Business China Youth Chapter (BCYC) organised its first Dialogue Session in 2022 with Mr Kenneth Siow, General Manager and Southeast Asia Regional Director at Tencent Cloud International on 26th March 2022. This event was conducted in a hybrid format – on Zoom and at the Gardens Gallery of China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Group Co. Ltd (CSSD) with 26 offline and 16 online attendees. Titled: “Cloud Computing Opportunities and Challenges in Southeast Asia”, this session was moderated by Ms Lee Zi Xin, Investment Associate at Vertex Ventures SE Asia & India. Safe distancing measures were followed strictly throughout the session.
Tencent’s Ecosystem
Mr Siow began by explaining about Tencent’s ecosystem. It consists communication and social tools Weixin（微信），FinTech mobile payment, and even applications facilitating medical access.
In terms of its cloud business, Tencent Cloud International provides infrastructure and customises smart industrial solutions to assist enterprises in digital transformation. Cloud computing generally refers to on-demand availability of computing resources – which could range from storage to CPU to network connectivity.
Economic Growth Opportunities in China
Growth opportunities in the China market can hardly be overstated. Mr Siow emphasised China’s market potential by referring to its ranking in population (huge consumer base) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With the uprising middle class, China is expected to rank first in GDP in the future. Tapping on these favourable macroeconomic conditions, Tencent Cloud hopes to help small and medium enterprises and large corporations alike in Singapore to enter China successfully.
Cutting-edge Technologies in the Chinese Market
Macroeconomic environment aside, there are also multiple novel technologies built upon the cloud which Tencent sees growth potential in, Mr Siow cited the Virtual World Networks (VWN) (全真互联网), or what the West often dubs the “Metaverse”, which is a combination of multiple technological elements such as virtual and augmented reality where users live within a digital universe. From concerts to conferences, the VWN brings digital interaction to new frontiers. As the foundation of VWN lies in virtual reality and gaming technologies, Mr Siow mentioned Tencent’s experience in developing games and analysing big data.
Virtual Reality (VR), another building block of VWN, harnessed in museum visits, house, and car viewing are some examples of industrial applications of VR technology that Mr Siow shared. In fact, many of these are already featured with mobile applications such as 贝壳找房 (Bei Ke Zhao Fang).
The most interesting technology presented during the session is arguably digital avatars. Mr Siow demonstrated the commercial applications of digital avatars with videos depicting avatars broadcasting weather forecasts. Almost indistinguishable from normal human staff, avatars are also used by banks to gather information from people who want to apply for loans. Given the ageing population in many developed countries, the usage of avatars presents a timely opportunity for firms to reduce their labour costs.
Advice for Singaporean Youths
During the moderated Question-and-Answer session, a member of the audience asked if young Singaporeans working at Tencent have any issues when conversing in Mandarin with the Headquarters. While Mr Siow recognised that there may be a gap, he emphasised the importance of having a positive learning attitude, and the willingness to upskill oneself. “Singaporeans already have a nice foundation; we are not starting to learn the language from level 0.” Encouraging young Singaporeans to leverage our established advantage in communicating with peers in China, Mr Siow concluded the event on this optimistic note.
About Business China Youth Chapter
BCYC is a voluntary group of youths that envisions to be the leading Singapore-based community that inspires youths to learn about and connect with China. Supported by Business China for over a decade of its development, BCYC grows and continues to offer a vibrant calendar of activities for like-minded members to interact.
To know more about Business China Youth Chapter, you may follow us at @yaybcyc on Instagram and Business China Youth Chapter on LinkedIn.
To know more about Tencent Cloud, you may visit: https://intl.cloud.tencent.com/
To join Business China Youth Chapter, please download the application form and email to: bcyc@businesschina.org.sg.
This article is contributed by Business China Youth Chapter Member Tek Kai Zhen.