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PodChats for FutureCIO: Fast tracking the people side of doing business in Asia
Finding and retaining talent poses significant challenges and opportunities in Asia and around the world. One of the main challenges is the increasing competition for skilled professionals in the global job market. As economies grow and industries evolve, the demand for highly qualified candidates often exceeds the available supply. This talent shortage can make it difficult for companies to find, attract and retain the right talent for their specific needs. Additionally, cultural and language barriers, as well as differences in labour laws and regulations, can further complicate talent acquisition and management processes.
These challenges present opportunities for companies to explore innovative solutions such as the Employer of Record (EOR) model. An Employer of Record is a service provider that acts as the legal employer of workers on behalf of client companies. This model can help organizations fulfill their talent needs anywhere in the world by leveraging the EOR's expertise in navigating local labor markets, compliance requirements, and administrative tasks. By partnering with an EOR, companies can access a global talent pool, streamline their hiring processes, and ensure compliance with local employment laws. This not only expands their reach but also enables them to focus on core business activities while leaving the complexities of HR and employment administration to the EOR. Ultimately, the Employer of Record model offers a flexible and efficient solution to finding and retaining talent on a global scale.

Jim McCoy, CEO of Atlas HXM reveals the nuissances organisations will face in the quest to acquire the right talent anywhere in the world, and how EORs like Atlas fill those needs.

1. How would you typify or describe the international expansion activities of APAC companies? Are there any distinct trends that you can observe in markets like Hong Kong, China, or Singapore?
2. In terms of challenges. So for enterprises that are on expansion mode, whether global or regional, there's almost always a shortage, crunch in skilled people. With the hybrid work environment, has it complicated the model of acquiring or are using an organization such as yours, the EOR, to fill in the roles that they need?
3. In terms of similarities, or differences in how enterprises in markets like, like Hong Kong, or Singapore, or the less developed markets, like Malaysia, for example, as they start to look at these expansion strategies that they have, are there any unique elements, traits that you're noticing that are unique in the sense that it's unique to Asia, or it's the doesn't matter whether it's a European company trying to expand even within the same region? 
4. Are there any emerging risks that as an organization, Atlas, encounters these days, as you try and employ become as you already are for other organs for your clients, that you're observing in the market now? 
5.  On technology – you mentioned automation, partly to help with the process, but you still need to have the human interface in there.  These days, there's a lot of chatter around AI, for example. And of course, automation is starting to mature a little bit in software automation. What technologies have you observed are becoming more prominent in us as augmenting IE or supporting your atlases business, globally oriented?
6. When you onboard a new client or new customer, what's the most challenging aspect of onboarding a new client to the Atlas way of doing business?
7. So you said, if you have a large multinational customer, client that's expanding the market. And they have existing systems and processes in place where in terms of talent management, and it doesn't sync very well with the way you've set up? How do you negotiate or make the two compatible? 
8. what's your biggest challenge these days? As you know

In Asia, the importance of inclusion in enhancing customer experience cannot be overstated. With its diverse population comprising various ethnicities, cultures, languages, and traditions, creating an inclusive environment is crucial for businesses to effectively cater to their customers' needs and preferences. 
By embracing diversity and fostering inclusion, companies can better understand the unique perspectives and requirements of their customers, leading to more personalized and tailored products and services.
In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we look at how inclusive practices play a significant role in building trust and loyalty among customers in Asia. And how by incorporating inclusive strategies in their operations, businesses can tap into new market segments and reach a wider customer base. 
Ultimately, prioritizing inclusion not only enhances the overall customer experience but also contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of businesses in the diverse and dynamic market landscape of Asia.
Joining us on PodChats for FutureCIO is Ms Jacqueline Guichelaar, SVP & GM, Customer Experience, APJ & GC, Cisco.
1.       The IWD2024 theme is inclusion. How would you relate “customer experience” and inclusion?
2.       Specific to IWD2024, to what extent does this sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment exist in your organisation? In your role? In the society/community you live in?
3.       What is the most prevalent obstacle to inclusion (narrowing to CX)?
4.       Drawing from your experience, what can learn in terms of achieving inclusion (narrowing to CX)?
5.       Your role has two faces: internal (marshalling your team) and external (customers and partners) How will you inspire inclusion (in your function/in the enterprise)?
6.       How do you plan to elevate your commitment to inspiring inclusion?

KPMG asserts that with all the focus around modernization and/or transformation over the last few years, there is growing recognition that perhaps employees are feeling exhausted. They’re facing one modernizing initiative after another—or multiple initiatives simultaneously—often with competing timelines and priorities.
This is known as digital transformation fatigue, and it’s a growing trend as companies grapple to keep pace with constant change.
In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Peter Man, General Manager, Red Hat Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, to get his perspective on overcoming digital transformation fatigue.
1.       Why are we seeing digital transformation (DX) fatigue?
2.       What are the signs and symptoms of DX fatigue?
3.       What are the most common causes of DX fatigue?
4.       Name some proven metrics for identifying and measuring DX fatigue particularly on employee morale and productivity?
5.       Name three strategies to prevent or minimize DX fatigue in the workplace?
6.       Speaking of leaders, what role does leadership play in addressing this DX fatigue?
7.       Insert Melinda question here
8.       Into 2024, we anticipate continued acceleration, if not updating, what steps do you recommend leadership implement to counter the development of DX fatigue?

IDC predicts that in 2024, 50% of APAC cities and states will pilot GenAI to improve efficacy in community outreach and customer service, procurement, staff recruitment and training, and software development.
The latest IDC FutureScape report predicts that AI and automation technologies will remain central to tech investment initiatives. 
According to Dr Lily Phan, Research Director, Intelligent Automation at IDC Asia/Pacific AI is needed to lower operational costs, reduce staffing pressure, revamp end-user experience, and democratize decision-making power. The adaptability and efficiency offered by AI and automation solutions can provide the technologies that can mitigate staff shortage and economic challenges," she added.
With AI hype still high, Asia-Pacific businesses that are dipping their finder into the technology, they must ask themselves: how do they move beyond experiments and unlock real business value with AI? 
In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by David Irecki, director of solutions consulting for APJ with Boomi, to share with us his views on the “secret path” to practical AI.
1.       What is the problem that organisations will face as they implement AI?
2.       What do we mean by “practical AI”?
3.       Can we use this practical approach generative AI to accelerate current digital transformation initiatives?
4.       What happens when an organisation is integrating AI into their transformation journey only to realise it's not as easy as marketing makes it out to be?
5.       Looking ahead, what key considerations should businesses prioritize to "future-proof" their AI initiatives and remain competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape?
6.       This 2024, what are your expectations around AI including how it is evolving, and the approaches organisations are taking to operationalise the technology into current and evolving business processes?

A GitHub report on the growth and impact of AI on software development, including claims pf a 55% faster coding when using an AI-assisted automation tool. GitClear published a separate report to determine how AI Assistants influence the quality of code being written.
Just as important, as development teams start to include automation tools in the development cycle, how can they maintain control over the quality of the software, including keeping code secure.
In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Kelvin Lim, Senior Director of Security Engineering, Synopsys, to talk about navigating the complexities of AI-generated code.
1.      Give us the state of in-house software development today. 
2.      How is software development evolving in response to the rise in AI-generated code?
3.      What are the primary security vulnerabilities inherent in AI-generated code?
4.      What are the key considerations that teams/organisations should consider when integrating AI-generated code into their software?
5.      How will AI-generated code impact DevSecOp cycle? (report Stanford 2022 – development teams code written by GenAI is less secure)
6.      Given the rapid pace of tech innovation, what do you anticipate in the future evolution of GenAI and its implications for software development practices?
7.      Ask Mel – data poisoning impact AI code generation.
8.      What is your advise for use of Gen AI?

Mordor Intelligence estimates the Asia-Pacific data centre market at around 14.27 thousand MW in 2024, predicting it to reach 23.20 thousand MW by 2029. JLL projects continued increase in rank density particularly among hyperscalers in response the growing demand for computational power. 
With sustainability and climate change high on the agenda for many businesses, a multi-prong challenge of data centres is meeting customers’ net zero emissions goals, and their own targets. What can data centre operators do to save energy while keeping equipment operating on optimum environments?
In today’s PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Terry Miaolo, VP & GM, APAC, OVHcloud, to talk about operational strategies to meet sustainable data centres.
1.       Please give us a State of the Data Centre in Asia today.
2.       Focusing specifically on the operational aspects of data centres, what are the key environmental issues that all data centre operators must overcome?
3.       We’ve seen Governments in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and almost everywhere around the region, including Australia, proposing, if not accelerating national AI strategies. For data centre operators, particularly in Asia, how are they responding to this demand? At the same time, how do you see them fine-tuning their operations so that they can remain on point when it comes to their own net zero emissions targets?
4.       For data centre operators and hyperscalers, what is your recommendation for them to stay ahead, and on course around sustainability practices, while at the same time supporting new business needs and new opportunities such as AI?
5.       What does OVHcloud bring to the table?
6.       For data centres wanting to be more sustainable, what can be their first practical step towards their sustainability journey?
7.       Since we're talking about data centres, the ability to operate them more efficiently and all that, anything that you think we should include?
8.       With the proliferation of new data centres to meet the demands, introduced by a greater need for AI and sustainable operations, what's your forecast like for the data centre market? What will it look like in 2024 and going ahead?