Tony Chan

Calling all IT leaders, developers, and practitioners! Ready to explore the future of data in the age of GenAI? Join Google Cloud for Database Day: Sunnyvale on August 27th! **🔥 Here's what you can expect: ** Two tracks packed with insights: one for IT Leaders & Executives, and another for Developers & Database Practitioners. Expert-led sessions on topics like building GenAI apps with Google Cloud databases, maximizing PostgreSQL ROI, and mastering Cloud SQL. Hands-on labs and demos to level up your skills and connect with peers. Don't miss this chance to build your GenAI future. Register now - spots are filling up fast! #GoogleCloud #DatabaseDays #GenAI #DataInnovation

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Over the weekend, my friends and I were planning our year-end trip, scrolling through the usual hotel booking sites. You know the drill—pick dates, find a place, book. But something felt… off. 🤔 Where are the curated experiences? Even non-personalized ones? As a Product Manager, this got me thinking. Why are these platforms still so generic? Here’s an idea: what if we let local hotel owners take charge? Imagine the value a local expert could bring to your trip versus, say, a PM at MakeMyTrip. No offense to the PMs out there—I'm one of you! But we all know that a local could give better recommendations. What if hotel owners could offer premium listings with local experiences? On check-in, they could ask guests what they’re into and create something unique. Picture this: a hotel listing in Amritsar with a food tour featuring Pehelwan’s Kulcha, Ahuja’s Lassi, and Sharma’s Gulab Jamun. Now that’s an upgrade from the usual “continental breakfast”! What’s in it for everyone? -Memorable experiences for travellers -Huge differentiation for Tier 3 hotels -Increase in ABV for platforms like MMT It’s a win-win-win. And all it takes is a little creativity and decentralization. Let’s rethink how we travel! 🌍✈️ MakeMyTrip Goibibo Amadeus Booking.com #product #curatedexperiences #travel #amritsar

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Excited to share insights into migrating petabyte scale, on-premises blob storage to the cloud, and how data is important for unlock actionable insights with AI.  Join me on 8th Nov to learn about the architectural challenges and innovative solutions faced .

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To my fellow former Mercarians: I’m so sorry to hear about the recent layoffs. The news only just reached my feed and I’m so sorry to hear how much of the workforce there has been impacted. From experience, allow me to give you a few next steps: - apply for unemployment NOW, because there’s a waiting period and your first check will usually be on paper. - take a week to yourself, or maybe two depending on how much you got from your severance. Don’t worry about anything except the bare minimum for unemployment. Don’t even worry about your resume or anything. Just take some time. Spend it with your loved ones or on a beloved hobby. - get back into a routine. Schedule a few hours a day a few days a week for your job hunt. If you spend a bit longer that’s great but use that time to update your resume and portfolio if applicable, get really clear on your skills, get a free LinkedIn premium trial and go absolutely nuts on LinkedIn learning. - join a discord server, subreddit, slack channel, or whatever else with others in your field or with former colleagues. Ask for references, review each others resumes and provide feedback, etc. and try not to get stuck in a negative feedback loop. It’s tough in the job market and job hunting is miserable but if you dwell on it and reinforce that with each other you’re going to burn out and approach any interviews with cynicism that’s going to damage your chances. It sucks. Don’t do it. If anyone wants my help with the following: - resume revision - presentation skills - references Please DM me here or on other socials. I’m really invested in the success of my former peers, especially if you’re someone I trained. I’ve got your back!

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Early this week, one of my colleagues, battling Monday blues, highlighted an intriguing statistic: Microsoft Japan adopted a 4 day work week without a pay cut, resulting in a 40% productivity increase. Similarly, Unilever New Zealand conducted a year-long trial of the same scheme, which not only boosted productivity but also significantly improved employee well-being. He wondered why Indian companies have not actively implemented this yet. The grind of our extended work week has worn us down to the point where the idea of a 4 or 4.5 day work week sounds almost luxurious. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you think so. Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, experimented with this scheme, leading to reduced stress levels, higher productivity, and less fatigue among workers. They reported feeling happier and more personally satisfied. Isn’t this something we all want for ourselves? Studies suggest that a shorter work week can save money by reducing operational and utility costs for companies while improving employee productivity. This scheme also provides employees with more free time for personal and family activities, reducing burnout and stress. However, if Indian companies were to adopt this scheme under the new labor laws, employees would still need to work 12 hours a day to meet the weekly requirement of 48 hours. This raises the question: does an extra day off really offset the stress and workload of working 12 hours a day? TAC Security, a cybersecurity company in India, shifted to a 4 day work week for its Mumbai office after seven months of testing and observing increased productivity. TAC employees now work 12 hours a day, four days a week. My question remains: is that extra day off really worth it? Instead of merely reducing working days, companies could allow employees the flexibility to determine how they work best. They could encourage work-life balance and promote the mental and physical well-being of employees. Harvard Business Review conducted a trial with six-hour workdays instead of eight-hour days and recorded increased productivity. Working only four days a week might sound exciting, but would it ultimately leave employees with packed days and more work? Is the Indian workforce ready for this change, especially when many companies still operate six days a week instead of five? Yes, it would improve work-life balance and result in cost savings for companies, but is it feasible in all aspects? What's your take on a 4/4.5 day work week? Would you welcome the additional day off with slightly longer working hours or do you prefer the consistency of a traditional 5 or 6 day, 9 to 5 routine?

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Gain insights into the world of Equinix's GTM Operations team in this blog article featuring Peng Yuan Lee, Senior Director of APAC Regional Go-To-Market Operations at Equinix. Discover how this team drives sales excellence, plans for growth, and leads Equinix's transformation initiatives. 

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🎙️ #NewRelic CEO, Ashan Willy, had a compelling chat with Aaron Tan of Computer Weekly about the dynamic APAC market, the role of #Observability in cloud cost management, and the rise of AI adoption. Read the full interview here: 👇 #APACMarket #CloudComputing #AIOps #TechLeadership #NewRelicCEO #ComputerWeekly

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Want to see how @thekonginc automates API scaling and reduce operational costs? Here’s something you’re going to want to RSVP for immediately. #KongPin #APIManagement #CloudComputing #APIManagement #APIInfrastructure 

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Product Marketing Alliance in #Singapore is happening! From talks about technological trends to sharing PMM-daily dilemmas - this growing community is exactly what I needed! #productmarketing #singapore #womenintech

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heymax.ai users are now earning over 10 million miles every month, growing at ~30% MoM. And we’ve only been in the market for about a year. So, how did we become one of Singapore’s fastest-growing apps for earning miles on everyday spend? Amongst other things, we’ve been intentional about listening to our users. Here’s what we’re doing differently: 1. From day one, we took a community-first approach. We created a Telegram channel where users could share tips on maximising credit card rewards. These conversations directly shaped our v1 product roadmap. Today, our community has grown to nearly 8,000 members, and we continue to engage with them daily. We are one of the few startups in the region that has an active, owned-community. 2. We started hosting our users over food & drinks at our office. About 40 users join us in person every month over these user parties, and we are always over-subscribed. These sessions help build genuine relationships with our users while allowing us to gather product feedback more efficiently. Anyone involved in research knows how challenging it can be to recruit users for interviews, but these informal gatherings provide a natural way for us to connect and have honest conversations with our users - without the formality of a scheduled interview. 3. We recently decided that everyone on the team, no matter their role, takes a turn handling customer support. It’s hard to fully understand user frustrations without experiencing them firsthand. And, surprisingly, some of the best product, design, engineering, or operations ideas have come from conversations with angry customers. These aren’t groundbreaking ideas, and I’m sure they’ve been discussed in the industry for years. But how many companies actually build them into their culture? We’ve made some headway, but there are still plenty more 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 to go. If you've used heymax before, I would love to hear from you.

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I know a lot of people are looking to land their dream job in tech. Over the last 6 months, I've been fortunate to have a front-row seat on this process. We had over 4,000 job applications for our first 10 roles in APAC, and through the process, I noticed some patterns top candidates followed. Whatever your dream job looks like, I'd recommend you look at doing the following: 1. Focus on the company's customers. Top candidates knew how we helped our customers by simplifying their tech stack and reducing tech bloat. 2. Speak about customer value from multiple perspectives. In our case, they would talk about customer value for: - Finance: Save money on software - Employees: Make work easier - IT Teams: Reduce IT support needs - Ops: Solve problems faster - CEOs: Grow the business faster with fewer people - L&D: Improve collaboration across departments - HR: Create happier employees 3. Get referrals: Many resumes look similar on the surface. You can move straight to the top by having other people proactively vouch for you. 4. Approach the interview process like a sales cycle. They sent notes before meetings, followed up afterwards, listened carefully, and addressed concerns. 5. Have a vision for the future of tech. They saw a trend towards fewer, more flexible software tools. They spoke about how they saw Notion's role in these larger trends. Hope this helps.

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Retailers, it's time to put #GenerativeAI to work. Come hear the #Google's perspective on how #genAI can deliver value and unlock opportunities for innovation. Register for #NRFAPAC today: https://goo.gle/4bXGLQc

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Folks who would like to know about #GenAI and their working and more join me in this event by Google Cloud !!! 😎 #GoogleCloudOnAir #GoogleCloud #GenAI

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This week was extra special at work because I got to meet Linkedin CEO Ryan Roslansky this week! He visited our office in Singapore to meet with us and our customers, and I learnt so much from him! The most memorable nugget of wisdom he imparted - given recent advancements in the AI world, and more advancements that are yet to come, we can dream even bigger and think about solving problems that were previously considered very hard to solve (or unsolvable)! He also talked about how learning how to learn is possibly one of the most precious skills anyone can have right now, given the rate of change. Always so inspiring to learn from the leaders at Linkedin!

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Over the past six months, Tech Data APAC has conducted numerous AWS Marketplace workshops and webinars to showcase the incredible value it brings to partners. Partners leveraging AWS Marketplace have seen: • 27% higher win rates • 50% faster sales cycles • 4-5x larger deal sizes A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace analysis by IDC validates these benefits (read the IDC article below) emphasizing the importance of integrating AWS Marketplace into sales and product launch strategies from the start. Tech Data APAC​ is here to help you: • Access private offers from top ISVs to enhance your profitability. • Build and publish your solutions on AWS Marketplace for seamless procurement. • Invest in GTM strategies to drive awareness and demand for your offerings. Let’s collaborate to unlock new opportunities and achieve success on AWS Marketplace. Connect with the Tech Data APAC Cloud Team today! Robbie Upcroft Shannon Handley Sam Bennett Sunil Golani Andy Berry Caecilie Wickstroem Alex Cardoso Sam Jedason Mirash Mahuthoom Jasmine Brown Aurélie Marguet Deke Rayner-Harvey Gautam Kuppuswamy

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Discover the power of VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA. Join us tomorrow to see how enterprises can unlock Gen AI & unleash productivity by using VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA. Pre-attend today! https://lnkd.in/gGX_qBYM .

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