Corporate Social Responsibility

“As long that you have a decent job, work hard, law-abide, you can consider yourself fulfilling a role as a good citizen,” there was this CEO trying his best to cajole newbies with his over-simplified motto when I first joined the IT company right after my graduation.

That moment my conscience shot back, “Yeah? How about those who work hard at licensed casinos or at tobacco companies? How about your cars that spit carbon monoxides and contribute to pollution everyday? How about …….?” We all have sinned; the simple mantra for life won’t get you near to any role model example.

Corporate Social Responsibility 

We often heard of the listing regulatory authority emphasizes on the importance of corporate governance and social responsibility. But, when you have the chance to look at the courses constantly offered to the directors, you would realize on how pale the contents really are.  The real purpose of these courses is to urge the directors to protect the minority shareholders’ interests, not the real public’s interests. Indeed, a lot of public listed companies have very little concern of the public, even those who made corporate governance and corporate social responsibility the ‘bible’ in their daily operations. 

The reason is simple. They’re driven by profit, by the greed of ROI. Even when the public companies have tens of thousands of shareholders, the number is still considered minority to the real public. And we have no short of examples where the interests of public companies conflict with the publics.

Take for an example the increase in electricity tariff; the share price rises for the electric power provider, the investors are happy, and they would tend to ignore the inflation and the increase in the cost of living as the after-effects. And the minority shareholders might think, “What can I do about it? Since I couldn’t beat them, it’s better that I suffer less from the side effects and join them.” And believe me, these vultures are well aware of every tactic to lobby the government to work towards their interests, to add bigger profit to their already lucrative monopoly business.

Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia

You may criticize these companies, but would your virtue be strong enough to avoid investing in their stocks that guarantee dividends? We saw the shameless shareholders posted their comments on the Facebook page of Lynas after the company been awarded the temporary license to operate their rare-earth plant that may harm the environment by emitting radioactive Thorium as by-product, despite hundreds of thousands Malaysian demonstrated and staged numerous strong protests against the operation. Where are those social responsibilities at the time of need and when the law permits (not to have one)? And we all know that laws are so easily bent in developing countries.

That is why quite some pharmaceutical companies have their clinical trials on new drugs in developing countries like Kenya, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and Mongolia, because it is much easier to find human guinea pigs, and the loosely regulatory environment in these countries avoid them from the threat of litigation if things went wrong.  

Federal Court dismisses Bukit Koman residents' appeal

When Bukit Koman Anti-Cyanide Committee in Malaysia called for a donation after they lost their legal battle against a gold mining company early this month and the Federal Court ordered them to pay RM15,000 (USD5,000) as legal cost, we donated RM10,000 to inspire more corporations to support civil society movements and underprivileged groups.

To me, charitable activities shouldn’t be just an icing on the cake.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Patent War

Patent war has become nasty nowadays. Even when it comes to your original work, you still might have a chance to infringe other people’s rights. The absurdity of the fact could be explained in this following scenario: Your product was launched for quite sometime but you didn’t file for patent application while the other company (that made the same product as you) had filed and granted the patent though the product is still under incubation. They could sue you for violating his patent, you could lose the case and compensate their losses, although technically, you’re not stealing anything from them. And, there is a possibility that they copied your idea in the first place.

Most technology startups, especially those from developing countries, have high chances of losing when engaged in intellectual property war game.  Most of them are even unaware of the magnitude of the IP right, or in the state of penny-pinching, any budget allocation for patent expenditure seems unrealistic, and would instantly be considered excessive in their plan; to be dropped without much hesitation.

Patent War

But when we look at startups in the Silicon Valley, whom are showered with all kinds of funds from angel investors and venture capitalists, and whom have enough exposure and guidance to survive and prosper in the modern warfare, who knows how to play lawyer first, inventor later. According to Bloomberg Businessweek (August 13 – 26, 2012 issue), in an article, Hiring a Mercenary for The New Patent War, a new startup, Tactus Technology, filed 20 applications before even beginning to bring their inventions to life. 

How much do you have to spend to start a patent application?  Schox Patent Group responded to Businessweek interview by saying that they charge a flat rate of US$15,000 per patent. For big corporations, this sum is peanuts, but a big sum to smaller companies.

“Decades ago a machine might have five or ten patents,” says Schox. “But today, the phone in your pocket has about 5,000.”  It seems that the patent filing is a lucrative business, but the huge incentive lies on the patent litigation war.

Patent War

On 24^th August 2012, Apple won its patent lawsuit against Samsung on the infringement of its multiple patents in the US, including scrolling, zooming, navigation features, as well as icon design and appearance, which awarded the company a US$1.05 billion in settlements.  The patent war ignited by Apple is also a strategy aimed at Google to suppress the advancement of its Android powered smart phones and tablets.

The impact? The initial objective of patent rights was to protect the novelty of an invention; now it has become a double-edged sword to subdue competition and innovation to some extent. 

We are a technology company, no matter how I loath the twisted development of patent application; it is still one of the indicators to measure the technology strength of a company or a nation. As a technology company, we have to file more patent applications to protect our intellectual property. This month, we filed in a patent application for “A Time Attendance tracking method and system” for TimeTec Mobile App, and another patent on one-touch technology is to be filed next month. Here is our part done in the patenting world.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Fooling Nobody

It was like a dream that had finally been realized. This night scene photograph that I picked to be used for my faculty magazine in my sophomore, is still fresh in my mind. The all-white pillars magnificently stood as the base structure of the Memorial Hall, and the dim yellow lights solemnly bathed the Statue of this great man, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, in his regal sitting position, in between two pillars inside the hall.

Lincoln Memorial at night

And now, after more than two decades, I stood yet again before the Statue of Lincoln with a better idea of its proportion, and with one of his famous quotes always lingering in me, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Even though there are 44 Presidents since the US’s independence in 1776, the greatness of Abraham Lincoln is still distinguishingly highlighted in the State that was named after its first president, George Washington. Even the tour guide spent more time on this 16th President, showing the spot he got shot, and the hospital he was admitted in after the assassination in April 1865. What made Lincoln the greatest American president? He ended slavery, guided the country through the constitutional, military, and moral crisis – Civil War.

No man is born to be great. What makes a man great depends on what he did in his lifetime. The same for a brand, to become a great product or a great brand, you need to have something extraordinary to deserve an appraisal of greatness. And one good thing about brand, unlike human beings that have a biological lifespan, it can last long when all the factors are right.

Fooling Nobody

As a brand in the Internet era and social media technology that widespreads everything in the speed of light, the famous quote of Lincoln has to be upgraded to a more stringent level to “you fool no people at any time”. And you take no chance, because any wrongdoing can hurt your brand almost instantly.

Last two weeks, a leading Chinese newspaper in Malaysia was uncovered with plagiarism in its editorial article, and the news spread fast on Facebook. Within two weeks, readers exposed another 20 more plagiarized articles by simply using Google as their investigative tool. The newspaper demonstrated the worst kind of response by merely publishing a perfunctory apology on its Facebook fan page, but played dumb in its printed dailies, to limit the right to inform their readers, as a damage control solution. But I dare say you fool nobody in the Internet age. The virtual world and the real world coexist and are interactive, insincerity would eventually rebuke and haunt your credibility.

Wall Street Bull

To summarize my US trip, it was a pleasure to have met our FingerTec partner in New York, to exchange ideas, to better understand the local market, and to explore on how to expand the FingerTec brand in North America for the coming years.  

Overall, I had a pleasant stay in New York this summer. The weather was not too hot, especially in the breezy sunny days, wind blew with an unexpectedly soothing cool air, and walking in the vibrant metropolitan city was quite enjoyable. I even managed to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, besides some other popular tourist spots.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Balance of Power

It takes a century for Time and Attendance system to strike a balance of power.

When punch card clocking system was introduced to record employees' attendance a long time ago and still quite many companies are using it now, the weight of power is tilted to employees. Employers almost have no knowledge whether employees themselves, or their colleagues punched the clocking records when they were late for works. But this is the limitation of punch card clocking technology, whether employers like it or not, they have to live with it.

To prevent time theft that causes employers to pay extra 'wages', they embrace biometrics time and attendance system when it becomes available without much hesitation to replace the old system.

Tug-of-war for power

And the power slides to employers this time. As employees, you lose the control instantly. Not only that you can't punch for your buddies but also you lost the grip of your own clocking records. All the clocking records stored in the biometrics terminals are transferred to a computer system managed by HR department. You have no idea whether your employers could or would manipulate your records to become time thieves themselves. But this is the automation attendance system, whether employees like it or not, they have to live with it.

Although some biometrics clocking terminals support receipt printers, where employees can print receipt as proof of their attendance time, most employers would not prefer to invest unless it is mandatory by the government like what happens in Chile.

The recipient of the power would always be the happy one, be it employer or employee. But again, this is unhealthy from the management’s point of view.

Naturally, the best solution to rectify any technological weakness is by introducing a newer technology. This time around, to strike the balance of power, replacing the Windows-based time and attendance software to a web-based or even a cloud-based system seems like a very good move, plus having clocking terminals that support web-based system.  

The nature of windows-based software is individuality, which means that the application is normally use to complete tasks assigned to the software operators. But for web-based system, collaboration supersedes individuality. The trend of personal technology provides more computing power; with the web-based solution that networks almost everybody, it encourages information sharing and interactions between two or more parties. So, why not let the employees logging in to the web server to view or print their own attendance and work schedule, or having more personal or company information to their benefits? All these would improve communication within an organization.

Web programs to be the solution for the balance of power

Our product, TimeTec Web seems to be the solution to the balance the power. And in view of the complication in setting up a web server, we launched TimeTec Cloud to simplify the deployment.

In fact, the balance of power in the workplace would create better understandings between employees and employers. For employers, they should take this technology transformation opportunity to share the obligatory information among employees, to build a better working environment and enhance the sense of belongings of employees to the company.  

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

The Trend of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing technology is not something new.  When you first registered your Hotmail or Gmail account many years back, it has already existed, not to mention all the social media websites like Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, where you create and host your personal data over onto their servers.  

IBM mainframe computer

IT development trend has always been a scaling down process. For example, it started from mainframe (1950s) to minicomputers (1970s) to PCs (1980s) to laptops (1990s) and later to tablets (2010s). The path software developers underwent was also in this sequence, offering solutions first to big organizations, later to the small ones, and lastly for personal use. But for cloud computing, the sequence is the reverse, which involves a scaling up process.

There are two different modes of reception for individuals and corporations for technology and cloud computing adoption. Normally, individuals would embrace technology faster and more freely than corporations if not due to the fact that the computing power was too expensive to acquire in the past. And the size of IT devices mattered too. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, the computing power they used was only as good as today’s iPhone. Who would reject an iPhone if they can afford one?

How to hit the right button for cloud services?

For the consumer market, the term cloud computing shouldn’t be of their concerns and in fact might never cross their minds. Just like how they picked up on the iCloud concept effortlessly, starting to use it as though it is second nature to them.

But when cloud-computing technology moves up to corporate level, there are processes and crucial issues for consideration. Hence the migration becomes a very tough decision, particularly when they have to deal with the idea of letting a third party vendor host their classified data.  

In short, cloud computing is a term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that is often used to represent the Internet in flowcharts and diagrams.

For Amazon Web Services and GoogleApps, they provide IaaS and PaaS with development tools respectively for developers to host their services for customers; they are not situated in the front line for direct interaction with users.

But for our TimeTec Cloud in the Software-as-a-Service cloud model, we provide the hardware infrastructure (even though it is via Amazon’s cloud computing power), the TimeTec software application and the interaction with the user through a front-end portal. Because we host both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from any location.

In fact, cloud computing in SaaS model is a highly integrated and sophisticated service. Yet, it has to be simple, in the perspective of users. That’s the biggest challenge, for all SaaS providers, including TimeTec Cloud.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

TimeTec Cloud - A Letter to Resellers

Dear Valued Resellers,

We all seek stability in a volatile business world all the time. 

Most of us are not accustomed to a roller-coaster pattern of sales, because even though it evokes excitement to some people, it could cause a heart attack in others. 

The fast changing nature of technology makes business sustainability a constant worry for business owners, regardless of the stability and profitability of their existing industry. When a certain technology goes obsolete, it could drag the whole industry down with it, and you may find yourself out of business almost instantly.

We are fortunate. Our biometrics business started to boom in 2005 when the technology stabilized and the market was ready to accept the new technology, and so far we have registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40.68 percent from 2005 to 2011. But new technologies are quickly becoming old; we can't just expect the line on the chart to continue going upward as we please. Eventually it would slow down, progress into a plateau and even start a downhill progression if nothing is being done to improve the trend; this is the norm for most businesses. 

It occurred to me that a recurring revenue business model could be the solution to our worry. When we deal with hardware, customers would buy once and only repurchase when their hardware encounters irreparable damage or a breakdown, or if they happen to open a new branch. In this situation you would be just hoping that they will stick to your brand. Even if you have secured some maintenance contracts and received recurring fees every year, the revenue contributed from this segment is minute in comparison. However, a recurring sales model might seem beyond our reach for our industry. 

A few years back when I was contemplating on the cloud computing technology concept, it transpired to me that we could offer TimeTec Cloud to be seamlessly integrated with our FingerTec products, as a recurring revenue business model to be operated concurrently with our current business model.

We built on that idea when we planned and implemented a CRM system four years ago to improve our sales and support system. We settled on Salesforce.com without much argument, and our exposure to the world's most successful Software as a Service (SaaS) model, gave us a hands-on experience from the world’s best. To be the best, we learn from the best.

Unlike Nokia that was promoting their cell phones as hardware only, Apple which came out with their smart phones in 2007, offered various services which included apps and content uniquely integrated with its hardware to guarantee recurring revenue. And, without much struggle, they became the most valuable company in the world.

Equipped with our own vision, it took us almost four years to materialize it. Of course, as our valued resellers, we have factored you into our plans for the future of FingerTec. Successfully changing goals from a product-based company to a service-based one will take one large and contributive effort from all parties - preparation and foresight is essential in this effort.

And along with TimeTec Cloud, you may even want to start considering a change in your product sales model to a rental based business model. 

The future is now, and the question is: Are you up for joining us? 

Teh Hon Seng

Chief Executive Officer

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Clouds of Memories

Sometimes I think I am destined to do cloud computing.

When I was young, aged around 4 or 5, I liked to lie on my back, and watched the clouds drifted above in the meadow nearby my house in the bright blue sky. I liked seeing some strands of clouds gathered and formed some unknown shapes that looked like animals such as elephant, cat, dog, horse, and even a dragon, while my childhood mates were playing tag and running around. I also wondered to where the cotton candy-liked cloud would float? Somewhere faraway beyond or within my reach even after I've grown up? That thinking always fascinated me, and occupied my mind most of the time.

Memories of clouds

The little village was my entire world at that time. The coconut trees, grass field, small hills, scattered houses, and even flowing river, pedaling bicycles, loitering dogs and passing train were all still images in my early days’ memories. The only moving objects were clouds, hung high and low, thin and thick in the sky, in thousands different expressions and appearances, easily spilled out of my childhood boundaries, and has rooted deep down in my dream.  

Artist's impression of cloud city

And, anyone who knows Chinese would know that I have cloud city in my name. The name seems to bind my fate to clouds even more. And, as I write poems and published books, the simple but rare formed of words that contained artistic conception are often thought by people as a pen name.

Besides, I like the way Chinese landscape art-paintings with light colors or without the use of any color. The simple Chinese ink painting uses the Taoist principles of harmony to depict white clouds, the liu-bai technique, or intentionally leaving it blank, is best capturing not only the outer appearance of a subject but its inner essence of energy, life force and spirit. The empty spaces to portray clouds provide the room for viewers to fill it up with their own imagination.

Leave Blank technique to depict clouds

Even when I started this blog five years ago and named it Traveling Mind, it was the outcome of freely traveling cloud that first struck my mind.

Due to my liking of cloud, I felt the closeness and attachment to this buzzword Cloud Computing, not merely because it would be the future trend of software application development.

We devote a large part of our resources to build TimeTec Cloud services, hoping it will drive us to somewhere farther with greater achievement. And, we finally come to this most anticipated event - the launch of TimeTec Cloud next month and certainly one of the big moments of FingerTec.

To build a city full of computing activities in the clouds, the dream is so vivid now, and the direction is unmistakable and clearer when the days get closer.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ