27/10/2015 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Indonesia's president cut s short his visit due to Indonesian haze but

first talks with President Obama. How much does your restaurant note

about you? Why big data could mean bigger profits. -- know. Good

morning Asia, hello world, glad you could join us for this edition of

Asia Business Report. The Indonesian President is cutting short his visit

to the US because of worsening haze caused by fires at home. He has met

President Barack Obama and says he intends to join the Trans-Pacific

Partnership. Trade between Indonesia and the US was worth more than 27

billion US dollars last year. Key priorities for President Widodo are

foreign investment and generating more interest from the technology

industry. I spoke more with an economist and asked whether

protectionist factions might try to derail his plans of joining the TDP.

I think there is, I think individual politicians will have different

reactions -- TPP. It will be spun in various ways by parties opposed to

him. I think this is a strong signal that he is trying to reverse the

sense from the outside that there is a wave of economic nationalism. He

brought with him a new Trade Minister, who is serious that the

impression is eradicated. This free trade pact to the Indonesian

economy, which is currently slowing down. It is very important. There is

recognition that the economy is sputtering, and they need all steps

in the right direction, they need foreign investment. This trip was

very much about that. All right. You have Joko Widodo cutting his trip

particularly to Silicon Valley, does this have an impact, especially now

Indonesia wants to expand its technology-based? It is very

unfortunate from the standpoint of both the significance of the trip to

the Silicon Valley giants he was meeting with. Indeed, for him to see

first-hand some of the things he would have seen. The valley could be

a significant experience. And of course, Modi before him and Xi

Jinping were just in Silicon Valley. It is unfortunate. It is a move to

address a worsening situation. I think the creative and digital

economy is a real and strong interest of his. I think those

meetings will still go off impressively but without the

president there will certainly be a lessening of the impact. If there is

a dominant theme in markets it is the question of when the US Federal

Reserve will raise interest rates. The central bank starts a meeting on

Tuesday and uncertainty makes for a challenging investment climate for

people like the global head of investment strategy at Aviva

Investors, where he is responsible for managing $3 billion US. We asked

him when he thought the Fed might make its move. We are sticking with

the central case that they will go in December. One thing that has

disappointed us is the Fed has become quite short term itself. If

they were to remove uncertainty in the market, get it out of the way,

and reassure the market that this won't be a dramatic tightening

cycle, it won't be a rapid acceleration in rates, then the

market will take great comfort from that. The stigma of the first move

having been removed. When we see change, work will the reaction be in

the region? -- what will. So long as the Fed can move early and from this

point in time move at a steady pace, it is something that can be

contained. We would expect the dollar to strengthen further. The

big concern would be if the Fed left it too late, if the Fed sought

traction in terms of wages in the economy, it would lead to concerns

that they would have to move quite a lot faster, which is where you would

see material downside risk for the Asia region -- saw. You obviously

run a lot of money, but if you were advising your mum and dad, an

average investor who looks every day at China and Japan, Europe and

America, what would you advise them? Probably it is a time to be

realistic about the return that is achievable. You see quite a lot of

traditional funds being sold where in order to generate high return

with lower bond yields, lower corporate credit spreads, that

encourages people to go outside the risk curve, take more risk to

achieve the same return. If you follow that approach, it means that

when the market does correct from stretch valuations, people have the

most risky portfolio at any point in the cycle. We don't think that is

sensible. If you don't have the flexibility to take on more

sophisticated ways of providing protection to the portfolio, be more

realistic about the return you might achieve, rather than thinking the

returns of the last five years are likely to be repeated. In other news

making headlines, authorities in the UK say a 15-year-old boy has been

arrested in connection with a cyber attack, which released the personal

data of millions. The attack on telecoms company Talk Talk last week

has wiped out $550 million US from the company's market value, in trade

it fell 12%. Burger King fast food chain has opened its first outlet in

Mongolia, joining companies Pizza Hut and Porsche anticipating

economic boom in copper and gold mining. The large, sparsely

populated country, landlocked between China and Russia, Mongolia

still has no McDonald's or starve us. The Indian budget airline IndiGo

launches today, looking to raise half $1 billion. According to the

Consultancy Centre for Aviation, it is the only consistent profitable

carrier over the last several years. In India, Maggi noodles is on

shelves across the country. Indian food safety authorities banned the

production in May and the sale of Maggi noodles after claims they

contained dangerously high levels of lead, a band that was later

overturned. 400 million packets were up destroyed -- were destroyed --

banned. How to make restaurants profitable? One Australian company

hopes the answer is to add big data. It is an app that gets detailed

information on customers so restaurants can closely cater to

their taste. Some people think a little more privacy ought to be on

the menu. What does your restaurant know about you? From when we dined

to what we like to drink, each decision we make is a piece of data

that can be stored by restaurants for later use -- dine. Created in

Sydney, this app links bookings, tills and reviews to create and

store detailed profiles of customers. We've had restaurants

change the menu they offer because they know that 20%, 30% of customers

are vegetarian or can't have dairy, which is an example of how to use

big data, customer feedback, in an automated way to help restaurants

deliver a better experience for customers. The idea, according to

Dimmi, is if restaurants understand who they are serving, they can

improve experiences and improve sales. Do diners mind restaurants

keeping tabs? It is another service jumping on the bandwagon in the

digital age we are well into an progressing along. If I wanted

something, I would ask for it. Not have it recorded and remembered on

some file. I would rather someone remember my name, humanly remember

what I ordered, and have the real connection, rather than checking

data and making sure they upsold meet. Some restaurants like Mexico

say that in an era of Facebook and Instagram, diners expect

customisation, and having data on hand in a usable weight helps them

tailor communication with customers. The information we are retaining is

how often they dine with us and what kind of food they enjoy with us and

we use that to completely enhance and optimise their experience. Some

people think this type of data collection overstepped the

boundaries of reasonable privacy. If it is required the restaurants

reveal to people, have a sign saying staff are spying on you and we are

keeping records on you, that is OK, isn't it, you might find a benefit

for the restaurant for having a good relationship with customers is burnt

up either lack of trust in this intrusion. Dimmi maintains

information is securely stored on their servers and isn't shared with

third parties. Using detailed customer profiles is the norm for

industries like airlines and hotels, so it seems only a matter of

time before restaurants follow suit. Thank you so much for interesting

your time with us on Asia Business Report. I am Rico Hizon. Goodbye for

now. The top stories this hour: Rescue

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