The coronavirus pandemic introduced a whole new era that challenged how several industries adapt to a more digitized model — from manufacturing all the way to banking. This rapid transition has seeped its way across several age groups, regardless of previous behavior, and forced technological adoption.
Whether its online classes, remote working setups, or even bills payment, technologies backed by the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) propagated a more inclusive and empowering economy. In the Philippines, the same can also be said with financial technology.
During the recently concluded Philippine leg of the World Fintech Festival organized by GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications and co-presented by Globe Telecom, Huawei announced a virtual road map that revolves around its partnerships with local businesses especially in the fintech industry.
For a company that has been active in the spheres of cloud and AI, Huawei is optimistic in the relationships it has been building in the country. In fact, the brand expects that its 5G, cloud, and AI business will be vital for an economic turnaround next year for Asian region.
Neo Teck Guan, senior director at cloud strategy and consulting for Huawei Cloud Asia Pacific Region, said the company is working on making cloud solutions accessible to a wider market. In that way, he sees partners benefitting directly from the latest technological innovations that Huawei unveils.
“Huawei has always been keen to assist enterprises as they scale up and evolve to their next stage. With our cloud services, we have been able to provide some great experiences to different companies in several sectors,” Guan said.
The results of the 2020 PayPal Consumer Insights Survey revealed that 87% of the 500 surveyed Filipino respondents saw an increase in usage of digital payments during the pandemic. Furthermore, nine out of 10 Filipinos prefer digital payments over cash during this time.
According to Amor Maclang, convener of the WFF Philippines and executive director of Fintech Philippines Association, more and more Filipinos are gravitating towards cashless transactions and digital payments. E-wallets also saw over 800% in increase on their online financial service usage.
“Individuals and enterprises alike have become increasingly open to digitization especially in their transactions and their other daily activities. We had seen this surge during the pandemic. Only a year ago, a majority of Filipinos still preferred to do cash on deliveries and do their payments and other banking services in the actual stores or banks. But the lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements have changed all that,” Maclang said.
