HUAWEI Nova 7i – A Trendsetter in the Realm of Smartphone Photography

The weekly #ShotonHuawei photography master class was titled “Smartphone Photography vs. DSLR Photography” and was held upon the launch of HUAWEI Nova 7i Sky Gray edition.

Taking pictures with smartphones is all the rage as they have replaced DSLRs and brought forth the photography talents of everyone to the fore. Smartphone cameras have improved significantly, with many touting remarkable features that capture some stunning imagery.

The recently launched HUAWEI Nova 7i Sky Gray edition has opened new doors for social media-savvy photographers with its cutting-edge 48MP Quad AI camera, the all-powerful Kirin 810 chipset – the only 7nm chipset in its price category and a 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge which charges the phone swiftly so that people don’t miss any scenic moment to capture. With state-of-the-art AI algorithms, for unrivaled portrait and scenery shooting and a whole new vibrant look for the Stylish youth, the phone comes for a new price tag of PKR 41,999/- as a special surprise on Eid-ul-Azha.
At the launch of this special Sky Gray edition of HUAWEI Nova 7i, a #ShotonHuawei photography master class was conducted by a veteran of the #ShotonHuawei campaign Areesh Zubair. The weekly master classes have amassed more than 250 participants from all over Pakistan with people raving about the skills that they have learnt from celebrated photographers. Whether it’s taking a stroll down the park or reading their favourite book in bed, people have used the HUAWEI Nova 7i’s camera to take some splendid shots that perfectly demonstrate just how powerful the Nova 7i camera is – a true trendsetter in the realm of smartphone photography.

Following the master class, the HUAWEI Community blew up with some stunning imagery submissions like this one by a consumer called Irfan. Another Huawei-fan Muqaddas Ahmad did macro photography of snails at a park.

Huawei’s Experience Ambassadors or HEAs for the Nova 7i campaign put the phone’s camera to the test and doled out perfect-looking shots that look right out of a photobook.

While Huawei goes big on smartphone photography by creating the world’s best smartphone cameras, it also curates the smartphone photographers’ community globally with its HUAWEI NEXT-IMAGE AWARDS. This magnanimous photography competition for Huawei and Honor users gathers some of the world’s best smartphone photographers who are then judged by industry-leading jury members and given gifts like USD 10,000/-, HUAWEI P40 Series smartphones and other prizes. For the HUAWEI NEXT-IMAGE AWARDS 2020, more than 2,000 submissions have been made by Huawei-fans from Pakistan showcasing unmatchable talent anywhere in the world.


The HUAWEI NEXT-IMAGE AWARDS 2020 is accepting submissions till Friday, 31 July, 2020. Head on to consumer.huawei.com/pk/community and visit the ‘Gallery’ section. To make the most of the Huawei Photographers Community, there are ‘Photo of the Week’ and ‘Photo of the Month’ contests where gifts are given out to winners. So once you join Huawei Community, you will have a lot of chances to win gifts by participating in various fun filled activities.

Huawei Introduces Petal Search Widget – Find Apps as a Gateway to a Million Apps along with a New, Fashionable HUAWEI Nova 7i

A true game changer this new search tool powered by the Petal Search engine has been created in partnership with global search engine leaders to offer Huawei users an innovative and diverse search experience

Huawei, the company at the forefront of innovative technological advances has announced the availability of the Petal Search Widget – Find Apps, which is already available for download via HUAWEI AppGallery. The new search tool offers Huawei users an open gateway to a million apps – with convenience and ease to download and install them right away.

Mr. Scott Huang, Country Manager of Huawei Pakistan said: “At Huawei, we are committed to providing new and innovative technologies for our consumers. Now, with the Petal Search Widget – Find Apps powered by Petal Search Engine, Huawei users have another way to easily find, explore and download the apps+ they need on to their device.”

This search tool is the one-stop solution for all your application needs on a Huawei device. You can find apps like HBL, Daraz, ARY News, Askari Bank, Geo News, My Zong, Hum TV, Zameen, Pakistan Railways and much more! Meanwhile hundreds of major new apps continue to be added to the AppGallery every week.

Gateway to a million apps

It is now even easier for Huawei users to have the apps they want on their HMS devices.

1)                Phone Clone – One easy way to transfer your apps, contacts, data, files and photos from your old smartphone to your new smartphone, in a few simple steps.

2)                AppGallery – Huawei’s official app store with more than 420M monthly active users and a constantly growing list of apps. It features a 4-layer detection mechanism to ensure apps featured are safe to download and use. Simply browse and download the apps you need.

3)                Petal Search Widget - Find Apps – one of three ways in which Huawei users can find and download apps on to their HMS devices, alongside AppGallery and Phone Clone. Simply use it directly from the home screen of your device.

A new search experience

Powered by the Petal Search engine, the Petal Search Widget – Find Apps brings an alternative search experience that locates and aggregates information, delivering the most accurate and relevant results for each user in order to enable them to fully personalise and manage their smartphone experience.

Currently, the search tool lists apps from multiple sources - always listing the source origin. Huawei’s AppGallery is completely integrated into the widget and any apps already available in the AppGallery will appear at the top of any search in the new tool.

Created in partnership with global search engine leaders, the Petal Search Widget – Find Apps brings together the best in hardware-based security and safety technologies, combined with the unparalleled privacy standards set by these leading privacy-by-design search engines, to ensure the highest standards of data privacy and security for Huawei users.

Availability

The Petal Search Widget – Find Apps currently supports more than 40 languages and is available in 45 countries and regions, with plans for wider rollout to even more countries in the future. It is now available to download from the AppGallery by simply searching for Petal Search – Find Apps.

Moreover, the HUAWEI Nova 7i is also available in Sky Gray colour for a new price of PKR 41,999/- this Eid. So grab your smartphone and open doors to a truly fulfilling Huawei experience.

For more information on the Petal Search Widget – Find Apps please visit:

https://consumer.huawei.com/pk/community/details/%E2%80%8BPetal-Search-from-AppGallery/topicId_107621/

realme enters 59 markets around the world, gaining 40 million global smartphone users worldwide

As of the beginning of July, the fastest growing smartphone brand realme has covered 59 markets around the world except North America, and the number of global smartphone users has surpassed 40 million. This is another presupposition of realme's rapid growth after maintaining its seventh global ranking in the first quarter of 2020.

In early January, realme entered 27 markets around the world. In only half a year, realme’s global footprint has rapidly expanded to 59 markets outside of North America, and ranks among the top five in its multiple market segments. This is in line with realme’s adherence to localized market strategies, strong product capabilities, and the business model of "light assets, short channels, and partial e-commerce". In India, realme has maintained the top five ranking in the market for a long time, and the online market has also maintained the second consecutive ranking. realme entered the top four in the Egyptian market in less than one year after it entered the market. In Southeast Asia, realme entered the top five rankings as the fastest-growing smartphone brand. In the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar, realme entered the top 5 respectively in just one year; in the Cambodian market, realme only took one quarter to achieve it; In the first quarter of 2020, realme ranked the top 5 in the Thai market. These markets span more than 80% of the smartphone segment in Southeast Asia, and realme has become a leading player in the smartphone market in Southeast Asia.

At the beginning of May this year, the number of realme's global mobile phone users exceeded 35 million, an increase of 5 million in two months to 40 million. realme sustained its growth in the first half of this year and plans to achieve 100 million mobile phone sales within 2 to 3 years. realme has announced the "mobile phone + AIoT dual-drive" strategy at the beginning of 2020, and is committed to creating a smart and trendsetting lifestyle for young people with all things connected. In six months, realme has released dozens of AIoT products, and plans to release more than 50 AIoT products in 2020 and more than 100 in 2021. realme will maintain the trend of growing and continue to provide young people with trendy technology products that fit their preferences with superior performance and trendsetting design.

realme C11 “Best Selling phone in July” Daraz; Available nationwide at PKR 16,999

Pakistan’s Youth most favorite brand realme has debuted its latest successor of C series. Trendier design language introduced in the most entry level offering series. After the hit Launch Day Flash Sale on Daraz, it has been the best selling phone in july 2020. Available for sale from tomorrow, realme fans can get budget king realme C11 at Rs. 16,999

realme C11: A massive display and rich camera features

The realme C11 features a 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen, with a resolution of 720 x 1,560 pixels and a dewdrop notch, which houses the phone’s single, front-facing camera.

On its rear is perhaps the most attractive feature of the phone. It has a tidy-looking back panel, one that highlights what realme calls as a Geometric Art Design. The panel also sports a texture that should help users in terms of grip.

The back panel of the device also sports a dual-camera setup, housed in a modern square-like module. Note that the phone is the first one from the brand to wear a new camera layout. The system comprises AI-powered 13MP wide and 2MP depth sensors. Also, there is an LED flash, HDR, and panorama. The realme logo can be seen as well.

Other key camera features include portrait mode, chroma boost, “slo-mo” video, and the capability to shoot 1080p videos. Meanwhile, the handset’s selfie snapper features a 5MP wide sensor.

Apart from the Helio G35 chip, the realme C11 is also coupled with PowerVR GE8320 for its GPU needs. There is also a sizeable 5,000mAh battery listed for the phone. However, the handset only comes with a conventional 10W charging. The company claims that the battery can offer 40 days of standby time, with up to 12.1 hours of gaming.

The realme C11 also sports 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The phone has a dedicated slot for a microSD card, which allows storage expansion to up to 256GB.biometric authentication, the phone comes with a Face Unlock feature.

Proposals to strengthen the international audit and ethics standard-setting process welcomed by ACCA

Robust global auditing and ethical standards are essential for business, investor and public trust, says ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) following publication of the Monitoring Group’s paper explaining the way ahead.

Speaking about the Monitoring Group’s recommendations, Maggie McGhee, executive director – governance at ACCA says:

‘This is a much-anticipated announcement following an extensive consultation, and it presents a positive development for the future. Their advice brings certainty to the various standard setting Boards responsible for this important work, and it also provides clarity about the future roles of the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB), and the International Federation of Accountants.

‘These recommendations will reinforce stakeholder confidence in a technical and expert global system that defines accountancy standards and ethics, with the aim of instilling trust in business and the public sector.’

The enhancements defined in the Monitoring Group’s paper maintain many of the strengths of the existing system, but ACCA believes that the new arrangements should further improve the independence of the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), with recommendations also further clarifying the roles between them and the PIOB. The recommendations will also importantly maintain these Boards’ technical experience and expertise.

Maggie McGhee concludes:

‘The timeline for planning and moving to the new implementation needs to be considered with all parties working as quickly as possible to full implementation to avoid uncertainty. However, we recognise this project needs to be handled carefully in the current economic climate due to Covid-19. We look forward to being part of this necessary change.’

A New Colour and a New Price for the HUAWEI Nova 7i Debuts from 21st July

Huawei debuts the Sky Gray colour at the onset of the monsoon season, so grab yours now from stores nationwide and Daraz.pk only for PKR 41,999/-

The Nova series has captured hearts and minds of people in Pakistan. Since its maiden launch in September 2018, it has become an instant fan favourite. With the most recent HUAWEI Nova 7i being a category bestseller – the company decided to make things more rewarding by introducing the Eid Offer. A fantastic new shade of Sky Gray for HUAWEI Nova 7i becomes available from Tuesday, 21 July, 2020 onwards for an amazing new price of PKR 41,999/-.

The Sky Gray edition of HUAWEI Nova 7i comes at the most perfect timing. With the monsoon season raging on, people can show-off this new shade on Eid-ul-Azha. This device not only looks good but also promises access to a world of information, while keeping its users thoroughly entertained, with immersive gaming and social-media experiences. The HUAWEI Nova 7i has a few category firsts to its fame, such as the Hi-Silicon Kirin 810F – a blazing fast 7nm chipset unlike any other while a 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge gets you charged up quicker than ever before.

This Eid, one does not need to kill time watching dull TV broadcasts, because the HUAWEI Nova 7i is here with a vivid 6.3-inch display. Every movie, TV show and photo looks riveting onscreen. For those good looks and great clothes, people can capture them with the 48MP Quad AI Camera at the back that comes with a 120-degree Ultra Wide Angle Lens. A 16MP selfie shooter lets you rock your style to the maximum!

Another great feature that Huawei is debuting on HUAWEI Nova 7i’s new edition is Petal Search. With the Petal Search Widget - Find Apps (already available for download via HUAWEI AppGallery), Huawei users get an open gateway to a million apps. Just search for any app and you can download it directly from the Find Apps widget of Petal Search. In addition to news, images and entertainment Petal Search also lists apps from multiple sources, including AppGallery and the Huawei browser, enabling users to fully personalise and manage their world of apps.

At an attractive new price of PKR 41,999/-, this true Super Nova of the midrange segment comes with a massive 8GB + 128GB memory to store more solutions and apps. Swift multi-tasking is possible with Android 10-based EMUI 10, while its side-mounted fingerprint scanner promises complete security of data. Nova 7i is equipped with a 4,200 mAh big-capacity battery, enriched with Huawei’s 40W SuperCharge technology that enables 70% battery level within 30 minutes, for uninterrupted functionality.

realme C11 launched with MediaTek G35 SoC at PKR. 16,999 Trendier design with Dual camera

realme C series redefined. Only 16,499 at Daraz Flash Sale Tonight!

realme Pakistan revealed its second C series phone in 2020. The realme C11 is an entry-level smartphone. Launching Today & will be on Hot Sale Price 16,499 on Daraz from 9pm-12pm. The realme C11 is one of the first smartphones, housed with new MediaTek Helio G35 chipset. The realme C11 is powered by the MediaTek G35 SoC, a chip designed for gaming on budget smartphone.

realme C11

The realme C11 is priced at Rs. 16,999 with flash sale price for today at 164,999  is introduced in a single 2GB RAM and 32GB storage configuration. However, the device has a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion up to 256GB. It is available in two colour options – Mint Green and Pepper Grey. Which will be available for sale  by July 23, 2020

Starting with the display of the device, the realme C11 flaunts a 6.52-inch HD+ mini-drop display with a tall 20:9 aspect ratio and a 1,600 x 720 pixel resolution. The display of the device is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The device measures 164.4×75.9×9.1mm and weighs in at 196 grams.

On its rear is perhaps the most attractive feature of the phone. It has a tidy-looking back panel, one that highlights what realme calls as a Geometric Art Design. The panel also sports a texture that should help users in terms of grip.

For the photography enthusiasts out there, the Realme C11 comes with a dual rear camera setup, which includes a 13MP primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4. At the front, the realme C11 sports a 5MP selfie shooter with f/2.4 aperture.

The back panel of the device also sports a dual-camera setup, housed in a modern square-like module. Note that the phone is the first one from the brand to wear a new camera layout. The system comprises AI-powered 13MP wide and 2MP depth sensors. Also, there is an LED flash, HDR, and panorama. The realme logo can be seen as well.

Other key camera features include portrait mode, chroma boost, “slo-mo” video, and the capability to shoot 1080p videos. Meanwhile, the handset’s selfie snapper features a 5MP wide sensor.

On the software side of things, the realme C11 reports the latest Android 10 OS with the company’s in-house realme UI skin baked on top of it. Coming to the battery of the device, the realme C11 boasts a massive 5,000mAh battery, which has scope for 10W charging over a micro USB port.

HUAWEI Y6p - A Popular Choice Amongst On-ground Consumers and Netizens Alike

HUAWEI Y6p has won hearts of not only Huawei fans across Pakistan, but people joined the TikTok campaign in droves to get their hands on the device.

Huawei’s Y Series has always been hot and popular amongst youngsters for their promising features. This time around with HUAWEI Y6p, the company offered an incredible feature-packed smartphone for an attractive price tag of PKR 20,899/-. The device packs a 5,000 mAh battery, 13MP main camera, 3GB of RAM and a 6.3-inch HUAWEI Dewdrop Display – making it a sought-after choice in its price segment.

The HUAWEI Y6p did not just win hearts of consumers on the ground. Instead, a TikTok campaign for the HUAWEI Y6p garnered more than 430 million views and massive participation in the #YfortheYoung Challenge. The challenge was quite interesting as people posted their content about what it means to be young!

Pioneering the entry level segment, the HUAWEI Y Series is known to bring a fresh wave of incredible features for the most competitive prices accessible for everyone especially the youth of today. One of the best things about having a massive battery is simply what more you can do with your smartphone because of it. With a 5,000 mAh battery to support, you can easily kick back to enjoy doing a lot more with your HUAWEI Y6p without having to worry about constantly having to recharge. This battery is large enough to provide up to 32 hours of video playback or even 20 hours of Internet surfing on a single charge.

It is further supported by the Huawei Power Saving mode to support more power. In addition to this, the HUAWEI Y6p can also function as a power bank to charge other devices and even act as a backup storage for other devices.

The HUAWEI Y6p does not shy away from photography either, thanks to its 13MP Triple Camera which consists of a 13MP main camera, a 5MP wide-angle camera and a 2MP depth camera. These three cameras work together to capture stunning photos be it low-light, wide angle or even with rich bokeh effects. Upfront the HUAWEI Y6p also packs an 8MP front camera with advanced beautification algorithms for gorgeous selfies.

Meanwhile the HUAWEI Y6p comes with 3GB of RAM for smooth performance and 64GB of storage and apps, which can be expanded to 512GB with a microSD card. Powering it all is the MTK Helio P22 octa-core processor, supported by EMUI 10.1 for all-round efficient performance and better user interface. HUAWEI Y6p is available in three contemporary and distinct finishes: Midnight Black, Phantom Purple and Emerald Green.

Revealed 125W UltraDART, realme leaps for 33% charge of a 4000mAh battery in the first 3 minutes

realme, the world’s fastest growing smartphone brand, officially launched the 125W UltraDART Flash Charging solution today, making it among the first smartphone brand brings the advancing technology in the world. realme Dart Flash Charging technology keeps evolving from 30W, to 50W, to 65W, and now it reaches the surprising 125W. Its birth is of great importance in the era of 5G for being the best solution for 5G smartphone battery life.

The smartphone charging speeds are breaking new barriers every year. A super-fast charging smartphone is not only convenient for the users but, it is also a USP for the manufacturer. Realme has unveiled its 125W UltraDart charging solution in China. realme uses a new parallel three charge pump fast charging technology to achieve this speed. The SuperDart charging solution will support quick charge, power delivery, and programmable power supply protocols.

So how fast a 125W UltraDart charger can charge your phone? Well, it can charge a 4,000mAh battery up to 33% in just 3 minutes, which is probably the fastest one around. During the charge cycle, Realme claims that the temperature will be kept under 40-degree celsius all the time and there won’t be much of a heating issue.

Low battery is always annoying the global users, especially for 5G smartphone users. Since it is almost impossible to make a major breakthrough in battery energy density in the short term, and the internal space of mobile phones is limited, flash charging has become the most effective way to guarantee a long battery life. Thus the 125W UltraDART Flash Charging technology is more significant and also the leading solution among all flash charging.

3 mins for 33% charging, realme UltraDART aims to lead 5G flash charging   

How to solve problem of low battery anxiety? realme make all efforts to finally bring the 125W UltraDART Flash Charging technology. Distinguished from other flash charging solution, realme believes it is more important and meaningful to get the phone back to life in the shortest time, instead of just shortening 1 or 2 minutes of the whole charging process. Therefore, realme pays attention to optimize the technology of making smartphones back to life in 3 minutes, which helps users to fully use breaks down to get phone charged so that they can leave whenever they want and don’t need to worry about the battery life. 

With 125W UltraDART, a 5G smartphone with a battery life of 4000mAh can be charged around 33% in 3 minutes, supporting hours of daily use of 5G smartphone. The reason why it can get fully charged in just 20 minutes is about the future commercialization and safety, realme specially controls the smartphone temperature under 40°. realme wants to control the charging speed smartly and safely, instead of pursuing the extreme fast charging speed. With temperature control, it could be 13 minutes for 100% charge.

Also, the 125W UltraDART still focuses on both efficiency and safety by adopting direct charging to avoid any potential charging accidents with multi-layer protection. 125W UltraDART does not only support the phone charged while the screen is on and being played with, but also makes 5G smartphones get charged faster, more safely and also comfortable to use.

Applying 125W UltraDART in all price segment to bring leap-forward experience for everyone

Technologies that can be utilized by more people are good ones. realme illustrates that it will take more 5G smartphones shipped with the 125W UltraDART Flash Charging technology into mass production, to make the young users, who realme values the most to experience the innovative charging technology as soon as possible. Meanwhile, as “Popularizer of Tech Trendsetting Life”, realme insists on the “Dare to Leap” brand conception to gradually bring the world-advancing smartphone charging technologies to more price segments rather than only flagship products, bringing the always-on 5G fast-speed experience to more young users which breaks the constraints of the price.

As the brand focusing on the young, realme commits itself to creating products with a leap-forward experience of all aspects. The official launch of the 125W UltraDART Flash Charging technology will magnificently shorten the charging time of high capacity batteries and guarantee the battery life of 5G smartphones, to help realme 5G smartphones perform excellently and offer better trendsetting user experiences.

HUAWEI Y8p – A Kingpin of Smartphone Photography

Huawei conducts weekly photography master classes for its fans imparted by Huawei Experience Ambassadors who showcase their photography and experience with the HUAWEI Y8p

Smartphone photography is all the rage today, with smartphone manufacturers adding more complex and functional camera innovations to their smartphones with every release. However, it is not common for entry-level smartphones to get the same treatment, often resulting in the segment not having the advanced camera setups seen in its bigger brothers.

Huawei’s Y series however is known for breaking that mold, often bringing powerful features that revolutionize the entry-level segment. The latest in the series, the HUAWEI Y8p continues in this path and brings to the table a powerful 48MP AI Triple Camera setup that suits all your camera needs! Powerful features, stunning designs, long lasting solid performance, all in a midrange smartphone for PKR 37,999/-. This is what the HUAWEI Y series aims to deliver, especially by making smartphone innovations more accessible to users at all levels.

This time, Huawei also added virtual #ShotonHuawei Master Classes that are held weekly by Huawei Experience Ambassadors (HEAs). These classes have amassed more than 200 participants from all over Pakistan with people raving about the skills that they have learnt from the Masters.

One participant commented “Special thanks to HUAWEI Community for offering free training to their fans, really amazing initiative”, while another expressed how “this session means a lot to the photographers”. Given the overwhelming response from fans, Huawei will continue these master classes for another few sessions with the next one coming up on Saturday, 25 July, 2020. Keep checking the official page for more information.

Amjad Nawaz

Amjad - known for capturing street, culture and architecture photographed an old building using HUAWEI Y8p. Amjad has an eye for the right angle and light which creates drama and flattering lines.

Faisal Farooq

Faisal is one of the oldest Huawei Experience Ambassadors and nonetheless much talented. Faisal used HUAWEI Y8p’s 48MP camera to capture these mesmerizing and obscure photographs of the sea – a great escape amid lockdown.

Ali Awais

Ali Awais spends the afternoon at Old City, Lahore. He uses the art of framing and the Wide Angle Lens of HUAWEI Y8p to capture some of Lahore’s monuments from afar. 

Hashim Khan

Hashim Khan joins the #ShotonHuawei for the first time and proves his worth by demonstrating the art of lighting. He photographs the perfect portrait using HUAWEI Y8p in which he puts his creative hat on to get the right amalgamation of shadows and light. In the second image HUAWEI Y8p’s incredible AI stabilization comes to play as Hashim captures a perfect shot of the road in a moving car.

Sidra Tulnoor

Also joining the #ShotonHuawei campaign for the first time, Sidra channeled her inner bookworm and showed us how she’s been spending time during lockdown. The 48MP Quad AI Camera perfectly encapsulates the raw colours of these images, giving us a feel of both daylight and lowlight photography.

Embracing digital is key to transforming work experience for accountants

New ways of working will accelerate a move towards digitisation and promote careers that are intellectually stretching and driven by a renewed sense of purpose.

Future work for accountancy and finance professionals is set transform for the better through an increase in the adoption of digital technologies, according to Meaningful work for the digital professional, a report by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and EY based on a global survey of 4,281 respondents and 55 interviews between April and May 2020.

Respondents to the survey were benchmarked against a group of survey respondents termed ‘Leaders’, who scored highly across a range of categories including the use and adoption of technology in the workplace. These Leaders typically worked at organisations that outperformed in adjusting their delivery model during the pandemic, with 95% saying their organisations were well prepared for using technology against a global average of 74%.

Overall, the report shows that there is room to increase levels of digital adoption. Globally, community technologies (55%) such as social media and messaging saw the highest adoption rates followed by ‘Next-generation’ computing (eg Cloud, Serverless, Edge) at 36% and data technologies (eg big data, analytics, visualisation) at 30%. The largest gap in adoption rates between leaders and the rest of respondents was within the data technologies category. Looking ahead to the next decade, respondents expect engagement with digital and technology to approach 90%. 

Perhaps surprisingly, the report also found that less experienced professionals, who might be expected to be more digitally savvy, found the transition to remote working as a result of COVID-19 more difficult than experienced employees. This may reflect factors like a lack of appropriate workspace where they live, or a greater need for guidance in their work.

Report author Narayanan Vaidyanathan says: ‘While a fast-evolving and automating world presents challenges, for those willing to engage there are wins to be had.

‘The digital landscape presents significant opportunities for accountancy and finance professionals to achieve meaningful work experiences – ones that are driven by purpose and which afford the potential to stretch oneself in new and fulfilling ways.’

Two big differentiators of the Leader group were that their organisations had conducted employee skills mapping to identify gaps and had tried to understand if employees found their work fulfilling. These are both critical components for creating meaningful work experiences.

Ruchi Bhowmik, Global Vice Chair – Public Policy at EY said: ‘Embracing new technology will help ease many of the pressures on today’s accountancy and finance professionals from increasingly complex, but routine tasks, issues and bring a new sense of purpose to their roles. At EY, our professionals are already leveraging technology and analysing data in a way that helps elevate their daily work, build essential skills, and lead to rich and meaningful careers.’

Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA, said: ‘Satisfaction in work is a fundamental building block of a happy and successful life. For accountancy and finance professionals, digital tools offer new possibilities for meaningful work that will outlast the economic challenges posed by the global pandemic.’

Meaningful work for the digital professional can be found here:

https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/professional-insights/technology/Meaningful_Work_Digital_Professional.html

With new Product Strategy realme Pakistan aims to launch more exciting products for fans

Youth’s most favorite smartphone brand realme first debuted in Pakistan in 2019 as a smartphone brand. In the short time since, the company has launched over two dozen smartphones and expanded its business in over 25 markets across the globe. Last month realme introduced the X3 SuperZoom - the brand’s first phone with a periscope camera.

realme offers great value for money smartphones across different segments, but the company is also quickly expanding its ecosystem. It launched its first true wireless earphones last December and in March its first fitness tracker, dubbed realme Band.

With Dare-to-Leap spirit, realme makes continuous efforts to bring to the youth products beyond expectation and quickly successfully manage to achieve more than 25 million global users. Focusing on AIoT, realme plans to create a complete AIoT ecosystem young brand has grouped its AIoT products into three categories — Personal, Home and Travel.

realme has announced its new product strategy, 1+4+N. It will be spinning around the company’s core smartphone business and smart AIOT product range. “1” indicates smartphones, “4” is for the sub-categories Smart TV, Smart Earphone, Smartwatch and Smart Speaker and the “N” indicates AIOT products. Smartphones will be the focus of realme’s AIOT ecosystem. All the AIOT products will be connected to and managed by their smartphones. Further, the realme Link App will allow the smartphones to be used to manage various AIoT products, enhancing your personal, home, and travel experiences.

1 Core: Smartphones will be the main center of realme’s AIOT ecosystem. All the AIOT products will be connected to and managed by realme smartphones. Plus the realme Link App, realme smartphones as the primary point will be able to manage various AIoT products, enhancing your personal, home, and travel experiences.

4 Smart Hubs: This is to help consumers manage and control more AIOT products together with smartphones. Hence, this has been divided into 4 sub-categories – Smart TV, Smart Earphone, Smart Watch and Smart Speaker.

N AIOT products: The ‘N’ here represents realme’s commitment to bring a plethora of new AIOT and lifestyle products for realme fans, including various accessories ranging from in-car chargers, backpacks, luggage cases, to smart home gadgets.

HUAWEI Y8p is the Ultimate Champion with its 48 MP AI Triple Camera

In the photography department, HUAWEI Y8p outshines in its price segment with a true 48MP camera priced at PKR 37,999/-

Huawei’s newest mid-level smartphone the HUAWEI Y8p is finally here and we have had a detailed look at it. Starting with its camera and moving to its performance, design and smart user experience the HUAWEI Y8p shines. Here are three reasons why we love it!

A camera setup that does all the tricks – Powered by AI

Let’s be honest most of us check out the camera first on every new smartphone that comes out. Well, for starters HUAWEI Y8p comes with a 48MP AI Triple Camera, which consists of a 48MP main camera that takes all-day high quality photos. Also, an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera is perfect for capturing landscapes, city skylines and group photos without leaving anyone out of the frame, up to a staggering 120-degrees (that’s quite a lot of view!). Lastly, there is the 2MP Bokeh camera, which adds professional and beautiful Bokeh effects to all your photos. This combined setup helps you take excellent photos as you go about your day and night as well. Yes, night! HUAWEI Y8p’s camera setup comes with an AIS Super Night Photography that lets you take stunning night photos from the comfort of your palms with clear and vivid results because it can effectively stabilise images. HUAWEI Y8p comes with Master AI photography, allowing you to effortlessly take beautiful photos within your reach. Master AI can recognise objects in an image and provide you with dedicated optimisation (Yes, it can fix your photos on your behalf!) It can also identify object size, positioning, and its centre point on the screen and then adjust accordingly through AI algorithms. Master AI can recognise more than 500 scenes across 21 categories including blue skies, snow, plants, cats, dogs, food, fireworks, stage performances and more!

Do you think we would forget about selfies? I mean we all want our profile pictures on social media to standout out, or when sharing selfies with friends on an instant messaging platform. HUAWEI Y8p comes with a 16MP front-facing camera that supports HDR selfies. Not only clear selfies, but it also gives nice backlighting effects. Under lighting from different directions such as front-on lighting, backlighting, or from the side, the camera uses AI algorithms to compensate the interference brought by different lightings. Do you know what is even better? This phone supports selfie Night Mode, so that you can take selfies even in low-light settings – like how cool is that!?

Store all your photos and videos and see them at anytime

You want a phone with enough storage space for all your photos, videos and files. A phone with a large and powerful battery that will live with you during your hectic long days and nights! A smartphone with an intelligent processor for smooth and efficient processing be it for video streaming or gaming. HUAWEI Y8p comes with a large 6GB RAM for slick and smooth processing of all your videos and games, in addition to 128GB of internal storage, which is adequate space for storing all your audio, and video. Moreover, HUAWEI Y8p comes with a large battery of 4000mAh (typical value). It also supports AI Power Saving 7.0 that prolongs battery life, with this battery all the files you download plus the video calls you make won’t be a problem whatsoever! The phone also comes with Kirin 710F which provides smooth and high performance at all times with low power consumptions. Therefore, whether you are watching your favourite show, listening to your most loved podcast, or even playing that highly intense game, with this processor in hand all experiences will be smooth. HUAWEI Y8p comes running on EMUI 10.1, which comes with a brand new UI (User Interface) design, which focuses on every detail to create a premium sense.

Stylish and elegant design

Of course, a smartphone with amazing camera, outstanding performance is even better with an exquisite design. HUAWEI Y8p comes with a 6.3-inch HUAWEI Dewdrop OLED Display. Together with a resolution of 2400x1080, the smartphone can display vibrant colours and crisp details. Whether you are gaming, watching videos or browsing images, HUAWEI Y8p will bring you unbeatable visual immersion and enjoyment. For your security, this beautiful display incorporates an In-screen fingerprint sensor for quick unlocking. The smartphone adopts a 3D Arc design for a compact body, while its back panel with vivid colours is fascinating and eye-catching. HUAWEI Y8p comes in two colourways, the novel Breathing Crystal and classic Midnight Black.

HUAWEI Y8p provides you with an immersive gaming experience. GPU Turbo in EMUI 10.1 comes with enhanced touch responsiveness, which allows the user to stay a step ahead of the other players in the game. The improved GPU Turbo provides for immersive visuals with a consistently high frame rate, and buttery smooth gameplay.

The HUAWEI Y8p comes with HUAWEI Mobile Services and its own app platform, the HUAWEI AppGallery, which boasts a wide range of global and local apps making it the third largest app marketplace in the world.

So yeah, if you’re looking for a smartphone with an astonishing camera, powerful performance, chic look and one that can also provide you with a smart user experience then look no further. Go on and grab the HUAWEI Y8p retailing at PKR 37,999/-.

Pandemic hurts domestic demand and recession hits exports

Economic analysis reveals the impact on Pakistan’s employment and confidence

ACCA’s Q2 Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) published today, reflects the scale of the global recession now under way. Globally, employment indices plummeted to record lows in the latest survey, consistent with the most severe recession in decades.

Pakistan is heading for economic contraction this year as pandemic mitigation measures hurt domestic demand and global recession hits exports. There is also a massive hike in unemployment – the Employment Index stands at -86.95 compared to 57.14 in Q1 and confidence is at an all-time low in Q2 at -78.26 compared with -28.57 in Q1. But the inflation-prone region has seen a dramatic fall in inflationary pressures – inflation concerns index fell by 25 points to just 20 in the Q2 survey – the long run average is 51. It also transpires that public spending expenditure has lowered from -33.33 in Q2 from 20 in Q1.

Michael Taylor, ACCA’s Chief Economist said: ‘Confidence in South Asia fell further in Q2, possibly reflecting that the region was late to see the spread of COVID-19. Also, activity indicators also remain weak, despite a slight improvement in the orders balance and it is worth noting that it is the only region to do so.’

He added: ‘The change in the GECS global index of measured concern about customers and suppliers going out of business underlines the current extremely poor global economic situation.  Both these series had trended sideways at relatively low levels in recent years but shot up to record highs in Q2 – to 23% for suppliers and 47% for customers.’

Special Covid-19 related questions in this GECS show an approximate 50-50 split between those expecting economic recovery in the second half of this year and those expecting it sometime in 2021.

Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan, said: ‘ACCA members have played a crucial role in the first phase of the pandemic – supporting businesses and organisations to keep trading. At this time of economic turbulence, accountants are both value creators and value protectors, helping their clients and the businesses they work in to make informed economic decisions. They will now undoubtedly play a crucial role in the recovery phase.’

The latest edition of GECS is here: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/professional-insights/global-economics/GECS_Q2_2020.html

ACCA, ICMA Pakistan to deliver IPSAS training to public sector professionals

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and Institute of Cost Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMA Pakistan) have now joined forces by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly train the public sector professionals in Pakistan on IPSAS®, the international accrual-based accounting standards, to enhance the quality, consistency and transparency of public sector financial reporting in Pakistan and help rebuild the public trust.

The announcement was made at a Virtual MoU signing ceremony on the theme ‘'The Importance of Strengthening of Public Sector Institutions'. The ceremony was attended by senior members of both the professional bodies, as well as by senior public sector leaders including Abdul Ghafoor Khan, Rector, Pakistan Audit & Accounts Academy, Dr Jawad Zaka Khan, Deputy Military Accountant General Pakistan, Sumaira K Aslam, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Umar Banoori, DG Accounts, Controller General of Accounts Pakistan, Zia Ul Mustafa, President, ICMA Pakistan, and Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan.  

Under this partnership, a certificate in IPSAS, will be delivered jointly by ACCA and ICMA Pakistan to finance professionals working in the public sector or aspiring to join the sector in the near future. 

Speaking at the event, ACCA’s Head of Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam, said,

“The Public Sector is facing a dizzying array of challenges, from declining public trust to technological disruption, that require innovative responses. The current pandemic has added an unprecedented pressure on the sector to deliver public services in the most effective manner. Therefore, there's an urgent need for radical reforms and improved capacity. ACCA as a global force for public good is delighted to have signed this MOU with ICMA Pakistan. This is just another example of our commitment to strengthening the public sector in Pakistan, working in partnership with all the stakeholders, and upholding the public trust in the accountancy profession.”

Addressing the ceremony, Zia Ul Mustafa, President, ICMA Pakistan, said:

“ICMA Pakistan is pleased to partner with ACCA to train public sector organisations in IPSAS with the goal of improving transparency and accountability, as well as the adoption of an accrual-based public financial reporting framework. The objectives are to be met by strengthening existing financial institutions within the Government of Pakistan and delivering knowledge to public sector accountants while developing the country’s public sector accountancy capacity. This MoU with the objective of enhancing public financial management will assist public sector set ups in gearing up to meet the new demands of the augmented role of the public sector organisations in providing development finance solutions for effective performance.”

Issued by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), IPSAS® are cash-based standards and accruals standards used for the preparation of general purpose financial statements by governments and other public sector entities around the world.