SBR Management Excellence Awards 2020 recognises top executives and firms

Amidst the challenges brought upon by the pandemic, company managements are faced with the question of how they can protect their stakeholders whilst effectively maximising opportunities and adapting the digitisation trend. Those who were able to transform amidst the crisis has proved to be the crème de la crème in their respective industries.

Singapore Business Review recognised these companies as it lauded outstanding executives and firms at the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2020 held via individual studio presentations and a virtual presentation in December, following social distancing and safety guidelines.

Now in its sixth year, Singapore Business Review honours the country’s most outstanding business leaders, including trailblazing teams and individuals whose initiatives have brought tangible business gains for the success of their companies.

This year’s winners were judged by an elite panel that includes Irving Low, Partner, Co-Head of Advisory at KPMG in Singapore; Cheang Wai Keat, Head of Consulting at Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd.; David Chew, Risk Advisory Regional Managing Partner at Deloitte Southeast Asia; Roger Loo, Executive Director, Management Consulting Services at BDO LLP; Yeo Boon Chye, Senior Partner, Head of Assurance at Foo Kon Tan; Lim Wei Wei Partner, Governance & Risk Practice Leader at Baker Tilly TFW LLP. Singapore Business Review congratulates the following winners:

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES- AARON TAN, CEO AND FOUNDER, CARRO BANKING- VICTOR LEE MENG TECK, CEO, CIMB BANK SINGAPORE BUSINESS SERVICES- SUDHIR AGARWAL, FOUNDER & CEO, EVERISE CYBERSECURITY- PARVINDER WALIA, PRESIDENT ESET ASIA PTE LTD FINANCIAL SERVICES- NEO SAY WEI, CO-FOUNDER AND GROUP CEO, RF INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS PRIVATE LIMITED HEALTH PRODUCTS & SERVICES- CHRIS LEE, PRESIDENT, ASIA PACIFIC, MEDTRONIC APAC HEALTHCARE- SIMRANJIT SINGH, CEO, GUARDANT HEALTH AMEA HOSPITALITY & LEISURE- CHOE PENG SUM, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PAN PACIFIC HOTELS GROUP LIFE INSURANCE- CHRISTOPHER TEO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TOKIO MARINE LIFE INSURANCE SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGY- ARVIND MOHAN, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, IVY MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES PTE LTD TELECOMMUNICATIONS- ADELYN ONG MEEI CHYI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CHINA MOBILE INTERNATIONAL (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

CHEMICALS- DR. MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN DAVOOD ABADI FARAHANI, FOUNDER & CEO, SEPPURE PTE LTD NON-PROFIT OR GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS- KELVIN KONG CHIU WEN, FOUNDER, VOICES OF ASIA BIOTECHNOLOGY- MARTIN-IMMANUEL BITTNER MD DPHIL, CEO, ARCTORIS PTE LTD TECHNOLOGY- SAMIR NEJI, CEO. DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGIES (DLT) PTE LTD

TEAM OF THE YEAR

BUSINESS SERVICES- BOARDROOM SINGAPORE TEAM DATA CENTER- PRINCETON DIGITAL GROUP – SINGAPORE TEAM HEALTHCARE- GUARDANT HEALTH AMEA TEAM HOSPITALITY & LEISURE- SALES & MARKETING TEAM, PAN PACIFIC HOTELS GROUP MANUFACTURING- HERAEUS MATERIALS SINGAPORE PTE LTD (HERAEUS MEDICAL COMPONENTS) PHARMACEUTICALS- IT & DIGITAL TEAM, ASTRAZENECA SINGAPORE AND ASIA

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT OF THE YEAR

HEALTH PRODUCTS & SERVICES- MEDTRONIC APAC PHARMACEUTICALS- KYOWA KIRIN ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD

COVID MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR

AI- UNIPHORE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED CYBERSECURITY- ESET ASIA PTE LTD HUMAN RESOURCE TECHNOLOGY- BIPO SERVICE (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD IT SERVICES- SMARTEN SPACES LIFE INSURANCE- TOKIO MARINE LIFE INSURANCE SINGAPORE MANUFACTURING- WACKER CHEMICALS (SOUTH ASIA) PTE. LTD. PHARMACEUTICALS- KYOWA KIRIN ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD RETAIL- LAZADA SINGAPORE PTE LTD

Arctoris Pte Ltd

AstraZeneca Singapore and Asia

AstraZeneca Singapore and Asia

BIPO Service (Singapore) Pte Ltd

ESET Asia Pte Ltd

Kyowa Kirin Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

Pan Pacific Hotels Group BoardRoom Singapore

Everise

Lazada Singapore Pte Ltd

Pan Pacific Hotels Group China Mobile International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Heraeus Materials Singapore Pte Ltd

Medtronic APAC

Princeton Digital Group

Smarten Spaces Smarten Spaces Smarten Spaces

ESET leads cyber security efforts to support businesses during the pandemic

The company provides cost-effective, cybersecurity tools that allow companies to stay safe even during the crisis.

Parvinder Walia, ESET President of Asia Pacific and Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tremendous challenge to businesses worldwide, with many companies walking on uncharted territories and enforcing workfrom-home setups just to survive.

This sudden shift to remote work has its own challenges, and the risk of cybercrimes have gained momentum at an unprecedented range. Now, businesses are recognising the need to put up more powerful cybersecurity infrastructures so its employees can securely access corporate data even at home.

According to ESET President of Asia Pacific and Japan Parvinder Walia, “Cybercriminals have turned to using increasingly complex techniques to deploy highly sophisticated attacks, thus it requires a lot of innovation to stay ahead of the bad actors.”

For more than 30 years, ESET has been developing industry-leading IT security software to protect businesses and consumers from digital threats. Recently, the company bagged two awards—COVID Management Initiative of the Year for Cybersecurity and Executive of the Year for Cybersecurity—at the recently concluded Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards 2020. The COVID Management Initiative of the Year acknowledges companies that have implemented effective strategies to lessen the economic difficulties brought about by the pandemic, whilst the Executive of the Year award commends leaders whose ideas have driven their company’s growth.

“We are proud to be recognised for our commitment to developing the best in cybersecurity solutions and protecting the digital worlds of our customers, especially during these tumultuous times which has underscored the importance of cybersecurity,” said Parvinder.

Free online safety and training tools Since the pandemic, ESET has been providing free cybersecurity tools and resources to help its customers and consumers maintain business continuity.

“We recognised not all businesses, especially SMBs, had the resources to do so, hence we provided various free cybersecurity tools and resources to support them. These included trial extension of ESET’s business products so businesses could remain protected, and complimentary home licences with limited duration for employees working from home who were using their personal devices,” said Parvinder.

The company has also shifted its cybersecurity training for partners online, empowering them to perform thousands of hours of cybersecurity health check for customers across the region for free.

WE ARE PROUD IN OUR COMMITMENT TO DEVELOPING THE BEST IN CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS AND PROTECTING THE DIGITAL WORLDS OF OUR CUSTOMERS

Affordable, cloud-based security ESET offers cloud capabilities for various businesses to remotely protect their endpoints from cyberthreats. The bundle, which consists of essential security tools that can be deployed and managed remotely, is also affordable, allowing up to 50% savings for customers when compared to purchasing solutions individually.

“We created various free cybersecurity resources and checklists for IT admins to help their organisations to transition into the new normal. We also empowered our partners to perform cybersecurity health checks for customers to ensure the right security tools and policies were being used for effective protection against cyberattacks whilst remote working arrangements were in place,” said Parvinder.

“At the end of the day, we were able to help many SMBs to adopt remote working whilst staying protected from cyberthreats,” he added.

Parvinder, who also won SMB’s Executive of the Year for Cybersecurity awards last year, has played a key role in setting the company’s regional office in Singapore as a hub of IT excellence across the region.

“This award is testament to the journey that I had gone through as one of ESET pioneer staff in the Asia Pacific. I am proud to be part of the team who established our APAC regional office in Singapore more than 10 years ago,” he said.

Under his leadership, ESET has experienced 10 years of consecutive growth in the region. He has also expanded the regional office role beyond sales and marketing functions with other areas, such as certification, training and malware research to better support the markets in APAC.

“Throughout the years, I had the opportunity to helm multiple roles and to lead an amazing team to expand our brand presence in APAC as well as to deliver ‘real value’ to our partners and customers. I take great pride in what the team has achieved, which resulted in 10 years of consecutive growth in APAC,” he said.

Moving forward during and after the pandemic With all these accomplishments on hand, ESET continues to set its eyes on strengthening cybersecurity worldwide.

“Having doubled our R&D investment compared to five years ago, we will continue to invest in developing cutting-edge new products and security solutions in the coming months and years to keep our customers safe from advanced cyberthreats,” said Parvinder.

He also said ESET will continue to research and monitor cybersecurity threats and trends.

“We will constantly monitor and research the global threat landscape, and these findings and updates are always available to the public on ESET’s Research blog at www.welivesecurity.com,” he added.