A disgruntled account/credit card holder of one of the leading banks disclosed that he received a call from his bank inquiring whether he had made three consecutive transactions consecutively amounting to around Rs 80,000/-. To his utter dismay prior to going to bed for a good night sleep, he told the bank employee that he had not made any transaction and was oblivious to what was being communicated to him. …

The new digital economy has redefined the business landscape. Successful traditional businesses are at a huge risk of not only losing their dominant position but going out of business. Technical advancements, ubiquitous connectivity, proliferation of mobile devices combined with our understanding of how humans interact with machines and software has allowed creation of not just new businesses, but increased process efficiency within all industries. Today, we have the convenience of …

Members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet in Vienna in first week of March 2020. Top of the agenda item is to decide production quotas in the aftermath of coronavirus spread. To arrive at further production cut will not be easy because of United States emerging as one of the largest oil producing country as well as exporting substantial quantity. Even the bigger concern is …

One of the key policy objectives of Digital Pakistan Policy is promotion of innovation, entrepreneurship and incubators/start-ups in IT sector through: Generation of sustainable innovation, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities for the country’s rapidly growing technology savvy and entrepreneurial youth. Conducting digital skills programs for the human resource development in current and emerging technology domains. Collaboration with international partners to boost innovation. Setting up venture capital funds to hold national level …

The entire scenario of trade and commerce has been transformed in the last twenty years or so. The e-commerce industry is without a doubt the most lucrative business of the 21st century. It had long ago shifted from the reluctant offline experience to the easier and comfortable immersion. Here everything could be bought or sold just by clicking a button. The global e-retail is in constant growth since 2014. In …

There are two different schools of thought in Pakistan vis-à-vis digital disruption. One school of thought deems Pakistan as one of the countries, which is rapidly catching up with the rest of the world, however, the contrary viewpoint suggests that Pakistan is still lagging far behind in terms of adopting the technological revolution prevailing globally. There is no denying that Pakistanis are deemed young, educated and to a great extent …

Would you ever search for “accommodation in Barcelona” on Google or ask strangers on Facebook for a place to stay when you take your wife on a weekend trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona? Of course, you won’t do that because how can you trust some one that you have never seen before? To make a long story short: this is why Airbnb exists! They make it easy to …

Balochistan is largely an untapped telecom market with the lowest number of mobile phone users. In 2018, a dozen telecom projects were launched to deploy telecom network and services in the province. Today, the telecom operators are set to unleash the potential of the province with 46 percent of the 12.3 million population has no access to either mobile, wireless or a fixed line network. Universal Service Fund (USF), an …

Though having the highest mobile penetration rate in South Asia, Pakistan still has huge potential in digital economy growth. Telenor Group recently released a new connectivity report based on five Asian countries where Telenor Group operates, including Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. The report titled “The Mobile Effect: How Connectivity Enables Growth”, focuses on the impact of the telecom sector on the economies in the countries. The Telenor has …

One completely fails to understand why even a thought of ending Saudi-Iranian animosity make the supporters of monarch jittery. If one could recollect lately Iraq made an attempt to ease tension between the two arc enemies, but turmoil was created in Iraq. Soon after two top military strategist, one each from Iran and Iraq were killed, the probability of war in the region increased manifold. Recently, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad …