Sam Liew Chats about SCS

Getting to Know the New SCS Leader

In March 2022, Sam Liew took over the reins as SCS President. Sam is SCS’ 17th President since its inception in 1967.

SAM LIEW

President, SCS Managing Partner, Government Strategic Business Group, NCS Earliest Tech Experience: Using WordPerfect for a university assignment Earliest Professional Tech Experience: As a COBOL Programmer in my first role Last Played: Minecraft and Rise of Kingdom An Item You Can’t Live Without: Make it two – my clipboard (with my handwritten notes) and my water bottle Favourite Way to Relax: Spend time swimming and gaming with Jonathan Liew Best Partner in Crime: Jonathan Liew (Sam’s nineyear-old son)

Some of you have probably heard about the SCS 4 + 1 approach at the recent SCS Gala Dinner on 6 May. But if you haven’t, it is not too late. The IT Society chats with our new SCS President, Sam Liew – the man who came up with the 4 + 1 approach, to understand what it really is and his game plan for making it happen.

Q: Question, SL: Sam Liew

Q: What is the SCS 4 + 1 approach?

SL: The SCS 4 + 1 approach was birthed as a result of us tracing back to the basics of what SCS truly represents. It is about contributing to the community we live in. That is why at the heart of the 4 + 1 strategy, it is about the people we need to engage and support. The “4” represents the students, youths, professionals, and seniors and vulnerable groups. The “+1” represents the trade associations and chambers of commerce (TACs). TACs are experts in their industries and business domains. SCS hopes that through our outreach to them, we will be able to support them in infusing “Tech” and “Digital” into their agenda.

Q: Why is this a good time to launch the SCS 4 + 1 approach?

SL: When I first joined the industry, it was all about computerisation. Then came the internet evolution, and now, emerging tech like cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI). It is quite clear across the years that the technology evolution is here to stay. Thanks to technology, our lives have improved. Our society has also grown to become a lot more efficient and inclusive. Knowing that SCS has the power to support our community invigorates me and reaffirms that our focus on the SCS 4 + 1 approach is the right strategy.

SCS as a tech society, has been around for 55 years and over 52,000 members. My mission is to rally everyone to come together to support these community groups under the 4 + 1 strategy. If we can do that well, we can help our country be even more successful – especially during these challenging “emerging from the pandemic” times.

Q: That sounds fantastic. How does SCS plan to galvanise everyone in embracing the 4 + 1 approach?

SL: Good question. Let’s break it down. As I mentioned, the students are a group that SCS actively supports. As they say, catch them when they are young. Get them excited about tech and equip them with the right skills so that when the time comes for them to pursue their careers, they can make the right choice. If they do eventually join the tech industry, great! And even if they don’t, they can still put technology and their digital skills to good use in the profession of their choice. Our SCS Student Chapters help bring tech topics closer to students in schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) through infocomm clubs, webinars and events like the SCS Splash Awards.

Another important group is our youths – anyone below the age of 35. They have just embarked on their careers, and from the SCS perspective, we can provide them with mentorship, guiding them in their career choices and how to navigate this tech-driven environment. From our interaction with members of our SCS Youth, we note that many of these youths have strong desires to contribute to the community through their tech skills. For example, at the recent Digital for Life Festival, our SCS Youth volunteers went ground-up to provide technology support for the various activities.

In line with SCS’ mission, we are also looking to enhance the support for our professional members through our 13 Chapters and three Special Interest Groups. Besides webinars and sharing sessions, plans are underway to organise a first of its kind conference, DTechX Conference, which will touch on domains strapping across at least eight SCS Communities of Practice! In addition, we recognise that the needs of our community and the professionals have changed over time. So on top of the usual certifications, we will be rolling out more micro-certifications to stay relevant to our professionals’ development needs.

We will continue to strengthen our flagship mentorship programme – SCS Career Compass. Our 215 SCS mentors have helped many people in the past two years. Now as the country opens up and people get around their daily lives, it is even more critical that SCS mentors are on hand to offer advice to mentees who want to know more about the tech industry or how to chart their career growth.

Importantly, we also want to instil in our members that SCS membership is more than just knowledge sharing and networking, but also to contribute, volunteer and pay it forward to the society and the community at large. After all, I believe each of us aspires to make Singapore a better place through our profession and our craft. And the craft of SCS’ 52,000 members happens to be technology. Hence, we recently combined a number of initiatives and committees under the umbrella of Tech for Good to support different segments of our community – particularly seniors and vulnerable groups – who might need support from a tech perspective.

Q: It sure looks like you have your work cut out for you. What can we expect on the immediate horizon?

SL: We have been thinking a lot about member services and ways to drive up the value of SCS membership – both in terms of what SCS can give our members as well as how our members can contribute back to the tech and the larger community.

For the former, we have already put in motion some big plans. DTechX Conference is one of them. It’ll be the first time a number of Chapters are coming together to push the boundaries of knowledge and sharing across domains across our Communities of Practice. Additionally, our annual Tech3 Forum will be back this year in August with an excellent speaker line-up. Our 19th Splash Awards promises to be another exciting flagship event. And, not forgetting, the SCS Golf Day – I know for a fact that many golfers are already polishing their boots in anticipation.

In addition, we will also be looking to ramp up our momentum in engaging and doing good for the community, by building upon our past experiences in community programmes such as PC for Good, SG Enable initiatives and collaboration with Sembawang Family Service Centre.

“For someone considering a tech career, I would advise them to be curious, be adaptable, and be willing to learn. And if you are new in tech, I would suggest for you to pick the hardest thing and start with that – so that you can learn and grow. Last but not least, join a society like SCS to network with other like-minded people, learn about the tech ecosystem, or be mentored by someone who can guide you onto the right path.”

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