Asia Insurance Review invites Dr. Toa Charm to share his experience in the Asia Conference on Big Data and Analytics for Insurance  in Singapore on 28 Jan, 2016.

The mantra of big data cannot be overemphasized. Big (and even small) data has seen its role significantly elevated in recent times across different industries. As organisations pursue various strategies to drive profitability, many have turned to their data for the answer. Traditionally, the insurance industry has been sitting on its historically rich vein of data and it is now time for the insurers to embark on the analytics journey where they leverage on their data to stay competitive. Increasingly, there is a shift towards a data-based driven business model in the wider economy.

Is your organisation ready for the data journey? How can your organisation leverage on data as a strategic tool? How will your organisation adopt and embrace data analytics? Do you have the right talent to deploy data analytics?

Data Analytics will play a key role in reshaping the way the organisation functions, through the use of data to drive key business decisions, to underwrite new policies, to create new business opportunities, and boundless ways to innovate and connect with the market. Don’t fear big data. Use it as your friend to be a winner in the data age.

Dr. Toa Charm is invited to be the guest lecturer to share his experience about “How Big Data can Enhance CRM and customer experience” in University of Hong Kong on January 20, 2015.

Invited by the visiting assistant professor of the master degree program of electronic commerce and internet computing in University of Hong Kong, Dr. Toa Charm is going to give a speech in HKU about the topic “how big data could enhance CRM or customer experience”.

Dr. Toa Charm is the chairperson of the BI & big data special interest group at Hong Kong Computer Society. In December 2015, his article, “Big Data in Action”, is posted on Hong Kong Computerworld.

If you think big data is very remote from our work and lives, well, think again. If you still haven’t felt the waves from the global big data tsunami, well, think again. Big data has already permeated our lives. Rather than boring you with the definition of big data and explaining what is Hadoop, let’s have a look at how big data is taking over the world, making significant impact in our daily lives and businesses in Asia.

Analyze shopping till you drop
The top two winners of big data users are Alibaba and Amazon. In Asia, Alibaba made headlines again on November 11 with an online transaction of RMB91.2 billion (HK$110.8 billion) on its annual Single’s Day sale. It was the use of analytics — enabling Alibaba and its sellers at TMall and Taobao to cross-sell and up-sell—that generated such astonishing transactions. Apart from the e-commerce business, Alibaba’s Internet financing unit Ant Financial Services Group also made big wins through big data from the Single’s Day sale. Through analytics and big data, Ant Financial is able to calculate interest rates and manage risks to offer services like micro loans, online payment
and insurance services. According to the company, its financing unit MyBank loaned RMB9 billion (HK$10.9 billion) to the e-commerce suppliers in preparation of the sale.

Big data for movies
Do you still remember KPS Video Express? The leading video rental store used to have a shop in all the major eighborhoods in the 1990s. Apart from the impact from piracy and counterfeit DVDs, Netflix, YouTube and Youku are now replacing these shops. Movie fans are no longer disappointed because their favorite movies are out of stock. There are unlimited copies of every movie, as long as your Internet bandwidth supports the streaming. If you are not sure what to watch, the analytics of these providers can recommend movies based on your surfing behavior and previous purchase.

Hong Kong in big data actions
With so many successful cases about big data, how many Hong Kong companies are taking advantage of the analytics technologies? I’d say we are better than a few years ago, but still have a long way to go.

Many local businesses are starting to realize the importance of big data and analytics to accelerate business growth. Li & Fung has set up an experimental shopping mall in Shanghai called Explorium. It aims to enhance shoppers’ experience  by understanding better their personal preferences through technology. The shopping mall takes advantage of different state-of-the-art technologies and top-class big data analytics to track and identify shopper behaviors.
Another example is Chow Tai Fok Jewelry. It is also making use of big data to identify individual customers’ styles and preference by tracking their offline buying behaviors, buying habits, as well as their surfing behavior online.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong SAR Government has started to focus on an open data policy, allowing external parties to access government data. Through opening up access to data, different parties are encouraged to get involved in the development of different applications or initiatives to bring Hong Kong one step closer to become a smart city.

All these examples indicate that the era of big data has arrived. Are you ready to take action and join the global wave of big data?

Big data is a hot topic these days among not only technologists but also business leaders in the West and the East. In this session, Dr. Toa Charm is invited by CILTHK to share the disruptive power of big data, critical success factors of making it happen, and its implications to supply chain industry with participants.

Big data is a hot topic these days among not only technologists but also business leaders in the West and the East. Almost all industries and all professions including supply chain and industry are being or will be soon disrupted by big data. Internet-savvy companies like Google and Alibaba, big data start-ups like Zest Finance and Rong 360, traditional companies like GE and Haier, financial services institutions like Citibank and Ping An, are all making use of big data to create their business models to disrupt the rules of our games, win the heart of our customers, innovate new products and services, and make faster and better decisions at right time.

What is big data exactly? Why is it getting our attention these days? Big data is not just a new technology or a system. It is about business transformation and monetization opportunities. Big data promises to transform an organisation from a retrospective, batch, data constrained, monitor the business environment into a predictive, real-time, data hungry, and optimise the business environment. In this session, participants are going to learn the disruptive power of big data, critical success factors of making it happen, and its implications to supply chain industry.

Tif Tam, the representative of organizer, has expressed her thankfulness for Dr. Toa’s sharing in the seminar. It was indeed a rewarding and enjoyable evening, the topic had attracted a great deal of interest to those participants who had attended.

Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council invites Dr. Toa Charm to participate in the fifth edition of Asian Logistics and Maritime Conference in November 17-18, 2015 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. Dr. Charm will act as the Panel Chair for the Plenary Session 2 – Big Data Analytics: Envision the Future of Logistics.

Jointly organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Asian Logistics and Maritime Conference aims at providing a preferred platform for both users and logistics service providers to network and to gather market intelligence on regional business opportunities and strategies, as well as trends in supply chain management, distribution and logistics.

This year’s conference will explore the opportunities and challenges under China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, as well as the development of e-commerce and big data that are transforming the logistics and maritime industries. A series of thematic forums on the outlook for the air cargo and maritime industries, as well as electronics and food supply chains will also be staged during the conference. The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR Government will deliver the conference’s opening address. It is expected to attract 2,000 participants including maritime and logistics services providers and users from around the world to join us at the event.

Given the respected status and acknowledged expertise, Dr. Toa Charm is invited to act as the Panel Chair for the Plenary Session 2 – Big Data Analytics: Envision the Future of Logistics. Confirmed speaker line-up for the session as below:

• Mr Herbert Chia, Vice President, Alibaba Group
• Mr Shaun Connolly, International Program Director – Transport, Logistics, Postal, and Supply Chain, Teradata Corporation
• Ms Louise Wong, Solution Principal for Advanced Analytics and Big Data, Greater China Region, Microsoft