Emerging stronger from the storm

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How is your organisation girding for the recession? Are there any silver linings or bright spots amid the economic gloom?

Max Loh Country Managing Partner, Singapore and Brunei Ernst & Young LLP

If necessity is the mother of invention, then the need to endure through tough times must catalyse increased innovation. At EY, we are continually assessing what we, and organisations, need to do now, next and beyond the pandemic and the ensuing economic challenges. Our success has always been predicated on how well we help our clients build trust, reshape their strategy and talent and secure growth and navigate challenges. Now more than ever, it is about driving innovation at scale and technology at speed, and putting people at the centre of everything we do - and this is creating new opportunities for us to help organisations with agile business and workforce transformation so as to stay resilient and nimble. Challenging times can be distracting, but are also a great opportunity for us to renew our focus on our purpose of building a better working world.

Victor Mills Chief Executive Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

The Chamber, like any SME, is focused on survival by being of more use to more of its members and the community. We achieve this by continuing to be responsive to members' needs, by delivering quality content, by collaborating and by investing to enhance capacity. We, like Singapore, fully intend to emerge stronger from the depression. There are many silver linings. These include a greater appreciation by most people for what is important and what is not: A far greater appreciation for the essential workers who enable all our lives; an increased acceptance of the importance of maintaining good mental health.

Sebastian Mueller COO & Co-Founder MING Labs

While the aggregate figures look dire, we need to remember that distribution is not even. The economy consists of many industries, markets and participants. While some sectors have grounded to a complete halt, and others are deeply impacted, some have fared well or even seen a sharp rise.

As such, an aggregated picture will always hide what a granular analysis can reveal. There are growth opportunities amid all the doom and gloom, and there are ways to transform a loss of quantitative top-line revenue into an increase of qualitative bottom-line. Structural innovation is the key to unlocking new growth.

Lawrence Loh Director, Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations NUS Business School

In executive education, as example, never before had so much gone online at such a fast pace. Many business leaders are literally ''zooming'' in and out of webinars to catch the latest perspectives and practices. At a click, you could be attending a ''live'' session from the founder of Wikipedia or even of Zoom, the company itself. But many of these come free of charge. The big challenge is monetisation - how do organisations still maintain the revenue streams? The key imperative is to replicate the deep experience of the face-to-face setting. The silver lining is perhaps creative product redesign, such as fostering engagements and interactions even online. The bright spot is that the demand is still out there.

Uno Motohiko President Fujitsu Asia

The pandemic has sparked off an acceleration in digital transformation across industries. Fujitsu will continue to work with business leaders to adapt and seize emerging opportunities to stand out despite the economic situation. Productivity can be improved by encouraging new ways of technology-driven work through intuitive digital workplace technologies, and modernising legacy technology frameworks and infrastructure. Organisations can also look into strengthening their ecosystem to include alliances with innovative companies, and consider investing in R&D innovation hubs. As the dawn of recovery approaches, these will help re-position the companies to be more agile, creative and resilient in the long run.

Christopher Wehner Managing Director BMW Group Asia

Although we are heading into a recession, this is also an opportunity to streamline our business processes as opposed to simply tightening purse strings. With our customers, we are digitalising the business to provide them with a new, engaging and safe experience when purchasing their vehicle. Internally, we see hot-desking and potentially reducing office space as viable options, as our organisation explores long term work-from-home arrangements. We have already seen strong recovery in other Asian markets and hope for the same in Singapore.

Seck Wai-Kwong Chief Executive Eastspring Investments

Having operated in Singapore - and Asia - for more than 25 years, we have weathered many ups and downs. Recently, and in response to client demand, we have focussed on broadening and deepening our investment offering. With offices in 11 markets in Asia, we not only leverage our strong network and local knowledge to support our investment decisions, but also to provide support to each other. Whether it is sending masks to our colleagues in countries with a shortage, backing each other up in our business operations, or sharing our experiences and best practices to weather these extraordinary times. The silver lining amid the current challenges is the kindness, consideration and sense of community that we have seen in Singapore, as well as in many countries in which we do business. Together, we will get through this.

Colin Brookes SVP, Sales & Services, Asia-Pacific & Japan Citrix

The economic impact of Covid-19 is without doubt dramatic. However, it is increasingly clear how the pandemic can positively shape our future. Businesses are now seeing the benefits of enabling their workforce to work more flexibly, and that will be good for us all. Daily commutes to the office can be a thing of the past, and the time saved can instead be spent with family or on other leisure activities. And companies can tap into top talent from all geographies and circumstances, including carers, part-time retirees and people living in regional locations.

Dennis Tan Chief Executive Officer Prudential Singapore

This pandemic has challenged all of us to reimagine the future of work and business in the digital economy. Working from home is now more acceptable. Virtual communication has been elevated to a whole new level. Companies are innovating and digitising their business at an accelerated pace to stay relevant and to be more efficient. And we are seeing greater collaboration between various segments of the society to bring about greater community impact. Something good always emerges from a crisis. This pandemic will create a generation of people who are more resilient, innovative, empathetic and courageous in the face of challenges and change.

Jeffery Tan Group General Counsel & Chief Sustainability Officer Jardine Cycle & Carriage

The current economic gloom has provided a positive boost for advocates of mental health and wellness, and how this impacts the overall population. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of mental health and moved it into the national consciousness. It is now a topic that is discussed more openly by all. Support resources have also sprung up, for example, Mindline.sg provides valuable tools and guidance to manage the emotional ups and downs of this pandemic, while Workwell.sg offers concrete tips and actionable measures for employers and employees to deal with mental health challenges in the workplace. The shift in focus from ''me'' to ''we'' - where the community comes together to help each other and look out for the more vulnerable members of society - is a marvellous silver lining of this Covid cloud.

Pierre Samson Senior VP President APAC Alcatel-Lucent

The pandemic is an opportunity for businesses to accelerate digital transformation. At Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, we continue to put our customers first, to support and enable customers to innovate and stay relevant by providing communications solutions and networking infrastructure critical to their business continuity.

Amid this uncertainty, ALE has encouraged employees to upskill and carry out more R&D, and so optimise workplace productivity. We have increased our speed to innovate on new solutions such as telehealth, e-learning, wifi-asset tracking and systems automation while keeping our employees' jobs secure - our top priority. Our people will ensure ALE overcomes the recession and that the business emerges on the other side more agile and more customer-focused than before.

Chia Ngiang Hong President Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS)

While the longer term consequences are still difficult to predict, the immediate market impact of the pandemic on real estate has been disruptive and severe. Companies are working hard to navigate the immediate crisis, prioritising the safety and well-being of staff, tenants and end users, while also facing tough business tradeoffs seeking a right balance between sustaining revenues, reducing costs, preserving capital and strengthening their competitive differentiation.

The crisis has accelerated the need for strategic changes such as diversifying sources of revenue, pursuing digital strategies and greater focus on tenant and customer relationship and experience. Such strategies can help with tenant attraction and retention, operational efficiency and business diversification. Going forward, the changed behaviours forced upon the industry will likely alter the way businesses and consumers perceive and deal with real estate. Understanding these transformative changes and acting quickly, flexibly and smartly to reinvent our offerings with strong collaborative alliances with overseas like-minded partners will help companies emerge stronger from the current crisis.

Neville Vincent VP, South Asia-Pacific Nutanix

The pandemic has brought about a new business reality. Businesses are looking to become leaner, more productive and more efficient. They are shifting towards simpler, more agile and more cost-effective IT infrastructures. However, balancing IT capex and opex, while maximising return on investment in the current economic climate, can be challenging. Businesses will need to rely on a mix of owning and renting computing technologies - which is where as-a-Service solutions can help. We are already moving to a subscription business model to offer customers the agility they need to meet evolving market demands. Having the flexibility to mix, match and tailor an ideal IT infrastructure will help businesses recover from this challenging period.

Sun You Ning Co-founder Endowus

Unexpectedly, Covid-19 has had a highly positive impact on Endowus. Signups increased significantly as WFH gave people more time for financial planning and existing clients invested more as markets declined. Our new cash management product has also seen overwhelming interest, as bank interest rates continue to deteriorate.

Amid the geopolitical tensions and economic gloom, we see light at the end of the tunnel. With a renewed government mandate, well-managed community spread of Covid-19 and positive vaccine news, investor sentiment has started inching upwards. The government has also been incredibly supportive of fintechs like Endowus, with various subsidies that have helped boost our business success.

Jonathan Olier Partner and Head, South-east Asia Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity, White & Case

Within the legal sector, there are a number of ''counter cyclical'' practices which are generally busy during a downtime. This has proven true for Singapore's restructuring and arbitration work in recent months. Singapore is developing as a global restructuring hub thanks to its fairly recent and innovative legislation, modelled in some parts on the US Bankruptcy Code. We expect to see many more restructurings in the market, particularly in the oil-and-gas-related industries, which have been hit hard by both the pandemic and fall in oil prices. Arbitration in the city-state is also relatively active with clients under increasing pressure and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre now being one of the world's go-to forums. While Singapore's legal sector faces short-term challenges, there are opportunities to capture the legal work resulting from the current situation.

Svend Janssen Head of Asia Western Union Business Solutions

The unparalleled times have primarily meant uncertainty for internationally active companies. Largely driven by unclear economic outlooks and strong volatility of currency markets, this typically has had a direct consequence on the bottom line of businesses. At Western Union Business Solutions, we have helped our clients with holistic, timely market information and appropriate tools to mitigate the risks inherent to currency volatility. And yes, there are silver linings. Some companies have begun to adapt for the new normal and plan their business with cautious optimism. Some businesses also operate in industries that have been thriving. The times keep changing, but silver linings have started to become visible.

Dileep Nair Independent Director Thakral Corporation Limited

''Cash is king'' is the mantra to weather any recession. Companies should review inventory management, reduce customer credit, trim down on non-essentials and focus on their core competencies. This is also an opportunity to knit the management team closer. The availability of low-cost capital now should also be exploited to increase agility and invest in productivity, so that the company can pivot and be ready to seize opportunities once the recession is over.

The pandemic can be turned into an opportunity for good. Companies are now forced to focus on resilience and viability. They can seek out partnerships in sectors that are thriving, such as IT, healthcare and AI. Globally, with less commuting, less wastage and less pollution, the disruptions in this crisis may provide a ''reset'' followed by a much-needed push towards a greener and more sustainable economy.

Thomas Peacock-Nazil Founder Seven Clean Seas

Working within sustainability, we see that there have been many ambitious goals set by small and big business alike in recent years, which will require an unfaltering commitment and budget if they are to be achieved. While budgets might be getting squeezed for our clients, this is not translating into a lack of opportunities for Seven Clean Seas yet. Hopefully sustainability as a sector will prove to be more robust and protected from budget cuts than most, but only time will tell.

Kelvin Teo Co-founder and Group CEO Funding Societies

Since 2019, we had expected a challenging 2020 and fund-raised Series C on time, but not a Covid-hard 2020. It puts our culture, commitment and organisation to the test. But as our Indonesia and Malaysia businesses recover to near pre-Covid-19 level, and our team rises to the occasion, this baptism of fire has enabled us to focus, achieve our financial target sooner and emerge stronger. I am hopeful that our Singapore business will soon recover too, especially with the thoughtful government support, S$13 billion investments Singapore secured and the promising vaccine results on the horizon.

Chris J Reed Global CEO and Founder Black Marketing

Entrepreneurs like myself can iterate and adapt, and by nature are dynamic. My company, Black Marketing, is thriving because I created a series of new, value-based LinkedIn profile management services which we sell to executives who now realise that their entire personal brand is on LinkedIn because they cannot travel and Zoom is no replacement.

I also took the strategic decision to focus on the core LinkedIn marketing business, as global clients could no longer afford my masterclasses and in any case I could not travel to them and they would not pay the same for a zoom masterclass, yet it takes the same amount of prep.

I also terminated our physical office lease. With global clients and teams all around the world, we already had flexible working and remote working, so the pandemic merely confirmed that we no longer need a physical office. Our outsourcing in partnership with other LinkedIn marketing firms in more cost-effective locations was also sped up as our clients can be serviced from anywhere. So as a result of all of this, our business is actually booming, our margins have increased and our clients are staying longer.

Benjamin Tan Vice-President Ultimaker Asia Pacific

In a downturn, it is natural for businesses to focus on the issues at hand, such as responding to competitive pressures and reducing overheads. However, this period can serve as a good time to challenge the status quo. Recently, there have been quite a lot of conversations on 3D printing for production of personal protection equipment and medical accessories.

As such, many companies are now looking to accommodate greater use of the technology in their manufacturing workflows. At Ultimaker, we have been engaging our customers to identify areas of improvement, and help them discover new applications to enhance their workflows and processes. With the right 3D printing infrastructure in place, companies can remain commercially viable through increased productivity and greater savings, as well as faster time to market.

Ana Dhoraisingam CEO, Singapore PineBridge Investments

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused untold suffering to the world's population and has led to the world economy tipping into recession. It has caused significant disruption in our lives and this in itself has led to consequential changes. For active investment managers like PineBridge Investments, we have had to pivot our client portfolios quickly and thoughtfully, in order to protect, as well as generate alpha. Human capital is our greatest asset and during the last several months, our staff has astutely leveraged technology and markets to continue to maintain our mantra that clients come first, always. The firm and our staff participated in various fund raising projects to help local communities affected by this pandemic. It brought us closer to our own local communities and fortified our view that only with collective unity and strength will we get through this crisis.

Kannan Chettiar Managing Director Avvanz

Avvanz - a homegrown SME, now with global presence and clients - has managed to weather this crisis because of our internationally diversified business across myriad industries. Since all companies need to ensure they screen for ''right'' and ''safe'' people through thorough background checks, onboard them to make them productive quickly and effectively and train them to be upskilled or reskilled to face the digital transformation, the relevance of our solutions actually got even deeper amid Covid-19. That being said, new normals are evolving and hence we have to constantly and continuously innovate leveraging technologies like AI, RPA and big data analytics. Great talents are now available for hiring and we, like other organisations, are seizing this opportunity while tapping our government's financial support and schemes to further develop our business. As long as we use the ''jihui'' in this ''weiji'' (opportunity in crisis) smartly, we should be able to thrive in this gloom which is not all doom in my opinion.

Sumit Bansal MD, ASEAN and Korea Sophos

Cyber criminals were quick to leverage Covid-19 concerns, which demonstrates that cyber security is never more important than in a time of crisis. It is therefore no surprise that the global cyber security market is predicted to continue to grow. With 71 per cent of Singapore organisations experiencing a cyber security incident in the past 12 months, advanced, effective protection is increasingly important. Thankfully, the recent increase in remote working provides extra motivation for many organisations to prioritise security and keep it top of mind. Sophos has been fully operational throughout this challenging period, and we will continue to provide non-stop cyber security to businesses of all sizes.

Julian Quinn Senior Vice President, APAC Alteryx

No organisation is immune to recession, which is why we have put the power of automation into the hands of data workers by allowing any business to perform data analytics and turn insights into action through data democratisation. This has been impactful for businesses challenged by the pandemic and enables enterprises to quickly pivot their business strategy to optimise efficiency. Data analytics has evolved during this pandemic. In healthcare, data analytics has helped providers respond effectively in processes like data capture and post-discharge coordination. In times of challenges, even an economic one, we can leverage data for potential solutions.

Terry Smagh SVP & GM, Asia-Pacific & Japan BlackLine

Unexpected disruptions often force companies to re-evaluate existing systems and scrutinise their processes. Of particular importance are internal functions such as finance and accounting teams who have a crucial role to play as companies navigate through the challenges brought about by recession.

While it may seem counterintuitive to invest in new technology in a downturn, tools such as the cloud or automation can have exponential benefits in improving the accuracy and flow of much-needed information within an organisation. Having access to accurate financial information amid economic uncertainty offers management teams the opportunity to minimise exposure to risks, ''fight fires'' more effectively and plan their business recovery journey based on data-driven decision making.

Charles Ferguson General Manager, Asia-Pacific Globalization Partners

We knew we had to have a crisis ''exit strategy'', so we have ramped up our hiring and expanded into regions like EMEA and APAC. We embraced the cultural and behavioural shifts that Covid-19 introduced, and companies which go digital will adapt better than their peers, thus we continue to use technology to augment, not replace, people. We are finding that a lot of businesses with international expansion plans prior to Covid-19 are still moving forward. We simplify this by enabling companies to hire great talent anywhere in the world without the complexities and operational challenges around human resources, legal, payroll and compliance. The market is teeming with great talents seeking their next challenge and we are excited to be at the centre of helping companies hire them anywhere, globally.

Geoff Soon Managing Director, South Asia Snowflake

The current economic downturn has brought to light the importance of technology, now more than ever. Today's challenges require organisations to make fast and data-driven decisions, and that is where the cloud plays an important role. In these challenging times, organisations need to react fast and capitalise on the opportunities provided by technology in order to remain efficient and competitive. The fact that technology solutions play a critical role in an economic downturn is a silver lining in itself.

Saikrishnan Ranganathan CEO & Co-Founder SensorFlow

While Singapore is undergoing a recession, the country has taken steps to ensure that the public and private sectors and relevant stakeholders can support each other through this period. At SensorFlow, we are employing the same strategy to help our hotel and hospitality partners. From modified payment models to enhanced smart-tech features, we are helping our existing and new clients make better savings and ensure continued efficiency. Amid the ongoing situation, we foresee a rising demand for contact-less operational productivity solutions within hotels and are accelerating our tech features to meet the needs of this new normal.

Michael Bermingham Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder Nium

Despite disruptions to many working capital cycles, Covid-19 has caused a structural shift between businesses and consumers moving money online and accelerated the use of digital financial services. As a global fintech platform that seeks to redefine the way people send, spend and receive funds, Nium has come up with innovative solutions, including one which help businesses cope with cashflow challenges during this difficult period through products such as BizPay. By spreading our risk through diversifying our portfolio and adjusting our burn rate and run rate, investor sentiments are improving, and we are anticipating a strong quarter ahead.

Renzo Taal Senior Vice-President, Asia Salesforce

Thanks to our agile and united workforce, we are weathering the coming recession, and continue to put our people's health and wellbeing as a priority. The Covid-19-induced recession and recent global events have demonstrated two lessons: To be resilient, companies must be able to sell, service, market and collaborate from anywhere, and that is our new reality. Business leaders need to rethink how businesses can be used as the greatest platform for change and to positively impact the communities we live and work in. This economic challenge has the potential to push us to an economically stronger and socially responsible future.

Edmund Lee Managing Director Singapore TMF Group

The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow over the global economy and we are expecting a prolonged period of uncertainty for the foreseeable future. This crisis, like all others, will eventually pass but it will be a W-shaped recovery.

Singapore's fundamentals remain strong, but given its status as a regional hub, this also means it is susceptible to fluctuating situations in the rest of the region.

The best bulwark for any company against a recession is its customers. As such, TMF Group's focus has been on assisting our clients to help them to weather the storm too by educating them on the various government schemes available, as well as providing pro bono consultations and application filing services.

Eric Goh VP & MD, Singapore Dell Technologies

The events of 2020 have underscored that one of the most pressing issues we face today is the growing economic and digital divide. As a technology company, we have had a front-row seat to the overnight digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic. Our decade-long flexible work policy founded on strong tech readiness, effective leadership and a resilient culture has not only allowed us to remain business-as-usual but also support our customers to enable their remote workforce.

At Dell Technologies, enabling widespread access to technology continues to be one of our biggest priorities. In the current climate, we have seen an outpouring of support to help businesses and communities step up their digitalisation efforts. As we move forward, we remain deeply rooted in our commitment to empower and enable the communities we do business in. Our focus in using our technology, expertise and global scale for the greatest impact will continue to be the cornerstone of our business as we weather the economic changes.

Pauline Sim Co-Head The FinLab

In the past few months, we have seen more SMEs and startups across Asean accelerate the digitalisation of their businesses as they try to overcome the immediate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As an innovation accelerator powered by UOB, The FinLab has been supporting SMEs and startups in Asean on their digitalisation journey for close to five years. The SMEs whom we engage with during this time have seen their businesses heavily affected by the economic downturn, compounded by ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

While solving immediate pain points is driving digital adoption right now, we continue to guide our SMEs on how technology can improve their business operations over the long term. By developing a sustainable digitalisation strategy, SMEs can emerge through the pandemic with a sharpened competitive edge to capture future growth.

Justin Chen Chief Executive Officer Arcc Spaces

We have crested the point of any hope of a quick reversion to the way things were. Understanding our consumers and their unique challenges is of vital importance. Offering flexibility has always been core to our value proposition as a flexible workplace operator, but we are increasingly working with our tenants on solutions-oriented approaches to their needs. We need to be willing to constantly problem-solve and not just be reliant on one product. Furthermore, using the opportunity to update entrenched ways of working that are no longer relevant and adopting technology that in other times would be low priority.

Choe Peng Sum Chief Executive Officer Pan Pacific Hotels Group

First and foremost, protect cashflow, the lifeblood of business. We have set up a ''war room'' to engage in deft financial management and proactive business strategies to safeguard the company's health.

Hotels tend to be labour-intensive. At both corporate and hotel levels, we implement delayering, job redesign and clustering to optimise our workforce, along with investment in technology such as guestroom management system and self-check-in kiosks to enhance operational efficiency and convenience for our guests in the long term. Training, reskilling and retooling our workforce is paramount.

We also assess our global portfolio with properties in Australia, China and other parts of South-east Asia to mitigate the steeper recession in an open economy like Singapore. Through these tough times, I am most heartened by the spirit of teamwork and camaraderie which has shone exceptionally bright. Our associates across 50 properties globally have joined hearts and hands to strive through uncharted waters together as a family. This is priceless.

Vincent Magnenat Limited Partner and CEO for Asia Lombard Odier

We believe in holding a long-term view and this underpins how we run our business and also our approach to managing client relationships. This has held us in good stead across the past 40 crises spanning more than 220 years.

We are less concerned with short-term ebbs and flows of economic cycles, but have always remained prudent when it comes to managing costs, without compromising on the outstanding client service and competitive solutions that our teams across Asia uphold. We continue to make strategic hires, and invest in technology that improve the client experience. Our risk-based investment approach means client portfolios remain resilient.

We believe the current economic climate, layered on the coronavirus pandemic, will act as a catalyst for existing trends such as sustainability and digitalisation. This means companies with early investment into building strong technology capabilities and incorporating sustainability in their business models will have a competitive advantage.

Wendy Johnstone SVP & COO Asia-Pacific Zendesk

There is no doubt that times are tough and the changes businesses have experienced are immense. For Zendesk, bracing for the recession comes down to focusing on our customers - understanding their unique challenges and supporting them with a level of flexibility that enables everyone to come out stronger. In every crisis there is opportunity. The pandemic has woken businesses up to the value of great customer experience, and the need for it to be scalable and agile when managing a distributed workforce. We know that a great CX strategy backed by the right self-service tools helps companies emerge more resilient.

The silver lining is that this is a good time to optimise, simplify and rethink the way we operate, to drive the most value to our customers and employees in a way that will endure beyond the pandemic.

Kwek Kok Kwong Chief Executive Officer NTUC LearningHub

The past few months felt like fiction but looking back it is real. To survive the uncertainty, we had no choice but to innovate. We transitioned into delivering Virtual Live Classes over a very short period of time and we launched community efforts for free e-learning. We are not out of the woods yet, and the road ahead will be a VUCA one.

Nobody can tell us what the new normal will bring, and we adapt with each twist and turn. We need to continually scan the horizon and reflect, and then take actions to give us more cues what to do next. Meanwhile, we are making some ''no-regret'' moves to invest more in digitalisation and form a small research team to be our pathfinder for the future. Build an explorer mindset in your team and trigger the child-like curiosity in all of us - and the journey ahead will be exciting and adventurous.

John Ng Chief Executive Officer YTL PowerSeraya

YTL PowerSeraya is one of the key power generation companies in Singapore. As an essential service provider, the company remains committed to its workforce and operations during these times, to ensure reliability in running the power plant.

The power industry continues to be financially challenged due to overcapacity buildup since 2013. This comes alongside difficult market conditions and slowing demands that further amplify these issues. This pandemic-induced recession will increase existing financial strain, thereby impacting meaningful long-term strategic re-investment, such as replacing of aging power generation assets. The government's Covid-19 financial support package will help general business liquidity and support the workforce. This will allow companies such as YTL PowerSeraya to continue serving the nation.

Lee Fook Chiew Chief Executive Officer Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA)

ISCA is supporting the accountancy profession through the recession via career support, business support and virtual learning support. We created a career microsite featuring job vacancies and government career schemes. To help businesses and individuals navigate the support schemes and resources from the government and ISCA, we produced the Covid-19 navigator. We have virtual conferences as well as an e-learning space with live webinars and e-learning modules, so that accountants can continue their professional development and be prepared when the upturn happens. A silver lining that emerged is that the pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital transformation. To that end, we are helping small and medium accountancy practices to digitalise their processes, which can lead to cost savings and increased productivity.

Eryk Lee Chief Executive Officer AAM Advisory

These certainly are challenging times and consumer demand in the coming months will prove critical in determining the strength of the eventual recovery. But while there are challenges, there are also pockets of opportunities for both AAM Advisory and our clients. For our clients, certain sectors and investment themes have shown resilience and are performing well despite the challenging economic backdrop. Any bump in the road can be managed by a sound financial plan and a long-term investment horizon. As a business, these uncertain times have increased the demand for financial advice, as people look for help in planning their financial future and look for assistance in weathering the economic storm.

Lee Siang Chief Executive Officer Dyslexia Association of Singapore

Some of our clients had to withdraw their children from our programmes due to financial difficulties during this period. Thankfully, government initiatives such as the Bicentennial Community Fund and improved funding terms from donors have helped us in raising funds to support children from lower-income families. Such positive action and generosity in times of adversity show that Singapore truly cares and a deep conviction in our society that learning cannot stop for children with special educational learning needs. It is noteworthy that DAS students have also demonstrated grit and hunger to learn despite disruptions to their learning schedules. We call upon more Singaporeans and local organisations to come forward to support those in need during these difficult times.

Ravi Saraogi Co-Founder and President Uniphore APAC

The pandemic has taught us how to navigate through the unthinkable - things that were once unprecedented, are now anticipated. With an increase in call volumes, contact centres had to rapidly adopt new technologies to support a fully remote workforce. In fact, many customers have told us that up to 30 per cent of agents will still work remotely post-Covid-19. Solutions like Conversational Service Automation are not just helping contact centres meet current needs, but transforming them to be future-ready, while keeping the aspects of security and compliance intact. The continuous evolution of such ground-breaking technologies is the silver lining I find amid the situation.

Ronak Shah CEO Singapore, Asia QBE

Weaker economic growth, largely driven by Covid-19, comes as no surprise. The Singapore government and local businesses have been actively developing contingency plans to combat this likely outcome. There are certainly silver linings for the insurance industry through these challenges. At QBE, we have shifted our long-term focus towards digitalisation, ensuring our products and negotiated underwriting can continue to operate as efficiently as possible amid uncertainty. Digitalisation is fast becoming a critical route for conducting business, with diverse innovations and new technologies across big data, Internet of Things and fintech creating opportunities to work differently and meet customer needs in creative ways. This gives a leg up to insurers to transform smartly while continuing to deliver effective risk management and protection.

Mario Singh Chief Executive Officer Fullerton Markets

The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on many industries including the airline, tourism, retail and F&B sectors. As a brokerage firm, we are thankful that our industry has been slightly shielded from the recessionary pressures. This is because the combined effects of stay-home measures with unprecedented liquidity injections by central banks have drawn many people to open up trading accounts. However, during our recent mid-year company review, I reminded the company of the importance of staying focused en-route to achieving our year-end goals.

As the old saying goes: when you are down, the only way to go is up. Many of us are affected by the recession and the harsh fact is that the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. However, we can all tide through this with a resilient mindset. In this respect, one silver lining is the recent announcement by Google and the Singapore government to train 3,000 local entry-level and mid-career job seekers for future employment.

Christina Teo Executive Director SAPI

Even while Singapore's economy has declined precipitously in the first half of this year, the country's biomedical industry has been a bright spot, allowing the manufacturing sector to grow 2.5 per cent during the period. Our close cooperation with the Singapore government has allowed the biomedical industry to maintain its 24,000 local jobs, increased the sector's exports, as well as continue to supply Singapore and the rest of the world with a reliable supply of medicines and vaccines despite some significant logistical obstacles. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Increased protectionism, healthcare policies that may impact our operations and continued strains on supply lines and logistics all mean that such industry and government collaboration must not only continue, but be enhanced, given the fast-moving geopolitical and global trade situations. This will allow us to ensure that all those residing in Singapore have access to the innovative medicines and vaccines that they need.

Tan Mui Huat President and CEO, Asia International SOS

The pandemic was a catalyst for change and has brought about the urgent need for businesses to prioritise health and wellbeing of employees and digitalisation. This is critical to the success of our business going forward, and for our clients to build a sustainable and resilient workforce for the future.

We have found through supporting our clients that a holistic workforce resilience programme should focus on prevention, protection and support. This includes providing actionable information, advice and assistance for all employees, domestic or mobile, wherever they are.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have supported our clients to ensure the health and safety of their employees from reacting to and resisting the pandemic, and to recovery as they prepare to return to work and resume travel. Our clients now see us as a holistic workforce resilience partner, with the global reach and local expertise to support them through every crisis.

Bill Doherty Chief Executive Officer Walton International Group (S) Pte Ltd

While the pandemic has tipped the economy into recession it has also helped to accelerate some long-term trends that Walton is poised to benefit from.

In the US, the movement of a generation of millennials to the suburbs was already underway, but this has been given a huge boost by the pandemic. The combination of a long lockdown followed by a new acceptance of work-from-home and the lowest mortgage interest rates on record have created the perfect conditions for the flight to the suburbs. In June, US mortgage applications jumped an incredible 19 per cent year on year, and we expect homebuilders to report record-setting numbers on their earnings calls at the end of the month.

Over the past two years Walton's strategy has shifted away from developing land by ourselves. Instead, we partner with best-in-class builders and developers. Walton buys and ''banks'' the land and then contracts with a public builder that looks after the zoning, development, homebuilding and sales to homebuyers. This way, Walton's investors can realise their returns quicker. This collaborative commitment works well not only in bullish times but also during downturns too, and vitally, it provides the flexibility homebuilders require today to meet soaring demand.

Leong Yee May Managing Director, South Asia Equinix

Equinix's business continues to perform well despite the pandemic. As enterprises race to accelerate digital transformation adoption and continue to support remote work practices, their demand for interconnection continues to increase. We provide an interconnection platform for leading businesses, connecting millions of users to critical services in the cloud and helping them to maintain operations under current restrictions. Covid-19 has clearly demonstrated the urgency for innovation and digital transformation and those who do not will risk being left behind.

Kwan Chi Man CEO and Founder Raffles Family Office

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! During this challenging time, at Raffles Family Office, we remain committed to seeking out the best talents including relationship managers, as we continue to expand our business in Singapore and across Asia. Our team of investment experts who are experienced in building resilience within portfolios against market volatility has delivered investment results which align with our UHNW clients' long-term investment objectives, reflecting our ability in creating true values for clients.

One silver lining amid the economic gloom is that the Variable Capital Companies (VCC) scheme in Singapore has continued to garner significant interest from the world's investors as they look to re-domicile funds into Singapore. We are one of the first few firms that launched the VCC from day one back in mid-January. The VCC has been a significant contributor to our growth in AUM, which lays the foundation for an even stronger track record and client base as we continue to strive to lead the development of family office industry in Asia.

Derek Wang General Manager, Singapore Alibaba Cloud

It is likely that the Covid-19 pandemic will leave a lasting impact on the global economy and continue to affect businesses in varying degrees. The fight is far from over. We see that companies are already going beyond using plug-and-play solutions to fundamentally transform their operations for business and life online. While this shift was accelerated out of necessity during the start of the pandemic, the confidence gained by enterprises means we are making meaningful progress towards a complete digital transformation. We hope that more businesses will recognise the long-term benefits to the bottom line through securing new revenues online and tightening operating expenses with digitalisation.

Maren Schweizer Director Schweizer World Pte Ltd

We cannot rely well on command and control to execute a scripted response as we are not facing a routine crisis. It will be very different from nearly all the recessions that have come before it. To address problem solving and execution under high-stress and chaotic conditions, we believe in a network of teams, a widely known setup. The challenge is more about setting it up and getting used to change on an ongoing basis.

Our network of teams consists of a highly adaptable assembly of groups, which are united by our purpose and include one nerve centre covering the domains of workforce protection, supply-chain stabilisation, customer engagement and liquidity management to ensure a 24-month runway with significantly lower demand assuming a U-shape recovery as a base case.

Real benefits from the customer's point of view are increasingly created by the combination of our employees' specialised expertise with artificial intelligence and data analytics. Therefore we accelerate our developments towards integrated intelligence, the combination of human intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Alex Tadmoury SVP, Division Manager Asia-Pacific FM Global

Since the beginning of the outbreak, we have deployed over 7,000 remote loss prevention service visits globally. Our engineers continue to do this to support our policyholder and owners as they make business continuity decisions every day. We have invested considerable intellectual capital on the risks associated with Industrial Control Systems, and pairing our R&D in that space with our traditional expertise in machinery breakdown to help our policyholders. In the longer term, we see exponential acceleration of innovative technology in our policyholders' industries.

As a mutual, we at FM Global have been committed to property insurance and loss prevention for nearly two centuries through numerous catastrophic world events and what are always called ''unprecedented'' times. The industry overcomes every time, through sheer resolve and creativity. This pandemic will not deter us.

Simon Dale MD, South-east Asia Adobe

In the past few months, we have seen years worth of digital transformation strategies compressed into weeks because of Covid-19. The unprecedented change in customer behaviour and economic landscape has drastically accelerated digital transformation across industries. Even organisations that were previously slower to adopt digital tools and workflows, such as e-signatures, are now starting to put these systems in place. By transforming paper-based documents and applications to fully digitised processes, not only will organisations be able to deliver greater convenience and enhance the immediate customer experience, they will also be laying the digital foundations to facilitate data collection that will be immensely valuable to the business in the long haul. If data is the new oil, then this would be the silver lining.

Sudhir Agarwal Chief Executive Officer Everise

We think the key to surviving will be accessibility and insights. Over the past few years, we have invested in modernising the BPO model to leverage technology - artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and analytics. The former frees up our customer service agents to be empathetic. Insights inform decision making and help us identify opportunities to build new revenue streams. Then you need talent to tap and unlock those growth opportunities, so we apply desktop-as-a-service to help our people work from home. We also adapted internal processes to successfully recruit and train online.

Thiantara Kruathorn Country Director, Singapore and Brunei Fortinet

Fortinet, like many organisations, made a rapid switch to flexible remote work policies but without major business disruption as we already have the technologies in place. Now that we can expect telecommuting to stay for the near future, Fortinet's business priority will remain focused on improving the telecommuting capabilities of our customer organisations to maintain their business continuity through the recession. Many successful approaches to telecommuting that we have seen are based on a careful analysis of existing capabilities. Instead of rushing to add new technologies, Fortinet is taking a measured approach with businesses to extend the capabilities of their existing network infrastructure. It is important that organisations deploy solutions that will be suitable not just for the matters at hand, but for future protection against digital transformation efforts and new vulnerabilities and cyber attacks as well.

Ian Lee CEO, Asia-Pacific The Adecco Group

We are always striving for the best while staying prepared for the worst. Preserving cash and keeping our SG&A in control are among our financial priorities. We also map out worst-case scenarios and conduct stress tests, which promise effective business continuity and ensures that our people-first priorities never get comprised.

While some may focus on surviving through the turmoil, our focus is on transforming through it. The crisis has accelerated the adoption of future of work practices and digitisation. As long as we embrace the opportunities and leverage them, we can establish a resilient and inclusive future that works for everyone.

Srinivas Gattamneni Chief Executive Officer ADA

Covid-19 has accelerated the need for digital and data maturity across all our clients, particularly in telcom, banking and financial, insurance and CPG industries. Leveraging our data and AI capabilities, we are actively helping them to get a deep understanding of their consumer behaviour, measurement and attribution of their media and driving new customer acquisition.

Our clients are grappling with still having to achieve the in-year targets but with limited marketing dollars. Hence, we have several initiatives to enable this - creative automation and outcome-based service models, for instance, enable them to deliver the same results but with less marketing dollars.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

An economic crisis is often a reality check on a company's resilience in weathering storms. When the tide is high and the weather is good, everyone stays afloat. When the tide is low or receding, or the weather is bad, those who are not prepared for it will likely be grounded or capsize, often recognising the consequences too late.

A company that I am involved in spent time looking at what can go wrong, both in good and bad times. The business resilience was strengthened by focusing on enterprise risk management while pursuing new businesses through aggressive, yet prudent market development, diversification, market penetration, and product development.

The twin-pronged approach to manage enterprise risks and to grow the business has produced dividends for the company. When the pandemic sets in, the firm wasted no time in initiating in-vitro tests of an existing oral and nasal spray to kill the Sars-CoV-2 - an opportunity for upselling - with world-renowned laboratories, such as our Duke-NUS BSL-3 Laboratory. The efficacy of the disinfectant led to an exponential increase in consumer demand - the silver lining - for it to be used as another precautionary step to contain the virus contagion. It compensated for the consequent shortfall in demand for pain management prescriptions for hospitals due to Covid-19.

The company was also pleased to be able to play a small part to contribute to the larger cause of fighting Covid-19, not just in Singapore but elsewhere in the world where we operate.

Juliana M Chan Chief Executive Officer Wildtype Media Group

My sector - media and publishing - has been seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the terrible state of the current job market, I believe that our first priority should be to retain jobs. We are planning for a long winter, while acknowledging the extraordinary uncertainty that limits our ability to do so.

We are still focused on long-term investments into new verticals: we have hired new colleagues for our video team and we are building an in-house production studio. Because all conferences have been cancelled, we have observed an increase in B2B clients engaging us to help them with digital content and social media marketing for science and technology (Stem) audiences.

Henry Tan Group CEO Nexia TS Group

We believe that in the next few months ahead it will only get worse before it gets better. There will be more job losses and business closures. Our restructuring division is seeing more demand for restructuring and judicial management work. We believe all is not just doom and gloom. We have started to reduce our costs to make us lean so that we can weather the difficult period and at the same time invest into the future. We are particularly bullish in the area of digital business, and especially fintechs. We have developed a strong collaboration with the fintech ecosystem and are plugged in to assist clients in these areas and also helping those in traditional business to tap technologies to transform. To this end, we have an Innolab with online and offline facilities to do this. I believe companies that take steps to transform will survive.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

Girding for this epic recession must include a metamorphosis in the process - a complete transformation of the business. The entire recruitment industry is at a literal standstill. Overseas recruitment projects have totally collapsed because of the travel bans. The recent spike in local unemployment and the widespread wage cuts for those who still have their jobs are painful.

Recruitment businesses have to lubricate the process of placement with free connect to jobs, displacement counselling with morale boosting talks and webinars to stay relevant. It is not building on the top and bottom lines in this season of stress and uncertainty, but to perform social good to accrue goodwill and to share the glimmers of light to those who are at the lowest point of the curve.

Adrian Chng Chief Executive Officer GoBear

Businesses can no longer rely on physical branches or in-person support to connect with customers. We have found that traditional banking and insurance organisations are looking for more efficient ways to find and serve customers because digital-forward fintech solutions have proven to be resilient and very much needed during this pandemic.

Vick Aggarwala President Supreme Components Intl Pte Ltd

By the grace of God, as of now our company is still able to carry on business as usual, except for a bit of a challenge in terms of collecting money from customers. We do not feel the recession as such.

We see that medical electronics and data servers markets are still hot, along with telecommuting equipments.

Jay Ng Managing Director STACS

Organisations have to be on the lookout for trends and developments that will affect their industries and the economy. This will help to weather any downturns and recession.

In the mid of the recession, there are also certain industries that buck the trend. One such exception is the fintech industry where Hashstacs operates. Hashstacs' technology provides efficient and improved operations and risk management for banks. It is also able to use live and production-ready solutions to easily generate efficiencies and cost savings of up to 95 per cent for banks and stock exchanges. Another solution is the ability to handle live trade operations for top-tier asset managers and their custodians in real time.

Using blockchain technology to provide innovations for adoption by banks, asset management firms and stock exchanges can be seen as the silver lining amid the economic gloom.

Leonard Cheong Managing Director AdNovum Singapore Pte Ltd

The global disruption has resulted in many companies struggling to keep the business going. Amid this, new opportunities have also surfaced for industries like healthcare, essential logistics, F&B, video conferencing and especially those in e-commerce businesses. These industries have been able to leverage technology and shifts in consumptions during the circuit breaker to grow. This has spurred strong demand for innovative and secure online services and provided a fresh impetus for AdNovum's services, as we help companies master their digital potential.

The extensive adoption of digital solutions, tools and services during this pandemic has accelerated the global transition towards a digital economy. New business models have been created and will continue to be reinvented with agility and resilience in order to thrive in the post-Covid-19 world.

Tony Lombardo

Chief Executive Officer, Asia

Lendlease

The global economy is inherently cyclical and the Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated a recession, of which the full impact remains to be seen. While the recession presents its own unique set of challenges, it is also an opportunity for businesses to reassess their purpose and realign their focus accordingly. The virus outbreak has reminded one and all of the urgent need to embrace technological change. Those who adapt to this new reality will stand a better chance at thriving in an increasingly uncertain world. To do this, we need to ensure our workforce is adequately upskilled to manage challenges in the post-Covid-19 economy. At Lendlease, we are pushing forward on initiatives that leverage the firm's capabilities to ride the digital revolution that reap benefits for safety and productivity - in line with our focus on the health and safety of all on our projects.