32 minute read
Innovative projects recognised at the SBR Technology Excellence Awards
Organisations continue to adapt to the changing business environment with innovations and technological advancements. Despite the ongoing global pandemic, companies are serving their clients and customers better than ever, and driving business growth during uncertain times.
The Singapore Business Review is honouring companies at the Technology Excellence Awards 2022 that demonstrated resilience and business development.
Now in its fourth year, the awards programme lauds the country’s most outstanding companies that are leading the technological revolution and digital journeys of their respective industries. The virtual awarding was held on May 4 and 5, and in person on May 6 to 12 at the Conrad Centennial Singapore.
The elite panel of judges for this year’s awards programme are Wai Keat Cheang, Partner, Consulting at Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd.; Lee Ser Yen, Partner, Cyber Advisory at KPMG; Sunil Agarwal, Partner at PwC; Peter Ho, Executive Director, TMT Consulting at Deloitte Southeast Asia; and Cecil Su, Director for Cybersecurity, BDO.
SBR TECHNOLOGY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2022
Blockchain - Education
Accredify
Digital - Non-Profit or Government Organizations Startup - Healthcare Technology
Activate Interactive Pte Ltd
AI - Healthcare Technology
Actxa Pte Ltd
Digital - Food Manufacturing Solutions
Adisseo – A Bluestar Company
Digital - Life Insurance
AIA Singapore
Software - Healthcare Technology
ALIGN TECHNOLOGY
ICT - Banking
Avaya and Standard Chartered Bank
AI - Real Estate
Beblu
Automation - Business Services
BLUEMEG TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD
AI - Data Center
CITIC Telecom CPC
Mobile - Real Estate
City Developments Limited
Fintech - Mergers & Acquisitions
Datasite
IoT - Food Manufacturing Solutions
Delta Electronics Int’l (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Robotics - Logistics
Dematic & RedMart by Lazada
API - Payments
Ekata, a MasterCard company
Cybersecurity - AI
Ensign InfoSecurity
Cloud - Technology
Enterpryze
AI - Human Resource Technology entomo & NTUC LearningHub
Digital - Real Estate
Far East Organization
Cryptocurrency - Technology
Fireblocks
Robotics - Healthcare Technology
Fourier Intelligence
Fintech - Trading Services
Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Futu SG)
Enterprise Software - Financial Services
GIC Pte Ltd
Connectivity - Technology
Global eTrade Services (GeTS)
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality - Semiconductor
GlobalFoundries
Fintech - Life Insurance
Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd
E-Commerce - Environmental Services
Helpling Singapore Pte Ltd
Blockchain - Financial Services
HSBC Singapore
Accelerator - Technology
Huawei International Pte Ltd
IoT - Utilities
INOVAANTAGE PTE LTD
Connectivity - Financial Services
IPC Systems Inc.
Analytics - Electronic Manufacturing
Keysight Technologies
SIEM - Computer Software
LogRhythm
Big Data - Non-Profit or Government Organizations
Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower
IoT - Healthcare Technology
MHC Asia Group
Cybersecurity - Education
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Cryptocurrency - Financial Technology
OSL SaaS
Cybersecurity - Marine and Offshore Engineering
Pacific Carriers Limited & Datto
Fintech - Payments
Payment Options Group
Digital - Manufacturing
Philips Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd
E-Commerce - Logistics
Pick Network Pte. Ltd.
Fintech - Financial Technology
PureSoftware
Startup - Chemical
SEPPURE
Digital - Technology Smarten Spaces
AI - Banking
Standard Chartered Bank
Connectivity - Telecommunications
StarHub Ltd
Cybersecutiry - XDR Stellar Cyber, Inc.
Digital - Financial Services
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
IoT - Building Services & Facilities
Surbana Jurong
Smart City - Transportation SWAT Mobility Pte. Ltd.
Blockchain - Furniture and Fixture
Thirty Marketplace Pte Ltd
Fintech - Brokerage
Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd
API - Telecommunications
Toku
IoT - Real Estate
Tracesafe Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Network and Broadband - Telecommunications
VIAVI Solutions
Cybersecurity - SaaS Xtremax Pte Ltd
Software - Real Estate
Yardi
Accredify
Activate Interactive Pte Ltd
Adisseo – A Bluestar Company AIA Singapore
Avaya and Standard Chartered Bank Beblu
ALIGN TECHNOLOGY BLUEMEG TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD
City Developments Limited Datasite CITIC Telecom CPC
Delta Electronics Int’l (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Dematic & RedMart by Lazada Ekata, a MasterCard company
entomo & NTUC LearningHub Far East Organization
Fireblocks Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd. GIC Pte Ltd
Global eTrade Services (GeTS) Huawei International Pte Ltd
Keysight Technologies MHC Asia Group Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
LogRhythm OSL SaaS
Standard Chartered Bank
StarHub Ltd Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Philips Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd
Surbana Jurong
VIAVI Solutions Pick Network Pte. Ltd. PureSoftware
Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Toku
Tracesafe Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Align™ Technology wins Software-Healthcare Technology in SBR Technology Excellence Awards
The company was recognised for its iTero Element™ Plus imaging system
Align Technology continues to be the leader in the evolution of digital dentistry. The company focuses on expanding its end-to-end digital platform and producing new innovative technology to improve patient care in dentistry. This year, it was awarded the SBR Technology Excellence Awards 2022 in the Software - Healthcare Technology category, for its latest development in intraoral scanning, the iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system.
The iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system is recognised for its innovative features that aid in oral health assessment and improve practice productivity for Invisalign® treatment workflow.1 It became available in February 2021 and is built upon the success of the award-winning iTero Element family of intraoral scanners, offering all the existing orthodontic and restorative digital capabilities doctors have come to rely on. The technology now provides faster processing times2, detailed visualisation capabilities, and simplified workflows.
The annual awards programme highlights technological innovations, recognising exceptional companies in Singapore that are riding the digital disruption wave and leading the technological revolution and digital journeys of their respective industries.
“We are thrilled to be recognised by industry peers for our accomplishments and welcome this prestigious win,” said Moez Attia, Vice President, Global iTero Restorative General Practitioner (GP). “iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system is an integral part of our Align Digital Platform - an integrated suite of proprietary technologies and services delivered as a seamless end-to-end solution to customers - to transform smiles and change lives.”
The iTero TM NIRI technology In just one scan, the iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system enables diagnostic, restorative, and orthodontic workflows. The all-in-one scan simultaneously records 3D, intra-oral colour, Near Infra-Red Imaging (NIRI) images, and enables comparison over time using iTero TimeLapse technology3 . This removes the need to re-scan or change scanning tips, developing a more efficient workflow for doctors and improved patient experience.
The iTero NIRI technology has the potential to change the way dentists conduct routine hygiene appointments, providing a proactive approach to oral health management thereby
Moez Attia, Vice President, Global iTero Restorative Practitioner (GP), Align Technology, Inc.
improving patient education and acceptance. By integrating the iTero Element 5D imaging system into their professional practice, the doctors surveyed reported an increase in interproximal caries (decay between adjacent teeth) detection by 56%4, an increase in business revenue by 34%5, and an increase in patient acceptance by 71%6. iTero NIRI technology works by scanning the tooth structure, helping find early hard-to-detect decay between the teeth, which is not easily visible to the naked eye. Supporting this technology, a recent study published in the Journal of Dentistry said that the iTero NIRI technology of the iTero Element 5D imaging system was 66% more sensitive than the bitewing X-ray (BWX) for proximal lesions detection7, working without harmful radiation, scanning the internal structure of a tooth, enamel, and dentin, in real-time.
From the diagnostic space to the orthodontic space, the new iTero Element 5D Auto-Upload feature streamlines Invisalign clear aligner case submissions by cutting out several manual steps, saving doctors an estimated 10 minutes per case8 . It streamlines the Invisalign case submission workflow by automatically uploading iTero scan images in place of intraoral photos.
With these achievements combined, the innovative features of the iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system support an improved scanning experience, show significant increases in practice productivity and drive higher patient treatment acceptance for doctors. “Align Technology has 25 years of innovation in digital orthodontics and dentistry, and we have been continuously focused on bringing the latest technology to doctors and their patients,” says Raj Pudipeddi, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, EVP & Managing Director APAC. “Today, as practices across every region are embracing digital dentistry in new ways more purposefully than ever before, we are helping to modernise today’s practices by enabling enhanced digital orthodontic and restorative workflows to help improve patient outcomes and practise efficiencies.”
1Certain features discussed in this article may only be available with the purchase of an iTero service plan.
2The iTero Element Plus series processing time is 20% faster compared to previous generation. On average, based on scan processing time comparison of 40 Invisalign scans and 40 restorative scans with 3 prep teeth processed by the iTero Element 2/iTero Element 5D computing units and the iTero Element Plus series computing unit.
3Data on file at Align Technology, as of December 4, 2018.
4Based on a survey in May of 2019 of n = 15 practitioners who participated in a global limited market release, working with iTero Element 5D for an average period of 6 months, representing both GPs and Orthos in CAN, UK, IT, FR, DE, AU, NZ, HK, who were presented with a level of agreement scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree with the following statement: : “Incorporating the iTero Element 5D scanner into my current diagnostic protocol, I’ve diagnosed a higher number of interproximal caries above the gingiva, on my patients at my practice”. Data on file at Align Technology, as of November 15, 2019.
5Based on a survey in May of 2019 of n = 15 practitioners who participated in a global limited market release, working with iTero Element 5D for an average period of 6 months, representing both GPs and Orthos in CAN, UK, IT, FR, DE, AU, NZ, HK, who were presented with a level of agreement scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree with the following statement: with the following statements: “Incorporating the iTero Element 5D scanner into my current diagnostic protocol, I experienced an increase in treated interproximal caries cases on my patients at my practice”, and then asked to estimate the average increase in revenue for the practice. Data on file at Align Technology, as of November 15, 2019.
6Based on a survey in May of 2019 of n = 15 practitioners who participated in a global limited market release, working with iTero Element 5D for an average period of 6 months, representing both GPs and Orthos in CAN, UK, IT, FR, DE, AU, NZ, HK, who were presented with a level of agreement scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree with the following statement: with the following statements: “Incorporating the iTero Element 5D scanner into my current diagnostic protocol,, I experienced an increase in the number of accepted caries treatments by my patients at my practice”, and then asked to estimate the average increase. Data on file at Align Technology, as of November 15, 2019.
7Based on a subset of 59 cases where iTero Element 5D imaging system was compared against the clinical evaluation of posterior proximal carious lesions above the gingiva as observed during caries debridement, reported as part of a multisite clinical study conducted in real-world settings with patients in five clinics across Germany and Canada comparing iTero NIRI technology (Near Infrared imaging) of the iTero Element 5D imaging system to bite-wing x-rays (BWX) (n= 3,502 posterior proximal tooth surfaces out of 5,796 proximal surfaces in 102 patients). Study sponsored and financed by Align Technology, Inc. iTero NIRI technology is only available on iTero Element 5D and iTero Element 5D Plus (excluding Lite software configuration) imaging systems. Data on file at Align Technology, as of September 2, 2021.
8Based on a survey in August, 2021 of n = 39 doctors who participated in a global limited market release, working with iTero Element 5D imaging systems for an average period of 1.5 months, representing both GPs and Orthos in NA, EU, APAC, and LATAM who were presented with a level of agreement scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree with the following statement: “ Submitting Invisalign cases leveraging iTero Element 5D system auto-upload functionality is faster than the conventional Invisalign case submission process (including manual capture and upload of intraoral photographs)” and then asked to estimate the amount of time saved in minutes per case. 10 minutes was the median of all responses.
iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system is an integral part of the Align Digital Platform to transform smiles and change lives
Futu Singapore looks back to look forward
One-fifth of Singapore’s population aged 20-70 are using its popular investment platform, moomoo.
Futu Holdings Limited’s popular investment platform, moomoo, entered the Singapore market over a year ago with a vision to revolutionise the local investing landscape.
Futu Singapore (Futu SG) has since grown into a leader at the forefront of financial literacy and responsible investing, further established through its digital-first investment platform, moomoo.
Standing out from its competitors, the platform champions its agility to stay aligned with the investing appetites of both new and seasoned investors. This allows the platform to consistently upgrade its product capabilities to suit investors of all calibre who are looking to further bolster their portfolios.
Looking back, through the successful advocation of investor education and its intelligent analytics tools, as of June 2022, moomoo’s users account for 21.5% of Singapore’s population aged between 20 and 70. Futu’s Q1 2022 financial results found that total client assets in Singapore continued to climb 15.1% sequentially despite market headwinds. With an uptick in young investors, over 70% of moomoo’s users are also now either millennials or Gen Zers. These results are supplemented by the growth in its interactive, real-time online community of over 18 million users.
But there are no plans to sit back and relax. Futu SG has big plans to continue to lead the industry for all with the moomoo investment super-app, and this begins with investor education.
Leading the charge in financial literacy and responsible investing Futu SG has evolved into not just an investment broker, but also a popular financial literacy resource among young investors in Singapore and across the Asia Pacific, signalling an appetite for investing to be made smarter and easier.
The vibrant, inclusive, and supportive in-app social community on moomoo is leading the trend of social sharing in the investment world with Singapore users actively exchanging insights, discussing investment-related topics, and helping one another along their investment journey.
“We must ensure the continuous supply of resources which are needed to empower smart trading decisions as a part of one’s long-term financial planning for retirement, savings for purchasing houses, and creating a nest egg for rainy days,” says Futu Singapore Managing Director Mr Gavin Chia.
Through its investment platform
Gavin Chia, Managing Director, Futu Singapore
moomoo, Futu SG has launched more than 300 videos as well as courses, whilst also extending partnerships and collaborations to over 30 financial institutions, unicorn companies, and universities.
Futu SG recently partnered with SUSS Investment Group, a student-led community at Singapore University of Social Science, to launch the inaugural Portfolio Management Challenge 2022.
The competition saw students showcasing their analytical and portfolio management skills whilst gaining insights from renowned trading partners and investment professionals from UOB Asset Management, CFA Society, and FSSA Investment Managers.
Expanding capabilities through new licenses and qualifications Mr Chia added that the platform has made considerable progress since launching in Singapore in March 2021 and aims to keep up the momentum by onboarding new products and expanding its network of partners.
“We have made achievements in acquiring licenses and qualifications, laying a solid foundation for product optimisation and business expansion.”
“Being offered all Singapore Exchange (SGX) memberships is a vote of confidence to how Futu SG stands out in the competitive industry here, benefitting users and clients of moomoo with a further enhanced investing experience,” Mr Chia said.
Futu SG has also won the favour of numerous investors with a series of selected fund products and customised services. As of Q1 quarter end, Futu SG has entered partnerships with 26 world-class financial institutions, and fund AUM and the number of fund investors has increased by 93% and 95% respectively quarter-over-quarter.
A key partnership with Barclays Private Bank (Singapore branch) was recently inked which will ensure that Futu SG’s ultra-highnet-worth (UHNW) clients will be able to access Barclays Private Bank’s products and services, as well as collaborative research across asset classes through publications and combined events.
Mr Chia also said Futu SG is working to lower the barrier of entry for investors to offer them greater accessibility to the trading field. “We have also recently introduced a lifetime $0 commission for US stock trading. This will bring an enhanced investing experience for local investors who are looking to access the S&P500 and some high-growth stocks at attractive entry points for longer-term opportunities.”
Growth plans for 2022 and beyond Futu SG has big aspirations with plans to expand the platform’s capabilities through acquiring new licenses and qualifications whilst building on the myriad of financial literacy tools and resources to strengthen users’ investment knowledge and give them the confidence to build their portfolios.
Mr Chia also spoke of exciting plans to expand their offerings into new regions and markets. “While we look back on the many industry-leading milestones we achieved in the past year at Futu SG, we are humbled to have come this far, but we are also not resting on our laurels. Now that we have built a good foundation in the first year of our business in Singapore, we are better primed to expand into other Southeast Asian markets.”
“Never has technology played a more transformational role in financial services than today, and we are committed to capturing the tremendous opportunities presented by digital-first investment platforms such as what Futu brings to a new generation of investors into the stock markets,” Mr Chia concluded.
Payment Options’ milestones and achievements
The firm was awarded the Fintech - Payments trophy at the SBR Technology Excellence Awards.
Aaron Yip Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Payment Options
Having started in 2012 as a company with just 5 employees, Payment Options Pte Ltd (PO) has grown over the decade it has been in operations. This year, it has now grown to a global team consisting of 50 employees across multiple jurisdictions.
When the company was first founded, PO aimed to understand and relate to the challenges faced by SME companies. The firm intends to help these companies establish meaningful and competitive merchant services relationships with payment giants to accept payments. Hence, PO embarked on the journey to serve this unserved and underserved sector.
An SME for the SMEs Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Aaron Yip, was formerly from finance giants, DBS Bank, Checkout, American Express, and NETS. He first started as a Sales Representative, and later on became a Sales Manager, climbing up the ranks in multiple financial institutions and managing to build lasting friendships with merchants and business partners over the years.
Over time, Mr Aaron Yip had interacted with all sorts of merchants – from SMEs to massive conglomerates. The work gave him exposure and opened his eyes to one gaping problem in the payments industry – the lack of payments support for SMEs who are often left behind by the payments giants.
With a working capital of less than $10,000 and by leveraging on valuable partnerships, vast connections, experience and savviness, Aaron pulled together his resources and struck out as a Payment Facilitator or Payfac. He started Payment Options to empower merchants with a standalone solution or simple plug-in enabling them to accept major credit cards and alternative payment methods.
Aaron established PO to help SMEs process their transactions in a secure, reasonably priced way and a high-quality manner. The company’s role as a Payfac was and still is instrumental in allowing SMEs to gain access to a service they would have otherwise not gotten or would have had to bleed financially for.
Recognised Excellence After 10 years since its establishment, aside from a thriving business and a solid business reputation, PO has gone on to push itself to greater heights. In 2019, it has established an overseas presence in Africa and in Europe, was granted a Payment Institution license in Mauritius, and has been taking initial steps to be regulated in Europe.
In 2020, PO was chosen to be a Payfac for 2 major Acquirers in Singapore, and it formally made an application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to be regulated under the Payment Services Act (PSA), further highlighting the company’s firm belief in compliance, preventing money laundering, and financing of terrorism activities within the payments community. PO also got PCI DSS (a Payment Card Industry information security qualification) certification, the highest security standard for any payment company, for its entities across all jurisdictions, again, exemplifying PO’s commitment towards the protection of data.
Further, in 2021, PO was processing millions of dollars worth of transactions, punching well above its belt. It was also certified by the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) as a Pioneer payments provider. Always a firm believer in collaboration, PO also inked a partnership with a leading super-app in Asia, a testament to PO’s solid reputation, and the high level of trust large institutions have in the company.
Aside from that, PO also took strides to reinvent itself by developing its own proprietary tech tools and products with SMEs in mind. After doing so, PO boldly launched its SME business in Singapore to provide SMEs with intuitive and valueadded products to allow for greater payment efficiency and retail reach for SMEs.
This 2022, even though the year is still young, PO has continued to forge partnerships with accredited financial institutions, having been registered with the Japanese Credit Card Association (JCCA), and is due to be granted a series of licenses across multiple jurisdictions notably in the country as well as in Singapore and Europe. It has also won the Technology Excellence Award under the Fintech – Financial Technology category which clearly illustrates PO’s technological excellence which is noted by the payments community, making it truly a Fintech company of excellence.
Through it all, PO has never lost sight of its goal – it was, still is, and will always be an SME for the SMEs. Truly FRIENDLIEST, INNOVATIVE, TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN, AND CONSTANTLY PUSHING ITSELF TOWARDS THE NEXT LEVEL.
Standard Chartered stands out in marrying trust with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Bank built an AI engine to hold other AI systems accountable.
Standard Chartered has won a Singapore Business Review (SBR) Technology Excellence Award for its outstanding AI on AI capability. The Bank’s inhouse Framework Responsible for Intelligent Data and Algorithm Yield (FRIDAY) is a first-of-its-kind AI engine that focusses on meeting the Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) needs within the organisation. The driving force and mantra behind FRIDAY is that “Great (AI) Models need to be Responsible.” In short, FRIDAY was created to build trust in the AI systems that run through its network.
Standard Chartered is serious about ethical AI - it even has its own RAI council with an RAI Standard that was first published in July 2021 and updated for a bank-wide launch in January 2022. All implementation and operationalising of AI is closely governed by the Bank to ensure that they comply to this RAI Standard.
As for FRIDAY, it is an RAI engine that is used to perform various tasks related to unstructured and semi-structured data such as images, text and graphs. These tasks are aligned with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Fairness, Ethics, Accountability and Transparency (FEAT) principles in the use of AI and data analytics in finance. This enables the Bank to review and validate unstructured data robustly whilst meeting these regulations with minimal manual checks.
FRIDAY has 5 main engines that are aligned to the Bank’s RAI Standards and MAS’ FEAT principles:
1.) Explainable AI. FRIDAY helps create explainable AI to understand outcomes even in deep learning models. ‘Explainable AI’ is used to describe an AI model, its expected impact and potential biases. It helps characterise model accuracy, fairness, transparency and outcomes in AI-powered decision making and is crucial for an organisation to build trust and confidence when putting AI models into production. In simple terms, Explainable AI refers to AI that is transparent in its operations so that humans can understand and trust the decisions generated by AI.
Siddhartha Thimmavajjalla, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Standard Chartered (standing, centre, in white) and the FRIDAY team.
2.) Data Suitability. Sometimes how AI computes information and attaches meaning to them is a mystery. Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) refers to the critical process of performing initial investigations on data to discover patterns, spot anomalies, test hypothesis and check assumptions with the help of summary statistics and graphical representations. FRIDAY performs EDA on datasets to provide the user with information that he or she can use to select and manage AI models, information such as whether certain datasets are suitable to leverage on to build AI models or if they are private data that should not be accessed.
3.) Robustness. FRIDAY carries out regular, automated resilience checks on images, text and graphical data to determine the AI model’s robustness against cyber attacks. It does this by generating synthetic samples through various sophisticated data augmentation techniques.
4.) Model Monitoring and Stability. FRIDAY has successfully automated the monitoring of launched AI models against baseline metrics like accuracy and comparison evaluations, i.e. the F1 score. It also performs hypothesis testing on anomalies to determine data drifts - unexpected changes to data structure that breaks the process and corrupts data.
5.) Model Review and Validation. FRIDAY performs automated tests on AI models to assess their sample data, speed, and scenario-based responses.
The Bank saw a 60% reduction in AI model review and validation and a 30% reduction in model development turnaround time with the use of this innovative AI engine.
Standard Chartered Bank is serious about ethical AI and created FRIDAY to build trust in the AI systems that run through its network
Far East Organization’s oneFarEast app wins at SBR Technology Excellence Awards
The app has better positioned the Organization to deliver on its brand promise of inspiring better lives and achieve its customer service priorities.
Committed to constantly innovating and providing enriching experiences and value for its customers, Far East Organization, a dynamic and diversified enterprise that develops, owns, and manages a diverse portfolio of real estate has rolled out its proprietary oneFarEast app. Its aim is to provide a one-stop digital platform for buyers and tenants to perform their accountrelated tasks efficiently.
Launched in November 2021, oneFarEast has better positioned Far East Organization to deliver on its brand promise of inspiring better lives and achieve its customer service priorities through: • Quick and convenient access to essential business documents, accurate information and records of transactions • Faster response to customer requests • Analytics and insights to further refine processes and improve customer engagement and satisfaction
“With the high penetration of digital devices, customers have high expectations for digital experiences. Our customers expect to have the means to contact and interact with the Organization whenever and however they want. They value true accessibility, where information and services related to their properties are available at their fingertips. Backed by our belief to inspire better lives, the oneFarEast app is developed to ensure these demands are addressed and tasks can be performed seamlessly and conveniently,” said Mr Ng Yee Pern, Chief Technology Officer, Group IT of Far East Organization. oneFarEast allows customers to access tools that perform the following functions with a single login, regardless of the number of properties the customer owns or leases with the Organization: • Manage property account information and manage access rights for sub-users • Submit application forms and check application statuses • Schedule appointments • Access to essential, property-specific documents ranging from floor plans, product manuals to rental invoices • Provide feedback and raise service requests for maintenance and rectifications • Book facilities in real-time • Receive and register for exclusive events • Receive notifications of circulars and notices • Make payments
Apart from delivering a more seamless and intuitive experience for customers, oneFarEast has integrated multiple Far East Organization’s operational units, ranging from property leasing operations to finance and information technology, into a single platform. Automating these manual tasks has also unlocked efficiencies for the teams, providing them with the opportunity to modernise processes, accelerate efficient workflows, enhance collaboration, and improve productivity.
With data key to unlocking customer insights, the oneFarEast app has enabled relevant data to be collected and analysed, particularly those that involve customer interactions and feedback. By better understanding our customers and their needs, the Organization will be able to refine its customer engagement to be even more relevant and personalised.
“Clinching the Digital - Real Estate award is once again an affirmation of our commitment to harness digital technologies to elevate the customer experience, to enhance operational efficiency, and to improve employee engagement. We are heartened by the recognition of our efforts, and look forward to scaling greater heights in the coming years,” concludes Yee Pern.
Established in 1960, Far East Organization has been contributing to the transformation of Singapore’s urban landscape with over 780 developments across the residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, and industrial sectors, which includes around 55,000 private homes in Singapore.
Going forward, the Organization plans to roll out and incorporate more features and tools into the app to increase engagement and self-service effectiveness to deliver consistent, contextual, and personalised dynamic service experiences.
Backed by our belief to inspire better lives, Far East Organization’s oneFarEast app is developed to ensure our customers’ demands are addressed and tasks can be performed seamlessly and conveniently
Ng Yee Pern, Chief Technology Officer, Group IT of Far East Organization
How Keysight pivoted with the electronics manufacturing Industry 4.0 winds of change
The electronics company has established its own Industry 4.0 big data analytics solution, PathWave Manufacturing Analytics.
Keysight Technologies is one of the listed S&P 500 companies that manufacture electronic test and measurement equipment and software and has established its own Industry 4.0 solution for electronic board test manufacturing. PathWave Manufacturing Analytics (PMA) is an industry 4.0 big data advanced analytics solution that provides electronics manufacturers with actionable insights into new smart factories.
Unfortunate ‘memes’ in Industry 4.0 There was a common ‘meme’ that Industry 4.0 was predictive maintenance. What this meant was that an analytical solution needs to prove its worth in maintaining the uptime of equipment and predicting equipment breakdowns. However, for the electronics manufacturing industry side, the machines that are used for processing and testing have very minimal moving parts, or at least not very big in displacement.
The other ‘meme’ was that we need Artificial Intelligence (AI) in manufacturing, and it was the answer to all Industry 4.0 challenges. Of course, this didn’t work out quite the way they had expected, as the implement neural networks into a production tool meant that the strengths and weaknesses of AI were mostly mismatched and contrary to the desired outputs. AI is very fast and reasonably accurate for many other applications, but it is not accurate enough for precise manufacturing processes. In fact, machine learning is the better approach to precise operations as it’s more accurate and reliable. This poses a different challenge to implement as the massively transformed data and the complexity needed to teach a machine learning model to perform well is not something easy to address or obtain.
OT/IT Convergence: Concord or Conflict? One discovery we made during the early days of PMA was that many manufacturers had their IT departments leading the Industry 4.0 data analytics implementations. Fast forward to the present, and most have realised that domain knowledge in manufacturing processes and test is paramount to delivering success in any analytical software project. Does OT have the time to spend with IT when they are measured on shipping out products? Electronic/electrical engineers are not data
Building it better with actionable insights: Keysight’s path to ROI
scientists and vice versa.
Then there is another issue with scale and speed. The OT team needs something easy to implement and shows immediate results without interfering with their main measure, which is to produce good parts. On one hand, the IT team needs to ensure data governance, security, and infrastructure but without understanding the nature of the data used. To what scale and depth are required? On the other hand, the OT team wouldn’t be able to help much on that.
Winds of change For many years, manufacturers didn’t anticipate all these challenges and learnings. Most of their Industry 4.0 projects, whether it’s in-house built or bought, of sometimes incredible grandeur failed to achieve the desired outcomes.
Keysight had to pivot very quickly after the first year of PMA. The right pieces of the learning puzzle were starting to emerge, and the team set out to pivot and quickly. Besides clear descriptive and powerful diagnostic analytics, PMA had to curate specific manufacturing predictive use cases for its machine learning models. It had to be more ‘outside in’ and ‘design-thinking’. By focusing and empathising on the quality of the product being manufactured instead of predictive maintenance of the equipment manufacturing them, PMA will be able to dispel these ‘memes’ as mostly just trendy buzzwords and concepts of little practical application.
It also helps Keysight is the industry leader in manufacturing test equipment maker with the best domain knowledge as well. We also had to provide flexibility for where customers wanted to deploy PMA whether it was on the cloud, in their firewall, hybrid, or others.
It’s just the beginning for the electronics manufacturing industry in the journey towards profitable Industry 4.0 applications. One major lesson we can take from the failures we have seen is that we should always begin with the end in mind. We need drill-downs on what we need to achieve in any activity we want to invest in with our data and analytics. Too often, the idea of ‘let’s see what data we have and discover what we can do’ is an idea destined to fail. Rather, it’s what we want to do that drives what data we need and how we use it. It also defines all the requirements on that data in terms of how much scale and depth we need to acquire, transform, process, govern, secure, and deploy it. The right scale and depth will ultimately result in a higher probability of achieving the desired analytical outcomes.
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