SCS Magazine 2015 Issue 1

THE

SOCIETY

ISSUE ONE 2015 The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society

Software Development Through The Years

08 Outstanding Contributors to Singapore’s ICM Landscape Honoured MCI (P) 180/06/2014

18 Redefining Business Continuity Management in the Cloud Era

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

1

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

Hello World!

Tan Teng Cheong Editor Senior Member, SCS tengcheong.tan@scs.org.sg

W

elcome to the latest issue of “The IT Society”.

In this issue, we shine the spotlight on the application developer and the software development or engineering process. We look at how the process and tools have evolved over the years and the current state of the art.

With this context, we also have the ability to glimpse what may come next.

Unlike other branches of engineering, software development or engineering is a comparatively recent phenomenon and has been evolving very quickly over the years as increasingly more aspects of modern day living include software in one form or another.

Many of us reading “The IT Society” are ICT professionals – and in some way or other — associated with how software is engineered, developed and built. And for many of us, it is not only our means of making a living – it is our passion!

Editor Tan Teng Cheong Contributing Writers Marcus Cheng Lee Chee Yong Paul Lee Mark Lim Choon Lye Francis Mahendran Columnist Chandra Sekar Veerappan Editorial Support Leong Hoi Lan

To show the growth trajectory of software development and engineering in the industry, we have contributions this month from Francis Mahendran, Senior Member of SCS and Director of EasyWorks, who sheds light on software development for the banking and finance sector, as well as the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, which discusses how the Agile “Full-Stack” Approach to software development is moving us into a new phase of DevOps (Development Operations) and DeveloperDefined Infrastructure (DDI).

We also present an overview of the recent Business Continuity Management conference

Advertising Sales & Admin Leong Hoi Lan For ad sales enquiries, Tel: 6226 2567 ext 12 Email: hoilan.leong@scs.org.sg Mailing Address 53 Neil Road Singapore 088891 Email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg Editorial & Design Oculus Design Pte Ltd

in which key speakers emphasised the importance of effective plans for business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis management in the Cloud era.

As well, we pay tribute to our immediate past President, Chak Kong Soon, and present our President’s Award recipient, our IT Leader Award winners, and our new SCS Fellows.

A new column from our ITYC keeps you posted on all that has been happening with our youth in IT and, as usual, we provide light relief with a quiz and a peep at quirky technologically inventions. Enjoy!

Feedback We value your feedback on 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 consideration of inclusion.

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.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Society.

For advertising enquiries, please call 6226 2567 or email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg.

Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0

CONTENTS REGULARS 01 Hello World!

FEATURES 03 Thank You Chak for Giving Selflessly 04 Holistic Approach to Software Development for Banking and Finance 05 Agile “Full-stack” Software Development Approach Makes A Comeback 08 Outstanding Contributors to Singapore’s ICM Landscape Honoured 12 Passion and Commitment Personified PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 12 Is Agile Project Management a Challenge?

13 Effective Agile Contracts

Be at the Forefront in Your Quality Assurance Profession: Get Certified!

06

08

15

14 Is Yours a Winning Workplace?

MEMBERS 17 Outstanding Senior SCS Members Made Fellows HAPPENINGS 15 Shaping The Digital Gen 18 Redefining Business Continuity Management in the Cloud Era 19 Serving You as SCS Executive Council Members in 2015/2016 20 Well Done Yesterday, On With Tomorrow 22 Glitz and Glamour @ SCS Gala Dinner 23 Calendar of Events THE LITE SIDE 24 SCS Quiz

Innovative Invents

22

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

3

SPECIAL FEATURE

Thank You Chak for Giving Selflessly

As Mr Chak Kong Soon steps down as President of SCS, we thank him for his visionary leadership and his many innovative initiatives during his tenure from April 2012 to March 2015.

Youth Development

Outreach and Growth in Membership

With Mr Chak Kong Soon at our helm, SCS has been growing from strength to strength. In 2014, membership grew by 13% and crossed the 30,000 mark. We owe this to Mr Chak’s and the executive council’s efforts in recruitment, as well as our active collaborations with other organisations.

To provide more value for members, he orchestrated the revamp of the IT Society magazine and also enhanced InfoPier with offerings of new features and services.

The addition of services to InfoPier has unlocked extensive Infocomm information to users, elevating this platform’s status to that of an IT Resource Hub. Moreover, the freshly revamped SCS website, with state-of-the-art mobile accessibility function, has enlivened communication between our society and our members.

During Mr Chak’s presidency, we also witnessed steady support for the consolidation of comprehensive market information via the Infocomm Survey, currently in its fourth year. This survey provides substantial market statistics to industry leaders, including the government, for making decisions that will affect the future development of Infocomm.

Mr Chak also directed the focus of the society to future generations through various engagement platforms. Through the maturing IT Youth Council, he oversaw the launch of the widely popular Youth Engagement Series, bringing valuable insights and experiences of industry leaders directly to the IT youth community. This empowered tremendous growth among the student chapters, consolidated by the addition of SIM University and Lithan Hall Academy. With a total of 17 student chapters, we now have a student membership that has surged past a whopping 23,000. Last year’s Splash Awards, held in conjunction with SG50, saw Mr Chak assisting in the launch of Apple Tree, a mobile application encouraging face time over mobile usage by letting those who meet in person put their phones together to grow a virtual “Apple Tree”. The more the tree grows, the longer the persons meeting up have not touched their phones.

Professional Development

Mr Chak’s term also marked the banding of the Thought Leadership Committee, with the formation of an advisory board for IT companies, educational institutions, and even the government. This committee spearheaded the Thought Leadership Forum on Infopier, giving members an avenue to seek valuable industry advice online. This was instrumental in expanding services on Infopier.

In 2014, SCS launched the Best Tech Company to Work For Award by foregathering staunch validation from industry partners such as the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), SPRING and Employment & Employability Institute (e2i). This awards programme recognises firms with an enviable corporate culture, robust talent development and innovation excellence.

Forging Key Collaborations As President of SCS, Mr Chak was influential in helping the society foster strategic relationships with other

organisations, both public and private. These collaborative partnerships with organisations such as, Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI), National Trades Congress Union (NTUC) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), proved paramount in enhancing the credibility of our membership, and also provided extended privileges beyond the borders of our society.

There were also renewed collaborations with Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and QAI Global Institute to add certifications to the existing three offered in SCS. This has led to a 30% increase in our certification uptake, with more than 3,300 professionals certified with both our in-house or joint collaborative certifications. Likewise, Mr Chak also supervised a partnership with both WDA and IDA to launch two series of talks known as IDEAS and TRENDS (Technology Revolution Empowerment ‘N’ Development Series) that also provide informal networking platforms for IT professionals. These programmes have enjoyed overwhelming participation so far.

Contributions Outside SCS

Currently Mr Chak continues to serve on reputable boards such as the National University of Singapore’s School of Computing; Institute of System Science Management Board; IT Manpower Industry Panel and SIM International Academic Panel. He was most recently also appointed Deputy Chairman of the National IT Standard Committee.

Our Heartfelt Thanks

We thank Mr Chak for his eminent contributions during the past three fulfilling years. His consistent support for the society and its many chapters and programmes has elevated SCS to new heights. His immeasurable dedication to the society during 15 years of service will be cherished and his legacy will be honoured as the society moves forward.

4

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

FEATURE

Holistic Approach to Software Development for Banking and Finance The banking and finance sector is the lifeline of any economy in today’s world. So efficient, reliable and robust banking and finance infrastructure is a must for us to conduct our day-to-day business.

Francis Mahendran Senior Member, SCS President, SCS-QA Chapter Director, EasyWorks

institutions need to manage their critical IT infrastructure and systems with a high level of “ Financial robustness and integrity, as well as implement adequate IT controls to protect customer information from unauthorised access or disclosure.The reliability, availability, and recoverability of IT infrastructure and systems are crucial in maintaining confidence and trust in the operational and functional capabilities of a financial institution.When critical systems that support essential business functions fail, the disruptive impact on the financial institution’s operations and functions will usually be immediate, severe and widespread, with serious consequences to reputation.

– MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), extracted from Notice of Technology Risk Management, Consultation Paper, June 2012.

”

A

s emphasised in the MAS quote above, it is important for banking and financial institutions to have an end-to-end framework in place to govern the system’s lifecycle since the banking and finance sector now forms the backbone of the world’s major economies.

Factors of Authentication

Local banks have made great progress in the area of user authentication. Initially we had the first factor of authentication (what you know) eg. User ID and Password.

As hackers started breaking into passwords, banks have now introduced the second factor of authentication (what you have) eg. a token via SMS, or via a physical token generator.

I am sure we will be forced to use a third factor of authentication someday (who you are) eg. finger print. These days, mobile apps are available to scan your fingerprints and it is only a matter of time before banks figure out how to integrate them into their authentication process securely and seamlessly.

Standards

In the space of standards, banks and financial institutions can look to the Payment Card Industry’s PCI DSS standards. Non-financial institutions can also refer to the PCI DSS standards as they have many generic elements that are applicable to all Industries. On top of the PCI DSS standards, Singaporebased banks and financial institutions need to be compliant to Singapore’s regulatory

requirements, such as the IB TRM and the TRM Notice that is mandatory.

Both IB TRM and PCI DSS standards call for a secure software development methodology. In fact PCI DSS details a minimum list of software vulnerabilities that should be tested for.

Weighing Up Security Risks

Banks and financial institutions tend to view security issues in multiple dimensions. The straightforward way is to fix your hardware, network and software vulnerabilities. One other dimension is to manage security threats from a risk management perspective. One looks at the cost of not implementing a security feature and then makes a decision to accept the risk.

Major local banks are able to guarantee that your money is safe with them, not because they have the best-in-class security measures, but data suggest that the amount of money lost to hackers does not justify a huge investment in security. This approach is fine and seems like the logical thing to do — at least until the next major incident.

Yesterday’s technology

Many banks and financial institutions run software that was written 10, 15 and even 20 years ago. As the old adage goes: “Why change if it isn’t broke”. Many of these banking applications were written in COBOL, and those programmers may not be

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

5

FEATURE around today. Sometimes software engineers are even afraid to do maintenance on the COBOL code due to poor documentation as, over the years, many changes have been made and traceability is weak.

One cannot ensure good traceability without the help of a tool. Even when organisations have this, how many of them diligently update it for every change to the software?

We have to realise that some of the finance software that we run today was written when security was not even a requirement. Can we safely say that there are no banks or financial institutions that run the COBOL code? I rest my case.

Taking A Holistic View

It is very important to take a holistic view of secure software development. There is no point in spending millions of dollars on network security, server security, datacentre security, if the application software was not developed in a secure manner in the first place. We need to look at all the software engineering phases and ensure each phase has activities to ensure security.

and configuration management must also be updated for secure development. It is time organisations re-engineer their entire systems or, even better, start from a clean slate.

The views expressed here are the author’s personal opinion.

Secure software is not just secure coding or testing for security, but spans the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Supporting functions like organisational activities (training, process improvement etc.), project management, quality assurance

Agile “Full-stack” Software Development Approach Makes A Comeback Division of labour and decades-long outsourcing of IT projects have turned software developers to mindless code entry operators, devoid of innovation. However, the success of high-tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon is seeing the return of the Agile “Full-stack” software development approach that bursts forth with innovative ideas disrupting the entire world.

Mark Lim Choon Lye Member, SCS Director IDA

Division of Labour vs.

Full-stack

“Software is eating the world” as coined by Marc Andreessen is really coming to pass.

Every company today is a software company.

Companies that did not acknowledge this fact are either gone or are facing the disruptions caused by the new software development approach that will lead to their demise. However the “software” Marc Andreessen referred to is not something that can be achieved by the traditional “waterfall” approach, in which roles are clearly defined, tasks divided, and people treated as resources.

The approach that is driving all the disruptions we are seeing today in the world is what we called the Agile “Full-Stack” approach, in which a group of crossfunctional product manager, UX and UI designers, software engineers, data scientists, devOps work together as a small, but highly innovative and productive “squad”. This approach, which is not new, is taking the world by storm today.

Agility, Iterative Experimentation and Continuous Improvement

Unlike the traditional “waterfall” approach, which assumes that a problem is static and every step of the development process must adhere to a fixed specification and scope, Agile believes that problems are dynamic and teams should be empowered to be innovative and work collaboratively to address a problem and build the solution at the same time.

An Agile team works on complex issues using an iterative and adaptive approach, testing out new ideas on the fly by deploying their software quickly and getting real-time data and feedback, allowing them to iterate quickly to improve their software. This is the speed at which software is being built today. No more multi-year large “turnkey” IT projects with a “big bang” launch, where the final outcome could be completely wrong and yet users are forced to use a system that is less than satisfactory.

High in Discipline, High Quality Software

Many people have the misconception that being Agile means the code is badly done and there is no discipline and proper documentation. Some call Agile advocates “cowboy programmers”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

6

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

FEATURE Agile “Full-stack” Going Mainstream!

While the Agile “Full-stack” approach has been made famous by high-tech companies and start-up communities, large enterprises and even banks and governments are beginning to embrace it.

In Agile, teams value collaboration and communication. Apart from their daily stand-up meetings and regular product demo sessions, teams are also very transparent with “information radiators” so everyone knows what everyone else is working on. Some very highly effective and productive teams run Extreme or Pair Programming, where two developers are paired to work on the same set of code at the same time, ensuring high collaboration and high quality simultaneously.

Not only are the cultures in such teams very dynamic and exciting, the process is also robust. Source code is centrally managed with automated version control tools such as Git to ensure that the whole source code is well managed. This allows different groups of developers to work on the same source code simultaneously without corrupting the code.

Agile also stresses the importance of testing and deploying as early and as regularly as possible. In fact, Agile projects are integrated, tested and deployed almost instantaneously while the code is being written. This means, the code is literally being tested as the projects are being coded. Every new code must pass all the tests before any new features can be built on top of it. Since we can push a code so quickly and cheaply, it also means any error can be fixed very quickly as well. Fail fast; fail safe and recover even faster!

The principle behind this is that the earlier the issue is resolved, the lower the risk and cost. We call this Continuous Integration and Testing (CIT). This is different from the traditional “waterfall” approach, which usually only starts the testing at the testing phase, after all the coding is done, thereby accumulating all the risks and costs till the end of the project.

In the past two years, GE invested more than US$1b into creating a brand new global unit, GE Software, with more than 1,000 Software engineers and data scientists working closely together to transform GE into a software company. CEO Jeff Immelt declared in 2011 that GE needed to become a software and analytics company or risk seeing its hardware products become commodities as information-based competitors took over.

GE coined this the “Industrial Internet”, with Agile “Full-stack” teams embedding their innovations by building them into software that would power all GE products, driving their vision of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Last year, the US government formed the 18F, comprising members from the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) and start-up communities, based on the Agile, Lean and Full-stack approach, to help the country solve some of the biggest problems it is facing today. The UK government has passed an act that all government projects must be based on Agile, and formed the UK Government Digital Service (UK GDS) to redesign, redevelop and redeploy key government online services based on the Agile and User Experience Design (UXD) approach.

The Singapore government has also been experimenting with Agile and UXD for the last few years with great success and is scaling up with the recent announcement of the formation of a Government Software Design and Development Centre of Excellence under its Smart Nation initiative. This Centre will focus on software and data analytics, partnering industry leaders, local start-ups and citizens to co-develop better digital services for the country and its people.

Frictionless Continuous Deployment – DevOps and DDI

As increasingly more organisations seek to be Agile, we are now moving into a new phase of DevOps and Developer-Defined Infrastructure (DDI), bridging the world of software development and the world of deployment/operations.

In order to achieve maximum agility, the chasm between Development and Operations

must be completely removed. Hence the need for DevOps. The main focus of DevOps is product management, source code control, and continuous integration with real-time, high-quality testing, and friction-less deployment to production. This improves reliability and security, and facilitates faster development and deployment cycles.

With DevOps, Software developers enjoy speed and agility without compromising quality, reliability and security. Developers are able to push a code into production directly, regularly and in real-time, thus focusing on innovation, instead of wasting time fixing a code when trying to deploy.

In DDI, software developers are now empowered to decide on how, what, and where their applications should run. DDI will continue to dominate, decoupling the hardware layer from the software infrastructure layer, making hardware a commodity and increasing the value of software. Microservices and Application Programming Interface (APIs) will continue to provide developers with more flexibility and speed in designing, developing and deploying their apps.

With this rise of Agile, DevOps and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), software developers are looking for technologies to build, run, and manage their applications that support DDI. Virtualisation (VM) was the technology that brought massive growth in Cloud, but now we need to move into Containerisation Technology, such as Docker.

The Future of Software Developers

Jerry Chen of Greylock Partners, in his latest article, “The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth: The Age of Developer-defined Infrastructure”, predicted that developers will soon become some of the highest paid employees in a company — and he meant every company, not just in Silicon Valley. The job market has reflected this evidently, with companies competing for the best software developers out there.

Singapore as the World’s first Smart Nation As Singapore gears up to become the world’s first Smart Nation, we must change our mindset about software and software development as it is no longer just an enabler. Innovations that improve people’s lives and address global challenges are encoded into software. “Software is eating the world, indeed!”

Cyber/IT Security – Senior Associates & Above The Risk Assurance Group at PwC takes pride in helping clients to identify, measure and manage their risks more effectively.

Our Risk Assurance specialists offer knowledge and expertise, which extends to clients’ internal controls (including IT systems), technology, non-financial reporting, corporate social responsibility and regulatory compliance. In addition to supporting the external financial audit, our specialists also provide a variety of internal audit services. Since our expertise spans a wide range of industries and sectors, on each and every project we undertake the advice and assurance we offer can be focused on the individual needs of that client.

PwC’s Risk Assurance (RA) Information Security team has plans for significant growth as our clients demand greater assistance with increasingly complex IT risks. Our clients include leading global organisations and they rely upon us to help them design and advise on information security processes and controls to effectively safeguard their organisations.

We are looking to recruit several talented & passionate Information Security Professionals.

Responsibilities: • Establish credibility with prospective clients by demonstrating knowledge of various aspects of Cyber/Information Security and identify opportunities for assistance; • Provide thought leadership and direction for the Cyber/Information Security practice; • Help recruit, retain and develop the Cyber/Information Security team by bringing superior leadership skills; • Ensure the quality of deliverables and clients are satisfied with the work; • Team with PwC colleagues in other lines of services in support of client needs for Cyber/Information Security services; • Work either as Senior Subject Matter Experts in their field and/or manage teams in delivering client excellence • Drive the vision and thought leadership either within or across more than one of our ‘client issue’ towers; • Contribute to the Intellectual Property of the firm by driving the development of toolkits, methodologies and accelerators.

Requirements:

Essential Qualifications

Demonstrate ability in the following areas:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Mathematics or Master’s Degree in Computer Science/ Information Security; • Strong experience in Cyber Security/ Information Security with relevant experience in security assessment and advisory services in areas such as network and infrastructure, web application, mobile device application, malware detection and secure code review • The ability to manage a number of projects, meet deadlines and manage stakeholder expectations; • Clear, articulate and confident written and verbal communication skills; • Ability to develop and manage seniorlevel relationships; • Desire to work in a constantly changing environment as part of a team of IT Security Advisors; • The ability to be seen as a role model for junior members of the team.

• Planning and implementation of Security Operation Centre (SOC) • Cyber Security incident investigation and response • Strategic IT planning/Information/Cyber Security Strategy • Risk and Regulatory frameworks (ITIL, CobIT, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS etc); • Risk Based Cyber/Information Assurance, scoping and planning for security configuration and control assessments over OS/Database/ Networks/Infrastructure, processes and organisations; • Risk Assessment Analysis; • Business Impact Analysis; • Threat and Vulnerability Analysis (including CREST and other form of certification); • Security testing techniques tools and methodologies (OSSTMM and OWASP Top 10) • Security Organisational Design; • Security Governance and Reporting; • Security Roles and Responsibilities; • Security benchmarking and future state modelling; • Security Policies and Procedures;

Business Skills: • Strong presentation and report writing skills; • Strong analytical and problem solving capabilities; • Strong project management, facilitation and delivery skills.

Grounding in Cyber/Information Security technical skills including, but not limited to: • Operating System (Windows, Unix, Linux); • Databases (Oracle, SQL etc); • Networks (LAN and WLAN) and Network Infrastructure (Routers, Switchers etc); • Security controls assessment technologies (e.g. Data Loss revention).

Desirable Requirements • Professional designation such as an accounting designation or Cyber/ Information Security certification such as CISSP, CISA or CISM, SANS Certified GPEN/WAPT or any other relevant qualifications (e.g. CREST) that establishes credibility and capability in the Cyber/Information Security market; • Proven track record of delivery of large security improvement programmes • Experience in industry sectors: o Financial Services o Pharmaceutical o Telecommunications and Utilities • Possess knowledge of security testing techniques, tools and methodologies such as OSSTM and OWASP Top 10 • Candidates with experience and certification in ISO157799 or equivalent security standards and security incidence response and investigation • Candidates with knowledge of programming or scripting language such as C/C++, Java, C#/VB.Net, PHP, JavaScript, Python or Perl

Particularly interested in candidates with specific technical delivery skills in one or more of the following areas: • SOC/SIEMS • Technical areas • DLP • Mobile payments • Privacy & data protection implementation • Cryptography

• Scada industrial controls Interested and qualified applicants with the relevant experience, please go to this link and apply to PwC directly: https://krb-xjobs.brassring.com/TGWebHost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=30056&siteid=5939&AReq=1791BR Please indicate Reference Code “PwC-SCS IT” on your application.

8

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

FEATURE

Outstanding Contributors to Singapore’s ICM Landscape Honoured

Four distinguished individuals were honoured for their leadership qualities, entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and personal integrity at our IT Leader Awards 2015 ceremony held during our annual SCS Gala Dinner.

A

t our recent annual IT Leader Awards 2015 ceremony, we honoured four distinguished IT professionals for their outstanding achievements and contributions to Singapore’s ICM landscape. Held with great fanfare, the event salutes leadership qualities, entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and personal integrity, and was part of the annual SCS Gala Dinner. And the Awards went to...

Tong Hai understands that IT and education are two of life’s equalisers for the next generation.

IT Leader of the Year Mr Tan Tong Hai

His efforts led to StarHub launching Singapore’s first and only free local sports cable channel, SuperSports Arena, which is available to all households on multiple devices, allowing Singaporeans to cheer local athletes anytime, anywhere, while helping the athletes grow a wider base of supporters.

Tong Hai joined StarHub as Chief Operating Officer in 2009, overseeing everyday operations of the company. Today, as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, he is an inspirational leader with immense industry knowledge.

Prior to joining StarHub, Tong Hai had held the posts of President and CEO in both Singapore Computer Systems and Pacific Internet (PacNet). He was instrumental in turning both companies around when he was at their helms. At Singapore Computer Systems, he was part of the leadership team in the oneMeridian consortium that rolled out the Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOEasy) for the public sector.

A veteran with 26 years of experience in regional information technology (IT), the Internet and e-commerce industries, Tong Hai is a firm believer of the transformative power of IT for the benefit of businesses, the community and the nation.

Under his leadership, StarHub works with both solution providers and customers to create win-win partnerships for all. In the belief that better outcomes can be achieved through teamwork, he has led StarHub to strategic partnerships with cloud solution providers to deliver cost-effective solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.

StarHub has also partnered big data analytics solution providers and government agencies to serve various groups in the community, such as citizens, immigrants, foreign workers and visitors, better.

Tong Hai oversaw initiatives such as StarHub’s Golden Gurus programme that empowers tech-savvy senior citizens to help their peers by imparting their IT knowledge, and MySmartEye, an award-winning mobile app that helps the visually impaired to see their surroundings with the aid of a volunteer network.

He also led the implementation of the Central Identification and Registration Information System (CIRIS) for the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). This was selected the top e-Government project at the 2008 Infocomm Singapore Awards.

Tong Hai understands that IT and education are two of life’s equalisers for the next generation. He is personally committed — as Chairman of the Nanyang Polytechnic’s Board of Governors, and through his participation in programmes such as Singapore Computer Society’s YES! Youth Engagement Series, National University of Singapore’s IT Leadership Programme and SMU’s Building Better IT Leaders initiative — to nurturing youth and future IT leaders.

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

FEATURE Hall of Fame Professor Christopher Chia Professor Christopher Chia’s contribution to the IT industry dates back to the early 80s when he first joined the National Computer Board (NCB), the agency charted to drive Singapore into the Information Age. While at NCB, he pioneered the concept of quality assurance and application development standards in the Civil Service Computerisation programme. He then went on to head the IT Manpower Development and IT literacy promotion initiatives and also became the founding head of the Information Communication Institute of Singapore (ICIS).

Chris was eventually appointed Director of the Information Technology Institute, the R&D arm of the NCB. There, he led the team that developed and deployed strategic innovations that enabled organisations to prepare for their future, including an educational management system — the Student-Teacher Workbench — which catalysed the world of digital content and learning management systems years ahead of their time. He participated in the formulation of IT2000 — the master plan established in 1992 by the National Computer Board to transform Singapore into an intelligent island — as well as in the media, publishing and information services sectors.

In 1995, he took on a new challenge as the founding CEO of the National Library Board (NLB). There, he relentlessly led the team to innovate its way into the future, touching the lives of at least half the population in the process. IT was leveraged to set up digitally-networked libraries that offered users information in multiple formats, including electronic databases and various multimedia services. The Electronic Library Management System (ELiMS), the world’s first to use radio frequency technology for lending and returning books, was introduced in 1998, with Chris

as one of the co-patentees. New services, such as remote user answering services, self-check machines, cashless payments and library transactions using SMS, were introduced, all of which were innovative by the standards of the time. Also, all these ground-breaking steps permanently eliminated the long queues that had plagued the library. By 2003, Chris and his team had tripled the library’s membership to over 2 million members, tripled annual loans to 32 million, and increased the number of visitors to the library sixfold to over 30 million.

From 2004 to 2010, as Chief Executive of the Media Development Authority, Chris was responsible for transforming Singapore into a global, trusted capital for new Asia Media. Under his watch, the sector successfully increased its valueadd from about S$4.27 billion in 2003 to over S$7 billion in 2010, and comprised 62,000 media-related jobs in the television, publishing, film, animation and interactive digital media industries.

He relentlessly led the team to innovate its way into the future, touching the lives of at least half the population in the process.

In 2012, Chris became an educator. He continues to contribute to the IT world by bridging IT and the business world. As Professor of Transformation Practice at the NUS Business School, he teaches those doing their MBAs, undergraduates and also senior executives from around the world.

From left: Chak Kong Soon (SCS Immediate Past President), Quek Yang Sheng, Darius Cheung, Prof Christopher Chia, Tan Tong Hai and Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (Guest of Honour)

9

10

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

FEATURE Entrepreneur of the Year Mr Darius Cheung

For almost a decade, Darius Cheung, through his continual role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, has been an inspiration for prospective entrepreneurs today.

Darius is a recipient of the Singapore Youth Award, the nation’s highest youth accolade.

As the founder of 99.co, the fastest growing property portal in Singapore, Darius has come up with a fresh and innovative platform to search for a home in Singapore.

Absolutely easy and simple in its approach, the 99.co platform provides users with the most trustworthy and relevant search results, instead of showing high paying advertisements. Moreover, it intelligently collates data to help consumers make the best property decisions.

Prior to founding 99.co, Darius was Director of Consumer Mobile Technology at McAfee, which acquired tenCube, a Singapore-based mobile security company

he founded and where he served as CEO for five years.

At tenCube, Darius grew the startup to a team of 26 people in two locations over five years, raised two rounds of financing, created an award-winning mobile security product, WaveSecure, and led the startup to profitability.

For his role in tenCube and contributions towards the local startup community, he has been selected one of BusinessWeek’s Best Young Entrepreneurs in Asia and is a recipient of the Singapore Youth Award, the nation’s highest youth accolade.

Darius is an angel investor in a dozen startups, a venture partner at Golden Gate Ventures, entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD, and serves on the Board of Directors of Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE).

IT Youth Mr Quek Yang Sheng

“Never try, never know” — these words have been Yang Sheng’s life mantra.

A late bloomer, Yang Sheng had an academic journey that was far from smooth. After obtaining mediocre results in secondary school and at ITE, he joined the workforce when he finished doing his National Service, working full-time as a Technical Support Analyst at StarHub. However, Yang Sheng realised that his academic qualifications would limit his opportunities, and so chose to pursue further studies at Temasek Polytechnic at the age of 22. Through sheer hard work and determination, Yang Sheng emerged a Gold Medallist, graduating top among his cohorts, with a Diploma in Mobile and Network Services.

During Yang Sheng’s internship, he worked in partnership with Rockmoon Pte Ltd., an education-technology company, to create an innovative and educational mobile messaging app for the classroom environment. The project was a collaborative initiative by the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) FutureSchool and Rockmoon. As a result, researchers and educators were able to study and understand the feasibility of using a mobile messaging app to facilitate

classroom collaboration and learning purposes. The project was chosen and highlighted at the annual IT Project Show 2014 in Temasek Polytechnic.

Beyond academic matters, Yang Sheng’s community-mindedness sees him leading his peers in community work using IT. In collaboration with the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), he started a workshop titled, Build Your Own Android App. Together with his teammates, he designed teaching materials and made use of open source software to teach young CDAC beneficiaries the basic skills of building mobile apps without any coding.

The objective of the workshop was to help youth discover their talent in IT. Yang Sheng and his team were awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by Metropolitan YMCA Singapore (MYMCA) during YMCA Youth Empowerment Symposium 2013 for their community efforts.

Yang Sheng is currently working on a mobile application called Coordinated Assistance Network with the North East Community Development Council (NECDC). The objective of the Coordinated Assistance Network mobile application is to serve as an aggregator for all local social assistance

Yang Sheng feels strongly about contributing back to society using his IT skills. schemes from the various ministries and statutory boards. This application, used on volunteers’ mobile devices during home visits, enables them to advise residents on how to identify the right schemes they can apply for handily. Yang Sheng is working closely with the NECDC and his team on this project in his own time as he feels strongly about contributing back to society using his IT skills.

Yang Sheng is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Computing degree in Computer Science at the National University of Singapore.

Be at the Peak

Master Certificate Programme on CIO Practices

www.stmi.nus.edu.sg

Being a thought leader in defining IT management education, STMI is offering a unique programme for senior technology leaders. The Master Certificate Programme on CIO Practices* is formalized to provide insights and best practices that help prepare and groom individuals aspiring to take up technology leadership roles in the organization.

This all-rounded course comprises two sections, namely, IT Leadership Programme (ILP) and Multi-disciplinary Modules (MDM). The ILP will be conducted twice a year as a one-week workshop while the MDM will see participants completing five out of the nine offered modules, all within a stipulated period of eighteen months. The course covers a mix of topics dealing with issues relating to technology, strategic management, business & human capital management and legal & regulatory management.

Dates

Take your first step towards IT management with STMI. IT Leadership Programme (ILP) CEO & CFO Perspective of IT

Leadership and Talent Management for IT Managers

Value and Innovation in IT

Multi-disciplinary Modules (MDM) Strategic Partnership for Success

Strategic IT Sourcing

Legal and Regulatory Consideration in an IT Environment

Finance for IT Managers

IT Performance Management

Risk and Compliance Management

Effective IT Planning and Management

IT Governance for Senior Managers

Business Driven Enterprise Architecture

*The curriculum of the ILP and MDM is aligned to the National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF), developed by WDA and IDA, in consultation with the industry partners.

Technology Management | Think STMI

4 - 8 May 2015

Subsidized Cost $1926.00* *Nett fee. For eligible Singaporeans and PRs. Terms and conditions apply

Strategic Technology Management Institute (STMI@NUS) School of Computing National University of Singapore 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace ICube #03-06 Singapore 119613 Tel (65) 6601 1040 Fax (65) 6776 2856 Email and Course Enquiries: stmi@nus.edu.sg

12

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

FEATURE

Passion & Commitment Personified For his many contributions to our Society and the Infocomm industry, Mr Robert Chew recently received the SCS President’s Award 2015.

M

r Robert Chew once said, “I continue to be fascinated by what technology can deliver – it has been and will continue to be a memorable journey.”

Since then, Robert, who was also our winner of the IT Leader of the Year Award 2009, has been displaying great passion serving in various roles in the Infocomm industry.

Robert’s desire for the greater good of our Infocomm industry drives him to great lengths to seek improvements for the industry, as well as mould it into one that stays relevant and exciting.

Robert served as an Executive Council member of SCS from 2010 to 2013, during which time he successfully implemented several key initiatives.

Giving Industry Louder Voice One such milestone began even before his time of service on the Council — the SCS Infocomm Survey. In its fourth edition last

year, the Survey continues to serve as a guide for our Society and government agencies in shaping Infocomm policies and strategies.

It also aids organisations in aligning their strategies for the skill development of their ICT human resources. Through the survey, Robert has given this industry a louder voice and he still helms this programme today.

Robert also chaired the Thought Leadership series in SCS, aimed at providing advice to our Society and the industry that could affect policies, strategies and the future direction of education.

Architect of Inaugural Award

Recently, Robert was also the architect behind the Best Tech Company to Work For Award. Thanks to Robert’s able leadership, this inaugural scheme had the stunning support of the industry.

Robert also serves on the boards of the Integrated Health Information Systems (IHIS), Alexandra Health, National Council

of Social Service, Shared Services for Charities, Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and TOUCH Community Services. He is also a member of the IT Standards Committee and chairs its Cloud Computing Standards Task Force.

Established in 1992, the SCS President’s Award recognises individuals who have made an outstanding commitment and significant contributions to SCS over an extended period of time. There have been only five recipients since its launch: Mr Willie Cheng (1993), Mr Andrew Sansom (1999), Mr Gerard Tan (2004), Mr Chak Kong Soon (2007) and Mr Robert Chew (2015).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Is Agile Project Management a Challenge?

Explore this trending methodology with Certification in IT Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th Edition) – New Release

W

ith agile software development becoming increasingly popular, it is important for IT project managers to keep abreast of the various methodologies and its applications. This updated Body of Knowledge (BoK) features an appendix on what it takes to manage projects that use an agile development methodology, where requirements evolve through close engagements and experimentations with end users.

This edition also places greater emphasis on the soft skills required of project managers, especially in the areas of change management and stakeholder management.

It is crucial for stakeholders to be fully engaged during the course of the project, shaping its outcomes, and maximising the returns of the investment on the systems.

Keep yourself updated with local compliance requirements in fields such as data protection and healthcare data, and be familiar with these standards when practising as a project manager in Singapore.

Preferential subscription rate at $30.00 (inclusive of 7% GST) for 3 BOK – CITPM/COMIT/CITBCM for SCS members.

To register for access, visit www.scs.org.sg or contact Ms Evelyn Chan at evelyn.chan@scs.org.sg Get your latest copy of this valuable repository now!

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

13

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Lee Chee Yong

Effective Agile Contracts

Agile software development is a means to achieve faster time-to-market and better software quality.

Agile software development is becoming an increasingly desired way of attaining faster time-to-market and better software quality in public and private sector alike.

For the agile approach to be successful, the contract is key. Specifications within this contract should be structured effectively if the benefits of agile software development are to be reaped.

Characteristics of Agile Contracts

Ensure your contract has all the pointers listed here: 1) Link payment milestones to delivery of running software. Design your documentation for the contract using the waterfall model, meaning, reward the vendor for the successful delivery

of running software in production. This will compel the software vendor to strive towards a working code, faster release timeline, and attention to technical excellence.

2) Cater for easy scope change. Any nontrivial project has a scope that evolves over time. A good agile contract needs to have a change management mechanism allowing both the client and vendor to swap in and out of it and change the scope to serve the client business landscape better.

3) Institute both carrot and stick policies.

Many outsourced IT contracts have clauses for liquidation damages that punish the vendor for non-compliance with the stipulated commissioning date, or for failing to deliver on the required quality performance indicators. Many fail to reward early completion of work. Instilling

Agile Practice Lead, Business Application Services, NCS

rewards into the contract structure will motivate the vendor to perform beyond the basic service level agreement.

4) Transparent Definition of “Done” “Done” in Agile terminology refers to the acceptance criteria for considering when functionality requirements are complete.

It includes the scope of the testing , types of documentation required, and whether deployment to the production environment is necessary. Include a Definition of Done so both client and vendor have clear and transparent expectations.

The IT Project Management (CITPM) programme now covers Agile development methodology. Visit www.scs.org.sg or contact the Certification Secretariat at 6226 2567 for more information.

Be at the Forefront in Your Quality Assurance Profession: Get Certified!

Pull ahead of others in the field through an SCS certification As the requirements and complexity of IT software projects get more challenging and demanding for IT professionals, getting certified will give you a competitive edge. Advance your career by empowering your skills and competencies in the Quality Assurance profession.

Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) Programme

The CSQA programme aims to impart the principles and practices of good quality management for IT managers to create quality software and reduce defect rates of IT projects.

Course Date: 12 - 14 May 2015, 9am – 5pm SCS Resource Centre PuaYeow Cheong Member, SCS Senior Lecturer, School of Informatics & IT Temasek Polytechnic “With software so pervasive in our daily lives, the consequences of software failure can be devastating in terms of economic and human costs. The CSQA certification is an affirmation of the knowledge I have acquired of the processes necessary to create quality software. As a Lecturer in the School of Informatics & IT at Temasek Polytechnic, I know that I am able to use and share this knowledge and skill with both students in the classroom and with the industry partners that we collaborate with to develop quality software.”

Certified Software Testing Professional (CSTP) Programme

The CSTP programme covers modern software testing techniques using industry-driven hands-on approaches to improve software quality, as well as the productivity of software testers and engineers.

Course Date: 24 - 28 Aug & 3 Sep 2015, 9am – 5pm Nanyang Polytechnic Isabel Marcelo Belgica Senior Systems Analyst StarHub

“I had the chance to attend a four-day CSTP course organised by the Singapore Computer Society at Nanyang Polytechnic.

The balanced approach of theory and hands-on practice gave me a better understanding of industry testing methodologies and tools in action. The course has allowed me to leverage my testing approach in my professional life.”

For further enquiries on CSQA and CSTP, please contact Sharon at sharon.koh@scs.org.sg or 62262567, ext 15.

14

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Is Yours a Winning Workplace?

Find out at the upcoming ‘Best Tech Company to Work For’ Award Ceremony in July.

I

n a firm conviction that people are the backbone of every organisation and deserve the very best support to innovate and utilise their strengths, the Singapore Computer Society recently launched the ‘Best Tech Company to Work For’ Award, the first of its kind in Singapore.

‘The Best Tech Company to Work For’ Award, supported by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), SPRING Singapore and Employment and Employability Institute

(e2i), honours technology companies with an outstanding corporate culture, effective talent development framework and innovation excellence.

Towards a Smart Nation

“WDA is pleased to support the Singapore Computer Society’s inaugural Best Tech Company to Work For Award that recognises tech companies that have implemented good HR and workplace practices, and take pride and care in developing their ICT professionals,” said Ng Cher Pong, Chief Executive, WDA. “To this end, we strongly encourage employers to play a bigger role in developing and deepening the skills of their employees to attract and retain talent.”

“Singapore is building the world’s first Smart Nation, and technology will play a crucial role in making that possible,” said Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman, IDA. “The Best Tech Company to Work

For Award will help honour tech companies that are perceived by the market as having a culture that attracts and retains great talents. IDA, in its role as the tech-industry champion, is happy to be a supporting partner for this award.”

Picking Our Winners

Nominations inviting tech organisations were split into three categories: Large companies and multinational corporations (MNCs), mid-sized companies (50 – 200 staff ) and start-ups and small companies (Fewer than or not exceeding five years of incorporation or fewer than 50 employees).

The nominees were also assessed by an independent panel of judges represented by public and private nexus from the IT industry. The panel of judges determined the winners based on five key criteria: innovation, human resource management, human resource development, people culture, and financial sustainability.

The Award Ceremony will be held on 8 July 2015 at 9am at the Four Seasons Hotel, in conjunction with the Infocomm Professional Development Forum (IPDF). The theme for IPDF this year is “The 2025 Workplace: Developing Singapore’s Innovative ICT Talent as We Transform Into a Smart Nation.”

For more information about ‘The Best Tech Company To Work For’ Award, please visit www.scs.org.sg/bestco-award/index.php

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

15

HAPPENINGS

Shaping The Digital Gen SCS’s IT Youth Council is all set to cater to a digital generation of youth whose needs and behaviour are changing the face of IT. Marcus Cheng

Member, SCS President SCS IT Youth Council

D

id you know that teenagers today are avoiding Facebook because they perceive it as something for old people? Instead, they were the first to flock new platforms such as Snapchat, Reddit and Instagram. Ten years ago, your average profile of an early adopter of technology was male, in his 40s, and someone who has been an experienced head in the industry for many years.

Today, youth (35 years and below), not necessarily with a background in IT, are your early adopters of technologies. This digital generation’s needs and behaviour are subconsciously changing the face of IT. Witness the rise of social media, changes in the networking industry to improve network bandwidth, faster internet speeds, etc. These spell huge opportunities and interest areas for youth in IT, opportunities that come with its unique set of challenges.

Changing Career Paths

In the past, career paths were easy to recognise. There was a template for progression. Most youth knew what type of job they would have once they graduated from a polytechnic or university. Today, the pace of technology is such that they have many more opportunities and the traditional roles of different career paths are changing — to the extent that some skills learned at university may not be applicable two to three years into your career.

Knowing this, youth find it harder to keep motivated and remain in IT. Students embarking on a career path in IT need preparation for the challenges they will face once they start working. They also have to understand what key skills are required to get ahead in their careers.

At the same time, young working professionals need help to keep up with the changes in the industry and identify the skills they need to stay ahead in their career paths.

IT Youth Council Members Back row from left: Tan Yi Zhuang, Sam Yong, Kok Kiat Han, Foo Ce Wei, Tommy Tien, Derek Loh, Lin Jing Yang, Nicholas Ooi, Suren Rastogi; front row from left: Hedren Sum, Lim Hang Loon, Fung Ka Yee, Marcus Cheng, Jason Chen, Soffenny Yap, Lee Jia Ming, Tan Boon Kiat

Voice of IT Youth

This was one of the reasons behind the formation of the IT Youth Council (ITYC).

We want to be the voice of IT youth in Singapore and connect the various IT communities: students, young working professionals, entrepreneurs and industry companies. We are developing a meaningful platform for youth to engage in constructive discussions and interactive sharing of views and insights. Ultimately, we want to help youth in IT shape the digital generation and give members of this generation direction and support in staying ahead of the rat race.

We divide ourselves into three teams — Education, Events and Engage — all of which work together towards the purposes listed above. The education team actively goes out to schools, speaks and advises students on career paths, education choices and real world challenges. The events team engages students as well as young professionals in networking sessions, seminars, and charity events, as well as builds interest in IT. The engage team is tasked with forming a platform to engage our target audience through digital media.

What’s Up Next

The first two months of the new IT Youth Council’s term have been very exciting. In

spite of the challenges faced by youth in IT, we are very encouraged by the continued enthusiasm we are seeing. Their willingness to learn, adapt and drive to stay on top of trends will take them far.

Over the next quarter, we have a number of activities and initiatives lined up, including a Youth Engagement Series (YES!) event, a networking session, a seminar on gaming software development, and learning journeys for various audiences to help them with their career paths. We are also developing plans to engage more women in IT and are excited to continue engaging with our peers, our digital generation, and help them shape their future in IT. To connect with the IT Youth Council and keep track of all our activities, please visit https://www.facebook.com/ITYouthCouncil.

Is Your Data At Risk?

Singapore businesses lost more than S$1.3 b* in 2014 from data loss and downtime.

As one of the leading Hosting providers in Asia serving more than 40,000 customers, we do not just provide you with a stable Cloud infrastructure, we also offer you solutions to keep your data confidential and comply with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). You can protect your data now for as low as S$9# (U.P. S$20) per device per month. Talk to us today.

PHONE:

6868 1169

WEB:

www.iconz-webvisions.com

EMAIL:

marketing@iconz-webvisions.com

*2014 EMC IT Services Survey # Valid till 30 June 2015

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

17

MEMBERS

Outstanding Senior SCS Members Made Fellows For their significant contributions to the ICT community, SCS conferred fellowships on ten senior SCS members recently.

E

very year, SCS singles out a few outstanding senior members on whom to confer its fellowships. These members are individuals who have established a reputation of eminence and authority in the IT field and whose contributions have resulted in positive changes to the ICT community.

Heartiest congratulations to the following new SCS Fellows!

Chang Yew Kong President ST Electronics (Info-Software Systems)

Chua Kee Thiam Head, IT PSA Corporation

Seah Thiam Siong Tan Teng Cheong Programme Director Land Transport Authority

VP, Asia Pacific Digital Intelligence Systems (DISYS)

Howie Lau

VP, Corporate Development Lenovo Singapore

Tan Tong Hai

CEO and Executive Director StarHub Ltd

Here is what a few of our new Fellows say about SCS: “In my 35+ years in the infocomm profession, SCS has been one of the places where I built my professional network. Over the years SCS has been a stalwart in driving the profession to greater heights.

I am honoured to have served the SCS Executive Council from 1995 to 1998, and assisted in many special interest groups and various SCS certification programmes, and in establishing Singapore standards.

SCS has also been a strong partner in NCB/IDA’s efforts in cyber security.

The vision of National Cyber Security Masterplan 2018 (NCSM 2018) is for Singapore to be a “Trusted and Robust Infocomm Hub” and the Masterplan aims to engender a secure and resilient infocomm environment and a vibrant cyber security ecosystem. A key focus area of the NCSM2018 is the growth of the pool of infocomm security professionals in Singapore. I am happy to see that SCS has supported and contributed to IDA’s push in those areas.”

John Yong

Lim Hooi Ling

Consulting Director (IT Management) Institute of Systems Science

Angela Wee

Director, School of Infocomm Technology Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Poh Mui Hoon

Chief Executive Officer SP Telecommunications

John Yong

Senior Director Infocomm Security & Assurance Division Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore

“I am indeed honoured to be conferred a SCS Fellowship. I have been an SCS member since its early days, and have seen it expand its portfolio of programmes and initiatives to develop and increase the vibrancy of our IT professional community. I look forward to further contribute to the Society in developing future generations of IT talent and leaders for Singapore.”

Lim Hooi Ling “I joined SCS some 26 years ago and was glad to have served SCS in the Exco previously. I saw SCS grow from strength to strength to become a highly dynamic and collaborative professional society now for IT professionals, providing meaningful industry-relevant training and networking opportunities and special interest platforms for its members.

SCS is amazingly supportive of the various education institutes and our young IT-aspiring youth. Kudos to SCS!” Angela Wee “Over my years in the IT industry, I have grown with SCS, just as I have grown with the IT industry. SCS has provided a great platform for networking and learning. It plays a pivotal role in the IT industry. I am glad to have been a member of SCS for so many years.”

Poh Mui Hoon

18

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

HAPPENINGS

Redefining Business Continuity Management in the Cloud Era In an era of constantly emerging new threats to data security, organisations need to reassess their business continuity and disaster recovery plans continuously.

Paul Lee Senior Member, SCS President SCS-Business Continuity Group

R

isk and uncertainties abound in an increasingly dangerous world, with new threats constantly emerging.

There is therefore rising concern about strengthening corporate resilience, and a greater need for it. With the growing influence of cloud computing and the evolving risk landscape, organisations must reassess their BC/DR (business continuity and disaster recovery) plans and crisis management tools on a continuous basis. will fail, no matter how much “ Systems resilience you put in. It is people who make the difference,” Mr Khoong Hock Yun, IDA’s Assistant Chief Executive (Development Group) and Chief Data Officer, noted in his inaugural address at the 2015 Business Continuity Management (BCM) Conference on 6 February that was organised by our Business Continuity Group (BCG).

“Certification is thus a good investment that ensures key employees are well trained on what actions to take in the event of a disaster.

”

Effective BCM

In his conference welcome address, SCS Vice-President Howie Lau said companies are waking up to the need for effective BCM. According to a study by research house Allied Business Intelligence, the global market for BC/DR solutions will cross US$39 billion this year – up from US$24.3 billion in 2009.

This is due to a growing reliance on data and the need for backup, storage and security.

Industries such as financial services and healthcare operate under strict regulations requiring them to have BC/DR programmes

in place. In many other industries, such programmes are not legally required, but savvy companies always prepare for the worst.

Cloud computing has become so mainstream that it is often taken for granted. Research house Gartner Inc. says about 50 per cent of large businesses will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017. Private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative reality for nearly 50 per cent of large enterprises. Hybrid cloud computing is at the same place today as private cloud was three years ago – actual deployments are low, but aspirations are high.

Social Media A Must in Crisis Communication In his keynote address, Dell’s South Asia regional head of cloud and big data, Raju Chellam, who is also our BCG’s immediate past-president, asked the audience rhetorically: “Which are the top three marketplaces in the world today?” He then went on to reveal that China would be first, followed by India. “And if you go by the number of active users, the third would be Facebook. This would be followed by China’s TenCent, WhatsApp, the United States, Google+, Indonesia, LinkedIn and Twitter – in that order,” he added.

This radical transformation in global markets will force companies to reorganise to be “always on”. This, in turn, requires a radical rethink in BC/DR terms. “Digital business success will depend on companies taking bold measures and changing the way they function,” Gartner emphasises.

As well, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2015, 75 per cent of organisations with BCM programmes will have public social media services in their crisis communications strategies. Social media represents the vast mass of unstructured data that big data seeks to analyse to predict trends. And 100 per cent of social media is in the cloud.

So if a disaster strikes, enterprises simply cannot afford to ignore social media as a crisis communications tool. In many cases, social media may represent the only available means of locating and contacting personnel; providing stakeholders with the information and assistance they need; informing citizens, customers and partners of product/service availability; and taking other business-critical actions following a disruptive event.

Levelling Up Competencies Through Certification

SCS plays a key role in levelling up the competencies of BCM, IT outsourcing and project management professionals through professional certification programmes.

These include CITBCM (Certification in IT Business Continuity Management); CITPM (Certification in IT Project Management); and COMIT (Certification in Outsourcing Management). Launched in June 2010, CITBCM certification is the only BCM certification that covers all three key competency areas in IT Disaster Recovery, Data Centre Management and BCM. The programme has also embraced the Singapore Standards in ICT Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity.

As noted by Mr Howie Lau in his conference welcome address, “To date, we have more than 3,000 IT professionals certified in CITPM, COMIT and CITBCM. “Each of these professional certifications has been mapped to the National Infocomm Competency Framework. With strong support from IDA and industry players, I am glad to share that CITPM and COMIT are the preferred criteria for evaluation of government tenders for IT projects. On a parting note, allow me to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to go for the SCS professional certification programmes, especially CITBCM.”

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

19

HAPPENINGS

Serving You as SCS Executive Council Members in 2015/2016 At its 48th Annual General Meeting held at Grand Park City Hall on 26 March, SCS selected members for its new leadership team.

Back row (from left): Adrian Chye, Ong Whee Teck, Joshua Soh, Leslie Ong, Lau Shih Hor, Philip Kwa, Bruce Liang, Dennis Ang, Andrew Lim, Myungjo Choi, Peter Goh; front row (from left): Dr Kwong Yuk Wah, Dr Chong Yoke Sin, Yap Chee Yuen, Howie Lau, Chak Kong Soon, Dr Timothy Chan, Lum Seow Khun, Tan Teng Cheong; absent: Dr Toh See Kiat The following members form the new SCS leadership team: President Howie Lau, FSCS Lenovo (Singapore)

Council Member Dennis Ang, SMSCS Nanyang Polytechnic

Vice-President Dr Chong Yoke Sin, FSCS Integrated Health Information Systems

Myungjo Choi, SMSCS Facebook Southeast Asia

Tan Teng Cheong, FSCS Digital Intelligence Systems (DISYS) Yap Chee Yuen, FSCS Genting Singapore Honorary Secretary Dr Timothy Chan, FSCS Singapore Institute of Management Honorary Treasurer Ong Whee Teck, SMSCS PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting

Adrian Chye, MSCS Mediafreaks Peter Goh, FSCS Accenture Philip Kwa, SMSCS AirWatch Dr Kwong Yuk Wah, FSCS National Trades Union Congress Lau Shih Hor, SMSCS Elixir Technology

Bruce Liang, SMSCS Ministry of Health and MOH Holdings Andrew Lim, MSCS SingTel Lum Seow Khun, MSCS IBM Leslie Ong, SMSCS VMware Joshua Soh, SMSCS Action Community for Entrepreneurship Honorary Legal Advisor Dr Toh See Kiat, FSCS Goodwins Law Corporation Immediate Past President Chak Kong Soon, FSCS Stream Global

20

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

HAPPENINGS

Well Done Yesterday, On With Tomorrow At our recent AGM, members picked the leaders and committee members who will guide and serve them this year.

Through our various chapters and interest groups, we enable our members to choose the specific fields in which they wish to immerse themselves.

Here’s a look at fellow members who will lead our respective chapters in the coming year.

Business Analytics (BA) President Simon Thomas, MSCS IBM Global Business Services Vice-President Kelly Choo, MSCS iSentia Brandtology Honorary Secretary Shridar Jayakumar, MSCS Oracle Applications

Honorary Treasurer Swaminathan Rajamanickam, MSCS EMC International Council Member Ang Kian Keong, MSCS Nanyang Polytechnic Kwa Siew Kuan, MSCS Nanyang Polytechnic Oh Chin Lock, MSCS Temasek Polytechnic

President Simon Thomas, MSCS IBM Global Business Services “The objective of the Business Analytics Chapter is to serve as a home base and essential resource for Analytics professionals in Singapore. In 2015, our agenda will move from activities related to awareness and adoption to the development and growth of the Analytics community in Singapore. We will focus on Analytics Training and Capability Development and serve as an exchange for Analytics Training providers to list programmes and materials, and for interested individuals to find the right training and information they require. We welcome all interested parties to contribute to the advancement of Analytics in Singapore.”

Business Continuity Group (BCG) President Paul Lee, SMSCS DC Connect

Honorary Treasurer Carolynn Lock, SMSCS Hitachi Data Systems

Vice-President Caroline Tan, MSCS IDA

Council Member Lim Pei Xin, MSCS 1-Net Singapore

Honorary Secretary Yong Foo Onn, MSCS UBS

Dr Anton Ravindran, SMSCS RapidStart

Assistant Secretary Wong Tew Kiat, FSCS Organisation Resilience Management

Micah Tan, MSCS Horizon Resiliency Inc

President Paul Lee, SMSCS DC Connect “The BCG would like to thank its members and industry partners for their strong support over the past year. The great feedback received for the BCM Conference in Feb 2015 will spur the team to deliver a better Conference in the coming year. For 2015, BCG will also continue to organise a range of site visits and workshops, such as Crisis Management through Social Media”

Roland Teo, MSCS Eastern Health Alliance

Certified IT Project Managers’ (CITPM) Chapter President Thomas Lai, SMSCS ST Electronics (Info Software Systems) Vice-President Sean Lim, MSCS IDA Honorary Secretary Jonathan Tay, MSCS SATS Honorary Treasurer Low Soon Woon, MSCS NCS

Council Member Edwin Chew, MSCS, Integrated Health Information Systems Chin Keng Cheong, MSCS HP Enterprise Services Jeffrey Ng, MSCS PwC Tan Seng Chong, SMSCS IBM Wu Chun Wei, MSCS Accenture

President Thomas Lai, SMSCS ST Electronics (Info Software Systems) “The Certified IT Project Manager’s chapter brings together those certified in CITPMs and COMITs for the common purpose of sharing knowledge and experience on the latest trends and development in the IT project management and outsourcing management arena. This year, the chapter will be focusing on developing an agile training course and other evening events with exclusive consultation sessions with experienced Project Managers to explore how they can overcome some of the challenges in managing their IT projects.”

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

HAPPENINGS Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Chapter President Nicholas Aaron Khoo, MSCS Singapore Cybersports & Online Games Association Vice-President Daniel Tan, SMSCS Nanyang Polytechnic Honorary Secretary Low Aik Lim, MSCS Green Thumb Consultancy Honorary Treasurer Ng Weng Choh, MSCS Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Council Member Peter Choy, SMSCS Temasek Polytechnic Samantha Fok, MSCS IDA Eric Lam, MSCS Amdon Consulting Luke Lee, MSCS MDA Georgina Phua, SMSCS Singapore Polytechnic

Mobile and Wireless (MWL) Chapter President Loh Mun Yew, MSCS TapTalents

Council Member Janice Chua, AMSCS Ritz Property Investment

Vice-President Richard Oh, MSCS NTUitive

Koo Seng Meng, MSCS IDA

Honorary Secretary Melvyn Suan, MSCS Nanyang Polytechnic Honorary Treasurer Tan Kok Peng, MSCS M1

Michael Lim, MSCS JamiQ Tommy Tien, MSCS DBS Bank Yeo Law Learn, MSCS M1 Past President Jennifer Huang, SMSCS SIM University

President Nicholas Aaron Khoo, MSCS Singapore Cybersports & Online Games Association “We plan to continue rolling out interesting events and workshops that have been popular and successful over the years. We also seek to work more closely with other SCS Chapters and SIGs. One good example will be working with the student chapter to organise the Splash Awards 2015. We will be taking feedback through a members’ survey to find out how we can best serve both members and the wider sector.”

President Loh Mun Yew, MSCS TapTalents “As connected devices continue to blur the lines between desktop and mobile, a wave of wearables is already beginning to find value in various uses. From smartphones to smart helmets and smart socks and even smart toys, these connected devices and wearables are now being developed to transform how we live, work and play. The Mobile & Wireless Chapter represents the collective interests of all mobile executives, developers and architects from the mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, equipment providers and software, as well as internet companies. As we continue to realise the vision of a Smart Nation, we will continue to identify trends and initiatives to leverage these technologies to augment humanity so that we can be smarter citizens, smarter students and smarter workers. Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to realise these opportunities together.”

Quality Assurance (QA) Chapter President Francis Mahendran, SMSCS EasyWorks

Honorary Treasurer James Tey, MSCS Nanyang Polytechnic

Vice-President Quek Ser Choon, SMSCS Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore

Council Member Elene Peck, MSCS Singapore Management University

Honorary Secretary Balaji Balasubramanian, MSCS Great Eastern Life

Jan Setyawan, MSCS Singapore Management University Santheep Singh, MSCS Accellion

President Francis Mahendran, SMSCS EasyWorks “The QA Chapter received great support from SCS members for the evening seminars and workshops that were organised in 2014. The Executive Committee will continue to seek out relevant industry speakers with up-to-date topics to benefit the QA community.

We welcome all IT professionals who are interested in Quality and Process to join the QA chapter, a platform for exchanging and sharing QA concepts and Process Improvement ideas.”

Be engaged with our chapters and join the chapter of your interest at https://www.scs.org.sg/SIG/sig-registration.php today!

21

22

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

HAPPENINGS

Glitz and Glamour @ SCS Gala Dinner

SCS’s annual platform for honouring significant contributors to Singapore’s Infocomm and Media landscape attracts a good turnout.

O

ur SCS Gala Dinner and IT Leader Awards 2015 ceremony once again proved highly successful and reaffirmed the event as a key platform for acknowledging and honouring those who have contributed strongly to Singapore’s Infocomm and Media (ICM) landscape.

It was also a great occasion for ICM industry luminaries, veterans, experts and partners to network.

In its 19th year, 2015’s event, held at the Shangri-La Hotel on 6 March, was graced by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information.

Some 900 infocomm professionals and representatives from both the public and private sectors enjoyed an evening of fun, glamour and glitz.

1. Guests having a great time at the dinner 2. A night to catch up with fellow professionals in the industry 3. 900 guests at the Gala Dinner!

4. Cheers to a wonderful evening!

1

2

3

4

The Singapore Computer Society would like to thank the following sponsors and supporters for helping to make the event so successful: IT Leader Awards 2015 Sponsors:

SCS Gala Dinner 2015 Sponsors: Platinum Sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:

Supported by:

Official Media:

Silver Sponsors:

Web: www.scs.org.sg

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY

HAPPENINGS

AUG 2015

JUL 2015

MAy 2015

Calendar of Events 12 - 14 MAY

CSQA Preparatory Workshop & Certification

15 MAY

Ideas on The Sharing Economy & Analytics

21 May

Seminar on Developing Cybersecurity Capabilities for Organisation

23 May

SCS Bowling Tournament 2015

8 JUL

Infocomm Professional Development Forum (IPDF) 2015 & Best Tech Company To Work For Award Ceremony 2015

22 AUG

SCS Business Leadership Seminar

24 - 25 AUG

2-day Workshop on Secure Software Development Model (SSDM)

24 - 28 AUG & 3 SEP

Raise your Software Testing Proficiencies with Certified Software Testing Professional (CSTP)

28 AUG

SCS Golf Day 2015

31 AUG - 1 SEP

2-Day Workshop on Secure Software Development for Banking and Finance (SDBF)

23

24

THE IT SOCIETY — Issue One 2015

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SingaporeComputerSociety

THE LITE SIDE

1. Who is the author of the classical software engineering book, “The Mythical Man-Month”?

A) John Sonmez B) Frederick Brooks C) Roger Pressman D) Hans van Vliet 2. Which of the following are Software development methodologies?

A) Waterfall model B) Icremental model C) V- Model D) All of the above 3. CMMI is a process improvement training and appraisal program for organisations. What does CMMI stand for?

A) Configuration Maturity Model Integration B) Capability Maturity Model Integration C) Configuration Management Model Integration D) Conflict Management Model Integration

INNOVATIVE INVENTS

6 B 7 D 8 B 9 B 10 A

uiz

8. Which is the first company to hit a market 4. Which of the following are Agile development captialisation value of $700 billion? methodologies?

A) SAP A) Agile modeling B) Apple B) Scrum C) Lenova C) Lean software development D) Google D) All of the above

9. Who wrote the cyberpunk novel, 5. Shift edit, Cloud9, Sourcekit are examples of “The Neuromancer” ?

A) Online software configuration tools A) Neal Stephenson B) Online IDEs B) William Gibson C) Software analytics tools C) Bill Thomoson D) None of the above D) Douglas Adams

6. In which year was the first version of Photoshop 10. Identify the logo below: released?

A) 1988 B) 1990 C) 1992

D) 1994 A) Wiki Media

B) Wiki Dictionary 7. Dolby Atmos technology supports up to ______ C) Wikipedia Foundation audio tracks.

D) Media Wiki A) 50 B) 84 C) 92 D) 120

Fashioned from both man-made fibres as well as natural materials, Bulbing adds an element of design to whichever room it is placed. Besides the electric bulb, it comes in six other designs, including a teddy bear.

Feel safe positioning it in the children’s room.

It doesn’t overheat and all its circuitry is properly wired.

Tear and Share Your Gigs

A New Perspective on Lighting Achieve warm lighting anywhere in your home with a cleverly designed lamp that takes up only two-dimensional space.

Bulbing is a versatile LED lamp, shaped like a stylised electric bulb. However what you see is an optical illusion: Bulbing is actually a sheet of acrylic glass no thicker than 5mm, wedged on a finely hand-crafted piece of plywood birch.

LED embedded in the wooden base lights up this sheet when it is slotted in it. Bulbing is energy-efficient, offering up to 50,000 hours of warm lighting.

Downloading those files your client would like from your thumb drive can be a tad timeconsuming, especially when you have a tight schedule to keep. One solution would be to leave your expensive 64GB thumb drive that has other important documents there.

Not normally feasible. However, with Gigs 2 Go, it is. This pack of four tabs — each a thumb drive loaded with a Chip-on-Board (COB) memory stick —makes sharing files on the go do-able and inexpensive. Simply tear off the tab with the required files and you still have three more for later use!

Made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, it is biodegradable, renewable, and durable enough to endure many uses. It is also waterproof and shockproof and therefore doesn’t need a cap. A pack of

Answers: 1 B 2 D 3 B 4 D 5 B

SCS

four is about as thick as a credit card and comes with COB tabs ranging from 2GB to 16GB each.

Personal Weather Station Not sure if it is too hot and humid outside for the track suit you have on? Rather than coming back to change into something lighter, save yourself the trouble with Tempi, which gives you the exact temperature and humidity outside before you head out the door.

A button-size bluetooth device that can be clipped onto your apparel, it accurately measures humidity and temperatures ranging from -30°C to 85°C and sends the readings to your smartphone. Obviously your smartphone also gives you readings from weather stations, but these are usually far away. By placing Tempi outdoors just before you head out, you get precise information about your vicinity.

And if you have a baby in the house, you can monitor the temperature in the little one’s room as Tempi sends you alerts should this fall below or rise above what is ideal. Tempi is in its prototype phase currently.