Kuala Lumpur, 27 April 2021: PropertyGuru, Malaysia’s No. 1 property website, announced that its latest Malaysia Property Market Index (MPMI) report registered a downtrend in overall asking prices by 0.84% QoQ and 1.79% YoY – to 87.86 index points – in the first quarter of 2021.
This dip may be attributed to buyers’ apprehension as they take a wait-and-see approach due to the resurging COVID-19 infections and the imposition of a second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) which impacted commercial activity.
“With the backdrop of pandemic-related economic uncertainties, we believe that the market sentiment will remain cautious as the property market is expected to see fluctuating price trends in the coming months. However, the increased rate of vaccinations across Malaysian society is expected to bring more stability and improve consumer sentiment as the year progresses,” said Sheldon Fernandez, Country Manager of PropertyGuru Malaysia.
PETALING JAYA – 26 April 2021: WarongKu, the newly launched e-commerce platform, aims to mobilise small traders online towards a contactless and cashless business environment. The platform was created under the Transformasi Penjaja dan Peniaga Kecil Menerusi Pendigitalan initiative driven by SME Corp, and Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) operated by Idea Creative Technology Sdn Bhd (ICTSB) and in partnership with Coalition of Malay Small Traders Association Malaysia / Gabungan Persatuan Persatuan Penjaja Kecil Melayu Malaysia (GPPPKMM).
WarongKu’s aim is to enable 25,000 small traders to have their own payment terminals with cashless and contactless payment options by 2022. To date, 3000 small traders have been provided with payment terminals, with another 3500 small traders to be equipped during the next batch. The nationwide partnership will assist small traders such as gerai, warong and restaurants to migrate their business online by setting up an online shop on the WarongKu website and start transacting with consumers seamlessly with cashless payment options, powered by KiplePay.
The past decade has seen human resources becoming even more employee-focused, doubling down on effectively retaining skilled employees. Across industries, workers remain the primary instrument to improving a company's long-term ROI. Gibu Mathew, Zoho Corporation’s vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific, shares his insights on how businesses can stop retraining and start retaining employees for the long haul.
The heavy financial investment in employees can become a liability for companies if their top talents decide to leave. For this reason, businesses are putting their employees' experience at the forefront, pivoting from recruitment to retention.
To do this, HR managers are employing SaaS solutions to better understand their employees and hopefully improve their day-to-day experience. Analytics tools have become critical in this process, providing HR managers information on their employees quickly, such that their role becomes less transactional and more transformational and people oriented.
