DGB and principal Cisco teamed up recently to host the Next Generation Optical Forum in Kuala Lumpur. Over 100 customers attended from a cross-section of verticals including telco providers, mobile operators, government and enterprise organisations. DGB General Manager CP Tan, Simon Rizkallah, Cisco’s Head of Optical Transport, APAC, Japan & China and Cisco Consulting System Engineer Aaron D’alwis spoke on the various Cisco optical solutions for customers around the region.
FST reached out to its partners recently with a “Halloween” networking event to provide the latest updates from principal Hitachi Data Systems. Held in a casual setting, the informal event gave 30+ partners the opportunity to hear about the HNAS F1120 storage system, as well as details of promotions available.
Harsha Purasinghe, CEO of OMESTI Group technology partner Microimage HCMAsia [pictured centre], has been selected as a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow, a prestigious award conferred annually www.efworld.org.
Fellowship includes the 2014 Eisenhower Innovation Program, a two-month itinerary spanning a dozen US cities involving some 60-80 individualised meetings with leaders in their respective fields. Organisations such as the World Bank, Darden Business Schools, Affinity Labs, IBM, Microsoft, Capital Factory, Coursera, Impact Hub, Chevron, Google, Impact Engine, MIT, Harvard and many more are part of the schedule.
Harsha will use this unique experience to inform his plans to build a platform for social idea incubation and acceleration in Sri Lanka. This platform will foster social innovation and entrepreneurship by providing access to mentors, advisory groups, volunteers, financing, technology platforms and other resources, enabling people to collectively bring social ideas to life.
At the age of 19, Harsha founded Microimage, which he developed into a leading technology innovator in Human Capital Management, Media/Broadcast, and Mobile & Digital Convergence. Within two decades, this serial entrepreneur has founded a number of technology ventures and contributed to building several award-winning products. These include Microimage, Microimage Mobile Media, Microimage HCM Asia and WSO2 Mobile.
OMESTI Group company Microlink Solutions took part in the 15th edition of The Edge-Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Rat Race held in the heart of the capital’s central business district recently. The Microlink team saw colleagues Puganeskumar, Albert Choy, Vivi Wong, Wong Lay Hong and Eniasharmila battling it out as they completed the 4.5km distance, beginning and ending at the Malaysia Tourism Centre in Jalan Ampang.
They were among a group of 660 runners from nearly 70 local, foreign, private and public listed companies that signed up for this year’s race. A phenomenal RM1.844 million was raised for various charities. Half of the funds raised will be donated to 12 beneficiaries for education and training programmes while the other half will be channelled to The Edge Education Foundation’s programme to promote English and financial literacy.
Microlink will continue to play its part in improving conditions in the local community through employee initiatives.
Kuala Lumpur, 25th September 2014 - More than 300 legal practitioners attended a dynamic open canvas session today featuring three prominent members of the profession to hear how technology will impact the future of law practices in Malaysia. Hosted by OMESTI Group, the session was part of the 2014 International Malaysian Law Conference held in Kuala Lumpur. The panel line-up included Judge Lee Swee Seng, Azhar [Art] Harun of Hisham Sobri & Kadir and Edmund Bon of Bon Advocates.
Xian-Zhen Mah, Executive Director of OMESTI Group set the scene by highlighting how technology is disrupting businesses across the board. “Even though many dislike and continue to dislike change – as we all know, change is the only constant. Companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook have disrupted markets. Records and CDs have been replaced by electronic downloads, digital photography has made SLR cameras almost obsolete. Even supermajor Nokia joined the smart phone game too late.
“What all this tells us is: with technology, if you don’t change you become extinct. In the legal landscape, clients are re-evaluating their supply chain and looking at costs. Traditional law firms need to embrace technology to offer more for less.”
The three speakers gave thought-provoking views on how technology is already impacting the various disciplines of law. On conveyancing, Judge Lee spoke on the five principles of simplicity, security, speed, skills and satisfaction that need to be incorporated into the system. “We need to go back to basics and question for example why do we really need a cumbersome, lengthy Sales & Purchase Agreement when a much simpler document will suffice – plus help save trees along the way. By introducing greater simplicity, we can focus on expanding our skills base into the more meaty areas of our profession.”
Art Harun examined how many legal firms are specialising in a particular area of law while others are evolving into one-stop solutions providers. “This trend could help streamline processes and make it easier to achieve faster progress for clients. Even setting up a meeting can sometimes be challenging when there are so many parties involved.”
Edmund Bon stressed that the time for change has come. “We have been talking about change for years. Now we need to embrace it and take action. We need to adapt and adopt the benefits technology can bring in order to enhance our delivery, create new opportunities and sustain future growth. New-look law firms are already emerging where the pyramid structure is being discarded in favour of a more open organisation with equity stake for lawyers and flexible resourcing models. We need to foster entrepreneurial environments that allow young professionals to flourish and take on broader roles.”
Quoting examples of how technology and crowdsourcing are impacting the profession, he added, “There is no reason why sharing of information cannot take place in secure cloud environments. Online dispute resolution is already happening and we should be looking to adopt templates for some types of transaction.”
Kuala Lumpur, 26th September 2014 - Microimage HCM Asia, partner of Asia-based OMESTI Group, took the stage alongside leading HR professionals at the HR Technology Congress in Kuala Lumpur this week. The theme of the Congress focused on HR as an asset class, technology as an enabler in the HR spectrum and HCM for boosting productivity, engagement and speed.
Suren Rupasinghe, COO of Microimage, flew in from Sri Lanka to take part in one of the panel sessions on the future of HR technology. The session looked at technologies that today’s HR professionals require and was led by Mei-Lynn Chan, EVP and Head, Human Capital Group Technology for Maybank.
Suren highlighted, “HCM solutions are all about people. One of the key factors for success therefore of any HCM solution is implementation. You need have the right strategic alignment and the right execution to deliver to the end user. Maximising technology to ensure that delivery is essential.”
The panellists also discussed the role of data analytics and how technology is being used in HR to help the business grow and add value. Participants at the event included senior executives from leading corporations such as Maxis, Shell, PwC, Pfizer, GE and SM Investments.
Allan Pillai, General Manager of Microimage HCM Asia, based in Kuala Lumpur, said, “This event provides a good platform for us to network with senior executives from some of the country’s leading organisations and demonstrate the capabilities of our HCM solutions.”
Under the partnership with OMESTI, Microimage Asia is bringing innovative technology to companies in the region to help them streamline their people management systems and establish HR as the game changing enterprise-wide function.
The Microimage Asia HCM suite is available as an on-premise version that provides medium- to large-scale enterprises with 14 integrated modules to deliver significant cost and operational efficiencies. These modules help facilitate human resource planning, recruitment, retention and development. The integrated platform enables a streamlined enterprise approach to payroll administration, employee records, benefits management, time management and more. It is also available as a kiosk based system that is ideally suited to manufacturing and factory environments.
A cloud-based Social Performance Management System – Workswiftly.com – is also available, providing an informative and interactive social feed, capturing goals assigned to employees along with comments posted by peers and superiors on progress.
Recognising the specific needs of SMEs, the portfolio is also available as HCM SaaS, an online, cloud-based HR management platform that offers the same features as the enterprise version but tailored to SME operations.
Microimage has implemented HR solutions for over 600 customers across many industry verticals, delivering significant cost advantages for these firms. The company has extended its product range to leverage the power of cloud, mobile and social technologies.
Photo: Suren Rupasinghe, COO of Microimage says strategic alignment, technology and execution are key to success in HCM solutions [Courtesy Grant Corban]
OMESTI Group has lined up three prominent members of the legal profession to headline a dynamic open canvas session on how the future of law practices in Malaysia will evolve. The session is part of the upcoming 2014 International Malaysian Law Conference being held from 24th-26th September in Kuala Lumpur that will see practitioners from all sectors of the profession in attendance.
The panelists leading the OMESTI session are Judge Lee Swee Seng, Azhar Azizan Harun of Hisham Sobri & Kadir and Edmund Bon of Bon Advocates. Xian-Zhen Mah, Executive Director of OMESTI Group and former practitioner herself, will moderate the session. This ‘open canvas’ format will explore what law firms, specialising in litigation, conveyancing and corporate law, will look like in 2020.
“Technology is changing the way businesses work and law practices are no exception. This session will help us explore what will our profession look like five years from now,” says Edmund Bon. “As practitioners, we need to assess how to prepare for the challenges ahead and adapt in order to enhance delivery, create new opportunities and sustain future growth.”
Key areas to be covered include improved collaboration through mobile technology, sharing of information in secure environments, staying ahead of the digital curve, insourcing vs outsourcing, the ‘more-for-less’ challenge, e-discovery, embedded intelligent knowledge, online dispute resolution, plus e-marketing, e-learning, and emerging trends of self-employed counsel, DIY lawyers, legal knowledge experts, case-engineers, legal realism and more.
The session is expected to attract a significant turnout from large audience that has registered for the conference.
www.barcouncil.org.my/imlc2014/index.html
International Malaysian Law Conference 2014
24th -26th September 2014 – Royale Chulan Hotel Kuala Lumpur
BREAKOUT SESSION LED BY OMESTI:
Thursday 25th September 2014
3pm to 4.15pm
Kuala Lumpur, 30TH July 2014 – Asia-based OMESTI Group has formed a strategic partnership with Microimage of Sri Lanka to bring leading-edge Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions to Asian markets. Known as MIHCM (Microimage HCM) Asia, the new venture will use Kuala Lumpur as a launchpad to deliver proprietary HCM solutions to South East Asia and beyond, leveraging on the regional networks of the OMESTI Group.
Dato’ Larry Gan of OMESTI Group, said, “Microimage has an established track record for developing and implementing industry-leading HR solutions that help organisations manage all aspects of their human capital. In setting up this new venture, we are providing access to this technology to companies in emerging markets, technology that will help them streamline their people management systems and establish HR as the game changing enterprise-wide function.”
Harsha Purasinghe, Chairman & CEO of Microimage, said, “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with the OMESTI Group. There is tremendous potential to deliver a range of innovative HR solutions customised for local markets. This new venture will utilise the financial investments and business links of the OMESTI Group to fuel our growth in Asian markets.”
Under the partnership, Microimage will transfer exclusive marketing rights for a suite of HCM Solutions to MIHCM Asia, which will appoint a network of distributors, partners and resellers to tap the market in various territories.
Microimage has extensive proven R&D expertise in designing comprehensive HCM solutions which help facilitate human resource planning, recruitment, retention and development programmes. Rewards systems, training and performance management modules are also part of the portfolio. Over the years, Microimage has implemented HR solutions for over 600 customers across many industry verticals, delivering significant cost advantages for these firms. The company is also renowned for its cutting-edge innovation and has extended its product range to leverage the power of cloud, mobile and social technologies.
The Microimage portfolio includes HCM Suite, which is offered via two delivery models; HCM On-premise enterprise version, which provides medium- to large-scale enterprises with a complete stack of 14 integrated functional modules and HCM SaaS, software that is focused on SME markets. Both versions deliver significant cost and operational efficiencies. The portfolio also includes the cloud-based Social Performance Management System Workswiftly.com which serves as an informative and interactive social feed, capturing goals assigned to employees along with comments posted by peers and superiors on progress.
About OMESTI
OMESTI is part of Formis Resources Berhad, a Malaysian-based public listed grouping of companies that provides a range of technology systems, services and solutions designed to improve business performance, enhance connectivity and foster entrepreneurship. Its clients span a broad spectrum of industry sectors including financial institutions, government departments, utility and energy firms and telecommunications.
About Microimage
Founded in 1995, Microimage is a leading human capital management software solutions provider. With over 10 years of domain experience in HR working closely with consultants and related domain experts, the company continues to incorporate best HR practices with latest innovative technologies. Its HCM solutions are designed to streamline human resource planning, recruitment, retention, development and rewards programmes, and align employees towards the company’s business goals and objectives. Microimage HCM products are currently used by a diverse client base of over 600 customers, from small and medium-size businesses to large-scale enterprises across a variety of industries in the Middle East and Asia. Microimage is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company and also works closely with Microsoft Corp, as a Microsoft Partner.
Asia-based OMESTI Group has teamed up with UK-based cyber security innovator Digital Shadows to offer its market-leading security monitoring services and solutions to clients across the South East Asia region. The strategic international partnership comes at a time when sensitive and proprietary data belonging to organisations is under increasing threat from an ever-expanding trail of information exposed on the Internet by employees, suppliers and partners.
Confirming the partnership, Dato’ Larry Gan (pictured, left), Group Chief Executive Officer said, “The need for closer and more detailed monitoring has never been more critical as organisations work to regain control of their digital shadows and minimise the risk of targeted cyber attacks. Our extensive presence across the South East Asia region will enable us to offer these specialist security solutions to top-tier companies looking to protect their data, systems and personnel against attack.” OMESTI will offer the full portfolio of Digital Shadows’ solutions in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar. These solutions include Data Searchlight, Threat Searchlight, Brand Protect and VIP Protect.
Alastair Paterson (pictured, right), CEO of Digital Shadows, commented, “We are delighted to be joining forces with OMESTI, enabling us to reach a broader top-tier client base throughout Asia. Our partnership with OMESTI will help clients gain a “hacker’s eye view” of their vulnerability, regain control of their digital shadows and mitigate the risks of confidential data loss through targeted cyber attack.”
The partnership comes at a time when organisations are exposing more information than ever before through expanding supply chains, cloud-based storage systems and the widespread use of social networking. This can result in confidential information being leaked by accident or intentionally that cyber criminals then use to mount precision cyber-attacks.
Using the technology and analytical expertise from Digital Shadows, it is now possible to understand and predict attacks before they take place across a range of incident types. These include detection of leaked customer data, confidential documents and code, as well as technical configurations, user names and passwords. Intelligence can also be gathered about current and planned cyber-attacks by hostile groups and associated operations.
When it comes to brand protection, Digital Shadows is able to monitor and manage defamation incidents, brand abuse, profile squatting and impersonation on social networks. Mapping of non-compliant employee social networking profiles and posts as well as monitoring of leaked software versions on social networks can also be conducted.
The portfolio of services from Digital Shadows also extends to mitigation of physical threats against individuals, as well as raising alerts on threats and protests at office premises or corporate events.
The sharp increase in incidents of this nature across the South East Asia region makes this partnership an important step forward in the fight against digital crime.
Notes to Editors
About OMESTI
OMESTI is part of Formis Resources Berhad, a Malaysian-based public listed grouping of companies that provides a range of technology systems, services and solutions designed to improve business performance, enhance connectivity and foster entrepreneurship. Its clients span a broad spectrum of industry sectors including financial institutions, government departments, utility and energy firms and telecommunications. www.formis.net
About Digital Shadows
Digital Shadows puts organisations back in control of their Internet presence. Through a unique blend of expertise and technology, the firm protects clients from hostile reconnaissance and targeted cyber-attacks. The management team bring over a decade of experience in securing UK Government and FTSE 500 organisations by helping clients to see themselves through the eyes of their attackers. www.digitalshadows.com
Kuala Lumpur, 14 May 2014 – Omesti Group company Formis Systems & Technology Sdn Bhd (FST), authorised EMC distributor, has received the 2013 EMC Partner Services Quality Award from EMC Corporation. FST was honoured for achieving outstanding service excellence and customer satisfaction as measured by the EMC Partner Services Quality (PSQ) programme. The awards were presented at EMC World 2014 IT Conference, held in Las Vegas recently.
The EMC PSQ programme is a project-specific survey programme designed for partners with Service Partner designations to solicit customer feedback regarding the quality of the partner’s service engagements.
Alvin Chong, Head of Technical Consultancy & Service Delivery at FST, said, “We are very proud to have been honoured with this prestigious accolade. The Partner Services Quality Award from a respected organisation such as EMC adds significant weight to our credentials and reaffirms our commitment to providing outstanding service excellence in meeting our customer requirements.” A total of 39 companies worldwide were honoured in the 2013 awards, with FST being the only company in South East Asia (SEA) to be selected as a winner.
“Formis Systems and Technology recognises that its dedication to delivering outstanding levels of customer service is critical to their success.” said Mike Bazely Senior Director, Partner Global Services for APJ, EMC Corporation. “As a result of their efforts, we offer our utmost congratulations to Formis Systems and Technology and appreciate their leadership in service delivery quality and customer satisfaction in South East Asia.”
EMC Services partners are trained and authorised by EMC to sell and deliver a comprehensive portfolio of services ranging from technology implementation to technical support. These partners provide value-added services to address the most crucial aspects of a customer’s information technology infrastructure.
Photo Caption: Alvin Chong (left), FST Technical Support & Services Manager receiving the award at a ceremony held in Las Vegas recently.
About FST
Formis Systems & Technology Sdn Bhd (FST), a wholly-owned subsidiary of FRB, is principally engaged in the distribution of storage through its extensive partner network. FST carries the distribution rights for EMC and Hitachi Data Systems. In its vision to be a premier storage solution provider, FST has focus sales cells for major storage brands and fully certified teams of professional sales and technical personnel to provide consultancies and comprehensive storage solutions with strong technical expertise to drive its mission to provide quality service deliveries and unparalleled level of support to its partners and clients. www.formis.net
