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THERE’S A TECHLASH BREWING, BUT THAT DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN THE FUTURE HAS TO BE BLEAK

BY HONG XINYI

L I F E A F T E RD I S R U P T I O N

The pace of change in the tech sector has always been rapid. But lately, the distance from buzz to bust seems to be shortening at an even more dizzying speed. From ride-hailing platform Uber to messaging platform Slack, some of the most feted tech start-ups have turned in lacklustre

performances since becoming listed companies this year, prompting discussions about whether the venture capital-funded model of pursuing aggressive growth without prioritising a realistic pathway to profitability is really sustainable.

Many are also starting to question the disruptions these tech innovations have introduced. Companies that rely on armies of contract or casual workers to make their business model work have come under fire for not providing better wages and meaningful health and safety benefits even as their valuations soar. Those that have grown into behemoths are increasingly asked to account for the consequences of their outsized impact.

Indeed, ongoing calls for more stringent regulation of the tech industry stem from one of the defining moments of this fast-concluding decade. In 2018, the world found out that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested personal data from millions of Facebook profiles without users’ consent, and used it to micro-target voters during political campaigns, including the 2016 US election and Brexit referendum.

Today, the energy around the tech world is markedly different from the heady days when “move fast and break things” seemed like the recipe for a utopian universe. Still, that doesn’t mean dystopia is definitely imminent. Today’s more clear-eyed attitude towards tech is also a healthy recalibration of what we value. Earlier this year, multinational media and digital marketing communications company Dentsu Aegis Network released a report, Human Needs in a Digital World, that surveyed over 43,000 people in 24 countries to come up with a new model for tech—one that should meet not just basic needs such as access to and trust in data, but also psychological and social needs such as improved wellbeing.

Could this be the future of tech? We talk to some industry experts to find out more about what’s in store for the sector as we move into a new decade.

BALANCING PRIVACY AND PROFIT The drumbeat for legislation that better protects data privacy is growing stronger. In Europe, there is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which entered into force in 2018. That same year, California—home to many Silicon Valley giants—passed the California Consumer Privacy Act, which gives residents the power to view the data collected from them, request deletion, and not allow it to be sold to third parties. In Singapore, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) came into effect in 2013. But in an increasingly digitally connected world, does privacy still exist?

Benjamin CheongPartner at law firm Rajah & Tann Singapore, whose specialisations include technology, media, telecommunications, data protection and cybersecurity

“The PDPA required a change of mindset for many businesses. Companies without a data protection officer had to think if this position should be part of their organisation, and assess whether to hire people for data protection in their legal, IT or HR departments.

As more new technologies arise and security breaches occur, people will become

increasingly aware of the value of data protection. We will see more fine-tuning of data protection regulations. The PDPA is a baseline legislation that applies to all industries. But there are very specific needs for different sectors, so fine-tuning with industry-specific guidelines will help regulations address these sectors better.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore is definitely one of the forerunners for data privacy regulation. Globally, it might be considered late with data protection laws already in places such as the EU. But different countries have different considerations. Singapore wants to be seen as a data hub, so it doesn’t want to restrict the flow of data. It’s about striking a balance.”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: POTENTIAL & ANXIETY Humans have been worried about robots replacing us since at least the Industrial Revolution, but there’s no denying that in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, our feelings about artificial intelligence are growing more complex by the minute. Two experts share their views on AI’s role in the future of consumer-facing industries.

Arshan SahaCEO of Xaxis APAC, a programmatic media and technology platform

“We believe the future of media is digital. And all media that is digital will be addressable, which means we can make advertising more personalised and interactive. To help clients reach their business goals, we use proprietary AI technology to find patterns in customers’ digital journey, and determine the most prevalent ways the

intent to buy is converted into action. AI gives us the ability to do this at an accelerated pace.

Today, you’ve got consumers who are more educated and demanding, and who are a lot more conscious of their surroundings. How do we engage them on all these addressable platforms in a non-intrusive way? How do we show people only ads that are relevant to them? I think that is what we need to do as an industry.

You don’t want to see a 3min ad right before you watch a 30sec video, for example. So why not show somebody a 5sec ad that is more relevant to them, based on what we understand about their purchase intent? All these elements come into play to make the customer journey more pleasant and engaging.

Cases like Cambridge Analytica have contributed to the view that this entire sphere is unstructured. What we’re seeing today is more structure, in the form of the GDPR, for example. Structure is good. It can educate consumers to understand that the data that advertising uses, in a lot of instances, is not privacy-invading, which will then give them an understanding that opting into relevant advertising can be beneficial to them.”

Chandan JoshiEY Global Emerging Markets Consumer Industries Leader 

“Through recent hackathons that we held around the globe to model future consumer worlds, it became clear that AI will play an increasing role in the way we shop and live. In one of the worlds we modelled, consumers valued time much more than money. Their personalised AI learned about their unique

preferences and used those insights to buy most of the things they needed. This allowed them to spend their time shopping only with brands that reflected their values and purpose.

Future technology-empowered consumers will demand not just personalised products and services, but also frictionless experiences. Retailers will be challenged to transform and adapt as the foundations of the retail industry shifts.

Although consumer-facing industries may appear prone to eventually having some of their job responsibilities replaced by disruption, technology can also create new job opportunities. For example, we could see grocery stores transform into distribution centres, which could create a new logistics jobs for former store clerks. What’s important for employers and employees alike is to keep their focus on increasingly investing in retraining and upskilling, in order to be fit for the age of automation.

Embedding trust by design in the use of technology is key. There will need to be a convergence of regulatory frameworks between countries on data sharing, and an integration of competing technology operating systems. Given the potential vested interests involved, this will not be a small challenge.

As AI and machine learning rise, it’s also important to ensure that we avoid the risk of reflecting current prevalent biases into the future. Both AI and machine learning are fuelled by huge volumes of existing data. When image databases associate women with domestic chores and men with sports, for example, studies have shown that image-recognition software not only replicates those biases but amplifies them.”

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & BLOCKCHAIN: STILL PENDINGThe subject of much hype in recent years, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that makes them possible have yet to achieve mass adoption. Facebook’s plan to introduce Libra, a global cryptocurrency, encapsulates the state of this innovation at the moment. Libra was announced in June, but Facebook’s partner PayPal has since pulled out of the project, and the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook have expressed reservations about this ambitious endeavour. Still, proponents of cryptocurrencies and blockchain believe these technologies have the potential to make the financial system exponentially more efficient and dynamic. We speak to two experts at this year’s Credit Suisse Global Supertrends Conference for more insights.

“FUTURE TECHNOLOGY-EMPOWERED CONSUMERS WILL DEMAND NOT JUST PERSONALISED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, BUT ALSO FRICTIONLESS EXPERIENCES”

BELIEVING IN TECH AS AN UNCOMPLICATED FORCE FOR GOOD MIGHT HAVE BEEN NAIVE, BUT A MORE MEASURED AND CAUTIOUS VIEW SHOULD ALSO MAKE ROOM FOR TECH’S POSITIVE POTENTIAL

Gavin Brown Associate professor of financial economics at Manchester Metropolitan University, and co-founder and director of cryptocurrency fund Blockchain Capital Limited

“It’s been over 10 years since the first bitcoin was mined, and adoption rates are still incredibly low. It’s hard to get into, people are scared of it. So I think to get meaningful adoption, you’re probably going to need it to be institutionalised. That would be kind of ironic, because bitcoin was created to combat centralised systems.

We live in an era where some multinational companies (MNCs) are considered more reputable and trustworthy than whole countries. So a company could decide, besides selling consumers goods and services, to also sell them the money with which they’re going to purchase these goods and services? A classic example is Starbucks. People purchase prepaid Starbucks cards to buy their coffee, because they have faith in the brand. Disney has been issuing Disney Dollars for use in their theme parks for decades, because they recognise there is strategic value in controlling the monetary system within their ecosystem. And that is effectively what we may be seeing more companies do in the future—turning something like a loyalty point system into a currency that moves on a blockchain, and allowing people to cash it out to US dollars, for example, when they want to.

What could get in the way of that? Central banks and governments are not going to just let MNCs wrestle control of monetary policy away. Many central banks have published research papers proposing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which would be cryptocurrencies in the sense that they would move through a blockchain. But the key difference is that CBDCs would be controlled by central banks and they would be able to reconcile your crypto Singaporean dollar, for example, with your real-world self. So the anonymity that comes with some cryptocurrencies would not be afforded to you with this.”

Henri Arslanian FinTech & Crypto Leader, Asia, PwC; Chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Hong Kong where he teaches the first FinTech university course in Asia

“If you go to any crypto conference, people will tell you that the crypto community wants more regulation. When there’s regulatory clarity, it provides some comfort on things like the tax implications of holding crypto assets. So I think the idea of the crypto industry being made up of a bunch of cowboys, who want to operate outside of the law, is completely outdated.

When it comes to blockchain adoption by enterprises, things are moving slower than anticipated. The reality is, while the existing infrastructure of financial institutions is not perfect, it still works. It’s like having an old car that may not look that nice or go that fast, but it can still get you from point A to B. And other technologies, such as cloud services, are alternatives to blockchain. So it’s a very big career gamble for any senior executive today to move part of their infrastructure to blockchain. It takes a lot of courage, and you would need to be very knowledgeable and quite bullish about technology. More broadly speaking, technology adoption takes a lot of time. And I think it’s absolutely unacceptable that we let finance and accounting students graduate from universities today with no knowledge of the blockchain. We need to empower them to learn about these technologies’ entrepreneurial potential, because that’s how they can come up with more technological transformations.”

CLOSING REMARKS Amid all the uncertainty, it might be useful to remember that not so very long ago, we regarded tech much more optimistically. Believing in it as an uncomplicated force for good might have been naive, but a more measured and cautious view should also make room for its positive potential.

John LinFounder and CEO of proprietary trading firm Grasshopper, and cryptocurrency trading service Tilde

“In the last three years, I have seen disruption through the lens of my children. They love music, but I realised they have never watched MTV. That was a big deal to me—I’m a guy who remembers the first video on MTV; it used to symbolise a certain disruption. My kids have clearly gone so far past it, through YouTube and other digital platforms, that I realised that these have become massive

vectors for learning and propagating any kind of idea. So that was a very interesting awakening that led me to form the foundation of my current view on technology. I think the cycles of disruption are compressing. There are multiple facets of technology all developing at the same time, and there’s a ton of opportunity, if you can see what’s happening.

Technology is going to touch our lives in ways that we just don’t even understand yet. I think it’s going to be super interesting. We have to have the right conversations. If you don’t bring trust and privacy back to development and processes, people are going to flee the other way. The good thing is, barriers to entry have fallen, which means more people can enter the sector and innovate a better way of doing things in tech. I’m optimistic. I always prefer to look at the positive because I think that there’s more value capture that way. The status quo is never good enough. So I’ll take change.”