSUES

          • Loss of connection to the user’s device caused by micro-cuts 

          • Website or web tools are not adapted to certain browsers

        How does our solution work for a publisher?

        BCOVERY is a comprehensive technology and it operates by inspecting/scanning the content and HTML structure of the publisher sites.

        When a ghost impression occurs due to any technical reasons, our proprietary algorithm analyses the ad call  and makes the impression available to the publisher/advertisers for monetisation.

        We are is present in 5 countries and continuously growing.

        It supports more than 400 publishers worldwide (France, Germany, Japan, UK, USA)

        Milestone 2022 : 

        We as a company decided to do more for our environment and help digital marketers in maximising their potentials, therefore and to create the first eco-responsible French Marketplace.

        This Marketplace brings together all the publishers’ recycled inventories allowing us to provide incremental, trusted and high-performing impressions to the demand side.

        Advertisers – How do we reduce the carbon impact of media campaigns?

        Agencies and advertisers are increasingly aware of the carbon impact of their campaigns and realise that not all of the supplies emit the same amount of carbon.

        We also see that agencies and advertisers are increasingly favouring low-carbon impact inventories, and we want to help them achieve this…

        Echoing the above, BCOVERY convinced and determined about the need to measure and reduce the carbon emissions of advertising impressions and keep a more sustainable overall nature of digital campaigns.

        As a matter of fact, using our network, an advertiser considerably reduces the carbon footprint of its media activity. Here are the three drivers:

            1.  Recycled and low-carbon impressions

            1.  Reduced creative weight while ensuring effective communication

            1.  A direct and secure delivery channel (vs. a complex programmatic chain)

          Une image contenant texte Description générée automatiquement

          What is next?

          Our next mission is to create similar marketplaces in other countries and help the digital industry to be more sustainable than before.

          The three pillars of our ambition: 

          SENSITIZE 

          on the importance of the delivery channel in its CSR advertising strategy.

          POSITIONING 

          advertising recycling as a solution to buyers’ need for great performance and energy savings.

          REPLACE 

          energy-consuming advertising strategies with investing in recycled, responsible and qualitative inventories.

          Finally, one of our achievements:

          Our recycled campaigns

          ALDI Digital Campaign

              • 80M recycled impressions

              • 60% carbon saving

              • High performance clicks and viewability

            In line with its anti-waste strategy and its desire to reduce the carbon footprint of its advertising campaigns, ALDI has partnered with BCOVERY in 2022 and because of our success we renewed our partnership –  as one of the major partners of ALDI for 2023.

            If your answer is YES to the following:

            You are a publisher and want to know the amount of your recyclable inventory?

            You are an advertiser and want to reduce your carbon emissions?

            Contact us directly by mail at hello@bcovery.com

            Are recycled products eco-friendly?

            What are 5 benefits of recycling?

            Most searched queries

            Eco friendly campaign ideas

            Best green marketing campaigns

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            Categories
            Art Tech AI Tech

            Computers can now create art! But is it the same as human creations? 

            Computers can now create art! But is it the same as human creations

            Written by Science Centre Singapore on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            For those of us mere mortals, aka not art inclined, we may think of art as the sole bastion of talented creative masters. These individuals epitomise the very best of human creativity. 

            On the fundamental level, art is really not just limited to the masters, everyone of us can indulge in a spot of artistic creativity.

            We’ve been using art as an intrinsic way of expressing ourselves; our emotions, and our knowledge to other people.

            If we think of art in this way, it can be seen as a form of communication that is unique to us humans. However, recent events have shown that Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has begun to intrude into the art scene. 

            An example would be the painting, Edmond de Belamy that was sold for $432,500 – nearly 45 times its highest estimate. This begs us to question if A.I. has begun to eat into this realm that once belonged only to humans.

            The present

            Currently, A.I. hasn’t had too much influence over the art industry. With people still producing paintings and music albums, we can still believe that art is something that’s made by humans.

            However, like the example above, we’re already starting to see signs of A.I. creating paintings. ‘Edmond de Belamy’ is an A.I.-generated painting by a Paris-based collective called Obvious.

            Hugo Caselles-Dupré, a member of Obvious, said that “We found that portraits provided the best way to illustrate our point, which is that algorithms are able to emulate creativity”.

            Just like Edmond de Belamy, A.I. is also taking its baby steps into the music industry. One example of this is a program called ‘OpenAI’. 

            As Jon Porter from TheVerge says, “OpenAI’s MuseNet is a new online tool that uses A.I. to generate songs with as many as 10 different instruments”. 

            Not only that, but it can create music in as many as 15 different styles, imitating classical composers like Mozart, contemporary artists like Lady Gaga, or genres like bluegrass or even video game music”. Soon enough, there’s likely to be A.I.-generated songs and art forms.

            Now, the question here is – 

            If artificial intelligence were to be able to emulate creativity, would that be beneficial or disadvantageous to us? 

            Would artists still be able to create inspiring artworks? Would musicians still be able to create soothing pieces? 

            Or would all these be taken away from us, and be dominated by A.I.?

            We’re already over-reliant on technology in many parts of our lives, and that reliance on technology might rub off with the art scene, and lead us into losing the ability to differentiate human-created art and A.I.-created art.

            We might also be wholly dependent on technology in the future to be creative. This might sound a bit far stretched, but it is definitely something that could happen.

            AI and Machine Learning

            With these questions in mind, we have to plan out the risks that we might take by letting A.I. into the art and music industries.

            It might be like letting babies into a playground, or it might be like letting a pack of wolves into a herd of sheep. 

            As of right now, A.I. definitely isn’t able to create art with the same quality as humans. 

            They’re only able to create art from taking the data provided to them and piecing them together, making them seem unique, but in fact they are still replicated from human creativity.

            This is because “art” is a complex thing. It’s not simple for A.I to just learn how to make art out of nowhere. Ken Weiner, a blogger on Scientific American, says that

            “Even though the Cloudpainter machine (an artificially intelligent painting robot) has evolved over time to become a highly intelligent system capable of making creative decisions of its own accord, the final piece of work could only be described as a collaboration between human and machine”.

            What this means is that with our current set of technologies, the artwork of any A.I still involves a human touch. But what about the future?

            There is something called ‘machine learning’, and it is an application of artificial intelligence that provides the system with an ability to take in data and learn and improve from its past experiences and uses.

            This is extremely important since machine learning could allow A.I. to create distinctive forms of art and music that may not even closely resemble the input data, opening the concepts of originality and creativity to A.I.-generated art and music.

            The future

            In the future, with the development of machine learning and A.I., the question is: Is this handmade, or is this made by A.I.?

            A.I.-generated images already lurk around in our daily lives, and we might not even notice it until we look more closely. 

            A.I.-generated faces, where they take 2 different photos and merge them together; or Snapchat filters, where they locate different spots on your face, such as your nose or your eyes, and put a mask on it, are both examples of A.I.-generated images and videos that have become part of our daily lives.

            Sooner or later, A.I., along with the help of machine learning, will be able to adapt to our current world and will eventually create everything for us.

            Art would be made by taking previous paintings in order to make a new one, while music would be made by taking previous songs of a specific genre and re-produce beats, patterns, and rhythms all on its own.

            A.I. might even emulate human creativity and produce never-before-seen pieces of art.

            It feels like we are on the verge of an A.I. revolution in the art and music scene. Just like how jobs were changed, for better or worse during the industrial revolution, A.I. may change the way we view and appreciate music. 

            New, different art and music styles could be produced, styles of the past like Mozart’s music could be recreated, resurrected, revamped.

            The question here is, in what way will A.I. change the art and music world, and how would we, being creatures able to emulate creativity and the people who gave life to these machines in the first place, deal with it?

            Illustrations by Toh Bee Suan

            Sources cited:

            “Why Is Art so Important to Mankind?” Artist, artist-strange-work.com/why-is-art-so-important-to-mankind/.

            “Is Artificial Intelligence Set to Become Art’s Next Medium?: Christie’s.” The First Piece of AI-Generated Art to Come to Auction | Christie’s, Christies, 12 Dec. 2018, www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx.

            Porter, Jon. “OpenAI’s MuseNet Generates AI Music at the Push of a Button.” The Verge, The Verge, 26 Apr. 2019, www.theverge.com/2019/4/26/18517803/openai-musenet-artificial-intelligence-ai-music-generation-lady-gaga-harry-potter-mozart.

            Weiner, Ken. “Can AI Create True Art?” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 12 Nov. 2018, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/can-ai-create-true-art/.

            Most searched queries

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            Most searched question

            How does AI art work
            Does AI art steal art

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            AI Tech

            ChatGPT and Generative AI’s – A Digilah view

            ChatGPT and Generative AI’s
            ChatGPT and Generative AI’s

            Written by Vidya Dhareshwar on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            Chatgpt, Bard AI and all the generative AI seems to be the current flavour. There is an insurmountable buzz around and about it . 

            Everyone has an opinion on its impact and the ways that it can change, how we and our future generations engage with and use tech in our daily lives.

            Whilst there have been many concerns on its impact on search engines, students, jobs and livelihoods, the fact remains that this evolution has happened and is here to stay.

            ChatGPT alone has been the fastest growing consumer internet app ever with over 100 million users two months after launch. This itself shows the vast potential of generative AI.

             Just as life evolves, so does technology and yet this revolutionary technology doesn’t take away from human intelligence instead it is trained to learn what humans mean when they ask a question. 

            Many users are awed at its ability to provide human-quality responses, inspiring the feeling that it may eventually have the power to disrupt how humans interact with computers and change how information is retrieved.

            In the context of Digilah, where we like to provide a digital platform for every tech enthusiast to learn and contribute their tech journey and thought leadership, we view chatGPT, Bard AI and all other generative AI’s as an enabler and an opportunity for many of our start up and tech founders to share their learnings.

            Let’s talk about the tech startup market in South East Asia alone. As per a Forbes article, The digital and tech industries of this region have enjoyed an enormous boom over the last few years. 

            According to Jungle Ventures, Southeast Asia’s technology startups had a combined valuation of $340 billion in 2020, and they anticipate this will triple by 2025.

            This is a diverse but very strong prospective market with a focus in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

            This market is quite complicated. Many entrepreneurs are hindered by concerns over a difference in mentality and a lack of understanding of how to do business there. We @ Digilah look at this as a huge opportunity.

            There is a need to get all of the learnings and journeys of these startups and founders so that this rich knowledge repertoire is available to all. 

            Many of them would like to share their journeys and provide their insights but sometimes are busy learning and navigating the markets and business challenges and for some it might also mean a constraint in terms of resources and skills to share their journeys be it content creation or communication skills or just time.

            We present the combined power of Human Experience with the generative AI’s in the form of articles published by us at Digilah. Our submission is to use the vast reach of the generative AI tools to start the journey.

            What this tech will do is provide for a framework, a skeleton, a structure of an article , a startup founders journey as a start point. This can then be brought to life by adding the content  and context of experience, leadership, success, failures and insights by the tech founders.

            These articles are extremely valuable and become a  rich database of insight and knowledge for all knowledge seekers today and for the future.

            In short, in our view, ChatGPT, Bard AI AND Human Experience is the opportunity to build the knowledge here at Digilah, all at the click of a key.

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            Sustainability Tech

            Eye on Science: Tech-ing Solar Power Generation To The Next Level

            Tech-ing Solar Power Generation To The Next Level

            Written by Science Centre Singapore on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            Reference image of Singapore’s largest solar farm

            With the effects of climate change worsening by the day, scientists around the world are venturing into the world of renewables in search of a better alternative for producing clean energy.

            Many countries are turning toward the use of solar energy as it is one of the cleanest and most sustainable forms of alternative energy.

            For instance, Singapore has built one of the largest floating solar farms in the world to reduce its reliance on natural gas for the production of electricity. 

            That being so, researchers have now extended their study of generating solar power not only from the Earth but also in space!

            Reference image of a Solar Power Station in Space

            The concept of capturing solar power from space and then transferring it to Earth was first introduced in the 1920s by a scientist named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

             Now, scientists are bringing this concept to reality by developing a new form of cutting-edge technology known as the space-based solar power station (SSP). An SSP works the same way as it does on Earth, except that it floats in space. 

            The solar power station collects energy from the sun using large sheets of metal known as solar panels. Each solar panel is made up of combining multiple photovoltaic cells, also known as solar cells.

            Solar cells are the key component in a solar panel that helps to create an electric current when it comes into contact with sunlight. For energy to be utilised on Earth in the form of electricity, solar panels in space have to transmit the collected solar energy back to earth through radio waves.

            Why Build A Solar Power Station in Space?

            Today, solar power plants can be found in many countries like India, China and the US. Each solar plant consists of millions of solar panels which can help generate electricity for as many as 200,000 homes.

             However, solar plants on Earth can only function during the day to produce energy, when there is sunlight. Their ability to effectively capture sunlight also depends on environmental factors like weather, cloud cover, air pollutants and dust. 

            Unlike on Earth, solar panels in space can be directly exposed to more powerful sunlight at all times of the day. It is estimated that solar panels in space can generate up to 2,000 gigawatts of power constantly. 

            This is nearly 40 times more energy than a solar panel would generate on Earth. With such potential, space-based solar stations can undoubtedly help offset the rate of carbon emissions produced through the burning of non-renewables like fossil fuels. 

            Challenges to Building A Solar Power Station in Space

            Although deemed more functional and effective, there are some challenges to successfully build and maintain a space-based solar power station.

            Currently, one of the most significant issues is about finding a safe and suitable way to send the energy generated in space back to Earth for consumption. 

            The main concern is that some of the energy will be lost during the travel, leaving only a small amount of solar energy that may reach Earth in the end.

            Reference image of a football stadium

            There are other challenges to building a solar power station in space, given that a single solar plant may be as huge as 1,400 football stadiums. 

            To build something of this size, a large number of heavy solar panels will need to be taken into space using rockets. 

            This will require countless rocket launches from Earth, which is expensive and harmful to the environment. On top of this, solar panels in space can be damaged by space debris or any floating objects. 

            They may also degrade faster from being continuously exposed to extremely powerful radiation from the sun. 

            Future of Solar Power Stations in Space

            Despite the challenges, countries like China, the UK, the US, and Japan are already making huge strides in improving current technology and experimenting with building small solar power stations in space. 

            For instance, the UK is planning to undertake a huge project to build a solar power station in space as part of the government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, to achieve net zero energy consumption by 2050.

             Similarly, researchers from Japan and the US are working on developing high-efficiency solar cells that can help with the safe conversion and transmission of solar energy from space to Earth. 

            With more developments, this groundbreaking invention of building solar power stations in space can revolutionise the future of renewables while helping to curb the effects of climate change on our planet. 

            Reference Links Used: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-now-home-to-one-of-the-worlds-largest-floating-solar-farms

            https://singularityhub.com/2022/03/18/a-solar-power-station-in-space-heres-how-it-would-work-and-its-potential-benefits/

            Most searched questions

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            What are some new technologies in the field of solar power?

            Most searched queries

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            Categories
            AI Tech

            𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨?

            how far do we want to go

            Written by : Marcus Parade on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            … 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨?

            There will be a time sooner than we think, when you will not recognize the difference of a human being and a human robot said an expert of robotics already 10 years ago.

            We are still in our early days of AI and robotics and already now, amazing advances have been made in a very short time.

            In concern of AI, all kinds of industries are or will be affected, where huge amounts of data are accessible to be processed.

            𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 many cases better efficiency, insights and incredible time savings and therefore also support an increased competitive advantage. 

            AI is one of the most exciting and rapidly advancing technologies of our time.

            𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 trying to figure out the legal and ethical implications of a content world increasingly turned on by AI, is the progress of this technology advancing “day by day”.

            𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 do now for us 🙂💡. We’ve all heard of Alexa, Google and Siri Assistants – these are all examples of AI in the form of virtual assistants. 

            But AI is also being used in a far more wide range of industries – from healthcare to finance to retail and much much more.

            For example, AI-powered diagnostic tools are being used to help doctors identify diseases like cancer more quickly and accurately. In finance, AI is being used to detect and prevent fraud.

            And in retail, AI is being used to personalize shopping experiences and make precise recommendations to customers.

            AI is also being used in many other industries such as transportation, manufacturing, law, astronomy, agriculture, energy – basically 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭 and again – the AI is getting better day by day …

            𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 🌎? 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 where I find things get really interesting. Some experts predict that AI will eventually be able to do just about anything a human can do and I personally think even far far beyond in many fields.

            For example, AI can be used to perform complex surgeries and improve our mobility and here I do not only mean self-driving cars, but also the overall complexity of traffic and logistics and more.

            AI is also expected to play a key role in fields such as natural language processing, image recognition, climate prediction and the bit scary part – military weapons and operations.

            What I particularly like is that AI might even find out more about the languages of our whales singing 🐳🎵🐋 as well as other animals 🦅. This will teach us a lot about language structures, communication, emotions of animals and even ourselves.

            𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 change the way we consume information, and how we interact with our world 🌏. As AI becomes more advanced, it’s expected that it will be able to “understand ” natural existing and ancient languages, and carry on conversations with humans that are indistinguishable from conversations with other humans.

            𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 AI as an additional mega tool that helps our lives to make our challenges easier. 

            A bit questionable I personally find though, that there are many start-ups now, tapping markets for people, that want to hold conversations with their beloved ones that have passed away 💛.

            Whereas it is often a big challenge to cope with a lost life, I think it is also important to strive forward towards our future. But everyone should decide for themselves and I think experiences will solve many questions.

            AMAZING 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 process and understand images and videos, and make predictions, decisions and summaries based on all kinds of data. 

            What has been recently released for example is the AI used for texting called chat.openAI.com (COAI). The provided data for this platform here is the complete internet that is open and not secured.

            𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 Google on “red 🚨 alert”, as their business strategy is nowadays being questioned as them not being up to date enough in comparison to the progresses of AI.

            Whereas the search engine of Google relies on their algorithms to search for the most relevant results, will AI be able to provide more and more precise SUMMARIES of different sources combined of what you are searching for.

            𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 results, so far the results of the AI and COAI are amazing, but when I read some of the AI texts, you will be able to detect some limits at the stage of today. So far the texts of COAI sound quite emotionless and yet quite perfect in many cases.

            As an example, job applicants have been invited for job interviews by letting AI write ✍📜 them their resume as well as the attached letter. In the end, we humans have to decide, if we want to use the AI proposals, adjust it or leave it out. 

            And such as in the example with the job interview, no AI can play your individual role, your character and your true emotions while talking in real life face to face.

            𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ask the AI for jokes on COAI for example, I found them 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 a bit middle range. I asked for example 3 times, to tell me jokes about AI:

            “Why was the AI sad 😪? Because it had no emotions.”

            “Why did the robot 🤖 go on a diet? Because it wanted to reduce its “byte” size!”

            “Why was the AI cold ⛄❄? Because it left its algorithms open!”

            𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 some examples, where the AI so far is still hitting its limits. It is also possible that these jokes existed already in the internet and that the jokes were not independently combined.

            But as mentioned, AI gets better day by day. The AI will even be able to adapt to your personal writing and speaking style and you will be able to “outsource” many kinds of texting AND research.

            In my opinion, ANY industry that is involved with any kind of texting or large data research – even companies such as creating advertising spots and many many more, will be affected “massively” by the progress of AI. The innovative ideas however I will stay in our power 🤜 – if we choose to.

            𝐀𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 need less employees, as any kind of texting can be done much faster. And the AI even at this stage can deliver very good outputs in order for people 🎭 to have a much faster start with the usage of COAI.

            In my opinion, “luckily” so far, the human evaluation and creativity is more than absolutely needed, but let’s talk again in let’s say 10 years again – the dice 🎲 might roll on improved adapted ground …

            𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬 🌈 𝐚𝐧𝐝 sunshine 🌞 – some people are worried that as AI becomes more advanced, it could lead as mentioned to widespread job losses and even the rise of a robot 🤖 “rebellion”.

            There is also a concern that AI could be used to create autonomous weapons, and to gather data on individuals without their knowledge or consent.

            𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 Elon Musk, but I find his quote about AI very interesting, that AI could be the biggest threat for human kind. 

            Logically I think however, it should “easily” be possible to create secure gateways for AI not be able to become independent and to totally restrict opportunistic behaviour in favour of AI so far.

            𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨?? I personally believe that most technological advances will be tried out if it is more or less promising for a competitive advantage.

            It’s also integrated in our genes for our survival instinct to strive for technological advances. As AI provides competitive advantages and an easier life, this is and will be part of our evolutionary processes of technology surrounding us. 

            It will accompany us now and for our common & united future. As the scientist Darwin already stated “Survival of the fittest”.

            𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 standards will need to be set, as the AI is extracting and combining data from all kinds of previous inputs that is found in our internet. For example the first upload bans for AI artwork have started. 

            I can follow these measures and as of now, I think AI inclusion should a t least be identified, but this could also be wishful thinking…

            𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫all, AI has the potential to make our lives better in countless ways. 

            AI can helps us be more efficient and productive, it can help us make better decisions, and it can help us to understand and interact with the world in innovative, inspirational and faster ways.

            And who knows, maybe in the future we’ll all have robot butlers to do our chores and make us 007-🍸 Martinis or whatever … 😁

            𝐒𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 – we – 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 – 𝐚 brief overview of what AI can do now and what our future might hold. 

            It’s an exciting time to be alive and to see how far AI has come, and it is going to be even more exciting to see what our future will reveal.

            The possibilities are quite endless and I am most curious to see how AI will shape our world in the coming years ahead to our common advantage.

            𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 still narrow and often yet not so very intelligent, but it soon will be, as the tech is getting better day by day – like the harnessing of electricity – that has changed the very fabric of our human life. 

            Some scientists proclaimed that in 2029, AI will be “smarter” than us humans – others say quite a bit later…

            𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 hopefully only go as far, as where we humans still remain the ultimate decision making power without opportunistic behaviour. AND having unifying sustainable goals supported by AI, to save our lovely planet with humans living on it 🌍

            💛🌹🌞

            𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 much you like or found my article somewhat inspiring – 𝐈𝐅 – perhaps you might like to comment or place a 👍 or so? 🌞

            Most searched question

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            Most searched queries

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            Digi Tech HR Tech

            The hidden life-changing (and money-making) power of Change Management

            The hidden life-changing (and money-making) power of Change Management

            Written by : Lata Hamilton on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            It’s no secret that digital transformation is the hottest thing since sliced bread, and everyone wants a piece of this money-making pie.

            Whether it’s going to make your company money or save your company money, the future is new technologies that turn old, manual processes into faster, simpler, automated magic.

            But what happens when your digital transformation dream goes up in smoke, and you’re left holding the ashes? You’ve spent bucketloads on innovation and development but for some reason your amazing platform, system or app hasn’t hit the mark, isn’t being used properly by your staff, customers or clients, has run over deadline, and left you feeling you’ve wasted not just money, but also time, effort, energy and hope.

            You wouldn’t be alone. 

            A massive number of digital projects fail. A 2020 Forbes article found that the number of technology projects which experience serious issues in things like cost, schedule, and goals can be up to 60%! I’ve seen it myself on major digital transformation projects that I’ve worked on with some of Australia’s biggest companies.

            But there is a silver lining. The same Forbes article found that the secret to reducing technology project failure rate is often: people.

            How?

            Through the power of Change Management – which can not only transform your transformation, but also your results.

            My simple definition of Change Management is: “moving people from one way of doing something to a new way of doing something, through communications, training, and business readiness, to realise the benefits of the change.”

            People are the users of any digital technology – they are the ones that unlock its potential. The sad truth is that people are hard-wired to hate change. 

            Even when a new technology could save time, effort and expense, most people will still resist it. 

            Change Management encourages inviting people in to co-create and co-design what the change will mean for them, give them, and bring them. It builds trust instead of fear, empowers your people to own their future, and helps them get ready for a new way of doing things.

            Here are some practical Change Management-inspired approaches you can use to help launch your digital technology more successfully with staff, customers and clients:

            • Co-design the features and processes of the new system with actual end users so it’s fit-for-purpose, user-friendly, and loved before launch.
            • Get your teams ready for the new way of doing things by clearly explaining to them how their processes and tools will be different and what they need to do to prepare.
            • Build a microsite and provide regular project updates, news, training tools, and resources – as well as a countdown to launch and a forum to ask questions!
            • Do live demos of the technology all the way through development – seeing is believing!
            • Give people the chance to get hands-on with the system before it’s launched – even if there’s still bugs, it will help build confidence in the solution.
            • Create an exciting launch event – bring it to life with a quiz, competition, or lucky draw that requires people to try out the new system, with super cool prizes on offer.

            Bringing people on the journey not only changes your experience of leading a digital project, but improves the likelihood of success.

            The Forbes article also suggests building soft skills, supporting leadership, and offering better training experiences – which are all things a great Change Management expert can provide.

            If you want to learn more about the power of Change Management, download my free “Change Hackathon Planning Workbook” here which steps through how to crowdsource and co-create future ways of working during transformation and change.

            Name and title:

            Lata Hamilton – Change Leadership and Confidence expert

            Bio:

            Lata Hamilton is a pocket rocket burst of energy with a big heart… and big hair! She helps women carve their own paths for change in their career, leadership and life. Lata is a Change Leadership and Confidence expert, the creator of the “Leading Successful Change” program, and the Founder & CEO of Passion Pioneers.

            Websites:

            www.latahamilton.com 

            www.passionpioneers.com.au 

            Most searched question

            What are the 5 key elements of change management? 

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            Most searched queries

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            Mar Tech Digi Tech

            SMS Marketing Is Your Key to Success: Tips and Best Practices

            SMS Marketing Is Your Key to Success Tips and Best Practices

            Written by: Shadz Loresco on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            “Dear Diner, you have an upcoming reservation at La Pergola today. Save up to 30% when you purchase a voucher with us via Pergola. Terms and Conditions apply.” 

            I’m sure you must have seen similar promotional text messages on your mobile phones. The messages are short and thoughtful, and it has the potential to grab the attention of the recipient. 

            The message also serves as a reminder, which is a very important factor when it comes to marketing.

            If you want your customers to remember something about your business, it has to be memorable and meaningful. 

            And what better way than through SMS Marketing?

            Let’s take a look at why SMS Marketing is the best thing in business.

            What is SMS Marketing

            SMS marketing means sending marketing messages by text to communicate with customers. Businesses can use SMS to send promotional messages, notifications, and alerts to their customers’ mobile phones. 

            This can include things like special offers, discounts, and event invitations. 

            SMS marketing is often used as a means to reach customers quickly and effectively, as most people have their mobile phones with them at all times.

            According to Statista, the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has become so widespread that these handheld electronics have become almost indispensable tools for reaching customers. 

            As more than half of the global population uses them to access the internet, businesses from around the world are seizing this opportunity to promote their products and services online.

            SMS marketing is extremely effective, with high engagement and conversion rates, as well as lower costs than many other forms of marketing. 

            It’s also more personal, fostering stronger customer relationships between businesses and their consumers.

            For successful SMS marketing, businesses that rely on text message as a primary means of reaching existing customers must comply with the local laws and structure their campaigns correctly. They also need to provide leads that are easily traceable and useful.

            Best practices for SMS Marketing

            Text marketing requires sales representatives to maximize the benefits customers receive from interaction with their company while minimizing the amount of time and effort customers have to invest in that interaction.

            To get your SMS marketing services off to a good start, let’s consider these 6 best practices. 

            1. Make sure you have a clear opt-in

            It is important to ask for written permission from your subscribers before you send them any kind of message via SMS. Your message should include words like ‘Subscribe’, ‘Yes’, or ‘Deals’. 

            Similarly, make sure your recipients have a clear way to opt out of receiving your messages. You can configure these keywords to specific lists for easy campaign management.

            1. Be SMS compliant

            Businesses that send text messages to customers should consider partnering with global SMS providers to ensure they are compliant with regulations. 

            Such providers offer the added protection of a secure authorization process, allowing companies to avoid penalties for noncompliance and keep their brands above reproach.

            1. Don’t bombard your customers

            Sending too many text messages will mark you as a spammer, but sending too few leave your customers wondering about your business. 

            By localizing the content, managing dissemination times across multiple time zones, and segmenting customers to create individual experiences, you can keep them engaged with consistently interesting experiences. 

            A steady messaging schedule is key to a successful text message campaign and keeping your customers in the loop.

            1. Keep texts short and thoughtful

            To ensure that people read your messages, keep them brief and to the point. Long messages can cause users to stop reading or even opt out of receiving future messages from you.

            Also, text messages are limited to 160 characters, so it’s smart to grab your customer’s attention with an exciting greeting and then relay details about the coupon or special offer. 

            For example, “Come to our restaurant and receive a 15% discount on your meal by texting YES to 123456789.”

            1. Identify yourself

            Don’t assume that your customers have your number in their mobile phone contacts. If you want them to open the message and read further, start by identifying yourself immediately. 

            You can do this by putting your brand name at the start of the message, followed by a colon. For example, “Smith Restaurant: Come in today and receive a 15% discount on your meal.” Businesses should also use local numbers for their customers, as this lowers their OPEX (operational costs). 

            1. Offer 2-way communication services

            When offering two-way communication, be quick and responsive. If your text messages include live chat or call links, you can personalize your service by pairing customers with the same agent they may have communicated with earlier. Keep the channel open to receive feedback from customers and respond to their inquiries.

            You can also use the channel to send out surveys, which is a great way to collect feedback and improve your business. 

            Schedule these series of messages so that they are automatically sent out at a certain time of day or week. If you want to make sure people have received their message, include an “SMS Read Receipt” link so customers can confirm whether they did in fact receive them.

            Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31283gPCwvA

            Graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message Description automatically generated

            SMS Marketing campaigns

            You’ll find many SMS marketing platforms that can help you send bulk text messages, personalize them, and measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. Most platforms have an API that allows developers to integrate SMS into existing systems.

            You can also use these tools to track when people open the message and click on links within it—as well as which ones they choose not to open.

            If you’re planning to send SMS messages in bulk, it’s important to choose a platform that has strong scalability and reliability. Many platforms also offer mobile apps that will allow you to view reports and manage campaigns on the go.

            Create and send scalable campaigns that are customized to your target audience and your message content. SMS and WhatsApp campaigns can be used to send promotional or transaction-related messages for marketing purposes.

            SMS sounds primitive but it’s still powerful

            The power of SMS is undeniable; it’s the most effective way to reach your target audience and drive action. With the right messaging, you can build trust and rapport with your customers, increase brand loyalty, improve customer retention rates, and boost sales. 

            For businesses with limited resources, it can be overwhelming to identify which channels to use for marketing.

            Fortunately, SMS is an inexpensive and effective channel that can be used in conjunction with other digital marketing strategies. 

            SMS marketing is on the rise because it works—when done correctly, it reaches 95% of mobile users. To ensure your campaign is a success, you’ll need a sophisticated SMS service provider that can support your mobile marketing programs.

            Most searched question

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            Categories
            HR Tech

            Assess and showcase the IMPACT

            assess and showcase the impact

            Written by : Lori Figueiredo on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            We are now doing a full circle. We started to identify PEOPLE and pre-define the PURPOSE. We then made conscious choices about the PRINCIPLES, PROCESS and PLATFORMS. Now we are back to PEOPLE and PURPOSE in order to assess the IMPACT.  

            This means going back to the pre-defined PURPOSE to measure, track and report on what did you and each target group within the PEOPLE ecosystem:

            • ACHIEVE = assess the results
            • DO = assess the behaviours
            • LEARN = assess knowledge, skills and attitudes

            This is all about data, which is a word everyone uses and only legendary leaders are mindful enough to always clearly pre-define, communicate AND enable their people to achieve. 

            Typically the workstreams of data analytics, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, equipping the PEOPLE with the critical behaviours to drive these data points are NOT aligned. 

            They are working in silos. Reflect on your organization and the alignment in this area.

            From insights to actions. That is why we insist the data points should be pre-defined, and ideally even co-created by those actually doing the work aligned to the bigger shared PURPOSE.  

            Then relevant data points, metrics or indicators are collectively measured, reported and finally the leaders and teams turn this data into insights by finding the patterns. 

            These patterns thereafter are the basis for deciding on the actions (which are the behaviours).  

            Levels of assessment. I discovered the pattern of ACHIEVE-DO-LEARN while working on large transformation strategies. I subsequently found that it matched fully to the commonly used Kirkpatrick Model of Assessment.  

            The model assesses organizational learning at 4 levels:  

            • Level 4 being the assessment of impact on the results
            • Level 3 means assessing the impact on behaviours
            • Level 2 being testing of the knowledge as we did at school
            • Level 1 refers to getting the feedback from the Learners on the learning experience itself; and in our case on the learning culture and whether the 5P enablers are in place

            Leading indicators as levers for the lagging indicators. I learned about the interplay between the lagging indicators as the final outcomes AND the leading indicators. 

            The leading indicators are the levers that drive the final outcomes. This is an important first principle to acknowledge and to create practices and mechanisms to tightly link the 2 metrics. 

            In other words, the behaviors (DO) are the leading indicators and the results (ACHIEVE) are the lagging indicators per target group.

            Tracking the leading indicators. Based on the patterns uncovered through the assessment, decisions can then be made as the entire learning framework is targeted to drive the critical few behaviors for you and each target group. 

            For example a call center team found that the team that improved their call opening had better results than teams that focused on improving their behaviors throughout their calls.

            If the behaviors are very explicitly pre-defined, we have made use of a traffic light scoring which helps to create a visual dashboard and reference point.

            Each individual and team’s behaviors are listed and rated using green when they are doing the behaviors as stated. 

            Marked as orange when there is a need to improve. Red when the behaviors are not being demonstrated at all.

            Assessing the IMPACT of your learning, change and enablement efforts is such an important component to ensure the learning delivers relevant value to the people and organizations involved.  

            Furthermore showcasing the data and insights related to the journey and the resulting IMPACT at each stage, serves to inspire yourself and others.  

            It is also serves as a feedback loop to the next cycle or wave of learning to be iterative. Knowing the positive and negative patterns of why, what, how, where and the resulting impact of the learning on the people and organization’s performance is critical. 

            In addition, it is possible to make tangible other metrics such as level of engagement, alignment and empowerment in innovating and shaping the future. 

             

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            Categories
            Med/Health Tech Mar Tech

            How to Improve Your Virtual Consultations for Healthcare

            how to improve your virtual consultation for healthcare

            Written by: Gunalan R on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

            The telehealth industry is expected to grow from US$26.4 billion in 2020 to $70.19 billion by 2026. 

            At the onset of the pandemic, virtual visits to healthcare providers peaked. As the population ages and more people live longer with chronic conditions, the demand for telehealth services will continue to rise. 

            Remote consulting allows patients – who might have mobility issues or live far from the clinic – to access medical services more easily and conveniently. It also enables doctors to provide more flexible and responsive care, which can be especially beneficial in the case of follow-up consultations.

            Some will argue that remote consultations will never replace the in-person experience. This is where virtual consultations come in. 

            Virtual consultations are a modern approach to delivering traditional face-to-face consultations. When implemented, they offer a secure digital healthcare service to your patients.

            What is a virtual consultation

            It allows patients from their houses to consult with a doctor online using live video conferencing, which results in more convenient and cost-effective care for both parties. 

            Two-way high-definition (HD) video conferencing has paved the way for more types of virtual visits than ever before. Advisors can now engage with patients via this technology, which allows them to access a new range of treatment possibilities from any location–using a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. 

            A virtual consultation is also an effective tool for follow-up consultations between patients and their doctors after they’ve been discharged from the hospital or clinic.

            We have seen practices establishing virtual health clinics with a full suite of diagnostic tools and secure video conferencing technology. 

            This allows the continuity and flexibility of best care without sacrificing the quality of that care and the patient experience. 

            Improving health services with virtual consultations

            Let’s discover some of the best features that make virtual consultations an excellent tool for delivering healthcare.

                1. Easy to use

              A virtual consultation must be simple to join and a user-friendly tool. It allows patients to connect with their doctors from their homes or any location, using a smartphone or computer. The process must be quick, easy to follow, and not require any technical support. 

                  1. High-quality video and audio

                The quality of the video and audio is key to a successful virtual consultation. For doctors and patients to have a productive session, they must be able to see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices clearly, with no delay in transmission. This is where carrier-grade services come into play. 

                Carrier-grade services are dedicated and specialized networks that deliver high-quality voice and video with minimal delay. The standard for this kind of service is the ability to deliver 99.95% uptime. 

                They are designed to ensure a consistent experience for both parties in all environments, including remote locations such as rural communities where there may be limited or no access to other forms of communication infrastructure.

                A picture containing iPod Description automatically generated

                    1. SMS notifications

                  Text messages are often more effective ways to communicate with patients than emails. This is often the case of reminding them of upcoming appointments or medication. 

                  The ability to send text messages to their mobile phones is a very useful feature that can help streamline your practice’s workflow and improve patient satisfaction. 

                  SMS notifications can be used for many things including appointment reminders and schedules, prescription refills, disease management programs, and more. It’s also an easy way to communicate with patients who don’t have email access or prefer not to use it.

                  A recent study shows that text messages receive a 90% engagement rate and help patients feel more connected to healthcare teams.

                  In addition, call links or live chat can be included in text messages. This function allows patients to click a link in the message to connect with their advisors in real time. 

                      1. Unified workspace

                    Combine all channels and networks in a virtual space where your team can collaborate in real-time on any device. It’s an environment that fosters patient care and empowers staff to work together seamlessly across different locations, making it possible for them to stay connected no matter how far apart they are. 

                    A unified workspace brings together all of the tools you need—like scheduling, messaging, file sharing, video and call conferencing, and more—into one place so everyone has access to the information they need at any given time.

                    It’s an easy way to connect with patients while maintaining high levels of security and privacy. 

                        1. Virtual numbers

                      Virtual numbers provide a convenient way to connect with patients, no matter where they are. Whether you’re a local clinic serving your community or a multidisciplinary clinic with international patients, virtual numbers can be answered on any device and will always forward to the correct location.

                          1. Data security

                        Keeping patient data secure is one of the biggest challenges for healthcare providers.

                        Healthcare organizations are required to comply with HIPAA regulations that govern the protection of patient health information, which includes ensuring that all data is encrypted and stored in a secure environment.

                        To protect your data, consider using platforms that offer encryption, backup and recovery, GDPR compliance, and relevant industry standards. In the age of data breaches and hacking, it’s paramount to have a secure way to communicate with patients.

                        Benefits of online consultations

                        Virtual consultations offer health services the chance to diversify the ways they interact with their patients. 

                        In today’s world, convenience is key. This concept unsurprisingly applies to healthcare with 74% of patients preferring easy access to services over in-person interactions with providers.

                        Advantages for patients

                        Online triage, psychiatry, and therapy offer an improved level of healthcare to vulnerable groups, including the elderly and disabled. Patients are not required to leave their comfort zones and can feel more at ease during the consultation, enabling better diagnosis.

                        Advantages for doctors

                        Increasing the efficiency of care delivery and reducing the costs of transporting patients between medical care facilities. 

                        The use of virtual consultations can also help doctors manage their workloads, reduce their mental stress, and improve their work-life balance.

                        A growing trend in virtual healthcare consultations

                        Virtual consultations in healthcare are a permanent part of the medical landscape, and they are here to stay. 

                        They offer patients access to a wider range of healthcare providers than ever before and allow providers to extend their reach into areas where they have previously struggled to establish a presence.

                        Communication technologies have become an essential part of most people’s daily lives, but until recently they have not been widely used in health care. A secure and user-friendly installation with audio and video clarity is crucial for virtual health.

                        The implementation of remote consultations is not meant to replace in-person consultations but to improve the overall doctor-patient journey.

                        Leverage the power of a unified CX and EX solution to create a truly connected, intuitive, and immersive experience. To learn more about CINNOX, request for a demo or sign up for a free trial.

                        Most searched question

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                        Categories
                        HR Tech

                        Use the right PLATFORMS

                        use the right platform

                        Written by : Lori Figueiredo on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

                        As a leader you are likely to leave all the decisions on where learning occurs to others.  However there are many reasons why you should be interested in how to create safe spaces where you and your people are learning.

                        As demonstrated in the earlier example (PROCESS article), if you yourself are an active learner your people will mirror your daily habits. 

                        If you take the time to become aware of the options and you consciously become an active learner developing yourself aligned to the shared PURPOSE with a clear PROCESS – this in itself is a powerful force aligning your teams to your strategic ambitions.  

                        Let’s explore how you can think about which platforms could be used.  Going back to first principles – we can learn and therefore create safe spaces on the web, in a workshop or in the workplace.

                        You as a role model – As a learner, you yourself should be leading the way and being an early adopter curious to explore new learning technologies that enable digital learning. 

                        Are you trying out Chat GPT as an example and what enterprise learning technology platforms are you using?  Do you demonstrate that you are learning in the workplace which is called action learning? Are you participating in workshop sessions which enable social learning? 

                        What investments do you approve – I have had leaders approve a very expensive learning technology because it had spaceships – which by the way were completely irrelevant to the behaviours, mindset and culture they needed to achieve better results.

                        If you are consciously leveraging learning technology to upskill yourself, you will be fully equipped to influence the requirements, selection and adoption of platforms that enable digital, social and action learning.

                        Return on investment – Are you aware if your organization is investing in the right platforms or spaces that best suit the target audience and the nature of the impact required?

                        Are you purely signing off on budgets that may be totally ineffective, while your entire organization continues on the same track, not making any changes at a behavioural, mindset and skill level?

                        On the other hand your teams are using their valuable time addressing recurring problems or losing customers from poor service or paying fines for ethical misconduct due to the way the organization works and learns together?

                        All this is happening because the why, how and where your people are working and learning together is ineffectual.

                        For example many organizations still spend lots of money on online content with low adoption rates and yet every year these online subscription licenses are automatically renewed.

                        We are not pro- or anti- digital learning (or eLearning as it was called) or classroom training.  

                        It is the conscious decision to combine the 3 ways we learn naturally (through Education, Experience and Exposure) with the 3 places where we learn.

                        So here is a way they think about this and nudge yourself, your leaders and teams to leverage the available PLATFORMS most effectively. 

                        For each micro-learning experience every team can:

                        *LEARN on the WEB – use digital learning to identify, curate and consume relevant content just-in-time 

                        *APPLY the learning in the WORKPLACE – use action learning while working on tasks or jobs to be done

                        *REVIEW it in WORKSHOPS – use social learning to reflect, assess and adjust your behaviours and results

                        In fact, this is often referred to as the 4th – which is E for environment. Much research and your own evidence will confirm that creating safe spaces for learning on the web, workplace and workshops is a critical ingredient to drive the critical behaviours and results of any community or ecosystem of people navigating change.

                        We use a digital-action-social learning cycle using the web-workplace-workshops for each unit of learning from a simple to a very complex learning strategy.

                        Using this as part of the 5P framework anyone is able to create a highly scalable and sustainable learning, enablement and change strategy with strategic impact. 

                        Collectively leaders can reach millions of people with deep and meaningful impact on their behaviours and results which in turn leads to people and organizational transformation, success and growth.

                        Furthermore you are creating psychological safety in your organization which is a fundamental role as a leader. Aligning the PLATFORMS to the PURPOSE and PROCESS, ensure you are leveraging all the possible spaces and embedding continuous learning, adapting and improving as a daily habit into your operating rhythm.

                         

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                        For more such amazing content follow DigilahAre you purely signing off on budgets that are
                        ineffective . . . while your entire organization continues on the same track,
                        not making any changes at a behavioural, mindset and skill level.any 

                        Categories
                        Mar Tech Logistic & Travel Tech

                        Revive Customer Experience (CX) in the Hospitality Industry

                        Revive Customer Experience in the Hospitality Industry with a CX Solution

                        Written by : Krutant Iyer on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

                        The travel restrictions in many countries have eased. Hotels and group tours are filling up. The travel and hospitality industry were the worst-hit sectors during the pandemic.

                        The challenges of going through the lockdown. No more dining out, partying with friends, or even setting out on a staycation with family.

                        We have come a long way. Even though most countries around the world have lifted travel restrictions, people are still apprehensive about booking a flight ticket, pre-paying for a hotel booking, or even dining at their favourite restaurant. But that doesn’t mean people are not keen to go out again.  

                        The pandemic has changed the hiring landscape in nearly every industry, including hospitality. Now that the worst of the pandemic is over, the industry needs to thrive with the highest focus on customer experience (CX). 

                        Leaders from the hospitality industry are well aware that compassionate customer service is the key to creating an excellent guest experience and winning their trust and loyalty.

                        Silent Pitfalls of Customer Experience 

                        1. A New Generation of Well-Informed Customers

                        The post-pandemic traveller is savvier than before and has higher expectations from businesses.

                        The new-age customer is smart enough to not make a booking online before searching all avenues for the best price available, and if by chance the price on the official website is higher than the one offered by an online travel agency, then that business is likely to see a dent in their revenue. 

                        From searching and booking the experience to sharing stories about the experience, customers expect businesses to go over and beyond in fulfilling their expectations for ‘something different and hip’ to be considered a full-course 5-star service. 

                        1. Bad Experiences Shared by Customers

                        One bad experience is all it takes for customers to take to social media and vent about their negative experiences.

                        It is also true that customers are not so driven when it comes to sharing positive experiences and need to be goaded with enticing add-ons or coupons to share one. 

                        Customers expect instant gratification and to accommodate customers’ on-the-fly requests, businesses need to have holistic visibility of their entire journey to craft top-notch experiences.  

                        1. Data Collection and Personalisation

                        Most hospitality businesses have marked their presence on various digital channels to actively engage with their customers and offer personalised services. However, this is not the case.

                        Their efforts are hindered by the lack of availability to collect data from various distributed systems and use this data to fulfil customer expectations. 

                        When customer data is distributed across multiple systems that have no way of integrating into one, centralised destination, it leaves the customer-facing teams grasping at straws to fulfil customer expectations.

                        1. Disconnected with Customer Service Touchpoints

                        Multi-channel communication hailed the pre-pandemic era. 

                        However, the landscape has seen unprecedented changes. Most businesses are out of touch with how they handle customer enquiries across individual touchpoints. 

                        To deliver great customer experiences, the hospitality industry needs to first provide its employees with the resources they need to thrive in any situation. 

                        An increased focus on CX opportunities as we head into 2023 and beyond will be crucial to boosting team productivity, performance, and engagement. 

                        Let’s take a look at some important pillars of how the hospitality industry can reboot customer experience with an omnichannel transformation.

                        Roadmap to Experiential Transformation

                        1. Deliver Proactive Customer Service

                        Having an online presence is just half the battle. The other half is taking a more proactive, consultative approach for online visitors. Rather than depending on conversion rate optimisation (CRO) techniques, have a smart greeting function to welcome visitors. 

                        While some visitors prefer to browse alone to find the best deals, others will appreciate you asking questions to better understand what they are looking for, and their requirements. 

                        The most pleasant moment is when the visitor is greeted in the native language. When the customer-facing agent speaks the customers’ language, this shows the efforts the business is willing to make to satisfy their needs. 

                        A visitor clicks on the live chat link below the smart greeting, for example. From the enquiry window, your sales agent knows the visitor browsed a cosy resort. 

                        When it comes to the hospitality industry, the customer experience begins right from the moment of discovery and the first interaction. Businesses need to proactively engage with visitors to convert them into paying customers.

                        1. Connect Customers with the Right Experiences

                        Bridge the gap between telecom and digital experiences, by unifying all touchpoints on a single platform.

                        Businesses can create frictionless and contextual experiences by effortlessly switching between social media channels, emails, SMS, video, and phone to adapt responses. 

                        Post-pandemic customers are looking for live human support on their preferred channel of communication. Go further and provide them with real-time, humanised experiences at every touchpoint backed by customer intent and sentiment data from a unified dashboard.

                        Some visitors are hesitant to move forward, in this instance for the cosy resort booking because of some safety measures of the theme park.

                        It takes a split second for them to leave a chat and never return if their needs are not addressed optimally. 

                        The ability to share files within the chat widget ensures that the chain of conversation does not get broken, and empowers the agent to keep the interaction contextual. 

                        To ensure the visitor can make an informed purchase decision, your sales agent even turns the chat into a video call and offers a virtual tour of the resort. 

                        Conversational AI capabilities can turn the live chat into a live video tour to seamlessly assist customers through the booking process. This will expedite the decision-making.

                        1. Humanise Customer Relationships in a Digital World

                        The hospitality industry needs to transform its customer experience to emulate real-world, personalised services. 

                        This can be achieved by using smart capabilities such as sticky routing. Sticky routing empowers businesses to direct returning customers to the same customer support agents who attended to their previous enquiries.

                        Let’s say the customer who booked the resort returns to your website again after a few weeks. This time, the customer enquiries about the availability of corporate booking packages for the company’s annual event. The customer is then directed to the same agent who attended to the previous enquiries. 

                        Intelligent routing and binding rules act as tunnels to ensure customers receive personalised service and help in establishing efficient workflows. 

                        1. Adherence and Compliance with Data Security

                        Keeping data secure, private, and safe from breaches takes precedence when businesses decide to digitalise their traditional processes.

                        Currently, many businesses are limited by the strict regulations implemented by the governing bodies on outbound telecom communication services, which impedes their ability to effectively use calls and text messaging services.

                        Customers’ details are a wealth to a business.

                        They are highly confidential. Empowering the business with a robust cloud-based unified communication solution is highly essential. 

                        To connect customers with businesses securely and offering data retention capabilities following the government regulatory requirements is critical.

                        Key trends driving the hospitality industry

                        If you are wondering about the forces that are driving the hospitality industry after coming out of the pandemic, these numbers would make you sit up: 

                        • 97% of millennials share their travel experience on social media 

                        • Approximately 90% of customers are willing to share their behavioural data if it can lead to them being offered an affordable brand experience  

                        • 80% of customers feel more emotionally connected to a business when customer service solves their problem

                        • Sales in the leisure tourism market are projected to grow at 19.5% CAGR 

                        • 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a superior customer experience 

                        • Customers who are loyal to a business spend 67% more than new customers

                        Look forward and understand your customers better

                        To deliver on ambitious aspirations, the hospitality industry needs a deep understanding of its customers. The needs and expectations are constantly shifting. 

                        With the right omnichannel CX solution, businesses can offer secure and personalised experiences to their guests while eliminating loopholes from disjointed touchpoints. 

                        Businesses are paving the path to a brighter future by making efforts to enhance their relationships by proactively engaging with their customers on channels of their choosing.

                        Leverage the power of a unified CX and EX solution to create a truly connected, intuitive, and immersive experience. To learn more about CINNOX, request for a demo or sign up for a free trial.

                        Most searched questions

                        How can you enhance the experience of the client in facilities for the hospitality industry?

                        What is CX in travel?

                        Most searched queries

                        Examples of good customer service in travel and tourism

                        Future of travel industry after COVID

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