Official Philippine press launch of PHD’s Merge held at Manila House Private Members Club, Taguig City
After a sumptuous Filipino buffet-style lunch, we were treated to an informative question and answer portion by a panel of experts. Among them were Sari Software Solutions CEO, Ibba Rasul Bernardo; Head of Products from Voyager Innovations, Inc., John Justin Dayrit; Bernard San Juan from TrueLogic Solutions, Inc.; and Jay Jaboneta, a consultant at De La Salle College.
Questions that arose during the segment were mostly related to how the Philippines related to the world of technology; the advancements and updates that have been brought over into our country’s bandwidth. According to the experts, they believe that we are at par with the rest of the world when it comes to technology – especially our usage as internet consumers. With one of the highest Facebook penetration levels and messaging connections, in line with the talents that our companies have hired – we are on the same level as the richer and more progressive countries in the technology sector.
(L-R) Poma Malantic, Bernard San Juan, John Justin Dayrit, Ibba Rasul
However, despite our evident presence on social media, we still have elements we haven’t explored that could further our development even further. Digital transformation has been effective in companies and organizations’ customers, but the companies and organizations themselves have yet to adapt to the jump in technology as readily as we have. As a whole, we are too scared to make the change–but the irony in that is that we as individuals and small start-up businesses do so, and are successful. According to one of the panelists, this may be attributed to our cultural history – but it is something that we must try to change or adapt to evolve with the times.
Another interesting question that was asked was whether or not technology has aided the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.
“Technology’s job is not meant to make us rich or poor.” –Bernard San Juan, TrueLogic Solutions, Inc.
Bernard San Juan shares a snippet of his life story – about how his mother, a farmer, was poor and yet understood that she had to make a choice to better the lives of the generation after her. She understood the value of education and technology, and invested in it despite her humble beginnings – which gave birth to the life she leads now and reflected as well through the success of her children. Technology can create rich people, but poor people have just as much capability to learn the ropes and the industry as well.
“Social class is not discriminated by technology – it’s discriminated by us.” –John Justin Dayrit, Voyager Innovations, Inc.
The life we live now, weaving through wires and plugged in, is greatly affected by technology. There are those who are still wary of how quickly technology has been advancing, especially with developments such as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality that directly tap into our existing lives and alter them distinctly. However, sometimes the fear doesn’t come from technology, but from us.
(L-R) Poma Malantic, Jay Jaboneta, Bernard San Juan, John Justin Dayrit, Ibba Rasul, Mickey de Castro
Merge aims to show the Filipinos and the world how greatly the world of technology has evolved, and how we should be embracing all that it is and all that we can make it to be. It also focuses on how technology affects the economic markets and teaches how the brands of our world can use it to their advantage for our development as a whole. The publication is one among the most accredited, with a foreword by Google’s Head of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil – and exclusive interviews from world-renowned business leaders and icons of the academe; such as Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft’s principle tech evangelist, Dave Coplin, and a senior research scientist at Google and co-founder of the Google Brain, Greg Corrado.
Merge | The Closing Gap Between Technology and Us is available on Amazon and for download at PHD’s official website. Browse the event at #PHDMerge for more details about the Philippine launch, or watch the livestream hosted by Adobo Magazine below:
