The Knowledge to Decide

India’s aviation industry is set for rapid growth. With an estimated 60 million international passengers by 2017, it boasts of hosting 85 international airlines across 40 countries (as of 2016). The transformation did not happen overnight – it was 20 years in the making. India’s civil aviation market is currently the ninth largest in the world. Growth factors responsible include the rising middle-income population, successful completion of five international airports under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, increased liberalization with the introduction of the Open Sky Policy in 2015 as well as the modernization of India’s Air and Navigation Systems. However, with more low-cost airlines entering India’s market since the liberation of policies in 1994, the competition is bound to heat up. Moreover, the sector is vulnerable to security threats such as terrorism. The government needs to implement policies to ensure the safety of our skies as well as offer competit

The ASEAN region will see double-digit growth for e-commerce. Indonesia has the highest retail sales in ASEAN at USD469 billion and is expected to see robust e-commerce growth. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Office of Spire Research and Consulting group, highlighted the growth potential and key opportunities present in this sector during his presentation at the third Annual South East Asia Retail Expansion Summit in October 2015. The number of online shoppers in Indonesia is set to reach 8.7 million in 2016. Indonesia boasts of being among the top six retail e-commerce markets with a total retail value at USD1.3 billion (in 2013). Bahar mentioned that 51% of Indonesian online shoppers fall in the 21-27 age category where free shipping, exclusive deals, product warranty and safe payment methods are strong motivators. Key growth categories are books (22%) and fashion products (20.5%). Nonetheless, challenges remain. Barriers that need to be addressed to promote Indon

Wearable technology may be quietly engineering a revolution in our lives. The full commercialization of wearable technology may liberate people from being tied to the home or office, increasing the importance of public spaces. And the merging of electronics with apparel promises to revolutionize the apparel industry in the same way that electronics revolutionized the automotive industry – up to one third of the value of a car now resides in the electronics. From Google Glasses and Apple’s iWatch to medical tracking devices, wearable technology is now within reach. How will it transform our lives? Market watchers have projected wearable technology to generate USD4.6 billion in revenue by the end of 2013. Approximately 10 million smart glasses are predicted to be available in the market by 2016, growing by 250 percent on average each year. Smart watches would also come into their own as a significant, high-growth market. Without a doubt, wearable tech will see massive, early-sta

With 42.8 million cyber-attacks recorded in 2014, Cybercrime is becoming the key security issue facing companies. Initially, antiviruses were the main weapon of defense and hacking was unheard of. Businesses today are increasingly networked and vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Spire’s CEO Leon Perera delivered the keynote address to a cyber-security event co-organized by Juniper Networks and LGA Telecom to discuss cyber risks and how to mitigate them. Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Spire Research and Consulting group, was privileged to deliver the keynote speech at the Executive Breakfast event organized by Juniper Networks and LGA Telecom Pte Ltd on 22 July 2015 in Singapore. In his presentation, he shared a brief overview on cybercrime and strategies businesses should adopt to mitigate risks. Perera mentioned that, cyber-threats can cause financial and reputational damages as well as shake employee confidence for a company. Significant cyber risks include Data

As drone technology matures, the business applications continue to multiply – from logistics to security to agriculture. It is only a matter of time before drones overcome the remaining technical and legal barriers and become assimilated into most industries. It is estimated that the drone industry would be worth USD10 billion by the year 2025. It is set to transform the operational landscape of many industries. For instance, a Singapore restaurant is experimenting with trials of drones to serve customers their food. With over 7,000 staff needed to keep Singapore’s booming restaurant industry ticking, drones could raise productivity. Several companies (including Amazon.com) are experimenting with the use of drones for document and small parcel delivery in big cities, as well as surveillance of crops to monitor crop health in large plantations. Drones are being used for entertainment purposes as well. The world’s first drone circus, known as “Air”, is coming to the Net

The future of financial services is all about digitalization. This much is well known. What is less well known is that this is also the reason why banking transactions might be driven by non-bank disruptors in the coming years. How well will future innovations such as e-currencies be integrated into the banking industry? Will cash become obsolete? Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, reflects on the drastic changes happening in financial transactions today. The combination of digital cash and virtual currencies has inevitably curbed the usage of cash in developed markets and across many Asia-Pacific countries. Cash as we know it might lose its status as the dominant form of payment by volume in the coming years – unless banks create innovative new modes of payments to counter the trend. Bahar opined that mobile penetration would continue to rise in the developing Asia-Pacific markets. Unbanked and under-banked market segments would inc

The Heartbleed vulnerability was a massive wake-up call to the entire business eco-system of the internet – particularly the financial services industry, which transacts billions of dollars every day over internet servers. While many organizations were not compromised by it, some experts feel that the full damage has yet to materialize. What are the lessons from this episode and what more needs to be done? Spire was invited to share its comments in FST Media. Heartbleed was one of the biggest security flaws to hit the internet; open ing doors to the theft of servers’ private keys as well as users’ session cookies and passwords. While some financial services firms felt that escalating innovations had led to “new, previously unthought-of risk scenarios”, others reiterated that much effort had already been put in to ensure that all the relevant risk scenarios had been thoroughly assessed. Banks were also encouraging customers to change passwords regularly and not reuse the same