My 2011 Read List

This time around, I want to talk about books. Particularly about titles that I read in 2011 that are worth some reviews; I reckon too much of FingerTec talk sometimes could bore the audiences.

Last year, I bought about 100 books in total and a few eBooks from Kobo and not counting my magazine subscriptions. Some books are for references; some are trashed after a few chapters, and only 30 or so that I read cover to cover. Here I introduce a few English books that I like.  

1. MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and The World  - Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

Tapscott is a thought leader in digital world. This MacroWikinomics should be an extension of his observation for mass collaboration, in a larger scale after the published of Wikinomics in 2006. In this book, he gives some true examples on how MacroWikinomics happened in business, government and civil society.

2.  A World Without Islam - Graham E. Fuller

This book is NOT about criticizing Islam. In fact it concluded that the global confrontations wouldn’t be lesser if the world is without Islam. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA gives a lot of analysis and proofs that the conflicts and tensions that exist between the West and the East are geopolitically mounted, rather than caused by religious origins. The discussions are not confined to Islam only; in relation to Islam, it broadly covers the Christianity, cultural, politics, economic, history and more.

3. Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacton

I don’t prefer celebrity biographies, and I hardly buy or read any memoir. But this was an exception to me. We are in an IT-related business and a person like Steve Jobs is such a legend that the details of his life are worth a look at.

4. The Takeover  - Stephen Frey

I bought this book in a second-hand bookstore. I have a few books of Stephen Frey, some I finished and some I discarded half way. My last purchase, Hell’s Gate unfortunately felt in the latter category. This one so far I think is his best. If you want business world’s thriller, this is it.

5. Fall of Giants - Ken Follet

I have a full collection of Ken Follet’s books. This is the first book of his trilogy about the change of the major world powers before and after the World War 1, written in a style that gives it a lot more fun than a history book. I would definitely consider getting his second installment due this coming September.

 6. The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

This is Aravind Adiga’s debut novel that won him a Booker Prize. I bought the book, expecting some surprises to be in store and it didn't disappoint. I must say that I enjoy books written by Indian writers, especially one like Rohinton Misty who beautifully and powerfully depicts the harsh life in India.

Aravind’s White Tiger novel has a more comical feel. The low-life chauffeur turned “social entrepreneur” tells his own story, justifying his crime, and at the same time, revealing the rampant corruption that has eroded the Indian democracy system.

7. The Fear Index - Robert Harris

In my view, I found Ghost Writer more interesting in film rather than a read, but nevertheless, Robert Harris is still one of my favorite writers. His latest work, The Fear Index, is a combination of technological, financial and psychological fiction, which brings an interesting and creative turn to the book.

His ancient Rome trilogy, based on the tale of Cicero’s slave secretary, Tiro, is another intriguing piece although it seems like Robert Harris has totally forgotten his mission to complete the trilogy - after the publication of Imperium and Lustrum, I, for one, have been eagerly awaiting for news of the third and final part.

8. Animal Farm - George Orwell

We all know George Orwell because of his classical 1984, which was first published in 1948, the famous prophetic haunting tale about the “Thought Police” and the “Big Brother”. This novel was first published in 1946; and I bought the digital copy, as the printed copy is a rare in major bookstores. Both Animal Farm and 1984 criticize totalitarianism, and the author uses animals as characters in his Animal Farm.  

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Historical Record For Every Terminal

Our practical branding concept continues to bring us some new and innovative systems that benefit resellers and customers, this time we introduce CloudTrack.

Yes, this is a cloud computing technology platform, but no, this is not a system for  sale. This is an additional support system from FingerTec to make sure that as our sales grow, our technical support improves to the benefit of every party involves in FingerTec business.

This system is expected to provide convenience to our resellers and technical team in tracking every terminal’s historical records, complete with necessary information required to perform technical support.

It begins with this simple idea: Every respectful human life keeps a medical record for doctors to issue the right prescription in time of need. What if the same practice is applied to a machine?

Many manufacturers don't bother to know where and to who the device has been sold to and they would rather consider their obligation fulfilled so long as the limited warranty is provided and served.

But to be different, we are pleased to consider a functional device as having a life of its own. Imagine that it was born to serve its master whom has different expectations. Its burden of workload depends on the total workforce and the nature of business of its master. Hence, keeping a 'healthy body' all the time is fundamental for a machine to serve its master well. If you can pull records of a specific machine at anytime and check on its health condition even for the slightest hiccup, and be able to give an immediate and right treatment on the machine, wouldn't you want to?

The only reason that deterred us from introducing the CloudTrack much earlier was due to the difficulty of integration with our backend accounting system. In fact, we had quite some talk with the supplier in the past years, and the breakthrough came  only early last year.

With respect for all life, there is a thread of health records keeping track of the devices' well-beings. And after a device is 'born' from the production line, its full "maternity" record i.e model, serial number, firmware version, core board and MCU version, and etc. would be uploaded to the CloudTrack for easy reference. Resellers who bought the devices are given the rights to access the  records, they are encouraged to continue the trail by filling up where and to who the device had finally gone to, and enrich the biodata whenever they perform technical supports to the particular device.

I believe that one of the reasons our business continues to grow is because we never underestimate the capacity to accommodate technical supports that usually increased in tandem with the sales growth. Besides adding a few technical personnel, a good system would definitely play an important role. 


by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Beyond Biometrics

(This is my Foreword for Beyond Biometrics, FingerTec annual publication)

I always had the dream to build a world-class brand. And, I believed that full-fledged execution is the only way for me to get closer to that dream. Over the years with FingerTec, we have been building, improving and strengthening not only our products and services, but also our system and our people, in our way to achieve this ultimate goal of building a renowned brand.

When we created a vast pool of online resources based on practical branding that leveraged on Internet technology, we promised our customers that we would Make Things Easy. User friendliness is the priority in almost everything that we do, starting from leading-edge products to support systems. This strategy had brought us hundreds of loyal resellers and ten-of-thousands of customers in more than 120 countries around the world.

Our 2011 recorded a growth of 15% as compared to the previous year, which I'm proud about considering the volatile world's economic situation. Even though the coming year's economy would still be enveloped in a gloomy outlook from the likely spread Eurozone debt crisis, we particularly optimistic about the future ahead of us.

Let's welcome 2012 with the publication of Beyond Biometrics. This annual magazine contains FingerTec's past activities, and the retrospect of the brand's highlighted events. we also give you a hint of what's in store for the year 2012 by FingerTec.

Beyond Biometrics is not merely a title for our magazine, it has become our new slogan, succeeding We Make Things Easy, marking the arrival of a new era that focuses on technology transformation of FingerTec products, and the changes in our business approach simultaneously. The recent debut of our web-based and mobile TimeTec system has the market excited, and we expect to expand our platform to cloud computing technology and to offer it as SaaS (Software as a Service) in the short future would definitely stir another round of excitement.

Furthermore, we will continue to lift the slogan to a higher ground, to become our philosophical guide that blends into our strategic planning and daily operation.

With all that we have in plan and the team that we have onboard, I am confident that the FingerTec brand will soar to a new height.

It is my pleasure to present to you Beyond Biometrics and let's stride towards the promising future.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Persistency in Execution is the Key to a Successful Plan

Recently, during the IFSEC Arabia Exhibition, I had a talk with one of FingerTec distributors from Saudi Arabia.

“Since you make cold calls to get appointments, how many prospective customers do you meet in a day?” I asked, after he explained about his sales activities.

“Approximately three to four, about a hundred a month.”

“That’s a lot. Then how many readers you can sell in a month?”

“I reckon about fifteen to twenty. It varies from month to month, festive months would be less, and if there was a project, the sales would be more.”

“That’s quite impressive,” I replied. “How about next year, would you foresee that you could meet more potential clients in a month?”

My question caught him off-guard and he started to calculate the possibilities. He then raised his head and said, “Probably not. Because I think I would see less (customers) but selling more readers.”

Exactly. He saw the logic by getting more referrals and more quality potentials.

“But still, time is limited for everyone. Why don’t you try some new strategies?” As usual, I started my “routine lecture” to persuade him to look into Internet marketing as an alternative method to improve his company’s image and boost sales.

I began to explain how to tap on our resources, to use monthly newsletter as an effective tool to spread the influence and to reach the maximum target audience by a single click.

“And you virtually meet more prospective customers not by hundreds but by a few thousands every month. The mailing list will get longer much easier, and you will experience the days when customers will be calling you instead of the other way round.” Of course, I told him that rule of permission marketing is applied.

I received positive responses from his boss, who joined us later in the conversation, and him.  I sincerely told them that the Internet marketing might look simple, but without persistency, many had failed in adopting the strategy.

I recalled three years ago when I visited a distributor, I noticed that some ineffective conventional methods were being used by them to handle both sales and support in a vast country, I told them that they have to make a few changes to prosper.

I later spent a month writing FingerTec Distributor Guidebook as a reference, and urging more resellers to follow our successful strategies in expanding their business in the local market.  Because, I really don’t think that to increase sales amount, the workforce size needs to increase at the same rate.

Since FingerTec Way has been proven to work fine in expanding business to cover the worldwide market, I strongly believe that it should fit into other local markets effortlessly with some minor modifications. Even if resellers make use of the same concept and include some other products that they carry, I think it should work fine too.

Alas, although some distributors agreed, acknowledged and  implemented the idea, it was done in a perfunctory manner.  For example, they may set up Facebook accounts, but updated them once in a few months, not to mention tougher tasks such as sending newsletters with some of their own contents periodically, which I think would be a highly efficient way in yielding maximum advantages in the long run.

Persistency in executions is the key to ensure a successful plan; that is what I have learned over the years. In fact, relationships between FingerTec and its partners can be more intimate than just buyers and sellers if they were to implement the FingerTec Way. They are free to use our plentiful resources to grow their business. The persistency in execution is everything that they need.

The FingerTec Way is still in its infancy. Hence, wherever I go, I feel it is customary to promote it to the resellers that I met, hopefully to gain more followers. This has become my new persistency.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

IFSEC Saudi: Religion As Brand Identity

I couldn't help but to compare what I had observed in the two Islamic stronghold countries that I had visited, Iran a few years back, and Saudi Arabia just last week. 

Wearing of headscarf is compulsory for all women in Iran but their pieces of clothing and headscarves can be fashionable and colorful. This headscarf ruling is applied to foreign women too. But black is the only permitted color for women in Saudi; they put on black headscarves, black veils, shapeless Abaya black gowns covering from head to toe, exposing only a pair of flickering eyes, and some even covered their eyes with black veils too. But for foreign women, while headscarf and veil are not enforced, black gown is obligatory. With Saudi men wearing their traditional white robe and their women put on the black ones, such contrast is so eye-catching in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi, and located in the middle of Arabia in a desert environment.

Alcohol is forbidden and entertainments are scarce in both countries but you get more Western TV channels in Saudi than in Iran. Facebook is banned in Iran, but I could gain access in Saudi. It had made my stay in Saudi slightly entertained.

Segregation of different sexes is a common scene at the food corners in Saudi. All shops are closed during prayer times which did not happen in Iran.

Segregation of sexes at the food corner

Generally, Saudi women are not allowed to work and they are not allowed to drive by law. Even at the women cosmetic counters at the shopping mall, only salesmen were around to serve you. The IFSEC Arabia observed the similar scenario, the religion extended its grip to bar all female exhibitors from entering the hall, making the exhibition the all-male show.

IFSEC Arabia was relatively small, occupied only a small hall with less than 100 exhibitors. Since FingerTec is a famous biometrics brand in the Kingdom of Saudi, and we already have a few active and performing resellers, our participation's purpose was mainly to meet with them and to understand this unique market better. 

Visitors gather at our booth

ItQan's Mr. Mohammed Naiem Ewidah (right)  and Mr. Mohamed Adbulmoniem Abdul Mustafa (left)

To name a few who came include Global System's Technical Manager, Mr. Mohamed Abdelatif from Jeddah who came on the first day, ItQan International's Project Manager and Sales Engineer, Mr. Mohammed Naiem Ewidah and Mr. Mohamed Abdulmoniem Abdul Mustafa from Dammam who came on Day 2 and 3 to help us at the booth. We also had a good conversation with ZulTec’s Sales Manager Mr. Mohammad Munir and SecuTech Arabia’s Pre-Sales Consultant and Sales Manager Mr. Mohammad Shahzad and Mr. Rauf Anwar Mohammad and Proline UK’s Assistant Manager Mr. Nasiruldin Y. Sulaiman who dropped by our booth. We also took the opportunity to meet Innokat Saudi’s Deputy Managing Director and e-Business Director Mr. Ali S. Al-Farhan and Mr. Naser Abu Al-Haji who become our partner this year, and active in government projects in Riyadh.

Islam was originated in Saudi Arabia in the 6th century, and spread fast to the Middle East and later to the rest of the world. With over 1.5 billion followers as of 2009 or over 22% of earth’s population, Islam is now the second largest and one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.

Over centuries, the major religions have evolved an astonishing ability to extract loyalty, unswerving devotion and financial contributions from their adherents, which must make them a fairly appealing business model to emulate as to yield brand identity and brand loyalty. 

The iconic tower, Burj Al Mamlakah or Kingdom Centre

And, if we see FingerTec in a religion perspective, the logo as the religion symbol; the philosophical ideology as a fundamental principle; the global reseller program as a basic teaching; the online resources as a doctrine to instill beliefs; and the resellers as evangelists, we have no doubt why our brand has religiously spread in over 120 countries.

The different of Islam between Iran and Saudi, and in other different countries, as Graham E. Fuller, a political scientist has put it, there is one Islam, but many different ways Muslims live and interpret it that differ greatly from country to country, age to age, issue from issue, person to person. In fact, Islam is what Muslims think Islam is, as well as way they want it to be. And they differ, as do adherents of other faiths.

And I see our localization efforts and product customizations to fulfill certain requirements fit into this explanation, but FingerTec still remains as One Brand. 


by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

Economic Crisis Yet Again?

All eyes are on Euro Zone crisis. If the dangling Greece debt turmoil could not find its way out which seems quite likely, the crisis which has been plaguing the Euro Zone could be spiralling as an enormous hurricane that would hit the world's economy anytime soon. This pessimist analysis by some experts masks the world's economy with a layer of dark clouds.

Belt tighten during downturn?

When some companies look out the window, frown at the gloomy skies and decide to cut costs to prepare for their years ahead, thankfully our plans for next year would not be affected.

We have hired more programmers to speed up our research and development works; aggressively preparing for new software and hardware products for the coming years. We continue to recruit a few more technicians and we have extended the support hours to include midnight to early morning, and with this decision, we have reduced the gap of 'support staff unavailable online' to three hours a day, and prolonged the technical assistance to 19 hours per day.

If the sky is gloomy, it's alright, have your umbrella ready. We are not immune from the economic slowdown. When the subprime crisis hit in 2009, our turnover was recorded only slight increase as compared to the previous year, but while being prudent we carried out all activities like normal and we didn't even cut the annual trip to Shanghai.

This year, as usual, our staff who receive an incentive trip to Gold Coast, Australia is about to depart this evening. On advertising and promotion, we just signed up for advertisement packages on two prominent security magazines, A&S International and Detektor International for the whole of next year, and we plan to take part in more than ten tradeshows worldwide.

More new products are in our pipeline, with one particular 7-inch touch screen new iKiosk that runs on Android platform to excite everybody and I. This would mark a new milestone to our product line, because besides the bundling of standard applications, customers can now have more control of their own terminals, and download Apps they feel useful from the Google Android Apps Store. It would serve as an amazing administration kiosk that does multiple purposes for office environment.

Artist impression for our upcoming new iKiosk

When you are a start up company, struggle is normal even during the economic booming years. But for established companies, if you are only making good money during good times and losing money, having to cut costs and retrench workers during bad times, then I don't think you are competent enough companies.

To continue making money during bad times, a company should take various aspects other than only sales figures into account during good times. Instead of focusing on only sales growth, one should think of its biological growth as well. Without one holistic perspective, your business field may remain barren even during the harvest season.


by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ

What About Changing The World

We all know that a great man has died earlier this month. We have little doubt the company he led; Apple Inc would overshoot Exxon Mobil to become the largest market capitalization company in the world anytime soon. We all know the reactions to his death were awe-inspiring, with mourners leaving candles and flowers outside Apple stores around the world and the Internet was humming with tributes.  As consumers, we all like the gadgets that the company produces be it iPod, iPad, and iPhone that are managed by iOS, iTunes and iCloud.

Yes, Steve Jobs indeed was a great man, and he had made the world a better place with his incredible electronic products. But if anyone says that he had changed or reshaped the world, I think it is an overstatement. Without Apple, the world would still be conquered by smartphones, tablet PCs, cloud technology, voice-command devices and digital music players, perhaps by different brands with a slower pace. Jobs perfected these gadgets; either he took the lead or fell behind in the game, eventually he succeeded in arousing consumers with a vast magnetic impact to the market.  

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

The Economist concluded that Steve Jobs had ignited a revolution in sparking a trend towards personal technology. The weekly also praised his non-engineer background as an advantage, which redirected him to be obsessed with product designs and aesthetics, and made advanced technology simple to use. He took the readily available yet half-baked ideas i.e. the mouse driven computers,  the digital music players,  the smartphones,  the tablet computers – and he showed the rest of the industry how to make them properly. In the process, he triggered upheavals in computing, music, telecoms and news business that were painful for incumbent firms but were welcomed by millions of consumers.

He combined an emotional spark with computer technology, and made the resulting products felt personal. Despite all these achievements, he still didn’t change the world even if his fans would like to think so.

If I have to quote a person that had really changed the world in the modern history, Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee would definitely be the person.  Born in 1955, the same age as Jobs, he is a British computer scientist and MIT professor, credited as the inventor of the World Wide Web, making the first proposal for it in March 1989. On the 25 December 1990, with the help of Robert Cailliau and a young student at CERN, he implemented the first successful communication between Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet.

Sir Timothy John Berners - Lee (1955-      )

How the Internet has changed the entire world since then? How many Internet giants have emerged or companies like Apple have reemerged on the foundation of the World Wide Web? It is needless to mention because the rest is history. Although Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (M3C), which oversees the Web’s continued development, and holds many other positions as far as the Internet is concerned, he remained anonymous to many people. If he has to claim IP rights over the Internet licenses, he would probably become the richest man on earth.  

When we mourn Steve Jobs, we shouldn’t be overzealously deified him and forgetting the real heroes behind all his successes. I always feel that changing the world shouldn’t be our ambition. Anyone can make the world a little different, but it should come with the intention to make the world a better place. Sir Isaac Newton who discovered the gravitation had changed the world, and Albert Einstein who developed the theory of general relativity also had changed the world. Those incidents were accidental without an attached ambition to start with. A man who had the ambition to only change the world could become as ruthless as Hitler.  

We are not that ambitious to be as great as Steve Jobs, but we can make little positive differences in the company or in the industry we serve. And with all the little differences we gathered over times, we could improve our products to be great products and help our company to emerge as a great company, and eventually we could become a great person in the process. That’s the way FingerTec soared beyond Biometrics.


by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ