News In Brief

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Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs. Below are snippets of all the media releases that we received from Sept 26 till the end of the week.

HiBob’s New Upgrade 

Sydney, Sept 26: HiBob, the company behind ‘Bob’, a modern HR platform that is delivering remarkable work experiences for dynamic, mid-sized and sub-enterprise businesses and their employees, announces Mercer Compensation and Benchmark data is now available through Bob.
HR and compensation managers can use the data for smarter compensation cycles, workforce and budgetary planning, and hiring with competitive pay strategies.
Mercer is a global consulting leader, advising clients in 130 countries, and is a business of Marsh McLennan.
This strategic alliance aims to create a powerful solution that allows HiBob clients to establish a uniform and consistent compensation strategy using a trusted global source of compensation data and workforce analytics.

Cypher Learning Boosts Training Experience

Sydney, Sept 26: CYPHER LEARNING, a leading provider of intelligent learning platforms for schools, universities and organizations around the world, today announces partnership with Boost Commerce, a leading Shopify & Shopify Plus business solutions provider – to streamline and strengthen training for its fully remote workforce.
Boost Commerce is a team of Shopify experts, providing efficient and reliable technology solutions to assist Shopify & Shopify Plus stores grow and scale up their business.
Boost Commerce launched their Product Filter & Search app in 2017 and currently have over 13,000 Shopify subscribers.
The global eCommerce platform chose CYPHER LEARNING’s solution MATRIX LMS to streamline onboarding and deliver a high-quality learning experience for its staff. 

Aurelius Hospital Nilai Officially Launches 

Nilai, Sept 26: Aurelius Healthcare officially launched Aurelius Hospital Nilai (AHN), the group’s first hospital that was acquired in August 2021. Previously known as Nilai Medical Center, the 100-bed multidisciplinary medical facility is the only hospital in Nilai, the only oncology institute in Negeri Sembilan, and serves communities in surrounding areas including Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, and Melaka.  
Over the past year, AHN has been fully transformed for oncology care, cardiology, women and children’s care, orthopedics, and all other clinical specialties of a tertiary hospital for patients at every stage of their life. Since its acquisition, the hospital has added several new services, including neurosurgery, neurology, and vitreo-retinal surgery, and this is in line with AHN’s growth in the healthcare sector. 
Conveniently located less than 20km from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA 2), AHN offers an easy and convenient experience not just for locals, but also for international patrons from countries such as China, Indonesia, Indochina, and Korea who are seeking first-class medical treatment options in Malaysia. 
By the end of this year, Aurelius Hospital Nilai will see further growth, expanding from 100 to 150 beds and adding a medical office block – this project is aimed for completion by 2024.

Nerve Announces New Invoicing Feature 

New York, Sept 27: Nerve, the banking app designed for creators, has unveiled a brand-new invoicing feature making it easier than ever for users to run their businesses.
The app offers free, convenient and hassle-free banking to creators and musicians seeking a secure way to manage their money. 
The new feature allows users to easily create invoices within the Nerve app and deliver it to clients via either email or SMS. Payments can be made via debit or credit card (with a 2.9 percent + $0.30 processing fee) and typically land in the creator’s Nerve account within three business days.
There are no monthly fees associated with the invoicing service. 
Since its launch in 2021, Nerve has continued to build momentum as part of the creator economy — one in which many artists and musicians face difficulty opening traditional business banking accounts.
It was a hurdle that Nerve CEO John Waupsh himself faced when working as a young DJ, and after spending years immersed in consumer banking, it would inspire him to come together with Nerve CTO Ben Morrison to form a banking solution for other creatives. 
The Nerve app is packed with features to make money management a breeze for creators, shareable FDIC-insured debit accounts for groups and bands, and a network of 55,000 free ATMs around the country.
The platform also seeks to build bridges between enterprise partners as well as creators and has APIs to enable enterprises to power many exciting payouts and banking features.

Eva Mendes Comes To Australia 

Sydney, Sept 27: Hollywood actress, businesswoman and mother, Eva Mendes is set to return to Australia on Nov 19 as the National McHappy Day Ambassador this year. 
McHappy Day is the largest annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), which helps seriously ill and injured children and their families stay together while receiving medical care in a nearby hospital.
Mendes, who was the virtual McHappy Day Ambassador in 2020 is set to meet families staying at Ronald McDonald House and will visit a local McDonald’s restaurant on McHappy Day. 
Aussies looking to support this year’s McHappy Day can drop into their local Macca’s from Oct 26 to pick up a pair of Silly Socks or Helping Hands. And on McHappy Day, $2 from every Big Mac sold goes directly to Ronald McDonald House Charities.  
McDonald’s launched McHappy Day in Australia in 1991 to help raise essential funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

SNS Net Profit Rises 

Ipoh, Sept 27:  SNS Network Technology Bhd, an ICT system and solutions provider, has announced that the Group registered a 19.7 per cent rise in revenue to RM296.93 million for the second quarter ended July 31 compared with RM248.16 million in the immediately preceding quarter.
For the quarter under review, the group recorded a 21.8 percent gain in gross profit to RM23.43 million compared with GP of RM19.24 million in 1Q FY2023 while profit before tax increased 43 per cent to RM11.76 million compared with PBT of RM8.23 million.
The Group’s profit after tax for 2Q FY2023 rose by 42.4 per cent to RM8.81 million from PAT of RM6.19 million in 1Q FY2023. 
There are no comparative figures on a year-over-year basis as the group was listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Sept 2.
“The Group’s performance for the quarter under review was supported by higher demand for ICT products from local customers under our commercial channel comprising businesses, government agencies and educational institutions following the full resumption of business operations after the reopening of the Malaysian economy,”Managing Director of SNS, Ko Yun Hung said.
“We remain positive for the Group’s outlook given the continuous growth in demand for ICT products supported by rising economic activities and the strengthening of our existing customer base together with expansion of market share.
For the immediate future, we will continue to focus on the plans as announced in our prospectus, namely the expansion of our Device-as-a-Service business, the construction of a regional hub in Petaling Jaya, and the setting up of ten new stores in the country.”
On a geographical basis, Malaysia contributed 86.2 per cent of the group’s revenue of RM958.08 million for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2022, with Hong Kong and Singapore contributing 11.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.
The group posted revenue of RM721.47 million for FYE2021 and RM675.28 million for FYE2020.

Zoomcar’s Big Achievement

Bangalore, Sept 27: Zoomcar, the leading marketplace for car sharing in emerging markets, today announced that it has achieved more than 25,000 registered vehicles on its marketplace platform globally. 
Zoomcar achieved this impressive milestone within just 12 months of launching its marketplace.
This reflects strong growth in organic demand due to post-COVID recovery, with cars in emerging markets used for one to two hours per day on average.
Zoomcar continues to observe an acceleration in this supply growth trajectory as more hosts continue using the platform in an entrepreneurial fashion.
“This important milestone brings Zoomcar one step closer to our goal of fundamentally transforming the urban landscape in India and emerging markets through the introduction of affordable, shared personal mobility solutions that address the pressing problems of congestion, affordability, and air quality at scale,” Zoomcar Co-Founder and CEO Greg Moran said.
Zoomcar has witnessed steady growth since its launch, with a rapid pace of adoption that has seen the Company build its presence in four countries and more than 50 cities, as Zoomcar takes both early-mover advantage for car sharing in emerging markets, and strong user engagement and growth upside in new and existing markets.

Betterpay Ties Up OCBC Bank

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 28: Southeast Asia-based Pay Direct Technology Sdn Bhd, through its payment automation platform Betterpay, has tied up with OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad (OCBC Bank) to fulfill its goal of fully automating the recurring collections of all merchant partners.
Making this possible is OCBC Bank’s direct debit services, which allow merchants to collect recurring payments directly from a payer’s bank account at multiple banks with a single authorisation. OCBC Bank was recently recognised as Malaysia International Cash Management Bank of the Year by Asia Banking and Finance and Best Cash Management Bank in Malaysia by Alpha Southeast Asia this year for its cash management services, of which direct debit is a part.
Betterpay expects the move to make recurring collections a lot more efficient for a projected one hundred more merchants by year-end, saving an anticipated 16 weeks per year per customer in terms of collection time.
Betterpay does the job by replacing conventional, often tedious, application processes by fully automating the entire recurring collection flow from enrollment up to customers’ payment and reconciliation.
It is part of the ASEAN Fintech Group, is an integrated fintech value chain participant that provides innovative fintech solutions across four verticals: Payments, Lending/BNPL, Insurtech and Digital Wealth Management. 

MDEC Leverages On OutSystems 

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 28: OutSystems, a global leader in high-performance application development, has partnered with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysia’s lead digital economy agency, to consolidate its numerous applications hosted on the Malaysia Digital and SayaDigital platforms. Replacing MDEC’s legacy system with a more modernised platform, users are now able to easily navigate and register for the different programs hosted by MDEC on a centralised database, eliminating the need for multiple data entries. 
Prior to deploying OutSystems, MDEC was reliant on vendors to develop their applications.
Presently, with over 50 applications hosted in the cloud, there is a growing challenge in maintaining these applications, owing to limited resources and a lack of governance. 
In order to improve the lack of operational efficiency, it was crucial to find a partner to modernise the application and technology infrastructure.
In addition, the lack of highly skilled and trained technical personnel also posed a significant challenge for MDEC in building their own system architecture and developing applications efficiently.

Malaysia Airlines Partners With Bonsey Jaden

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 28: Malaysia Airlines and digital branding agency Bonsey Jaden have collaborated to showcase the local hospitality that sets Malaysia apart as a must-experience travel destination in Southeast Asia.
The newly launched Malaysian hospitality campaign, dubbed MH3.0, is aimed at revitalising awareness for Malaysia Airlines as a beloved travel brand by calling to mind its highly regarded standard of service. 
This partnership with Malaysia Airlines began in April of this year, where Bonsey Jaden was tasked with breathing new life into their latest brand awareness effort.
Most notably, the focal point of this initiative was to leverage on the intrinsic inclination for hospitality in both the country as a whole, as well as Malaysia Airlines’ brand ethos.
The campaign weaves together the tradition of hospitality within the brand with a creatively fresh and meaningful approach–a true testament to Bonsey Jaden’s reputation for innovative storytelling and expertise in brand building through powerful insights and strategy.

‘Back to School’ boost from MR D.I.Y.

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 29: It’s going to be great fun for some school children returning to school this month. 
Malaysia’s favourite home improvement retailer MR D.I.Y. Group [M] Berhad (MR D.I.Y.) has announced a “Back To School” initiative that will see students from three schools in Kuala Lumpur receive learning essentials when they return to school after the Term 2 holidays.
More than 250 selected students from standards one to six received pencils, colour pencils, socks, nasal test kits, children face masks and hand sanitisers. 
The students are recipients of ‘Rancangan Makanan Tambahan’ (RMT), a Ministry of Education programme designed to provide children from disadvantaged and low-income families with additional food aid to ensure their daily nutritional needs are met. 
In addition to the individual contributions, MR D.I.Y also presented each school with a carton of school shoes to be distributed to students in need.

E-commerce Opportunities Set To Grow 

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 30: The latest e-commerce trends from research commissioned by FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and one of the world’s largest express transportation companies, shows that both Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and consumers in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region (AMEA) agree that there’s room for further growth in the already booming e-commerce sector.
In Malaysia, nearly 90 percent of SMEs acknowledge the increased importance of e-commerce to their business over the past three years while 89 per cent of SMEs believe it will continue to become even more important in future. 
The What’s Next in E-Commerce: 6 Trends Shaping the Future survey polled SMEs and consumers in 11 markets in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region (AMEA) in July 2022 to explore the continuing evolution of e-commerce in the region and identify the trends that could fuel their future growth. 
The survey reveals that consumers in AMEA are looking for innovations in personalisation, shoppertainment and payment options that enhance their experience and at the same time, make it easier to discover new brands and make purchasing convenient. And with plenty of shopping festivals already in the calendar, consumers are looking for even more seasonal offers.
Taken together, the research shows there is plenty of fertile ground for e-tailers to experiment with new approaches that can help build their customer base.

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