SCS Magazine 2020 Issue 2

MCI (P) 100/09/2019

WELCOME TO THE NEW NORMAL 04 How COVID-19 Inspires Us to Get Creative with Artificial Intelligence 06 What is the New Normal for the EduTech Business 08 What Role Does HealthTech Play During and Post COVID-19 12 Chan Cheow Hoe Shares Insights on Leading Our Digital Response Against COVID-19 14 Gilbert Tan Gives Tips on How We Can All Navigate the Job Market Better

Issue

02 2020

Contents Vision

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

SPOTLIGHT

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Chan Cheow Hoe Shares Insights on Leading Our Digital Response Against COVID-19

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Gilbert Tan Gives Tips on How We Can All Navigate the Job Market Better

Rebuild and Reboot in the New Normal

To be the leading infocomm and digital media professional society in Singapore

THE BIG IDEA

Mission

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What Must Businesses Do to Thrive in the New Normal?

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How COVID-19 Inspires Us to Get Creative with Artificial Intelligence?

POWER BOOST 17

Here’s Your Chance to Nominate Your Tech Hero

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What is the New Normal for the EduTech Business?

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Let’s Go Travel – Pandemic or Not!

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What Role Does HealthTech Play During and Post COVID-19?

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What Does Our Future and ABC have in Common?

Lead the Way To lead and contribute to the vibrancy and growth of Singapore’s infocomm and digital media industry

Add Value To add value to the infocomm and digital media professional’s career and personal development

Be the Voice To engage and be the voice of the infocomm and digital media community

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#LATEST@SCS 19

800 Needy Students Get New Computers from SCS

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Celebrating the Women in Tech

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Missing Out on SCS Member Portal?

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

9:41 AM

The New Normal: System Reboot or System Rebuild?

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he past six months have been a roller coaster ride for everyone – from public health professionals to all of us in the tech and infocomm industry. The only difference is that instead of the front line, we are working behind the scenes to protect lives and livelihoods.

For a fact, Mr Chan Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Digital Technology Officer, and his team from GovTech have been clocking extra work hours to develop tech solutions that’ll allow us to go about our everyday activities while staying safe. On the back of that, we also hear interesting stories of individuals and businesses leveraging technology to create tech solutions that can benefit others. They inspire us and we hope to recognise them in our upcoming IT Leaders Awards. If you know anyone – do put in your nomination.

The truth is – the pandemic is not all doom and gloom. As the quote goes, “in every crisis lies great opportunities”. Besides bright spots in domains such as agrotechnology and EduTech, we are also seeing a strong impetus for businesses to pivot and embrace digitalisation. In addition, topics such as

EDITOR Tan Teng Cheong CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Manik Bhandari Raju Chellam Khoong Hock Yun Vladyslav Koshelyev Eric Lam Bruce Liang Lim Pei Xin EDITORIAL SUPPORT Claudia Lim

ADVERTISING SALES & ADMIN Claudia Lim For ad sales enquiries, Tel: 6226 2567 ext 12 Email: claudia.lim@scs.org.sg Mailing Address 53 Neil Road Singapore 088891 EMAIL scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg EDITORIAL & DESIGN Lancer Design Pte Ltd

virtual workspaces, responsive supply chain, curated online presence and cybersecurity have gone from being a “let’s think about it” to “let’s do it”.

But it is no secret that the job market is not looking its brightest at the moment.

Fortunately, we can count on e2i’s CEO Mr Gilbert Tan and his team to stand by those of us who are adversely affected. But ultimately, it is still up to you and I to be open and ready to accept the new realities facing us and, more importantly, strive to become better versions of ourselves.

So I’ll urge you – rather than do nothing and wait for the pandemic to blow over, why not seize the day and learn something new? Let’s take the first positive step towards the new normal.

Have fun reading!

TAN TENG CHEONG Editor Fellow, SCS tan.teng.cheong@scs.org.sg

FEEDBACK We value your feedback for this magazine. Simply email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg with your comments to help us produce an even more interesting and relevant magazine for you in subsequent issues. You are welcome to submit articles for inclusion consideration.

For advertising enquiries, please call 6226 2567 or email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg. The IT Society is the official publication of the Singapore Computer Society. Any part of this publication may be reproduced as long as credit is given to the publisher, Singapore Computer Society.

All views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Society.

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THE BIG IDEA

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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The New Normal – 4 Essentials Businesses Must Embrace

LIM PEI XIN Member, SCS Vice-President, SCS Business Continuity Chapter Senior Consultant, ATvanGarde

COVID-19 has brought about unprecedented circumstances.

Likewise, the response speed of many organisations has also been unprecedented – business operations were re-conceptualised, and even revolutionised. Question is, are these changes knee-jerk responses to stay viable during the pandemic? Or do they have a place in the new normal?

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erhaps, a good start when it comes to deciding which adaptations deserve a permanent spot in an organisation’s resiliency strategies, would be to review lessons learnt and distil new opportunities gained from them. For us, we place our bets on adaptations of some form in these four areas.

THE VIRTUAL WORKSPACE This pandemic has forced companies to rethink their workplace. Not only has the imposition of circuit breaker and safe distancing measures accelerated cloud-based collaboration platform adoption and investments in home-based work productivity tools, physical offices have also morphed into virtual workspaces offering a multitude of communication channels and collaboration methods.

However, even as businesses welcome these richer online experiences, it is evident that loss of service in these virtualised environments could be even more disruptive to businesses than the loss of physical offices. Sure, hosting service providers can do disaster recovery for underlying systems.

But what about data retention and restoration?

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businesses, are opening up direct sales channels to leverage generous government subsidy schemes and take advantage of the ease and efficiency such platforms offer.

While increased use of online channels may have started off as a reflex response to COVID-19 and an attempt to sustain baseline revenue, they are rapidly gaining followers and becoming an expectation for service delivery. Naturally, one can assume that they are likely to stay even after the pandemic is over. What this means is – an organisation’s online presence has become an important part of its brand identity and should be carefully curated to support engagement with external parties.

Besides building an online presence that is in tandem with business objectives, organisations should consider tapping on the reach of online platforms to pursue new opportunities. In addition, careful management of channel credibility and reliability is necessary to ensure that they continue to fulfil their roles during crises. Resiliency plans should also go beyond focusing on platform continuity to include timely and appropriate information dissemination that meets end user expectations.

Hence, for successful recoveries, data backup and restoration testing regimes should be pegged to Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), to provide for effective service recovery and proper data restoration. This is critical for ensuring baseline performance of recovered work environments, when multiple service providers are involved.

A CURATED ONLINE PRESENCE For a long while, many businesses’ online presence was nothing more than a website offering information.

But the circuit breaker has forced organisations to re-engineer how they engage customers. For example, businesses in the food and beverage sector, actively seek out and onboard multiple distribution platforms in a bid to better understand behaviours of target segments. Similarly, wholesalers previously dedicated to selling to

INFORMATION SECURITY MEASURES As work from home became the default arrangement for many businesses, remote access capabilities also became essential for pulling and analysing digitised information on shared depositories, closing accounts, reconfiguring equipment specifications and reading room temperature.

Convenient as it is, the transmission and processing of large datasets outside the confines of workplaces spark data privacy and cybersecurity concerns.

Despite these fears, organisations had no choice but to raise staff security awareness quickly, and accept the increased risk of possible security breaches, including being held liable under the Personal Data Protection Act and incurring significant penalties.

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/elearning-market-size

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Not to mention, there is also probable reputation damage to the organisation.

Therefore, while information security compliance is not new to resiliency planning, existing plans should be reviewed in detail and lessons learnt from securing new information flows should be incorporated.

PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT It is no secret – the success of any strategy is ultimately dependent on the people executing it. In past months, the learning capabilities of workers and teams have been put to test – from adapting work to meet new demands to embracing new technology and gadgets.

What is most significant to note however, is the fact that none of these learning take place in physical classrooms. Instead, virtual learning spaces allow learners to enjoy some level of autonomy over their pace of learning while concurrently attend to work commitments. Notably, thanks to the pandemic, educational technology (EduTech) is fast advancing beyond video-streaming and chat rooms to encompass more technical setups like surgery training labs and VR-mediated lesson plans. According to Global Market Insights, the e-learning market is expected to exceed US$375 billion by 2026, with the global pandemic being a key driver for growth1.

These developments mean that trainings can now be customised and updated within a significantly shorter time, effectively accelerating the conversion from training plan to tangible business benefits. Briefings, tabletop drills and even game days can also be conducted more frequently and repeatedly, even as documentation is concurrently generated.

The new normal will be the new baseline not just in Singapore, but the world.

And for organisations to strengthen their resilience and exploit unique opportunities presented by the postCOVID landscape, continuous investment in technology, competency development and staff engagement are essential.

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THE BIG IDEA

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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Did COVID-19 Just Make the Case for Artificial Intelligence Stronger?

For the past few years, we have been bombarded with one buzzword after another.

At the same time, all sorts of experts and companies specialising in deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, etc., are popping up. So if these were all true, then every company must have transformed digitally, and every individual must be an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Digital expert. If only.

MANIK BHANDARI Senior Member, SCS President, SCS Business Analytics Chapter Chief Executive Officer & Board Director, Vulcan-AI

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n my 20 years of consulting in the data, analytics and AI space, I have met many clients whose investments in digitalisation and AI were delivering lacklustre results, and needed help to drive cultural and operational changes. Thankfully, there are also enterprises that have been wildly successful in building AI solutions and, more importantly, driving adoption and operationalising AI to deliver real business outcomes. Amongst which, some success stories of enterprises deploying AI with pace and agility, have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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AI IN CONSUMER GOODS COMPANIES – A MORE RESPONSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN Using AI to predict the top 10 bestselling items sounds interesting, but for most companies it is also expensive and an overkill. However, during COVID-19, it became humanly impossible for consumer goods companies to stay on top of lockdown restrictions around the world, and constantly adapt their supply chain and manufacturing capacity to changing demand without smart technology – like AI. To add to the problem, the unprecedented nature of COVID-19 rendered time-series forecast models built on past years’ data and trends useless.

In response to the situation, companies started to adopt self-learning models that leverage memory, forget and update concepts to automatically learn patterns and changing dynamics.

Deep learning models are also used to automatically incorporate both static (e.g. location, segment, stockkeeping unit or SKU, etc.) and dynamic data, allowing for frequent consumer demand updates and a more accurate sensing of consumer activity level.

More significantly, with these product demand forecasts, companies can better rationalise what and how much they need to manufacture and distribute to accommodate demand volatility created by the pandemic.

Foreseeably, AI-based demand forecasting and supply chain optimisation will continue to play a role in the new norm. In addition, more companies are likely to see value in leveraging external data and AI to make their demand sensing hyper-local and accurate, and using these forecasts to fine-tune their manufacturing and distribution to enable a more responsive and profitable supply chain. Ultimately, we will all be better prepared for the next Black Swan event!

AI IN AGROTECHNOLOGY – MORE SUSTAINABLE AND RESPONSIBLE FARMING Travel restrictions put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted labour markets. Particularly,

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plantations that are highly dependent on migrant workers were impacted.

Manpower shortage resulted in huge wastage – ripe fruits were not harvested and activities to keep pests and diseases at bay were neglected.

With access to only a lean local workforce, plantations had to quickly figure out how to increase productivity and get more done. The answer – Al algorithms and satellite imagery.

Together, satellite images put through AI algorithms detect unhealthy trees and send alerts with precise geolocation to workers for follow-up.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, plantation maintenance becomes a lot more targeted, thus improving worker productivity.

During the pandemic, access to ground data was limited due to lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Hence, a Singapore-based agriculture company employed remote sensing technology, satellites and AI to monitor the health of every single tree in their Indonesia plantations, and prescribe fertilisation and pesticide spraying, without travelling to the plantations in Indonesia.

Even as labour supply returns to normal, we imagine agriculture companies will continue to deploy agrotechnology (AgTech). Notably, apart from the AgTech sector focusing on precision agriculture, we also expect to see wider adoption of AgTech for sustainable and responsible farming.

AI IN ADVANCING PUBLIC CAUSES – MORE PROTECTION AND PROMPT INTERVENTIONS In the fight against COVID-19, two countries have stood out with their use of AI. They are China and South Korea. Both countries quickly mobilised national data assets, including closedcircuit television (CCTV) feeds and cell tower data, to identify hotspots and carry out automated and fast contact tracing – critical for a pandemic response.

Specifically, China’s Alibaba Group built an application to prevent highrisk individuals from entering certain

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buildings, and a CCTV-based AI system to detect people who are not wearing masks. Meanwhile, South Korea employed location technology to alert people approaching areas where exposed individuals were previously active in.

These efforts were possible because the governments were able to curate data from different sources and effectively deploy AI to intervene and serve the broader social good.

When the pandemic is over, the same technology could be extended to other use cases for public good. For instance, built environments with AIpowered CCTVs can detect accidents and despatch help immediately. Or one step further – detect hazards like liquid or oil spills in real time and prevent accidents by alerting facility management to clean it before anyone slips.

And this is just the beginning. By converting video feeds to structured data and running them through simulation models, AI can help authorities to simulate different scenarios and optimise operating procedures in real time to adapt to changing situations – preventing overcrowding, accidents, criminal activities and many more. Truly, AI is more than just a buzzword – it has potential to be deployed in meaningful ways to help our society and businesses.

AN AFTERTHOUGHT Singapore, with our healthy AI startup ecosystem and forwardlooking public and private sectors, is a fertile ground for more AI success stories.

All of us should learn from the COVID-19 experience and build AI-enabled processes and operations that ready our enterprises for the next disruption that comes along.

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How COVID-19 has Changed the EduTech Business

COVID-19 has changed the world in many ways. And as the world pivots to adapt to the new normal, new habits have emerged.

For EduTech (Educational Technology) providers, significant trends that will impact the industry’s pace of growth for years to come are emerging. But perhaps, the best news is – the world finally looks like it is ready and receptive to online learning.

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midst various EduTech trends observed, we are seeing shifts in both learner expectations and preferences – support for online learning has gone from a “good-to-have” to “must-have”, speed is preferred even more than before, and provider geography matters less than quality.

In an ideal scenario, an incredible learning experience will look something like this:

I learn just what I need, when I need to use it.

What I have learnt enables me to use it well (when I need to use it).

I enjoy learning it.

But we know for a fact that this is hardly the reality.

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

ERIC LAM Senior Member, SCS Committee Member, SCS Digital Media Chapter Chief Executive Officer, Amdon Group

Completion The number of people completing online courses are far fewer than the number signing up. Why do learners lose interest when they had signed up to learn about the subject taught by the course?

Effectiveness It is not unusual for learners to find it hard to apply knowledge learnt in online courses to their workplaces or lives. Is learning effectiveness compromised because of the absence of physical interaction?

Engagement As compared to physical setups, interactions between trainers and learners in online learning spaces are either missing or not as robust. How can we structure the online learning experience to be as engaging?

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While online learning has been touted as an effective way to learn productively, years of experience and experimentation with different models and technologies have not brought about desired efficacy. The lack of outcomes sparks speculation surrounding three aspects.

Despite these issues, thanks to COVID-19 and an increasing focus on transforming the economy and reskilling the workforce, EduTech now has a second chance to get it right. More significantly, if done right, learning in absence can potentially disrupt physical learning to become the preferred mode of learning.

GETTING TO THE BASICS – WHY DO LEARNERS WANT TO LEARN? We sometimes forget why learners want to learn something, and simply assume that a solid delivery platform is enough for effective learning to take place. When we take engagement for granted, we miss the opportunity to create learning experiences that are riveting enough to get learners to follow through.

When figuring out how to engage learners, we need to actively apply psychology principles and make use of psychological handles to not just meet our learners’ needs, but also encourage them to share what they

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have learnt with peers. If we can achieve that, we would be able to design enjoyable learning experiences where learners feel engaged.

NEXT UP – WHAT SHOULD WE (REALLY) BE TRAINING In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about preparing learners for jobs that don’t quite exist yet. But unless we have a crystal ball that can look into the future, we are at best able to do a linear projection of job functions, styles, and requirements in the foreseeable future.

There is hardly enough information for anyone to design and implement anything, except to focus on what matters most – build an adaptable, malleable, quick and agile workforce that embraces pivots in job roles. Our learners have to become able problemsolvers.

Engineers will tell us that able problemsolvers are people who ask the right questions, frame problems, analyse complex information using mathematics and computational thinking, argue with peers to reach consensus, convince stakeholders, investigate and test models and thinking, and design and explain solutions clearly. However, scoping learning activities around these practices requires knowledge of inquirybased learning – not straightforward.

The trainer is therefore encouraged to design activities that go beyond knowledge imparting to include performance of tasks which require knowledge application and an enduring understanding.

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MOST IMPORTANTLY – ACKNOWLEDGE THAT EVERY LEARNER IS DIFFERENT Every now and then, learners find that they don’t have to attend an entire course to learn what is taught.

Two common reasons are – learners already have an understanding of some parts of the course prior to attending it, and others find some parts to be irrelevant to their needs.

Because of diverse learner profiles and needs, the ability to accurately profile each learner is important to enable trainers to personalise the learning experience. When personalisation happens at scale, learners are likelier to be engaged – and complete the course.

Tailoring learning experiences typically begins with a test to find out the learner’s ability to perform tasks. Consequently, a learning heat map or a cognitive model unique to learners in the same class is created. By curating the fully online or blended learning experience and conducting tests to assess ability in meeting different performance demands, learners’ understanding of the subject matter is further verified. In the continuing education context, this calls for a systematic approach to first deconstruct an existing curriculum into components matching job requirements, before reconstructing and curating personalised curriculums optimum for each learner.

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THE BIG IDEA

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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HealthTech’s Role in the Fight Against COVID-19 When COVID-19 landed in January 2020, a Whole-of-Society approach was adopted to combat and contain the novel coronavirus spread. As the technology agency for public healthcare, IHiS was naturally looked to for delivering technology solutions and services – equipping Community Care Facilities (CCFs) with technology, and supporting patient care delivery, cross-ministry operations, ongoing capability innovations, new subsidy and reporting requirement implementations, care setting protection and operational effectiveness enhancements. In response, IHiS and the healthcare family rolled out over 50 HealthTech projects in our war against COVID-19.

HEALTHTECH WITHIN CCFs During the pandemic’s initial phase, rapidly increasing patient numbers called for clinically lower risk COVID-19 patients to be cared for outside acute hospitals so that facilities could be preserved for higher risk and sicker patients. In response, IHiS worked with medical providers to operationalise six CCF sites to care for clinically lower risk COVID-19 patients.

PROVIDING A FAST AND TAILORED SOLUTION Given the speed CCFs had to be operationalised to support the escalating situation, IHiS adopted a lift-drop-evolve approach to operations technology (OpsTech) – leverage and iteratively enhance existing tech solutions to support CCF workflows. One technology that was adapted and deployed to support care delivery and administration at CCFs was GPConnect, an integrated clinic management and electronic medical records for General Practitioner (GP) clinics.

Working closely with healthcare users to understand their new and evolving requirements, IHiS engineers made

over 50 enhancements in 50 days to support needs while ensuring clinical safety. For instance, customised clinical templates and decision support tools were created to prompt clinicians to ask targeted questions and conduct specific physical examinations when triaging and consulting COVID-19 positive patients.

DEVELOPING USER-FRIENDLY SOFTWARE FOR ONSITE CARE TEAM AND PATIENTS The heterogeneity and sheer size of the healthcare workforce made it critical for new users to be able to familiarise themselves with functionalities of GPConnect quickly. Furthermore, the leanness of the onsite workforce meant that services allowing patient self-service and alerts such as TeleHealth and Remote Vital Signs Monitoring (VSM) were important to help care teams prioritise interventions and deliver roundthe-clock care at scale.

The process of deploying VSM was a journey of joint-discovery, continuous adaptation and improvisation. Not only were the first individualised kits with device supply limitations, device-

loss risks and deployment challenges eventually replaced by kiosks on wheels, the initial commercial-offthe-shelf software was also displaced by the Health Discovery platform IHiS developed. Customised to CCF workflows and alert thresholds, Health Discovery continues to be progressively enhanced to meet user preferences and emerging requirements. As a result, VSM compliance across all sites remained above 90% since late May 2020.

ENABLING CARE CONTINUITY IN THE FUTURE Guided by principles of safety, care continuity and efficiency, integrated tech solutions were deployed at CCFs to minimise effort duplication and enable care continuity. Case in point – the integration of GPConnect and Health Discovery facilitates seamless vital signs reporting, compliance monitoring and dynamic care protocol adjustments to cater to each patient. Additionally, the integration of GPConnect with the National Electronic Health Records (NEHR) enables clinicians to look up patients’ medical history and contribute summary records.

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BRUCE LIANG Fellow, SCS Co-opted Member, SCS Executive Council Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS)

HEALTHTECH OUTSIDE CCFs Beyond CCFs, visitor traffic spike during the initial outbreak phase posed many challenges. This led to IHiS effecting and enhancing COVIDrelated subsidies used in public and private healthcare systems.

SUPPORTING MEDICAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AT HOSPITALS In the case of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), it had to handle patient volume increase, strain on essential medical supplies, and tackle issues like crowd management and contact tracing. Fortunately, the Command, Control and Communication (C3) system launched in December 2019 enabled TTSH to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to gain real-time visibility of its operations, predict

potential choke points and make informed decisions. When changes in COVID-19 case definition criteria caused a three-fold patient increase in the Screening Centre in the initial weeks, C3 helped TTSH identify the escalating situation and open five more wards at National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

SUPPORTING CARE OPERATIONS IN PRIVATE HEALTHCARE Meanwhile, the deployment of Patient Risk Profile Portal (PRPP) in private care operations helped clinics to classify patients’ risk levels upon their registration. By automating swab referrals and reporting to Ministry of Health, PRPP also provides an overview of acute respiratory infection cases in the country.

Extensive COVID-19 testing by multiple swab operations across public and private healthcare laboratories, resulted in varying result formats and processes. Through aggregating laboratory test results in a central repository, the COVID-19 Test Repository (CTR) system minimises the need for manual compilation and process streamlining – providing better support for contact tracing, quarantine order issuance and patient conveyance, as well as operations planning, management reporting and analytics.

Notably, CTR currently has over 2.5 million results from 26 laboratories and is integrated with PRPP and NEHR, giving clinicians easy access to patients’ swab test results.

HEALTHTECH BEYOND COVID-19 COVID-19 has been a test of resilience. But it has also presented new opportunities – we have done a lot of work, learnt much and achieved significant progress. Through building on solutions developed over past months and pivoting, we aim to keep these systems relevant. Besides CTR, which was architected to support COVID-19 and future pandemics, we will also enhance MWHealth – an AIpowered application utilising optical character recognition to speed up

patient registration – to integrate with systems supporting migrant workers’ acute respiratory infection reporting.

Foreseeably, Next Generation VSM featuring real-time teleconferencing translation, auscultation, endometry and throat endoscopy will be useful in enhancing efficiency while keeping safe distances between clinicians and patients in normal care settings. Similarly, the Community Acquired Pneumonia and COVID-19

AI Predictive Engine (CAPE) that generates risk scores for pneumonia patients will be useful in nonCOVID-19 situations to enable timelier interventions and treatments.

Moving into the new normal, HealthTech is certain to continue playing a part in helping healthcare teams fight diseases and deliver effective patient care.

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Why the Future is ABC

According to a TechRepublic report, the top 10 highest paying jobs are all in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

A principal AI scientist earns an average of US$138,000 a year; a machine learning expert gets US$135,000; data scientists earn US$130,000 on average, and an engineer with AI programming skills can start at US$104,000. High salaries are not just being offered in the US, but also in northern Europe and pockets in the Asia-Pacific.

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

RAJU CHELLAM Fellow, SCS Vice-President, SCS Cloud Computing Chapter Published Author Organ Gold, The Straits Times Press

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o wonder quite a few tech graduates – some with post-graduate degrees – are either setting up new ventures or asking for top dollar to be hired. On the other side, HR departments baulk at “young punks” with no working experience demanding to be paid as much as middle management.

Here’s a talent tale: A fresh from college Gen-Z candidate attends an interview for a data analyst role and is asked what starting salary he expects. The young candidate confidently replies: “I expect about $100,000 a year, but it depends on the benefits package. What benefits does your firm offer?” The recruiter thinks for a moment.

“Well, what would you say to a package of four-week paid vacation, 15 holidays per annum, full medical and dental benefits, a company car, and free food?” The candidate’s eyes light up. “That’s awesome! Are you kidding?” The recruiter replies: “Yes. But you started it.”

Whether that sounds funny – or not – it depends on which side of the table you’re on.

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COVID OR NOT – ABC IS HERE TO STAY However, COVID-19 has upended all that.

Or maybe not.

The new reality: no more offices, no more travel, and, in some cases, no more work. The current constant is WFH (work from home), especially for white-collar workers. Ergo, if your home is your office, can you make your home smart so that you work smarter? But then, what makes a home smart?

Jessica Ekholm, a Gartner research director, explains, “We’re now seeing a shift from a connected home to an

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intelligent home. The intelligent home learns the behaviours and preferences of people, and in some cases, even pets.

It adapts to and anticipates their needs.

It utilises data gathered from devices and sensors around the home, from wearables and even connected cars. It anticipates your needs and responds accordingly. It is a fully autonomous home that acts on your behalf.”

of tasks, including supervising other bots. Home-bots can be as diverse as their roles: big, small, shared, personal, and in some cases, invisible (such as the software that runs systems). Some bots will be companions or assistants; others will be wealth planners and accountants. “We will have homebots as coaches, window-washers and household managers,” McKinsey says.

McKinsey says a smart home will be akin to a human central nervous system, with a “brain” at its core. Individual “home-bots” of different computing power will radiate out from this platform and perform a wide variety

That’s cool – if machines can do such mundane housework, humans can focus on more exciting jobs. But then, which tech jobs will be “hot” in the post-pandemic world? The short answer: ABC.

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C

AI

Big Data Analytics

Cybersecurity

AI is the biggest bet in town. Simply put, AI is about getting computers to perform tasks or processes that would be considered intelligent if done by humans. An autonomous car, for example, is not just making suggestions to the human driver; it is the one doing the driving.

Businesses are set to invest US$98 billion on AI-related solutions and services by 2023, up 250 percent over the US$37.5 billion they may spend in 2020, says IDC.

Unlike AI, which is just starting its run, many companies are better able to appreciate the benefits of big data analytics. Wikibon, a global community of consultants who believe in improving tech adoption via open-source advisory knowledge sharing, says that the global market for big data analytics will grow from US$18.3 billion in 2014 to US$92.2 billion by 2026.

IDC estimates that organisations will invest US$28 billion on securityrelated hardware, software and services by 2022, up from US$16 billion in 2019. The massive increase in malware and hacking incidents during COVID-19 is a wake-up call for all companies – and individuals – to take both cloud and cybersecurity seriously.

AR/VR

Blockchain

Cloud

AR is augmented reality. How is it different from VR or virtual reality?

AR superimposes a computergenerated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. AR adds digital elements to a live view; VR is a 3D simulation experience that shuts out the physical world. Nintendo’s PokemonGo is an example of AR; the Sentosa VR theme park is an example of VR. If you wish to pick up a new skill, bet on AR/VR.

A blockchain is a digital record of transactions in which individual records or blocks are linked together in a single chain. Multiple computers validate each transaction added to a blockchain on the internet. On July 13, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Temasek Holdings said its blockchain-based multicurrency payments network, Project Ubin, had proven its commercial potential after tests with more than 40 companies.

Cloud is critical because remote work involves connecting with customers, business partners, suppliers and regulators via cloudbased conferencing tools. The current trend sees the cloud moving to the edge so that nodes are placed as close as possible to data sources. Edge computing reduces latency and is ideal for big data analytics.

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SPOTLIGHT

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BEHIND THE SCENES –

LEADING THE DIGITAL RESPONSE AGAINST COVID-19

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

CHAN CHEOW HOE Senior Member, SCS Government Chief Digital Technology Officer, Deputy Chief Executive (Product Management & Development), GovTech Age: 56 Earliest Coding Experience: C and Cobol Currently Playing: Spiritfarer Just Read: Nudge by Richard Thaler Pet Topics: COVID-19 and How to pivot?

Favourite Way to Relax: Cycling

The first case of COVID-19 in Singapore was confirmed on 23 January 2020. Since then, the situation has been unfolding. Amidst it all, technology developed by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) has played a pivotal role in our fight against COVID-19 and struggle to regain normalcy. Speaking to Chan Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Digital Technology Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of GovTech, The IT Society finds out what it is like to be leading the nation’s digital response.

Q: Question, CCH: Chan Cheow Hoe Q: Can you share what are some things GovTech did to help Singapore battle COVID-19?

CCH: Within two weeks of the first confirmed case in Singapore, we created a new chatbot using Google Dialogflow and Google Cloud Platform to cater to COVID-specific questions. Then we went one step further – structure the program into a decision tree where triaging is done by asking users a bunch of questions and telling them if they are low risk or should seek immediate medical attention.

Then, there are TraceTogether (a contact tracing application) and SafeEntry (a digital check-in system). For TraceTogether, we started with the mobile application. But we realised early on that for the ecosystem to be effective, we need to enable people who don’t have smartphones or know how to use them to get into the ecosystem. And that was how we created the TraceTogether token.

We expect that the mobile application together with the token will help contact tracing, and more importantly, enable us to act fast and stamp out infection chains.

One thing led to another – people who had flu wanted to know where they can go; and subsequently where they can collect their masks, vote, etc. So we developed Go Where. When we first started developing the tools, we were just reacting to the evolving situation. But we quickly pivoted. Using ReactJS and reactglobe, we built a Go Where platform that can be used for everything.

Similarly, the development of SafeEntry has been an iterative process. First designed for QR code scanning, we went on to provide an alternative for people who are not familiar with QR codes by scanning their identity cards. Still, that was not convenient enough for some people. So we cater to them by incorporating the feature into applications that they are already using such as SingPass Mobile and TraceTogether.

Q: How did GovTech manage to roll out so many products within such a short time?

CCH: To be honest, it is difficult. We are tackling unknowns – we don’t know how things are going to pan out, and things were, and are still changing fluidly. Despite daily check-in meetings and weekly ministerial task force meetings, discussions and plans often become irrelevant before we can get down to them. Hence, the team has to keep pivoting.

Fortunately, three things were in our favour. The first and most important being our people. Many of these solutions are built in-house. Having the capabilities within GovTech means that we can build and make changes on the fly. In addition, our agile structure allows us to just go to any team and find three/four people to help with the projects. Of course, without the passion and commitment of our people, many of these projects also wouldn’t have materialised. Not only were

The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society

many of them working 15 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, they were also dedicated to go all out to make the user experience that one step better.

The second contributing factor is GovTech’s tech setup. Building everything on the cloud enables us to scale at the flip of a switch without worrying about hardware load, etc. The infrastructure or module approach to development also means that whatever we have developed has a shelf life that goes beyond a single build – they add to the nation’s technology stack which can be augmented or repurposed for other uses.

More significantly, we can focus our energy on solving real problems instead of spending time and resources to build from scratch each time. For example, programs like Go Where can serve other purposes even in the new normal.

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Last but not least, we had good support from other government agencies and ministries. No doubt this started as a public health crisis, but it proves to be more than a Ministry of Health problem when it cuts across different demographics and impacts everyone’s daily lifestyles. So the response has to be a collective one. Everybody has to own the issue and be part of the solution.

Otherwise, if we are not careful, we may create bigger problems.

Q: Given how other big projects like the recently launched LifeSG were ongoing, how did GovTech cope with the increased workload?

CCH: In the beginning, our people took on the extra load. Subsequently, volunteers started coming to us and offering help. At one point, we had over 600 volunteers who helped with reviewing our codes and designs. But help from volunteers was not enough so we leveraged the SGUnited Jobs initiative to hire people on contract for up to two

years. We offered about 400 jobs under the initiative, which relieved our people so that they can focus on their other projects. In that sense, we are lucky to have so many Singaporeans stepping forward to help.

Q: What’s next for GovTech?

CCH: One of the characteristics of our work is that we cannot choose our users. When we implement something, it has to be for the whole nation.

And it’s a reality that people are not homogeneous, thus it’s important that we continue to pivot our technology to improve user experience.

As we do that, we are also thinking about how we can repurpose the things we’ve developed for post-COVID. It’s a fact that the new normal is not going to be the same as pre-COVID. Our goal is to make sure everyone becomes less encumbered as they go about their daily activities, and at the same time, help the nation transition smoothly into a new normal.

“While it may seem like some of the things we’ve built are specific to the COVID-19 situation, but what is really happening is that we are building capabilities for the future by enriching Singapore’s technology stack. Concurrently, we are sharing our knowledge through embracing an open source environment.”

What are some of the qualities a tech professional needs to thrive in today’s environment?

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What is a quote you live by?

Who inspires you professionally?

What is an advice you have for a mid-career switcher looking to join the tech industry?

I am looking forward to the day when...

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SPOTLIGHT

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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

FOR HIRE:

Skills to Navigate a Shifting Job Market GILBERT TAN Chief Executive Officer, Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) Age: 49 Earliest Tech Experience: An Apple clone, 5.25-inch floppy discs and MS-DOS Currently Watching: Dark on Netflix Recently Enjoyed: Black Mirror, Stranger Things Favourite Talking Point: “Everything – I cannot stop talking!”

Favourite Way to Relax: Watching thrillers, golf, running in the evening

Even as we adjust to the relentless stream of updates about COVID-19 in the news, headlines of another kind abound: tight labour market. Hiring freeze. Retrenchments.

Yet, as we hear from Employment and Employability Institute (e2i)’s CEO Gilbert Tan, it’s not all doom and gloom for jobseekers and businesses in Singapore.

Q: Question, GT: Gilbert Tan Q: How has COVID-19 changed the job market?

GT: I don’t think the market has changed. However, what has changed is the way employers and jobseekers interact. We are seeing a rapid shift to digitalisation as businesses move their hiring process online, and jobseekers become more receptive to attending virtual events such as career fairs and job coaching.

But digitalisation is not new – COVID-19 simply accelerated it. And we are increasingly seeing the need for everyone to have a certain level of comfort with tech. Not just to survive, but to thrive. For the average employee, it can mean horizontal tech skills like personal cybersecurity and basic data visualisation. At the deeper end, it might be pursuing deep tech such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. But it all starts with embracing tech.

Q: In this challenging job market, what can jobseekers do to maximise their chances?

GT: No matter which stage of employment you are at, I would say speak to an e2i Career Coach.

to hospital bed allocation. A Career Coach will be able to help them identify adjacent jobs where their skills are transferable. The Coach can also advise them on industry needs and what they can do to close skills gaps.

For fresh graduates worrying that you lack relevant experience, a Career Coach can help evaluate your schooling experience and guide you in demonstrating skills that employers are looking for. For instance, being a leader in your co-curricular activity (CCA) could mean valuable leadership skills – and students today increasingly have access to many such experiences through CCAs, exchange programmes and internships.

Even for workers whose careers are going well, speaking to a Career Coach can help them understand where they are in their career. This would give them an objective vantage point to see things from, especially when they hit a rough patch. The bottom line is – there is no need to wait till you are facing a job crisis to speak to a Career Coach.

The same goes for mature workers.

Take for example, hospitality executives looking to switch industries. If their skill set is in room allocation – which rooms are vacant, have to be cleaned, etc. – their skills may very well be applicable in a hospital setting when it comes

Q: Besides career coaching, how else can workers in stable employment maintain their employability?

GT: One thing I passionately advocate is joining communities of practice – and I strongly encourage all professionals to find their industry’s network. So for tech professionals, that would be SCS.

The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society

Being in such a network vastly expands your avenues for learning, because the people in this community are going to be well versed in your profession’s field of knowledge. It also opens up opportunities for working together to solve problems or explore case studies.

And this is important for building your expertise, whether you are freelancing or climbing the career ladder.

For freelancers, establishing yourself as a specialist in a specific area would help you to command better rates. And for those aspiring to reach senior levels, employers prefer to hire someone they know, or who have demonstrated skills.

Being in a professional network gives you the opportunity to be seen and known – and ultimately, land your next job.

To supplement this, stay abreast of skills needed for your role by consulting the SkillsFuture Skills Framework and Industry Transformation Maps. That’s because

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skills needed for your role may not be the same five years down the road.

The good thing is, once you have made up your mind to learn, the options are many – you can either subscribe to community-based resources like professional journals, or attend bitesized courses on our ULeap app to learn trending topics such as cloud computing and Internet of Things.

But the abundance of virtual learning platforms probably also means that you have to be systematic in your knowledge acquisition. That’s probably a skill in itself!

Q: Like jobseekers, companies have had to adapt to the new normal. What should they be doing?

GT: There are three questions they should ask – not just in a crisis, but even when things are going well. First, is my business offering in demand?

Second, are my processes and systems

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effective, especially in relation to the competition? Third, do we have the appropriate manpower?

And if they find that their issues stem from manpower needs and capabilities, e2i can step in as a partner to help. For recruitment, we provide multiple channels to ensure that jobseekers know that they are hiring – whether it’s through job fairs or our connections with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and industry associations. In cases where the challenge is worker retention, we can help figure out more attractive career progression pathways.

An additional advantage is that we have different teams working on each industry, which means we take a bespoke approach when it comes to partnering companies, whether it’s for training or recruitment.

“The rapid digitalisation of the world means that everyone needs to embrace tech – not just to survive, but to thrive. And to do that, we need to make the unknown, known – be it picking up skills in personal cybersecurity or a deeper understanding of programming thought processes.”

JOB SECURITY AMIDST COVID-19:

How Businesses and Workers Can Seize Opportunities to Get Ahead EMPLOYERS

INDIVIDUALS

Try adapting your business to deliver services in higher demand.

Take opportunities to go for training and sharpen your capabilities.

Take the downtime to reshape your business model.

Consider doing some freelancing to earn some extra income.

Invest in your people by sending them for skills upgrading.

Reconfigure your mindset – be open to possibilities.

Explore and engage help early if you need it.

Initiate new connections through communities of practice.

Adapted from e2i blog, Job Security Amidst COVID-19: How Businesses And Workers Can Seize Opportunities To Get Ahead https://e2i.com.sg/job-security-covid-19-seize-opportunities-to-get-ahead

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Nominate Your Tech Hero!

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n 3 April, the Singapore government announced the implementation of a nationwide circuit breaker – starting on 7 April 2020 – to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Within four days, schools had to move to full home-based learning, and many companies had to adapt their operations to enable work-from-home arrangements. While it sounded like mission impossible, Singapore did it – albeit with extra help for some.

There is no doubt that Singapore’s tech infrastructure and digital tools had been central to this successful

POWER BOOST

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KHOONG HOCK YUN Fellow, SCS Member, SCS Executive Council Chairman, IT Leader Awards Committee

feat – ultra high-speed broadband, affordable broadband mobile services, instantaneous e-payment solutions, an array of e-commerce facilities, reliable digital tools for video conferencing/ online seminars/concerts, and more.

normalcy digitalisation brings, let’s not forget the people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make all these possible. During this pandemic, they are heroes who have made our lives a little more normal and a lot better.

But just as important was the undaunted human spirit that empowered companies and individuals to pivot and capture new business opportunities present in the digitalised environment; as well as embrace new ways of living, working, playing and interacting at safe distances. As we enjoy convenience and the sense of

In recognition of individuals and teams who have been stellar in their use of technology or put up technology that has positively impacted the community during the COVID-19 crisis, the IT Leader Awards 2021 will be themed – Tech Heroes From Crisis.

There are three submission categories:

1

2

3

INFRASTRUCTURE

PATHFINDER

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Individuals/teams who implemented or deployed infrastructural or underlying digital services platforms used in digital services that benefitted the nation or large segments of the community during the COVID-19 crisis.

Individuals/teams who developed and implemented outstanding and innovative digital services or solutions that enabled multiple companies/organisations to achieve significant breakthroughs in product and/or service delivery during the COVID-19 crisis.

Individuals/teams in small, medium or large companies that demonstrated strong entrepreneurship abilities by successfully pivoting their digital business or services to respond to new market realities and business requirements during the pandemic.

For further details, please visit https://www.scs.org.sg/awards/it-leader/2021

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POWER BOOST

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How to Go Anywhere (Even in a Pandemic) Virtual reality (VR) technology has been steadily improving over the years, and travel is poised to become its “killer app”. Who wouldn’t want, at least sometimes, to skip airport queues, red-eye flights, tiny hotel rooms and just enjoy exploring new places? Yet, breakthrough technologies always take time to catch up with the imagination.

“I

t was the done thing to travel at that age. The different stellar systems were spectacular but you could see just as good a view in virtual, and he still didn’t really understand what people saw in actually having been in any particular system.” These lines from Iain M. Banks’ The Player Of Games reflect what many futurists dream about – the age when VR is so immersive that physical travel is all but impractical.

But until recently, virtual travel was the domain of enthusiasts. Still, the vision is increasingly becoming reality.

BY TAKING THE VR PLUNGE I’ve been experimenting with virtual travel since the first modern headsets hit the market. But after COVID-19 broke out and all international travel ceased, I came to really appreciate the power of VR. As someone who is used to jetting around, being stuck at home made me feel like a fish out of water. That’s when my high-fidelity Oculus headset came to the rescue!

I started revisiting places I knew from the past but could no longer go to: New York, San Francisco, Bangkok, Barcelona, among others. Surprisingly, even though the experience was virtual, it created the feeling of presence and allowed me to “walk” through streets I missed. Encouraged, I started exploring cities that were on my to-do list – Venice, Osaka and New Orleans were the first stops on my digital journey around the world.

BY BEING VIRTUALLY PRESENT I enjoyed walking virtual miles through these cities, learning their history, geography and architecture. And now I would even be comfortable giving a tour to someone visiting these places for the first time. While VR travel is a new and different experience, it can certainly provide a sense of wonder and adventure that we crave. And although VR may not be quite as “real” as experiencing a place with its crowds, sounds, smells and tastes – it works well

THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

VLADYSLAV KOSHELYEV Member, SCS Academy Lead, Facebook Founder, The Koshelyev Company

enough for a quick run around the city and a glimpse of its landmarks (which is what many travellers limit themselves to anyway).

BY TRAVELLING TOGETHER – SEPARATELY Actually, I’m not alone in my virtual travels.

Take the example of The Agoraphobic Traveller, Jacqui Kenny. Unable to physically travel because of her condition, Kenny realised her dream of exploring the world – with Google Street View.

Recently, iconic travel magazine National Geographic launched exciting guided VR tours around the world. VR venues are also drawing ever larger crowds to concerts, shows and education events.

The COVID-19 situation has accelerated technological trends and the adoption of new habits and behaviours. Hence, while VR travel is not yet at the level experienced by Iain M. Banks’ spacefaring protagonists, we can already participate in that promised future – now.

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SCS Gifts New Computers to 800 Needy Students

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CS pooled close to S$200,000 through the “PC for Good” Fund, a community project initiated by the Society to provide new computers to students from low-income families who may not be equipped to do home-based learning.

In partnership with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and with the support of Temasek Trust’s oscar@sg fund, the “PC for Good” Fund would be used to co-pay for 800 needy students under IMDA’s NEU PC Plus Programme.

Mr Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive, IMDA, said, “In this new normal brought about by COVID-19, digitalisation is now both an imperative and an opportunity for us to improve the lives and livelihoods of our people. I am heartened to see our industry partners such as SCS stepping up to support our efforts to ensure that everyone has a place in Singapore’s digital future.”

Dr Chong Yoke Sin, SCS President, said, “On behalf of SCS, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all donors, members, friends, relatives and corporate sponsors for their generous donations. I am glad that SCS was able to pool together

SCS President Dr Chong Yoke Sin presenting laptops to the student beneficiaries

its resources and give back to society with the “PC for Good” project.

Particularly, I am grateful that we well exceeded our initial target of S$50,000, despite challenging times with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy experiencing a downturn.”

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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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WOMEN IN TECH:

n 4 September, SCS unveiled the 100 women who made it into the inaugural Singapore 100 Women in Tech (SG100WIT) List.

Besides honouring women based in Singapore who have made significant contributions to the growing tech sector, the SG100WIT List – which was launched in partnership with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), SG Women In Tech and Mediacorp – celebrates roles and role model diversity, encourages women to pursue careers in tech, and inspires those already in the sector.

Influential. Inspiring. Impactful.

SG100WIT Webinar's filming site. From left: Howie Lau (IMDA), Frank Koo (LinkedIn), Lum Seow Khun (Microsoft), Tham Loke Kheng (Mediacorp), Dr Chong Yoke Sin (SCS), Jane Lim (IMDA), Uma Thana Balasingam (VMware), Pocket Sun (SoGal Ventures), Lim Swee Cheang (SG100WIT Selection Committee), Sierin Lim (NTU)

The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society

“We have compiled a list of 100 inspiring tech women from all walks of life, highlighting the diversity and inclusiveness of our exciting tech industry. It is our hope that young girls and women will be inspired to join us and build the next generation of innovation capability,” Lim Swee Cheang, Chairman of the SG100WIT Selection Committee said.

Commenting on the success of SG100WIT, Dr Chong Yoke Sin, President of SCS, said, “Receiving over 850 nominations in this inaugural run is a

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solid affirmation of the many capable women in our midst who are trailblazers and role models in their own right.

Congratulations to the 100 ladies who made it to the list!”

Congratulating the 100 women personalities, Mr Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive of IMDA, said, “What I saw in common is their passion for technology. Whether they are advancing new algorithms or building new businesses digitally, the diverse roles they play exemplify our strong infocomm industry. We hope to

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encourage even more women to follow these role models and seize opportunities in the vibrant tech sector in Singapore.”

Ms Tham Loke Kheng, Chief Executive Officer of Mediacorp, said, “Congratulations to all for being recognised in the SG100WIT List. Behind each of your stellar achievements lies a personal story of grit, character and a commitment to excellence. Mediacorp is proud to showcase your stories to inspire the next generation of female infotech professionals.”

Panellists from the second discussion session.

From left: Amit Midha (Dell Technologies), Soh Siew Choo (DBS Bank), Vaishali Rastogi (Boston Consulting Group) and Wong Wai Meng (Keppel Data Centres)

SG100WIT WEBINAR The SG100WIT List was announced by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs, at the SG100WIT Webinar.

If you missed the webinar which highlighted opportunities for girls and women to pursue interests in STEM and careers in the tech sector, and debated the future of women in tech and the power of a diverse workforce, you can catch the replay at https://www.espx.cloud/v/p/SG100WIT

#LATEST@SCS

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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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SINGAPORE WOMEN IN TECH LIST 2020

Agrawal, Avni

Chief Technology Officer, SixSense

Bandla, Aishawarya

Head, Translational Core, The N.1 Institute for Health, National University of Singapore

Chia, Aileen

Deputy Chief Executive, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)

Albano, Alessandra

Director of Sales & Marketing, Chainstack

Bandopadhyay, Jeeta

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Tookitaki

Chin-Parry, Carolyn

Digital Innovation Leader, PwC Singapore

Condamine, Anne-Laure

Conroy, Angela

Andriesse, Marjet

Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Telstra

Barger, Rachel

President, Southeast Asia, SAP

Chong, Yoke Sin

President, Singapore Computer Society Managing Partner, iGlobe Partners

Dhamirah, Liyana

Ang, Ai Kiar

Data Scientist & AI Solutions Developer, IBM Manufacturing Solutions

Bose, Ankiti

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Zillingo

Ang, Mui Kim

Balasingam, Uma Thana

Cha, Virginia

Chan Sze Sze, Chelsea

Chief Executive Officer, Assurity Trusted Solutions

Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, National University of Singapore and INSEAD

Chua, Hui Xiang

Chua, Sock Koong

Senior Analytics Manager, Essence

Group Chief Executive Officer, Singtel

Dongmei, Annie An

Goh, Wynthia

Chua, Vivien

Chief Technology Officer, Shenton Insurance Brokers

Gong, Anna

Chief Executive Officer, Notarum

Co-Founder, Virtual Assistants Singapore

Hsu, Wynne

Huang, Shao Ning

Hung, Stephanie Senior Vice-President, ST Engineering

Global Executive Member, Managing Director, Strategic Planning & Development Office for Southeast Asia, Azbil Corporation

Principal Data Strategist, Singapore Airlines

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, ADDO AI

Koh, Dorothea

Koh, Soo Boon

Koo, Rosaline Chow

Krishnaswamy, Shonali

Chief Executive Officer, Xcellink

Kodliuk, Tania

Chief Science Officer, Dathena Science

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Bot MD

Adjunct Professor, School of Computing Science, National University of Singapore Advisor to CEO, NTUC Club on Digitalisation Former Chief Information Officer, NTUC

Kwong, Yuk Wah

Le Cotonnec, CĂŠline Chief Data & Innovation Officer, Bank of Singapore

Lim, Bee Kwan

Lim, Ee Ling

Assistant Chief Executive, Government Technology Agency (GovTech)

Co-Founder, Smarter Me

Jaswal, Anju

Managing Partner, iGlobe Partners

Lee, Debbie Founder, TechTV Network

Lim, Jane

Head of Next Digital, NCS

Founder, FoodZaps Technology

Production Director, Ubisoft Singapore

Director, Institute of Data Science, Partner & Chief Angel, National University of Singapore AngelCentral Provost’s Chair Professor, School of Computing, National University of Singapore

Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services

Vice-President, Partner & Commercial Organisation, Asia Pacific & Japan, VMware

Joshi, Swati

Founder, CXA Group

Founding Chief Executive Officer, Perx Technologies

Khanna, Ayesha

Kwok, Jen Nie

Chief Technology Officer, Aida Technologies

Lee, Janice Mong Li

Lee, Jenny

Lee, Oon Ling

Director, Centre for Trusted Internet & Community, National University of Singapore Professor, School of Computing, National University of Singapore

Managing Partner, GGV Capital

Educator/Consultant, Intangibles Consultancy

Lim, Rika

Lim, Sierin

Lim, Sun Sun

Assistant Chief Executive (Sectoral Transformation), Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)

Lead Level Designer, Ubisoft

Associate Professor, School of Professor & Head of Humanities, Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore Singapore University of Associate Dean (Global Partnerships), Graduate Technology & Design College, Nanyang Technological University

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Lim, Veronica

Low Soh Yen, Janis

First Vice-President, GIS Security Strategy & Risk Assessment, United Overseas Bank

Mitra, Tulika

Provost’s Chair Professor, National University of Singapore

Nurul, Jihadah Hussain

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Lin, Shu Fen

Co-Founder, Gluu Life

Co-President & Regional Head of Commercial, Lazada Group

Lum, Seow Khun

Mahtani, Roshni

Marle-Zizkova, Jana

Director, Public Sector Group, Microsoft

Mo, Huisi Elisa

Programme Director, Electronics Systems Division, DSO National Laboratories

Ong, Candice

Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, theAsianparent

Neo, Jamie

Director of Engineering, HP Inc

Pan, YaoZhang

Chief Commercial Officer, Shopback

Head of Data Science, Shopee

Founder, The Codette Project

Schulz, Anneliese

Shen, Sheng Mei Jane

Shivkumar, Suganthi

President, Asia-Pacific, Software AG

Soh, Siew Choo

Managing Director, Group Head of Consumer Banking & Big Data/ AI Technology, DBS Bank

Tan, Cheryl

Co-Founder & Business Director, Clozette

Tay, Hwee Shan

Co-Founder & Director, Loshberry

Wu, Choy Peng

Chief Technology Officer, GIC

Liu, Jessica

Head of Regional Technology, Banking & Lending & Regulatory Technology, Citi Private Bank Asia Pacific

Chief Scientist of Pensees Technology & Managing Director of Pensees Pte Ltd

Sridhar, Rama

Executive Vice-President, Digital & Emerging Partnerships & Real Time Payments, Mastercard

Tan, Lynette

Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Space & Technology Limited (SSTl)

Teo, Lay Lim

Senior Managing Director ASEAN & Singapore, Accenture

Wyer, Tina

Managing Director, Asia Head of Corporate Technology & Singapore Technology Centre Lead, J.P. Morgan

Former Managing Director, Asean, India & Korea (Rest of Asia), Qlik

Sun, Angel

Director, SGW Engineering

Tan, Mei Hui

Cybersecurity Specialist, Government Technology Agency (GovTech)

Teo, Sharon

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Meiro & She Loves Data

Ngiam, Le Na

Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA)

Ramasamy, Savitha

Group Leader, A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research

Shree, Nyha

Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Jumper.ai

Sun, Pocket

Founder, SoGal Ventures

Tan, Virginia

Founder, Teja Ventures

Tey, Shuwen

#LATEST@SCS

Liu, Patricia

Chief of Staff & Board Member, Razer Inc.

Mehta, Neha

Founder, FemTech Partners

Ngiam, Xinwei

Regional Head of Marketplace & Economics & Head of Business Operations, Grab

Robers, Leanne

Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer, She Loves Tech

Sia, Serene

Managing Director, Autodesk, ASEAN

Tan, Bin Ru

Chief Executive Officer, Southeast Asia, OneConnect Financial Technology

Tan, Yen Yen

Nilsdotter, Karin

Chief Executive Officer & Future Astronaut, Spaceport Sweden

Rosich, Meri

Chief Digital Officer, Vice-President & Head of Data Science, Visa Consulting & Analytics, Asia Pacific

Siew, Yim Cheng

Group Chief Digital Officer, ComfortDelGro

Tan, Charmain

Chief Executive Officer, Quickdesk

Tang, Jiahui

Strategist, Trust & Safety, Google

Tomaszewski, Julie

Wong, Shirley

Director, Sensors Division, DSO National Laboratories

Innovation & Technology Crime Officer, INTERPOL

Yang, Yinping

Yeung, Yee Wai Cherry

General Manager, IBM ASEAN

Group Director, Operations, Azendian Solutions

Miao, Chun Yan

Chair, School of Computer Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

Independent Director, OCBC Bank

Co-Founder, Inspire-Tech

Senior Scientist, Principal Investigator & Group Manager, Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR

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Yim, Patricia

Managing Partner, TNF Ventures

Zhang, Yvonne

Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Aquifer Institute Director, Deloitte & Touche Enterprise Risk Services

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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 02/2020

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SELECTION COMMITTEE

Lim, Swee Cheang

Chak, Kong Soon

Goh, Swee Chen

Ibrahim, Yaacob

Former Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore

Managing Partner, Stream Global

Chairman, National Arts Council

Advisor, Singapore Institute of Technology

Koh, Annie

Lau, Howie

Leonard, Steve

Lum, Seow Khun

Vice-President, Business Development, Singapore Management University

Assistant Chief Executive, Media & Innovation, Infocomm Media Development Authority

Chief Executive Officer, Singularity University

Director, Public Sector, Microsoft

Poh, Angeline

Rosich, Meri

Tan, Aileen

Tan, Teng Cheong

Chief Corporate Development Officer, Mediacorp

Vice-President, Data Science, Visa

Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Singtel

Director, BetterIDEAS

Wo, Kevin

Wu, Choy Peng

Managing Director, Microsoft

Chief Technology Officer, GIC

Keen to find out more about the 100 women who made it into the SG100WIT list? Read their citations at https://www.scs.org.sg/awards/sg100wit-citations

The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society

SCS Member Portal is Now Live!

D

id you know that the SCS Member Portal has gone live for two months? You can now update your profile, renew membership, join Chapters and Special Interest Groups, and access Body of Knowledge with our one-stop portal – anytime, anywhere.

What’s more? Log in to auto-fill your particulars when registering for events on the SCS website. Or if you are a certified member, update your professional log and renew your certifications via our portal.

Go ahead and explore the SCS Member Portal now!

#LATEST@SCS

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HOW DO I BEGIN?

01

To log in, click "LOGIN" on the top right navigation bar of SCS website. Enter your "Email Address" and the temporary "Password".

02

Upon successful login, you will stay on the SCS website, but “MY ACCOUNT” will appear on the top navigation bar in place of “LOGIN”.

03

Click on “MY ACCOUNT” to access the list of member-specific services.

HOW DO I CHANGE MY PASSWORD?

01

You can change your password after performing your first login with the temporary password.

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Click on “MY ACCOUNT” on the top navigation bar and select “Change Password”. Enter your “Current Password”. Input your preferred password on “New Password” and then input again to confirm it.

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You can reset your password if you’ve forgotten it.

But note that the reset function works only if you have logged into the portal before.

If you had missed the login notifications sent to all members, reach out to membership.dept@scs.org.sg.

NEED SOME HELP? Check out our Member Portal’s Navigation Guide or email membership.dept@scs.org.sg.

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