PLDT Enterprise, Smart, and Nokia to spark IoT revolution in the PH business landscape

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PLDT Enterprise, Smart, and Nokia teamed up to introduce a powerful solution that will transform the way Internet of Things (IoT) applications are deployed and managed in the country, allowing businesses to accelerate their digital transformation goals and provide next-level customer experience beyond just connectivity.

A first in the Philippines, the Smart IoT Platform, powered by Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) will further enhance businesses to have full real-time visibility and control to up to hundreds of thousands of connected devices. With a simple-to use web interface and APIs, enterprises will be able to effectively oversee to automate the connectivity and usage of their mobile assets to ensure optimum performance, increasing operational efficiency.

“At PLDT Enterprise, our vision is to make a positive impact on every single business especially today as the pandemic continues to challenge the way we normally do things. And we affirm our unbreakable commitment to continue enabling the digital transformation of industries through innovative technologies such as the Internet of Things. But for PLDT-Smart, this is so much more than IoT, as it opens up a lot of possibilities that were previously only a dream,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.

Nokia has been a longstanding systems and network partner of the PLDT Group. In 2016, they showcased the capabilities of 5G (fifth generation) with the speed of 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and latency of one millisecond - a first time showcase of such advanced technology in the Philippines.

This has then opened vast opportunities for IoT applications in industries, including the pilot deployment of Smart 5G wireless broadband technologies in schools and universities as part of PLDT’s drive to build a complete 5G ecosystem.

This year, the partnership is seeking to help build IoT-enabled e-industries by providing relevant business solutions for more efficient management of interconnected devices at scale. “We put this vision forward with the Philippines’ first localized IoT offer and we believe that this will ultimately pave the way for the Philippines’ transformation to a nation of smart cities,” Hernandez noted.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with PLDT and Smart on the whole IoT environment. As a partner, we not only bring just a platform but also the business experience we have around the world, providing technology and business solutions to help drive enterprise growth,” said Carlos Reyes, Head of Nokia Philippines.

The Smart IoT Platform will be made commercially available very soon.

For more information, visit pldtenterprise.com.

Furthering our safety and privacy commitments for teens on TikTok

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People from all walks of life come to TikTok to be entertained, spark joy in their everyday, and share their creativity with others. Be it through viewing the latest book recommendations on #BookTok or showing off their new digs on #renovation, everyone can find their community on TikTok – and our goal is to foster a safe and welcoming platform for these vibrant, diverse communities.

TikTok offers a range of safety and privacy controls to empower people to make decisions about who they share their content with. They also believe it's important to ensure even stronger proactive protections to help keep teenagers safe, and have continually introduced changes to support age-appropriate experiences on their platform. This includes making accounts belonging to those under the age of 16 private by default, reserving features like Direct Messaging to people 16 and older, and enabling parents to guide their teen's TikTok presence with Family Pairing.

Today they are introducing a new set of changes for users aged 13-17 to further enhance these proactive protections. These changes will continue rolling out to their users globally over the coming months.

New changes to Direct Messaging privacy settings

TikTok wants to help teens make active decisions about their privacy settings, so when someone aged 16-17 joins TikTok, their Direct Messaging setting will now be set to 'No One' by default. To message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option. Existing accounts who have never used DMs before will receive a prompt asking them to review and confirm their privacy settings the next time they use this feature. These updates build on their current messaging protections, such as not allowing images or videos to be sent in messages and disabling messaging for accounts under age 16.

Decide who can watch your videos

The process of making a TikTok is fun and creative – choosing music, picking effects, and getting the transitions right – but it is just as important to choose who that video will be shared with. To help teens understand the sharing options available to them, TikTok is now adding a pop-up that appears when teenagers under the age of 16 are ready to publish their first video, asking them to choose who can watch the video. They won't be able to publish their video until they make a selection.

With each video going forward, creators can decide who can watch before they post. Accounts aged 13-15 are set to private by default, and private accounts can choose to share their content with Followers or Friends, as the 'Everyone' setting is turned off. Duet and Stitch are also disabled for accounts under 16.

Choose who can download your public videos

TikTok is also providing additional context to help teens aged 16-17 understand how downloads work, so they can choose the option that's most comfortable for them. If they opt to turn the feature on, they'll now receive a pop-up asking them to confirm that choice before others can download their videos. Note that downloads are permanently disabled on content from accounts under the age of 16.

A mindful approach to push notifications

TikTok prioritises and supports the well-being of their community members, with features like Screen Time Management that can be enabled both by account holders or by parents as part of Family Pairing. They want to help their younger users in particular develop positive digital habits early on, and they regularly consult with leading pediatric experts and youth well-being advocates to develop their Youth Portal, bullying prevention guide, and other features that support youth-well being. Now, they will be drawing upon this research to make changes that reduce the time period during which their younger teens can receive push notifications. Accounts aged 13-15 will not receive push notifications from 9pm, and accounts aged 16-17 will have push notifications disabled starting at 10pm.

These changes continue to build on their ongoing commitments as there's no finish line when it comes to protecting the safety, privacy, and well-being of their community. They are working with teens, community organisations, parents and creators to further innovate and they're excited to share more over the coming months. To learn more about their efforts to support youth and families, you can read our Guardian's Guide.

How to Decrease the Cost of Manufacturing

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We do business to make money, and you make money by selling at a price that is higher than the cost of production or service. You can increase that profit margin by increasing your prices or decreasing production costs. Increasing prices just to increase your profit might backfire and have you end up losing a significant number of customers.

This is why most businessmen focus on decreasing the cost of manufacturing. It requires experience and smart decisions to decrease the cost of manufacturing; otherwise, you would already be making the best profit margin. This article has discussed some practical tips to decrease the cost of manufacturing.


Invest in Automation

You should invest in automation not just to increase profit margins, but to strengthen your place in the market. Manufacturing automation allows you to optimize processes and save time and resources. You can cut additional phases of production and manual labor by automating manufacturing using products like Yaskawa drives with your machines.

This allows you to produce more in less time using fewer resources. Not only will you save on manufacturing but you will be able to provide a better and faster service to your clients. This increases your production capacity and scalability.


Keep Doing Research and Development

R&D is often an underestimated part of businesses. It’s not just something for large enterprises. If you want to get to their level and directly compete with them, you have to take research and development seriously even as a small business.

It’s important because you learn new ways of manufacturing that are still unknown to your market. Even if some companies know those methods, they have kept them confidential. You will learn how you can optimize your processes and build more with less.


Save from Shipping Cost

You should reconsider your shipping routes and have an expert conduct an analysis. Shipping significantly increases the cost of delivery, which is usually counted in the production cost.

You should look at ways you can save on shipping. See if you can use shorter routes or changing the mode of transportation can help. Try to manage routes in a way that one shipment can go through multiple destinations.


Increase Employee Productivity

You can get the work of weeks done within days if you keep your employees motivated. This doesn’t mean that you should burn out all your employees. Getting them to work overtime or more than their capacity is not going to increase productivity.

Instead, you should motivate them and align your goals with theirs. They will work more and efficiently if you have the same goals and they take pride in their work.


Sell Enough for Mass Production

You can significantly reduce the cost if you produce on a large scale. However, you can’t have large production if you can’t sell it. This is why you should try to get as many new projects as possible and start mass manufacturing.

You will get large quantities of material on wholesale at cheaper rates and the cost of labor will also reduce with the help of bigger machines.