THE
MCI (P) 102/07/2016
MADE IN SINGAPORE 03 Razer: From Startup to Cult Brand
SOCIETY
05 Views from the Top: The Startup Culture
The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society
07 Big Data: Love it or Hate it?
Issue
04 2016
Contents Vision To be the leading infocomm and digital media professional society in Singapore
Mission
EDITOR’S MESSAGE
#LATEST@SCS
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Discover Your True North with SCS Career Compass
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Inaugural Career Crossroad Series
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Why is Cybersecurity a Concern for Business Leaders?
Our Little Red Dot: A Sweet Spot for All Things Tech
THE BIG IDEA 03
Razer: From Startup to Cult Brand
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Recognising Brilliance in Youths
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Views from the Top: The Startup Culture
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Another New Student Chapter Launched!
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Big Data: Love it or Hate it?
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New Leadership for IT Youth Council
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Winners of Splash Awards 2016
SPOTLIGHT
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SCS is Turning 50!
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Mark Your Calendar for these Events
Lead the Way To lead and contribute to the vibrancy and growth of Singapore’s infocomm and digital media industry
Add Value To add value to the infocomm and digital media professional’s career and personal development
Be the Voice To engage and be the voice of the infocomm and digital media community
Serial Technopreneur Eddie Chau Shares Perspective
12 Adrian Chye Shows What it Means to be Prepared – Always
GEEK SPEAK 25
Mad in Singapore
POWER BOOST 15 Made in Singapore Professional Certifications 17
Do You Know the Era of e-Learning is Already Here?
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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
9:41 AM
Our Little Red Dot: A Sweet Spot for All Things Tech
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es, Singapore is small – in size. But, that is as far as it goes. We have huge aspirations and they are not limited to our goal of transforming Singapore into a Smart Nation by 2025. Singapore is hoping to birth the next Google or the next Facebook. Yes, you heard it right. While it may sound like a tall order, it is actually an achievable target. Here’s why: Singapore has reportedly one of the world’s highest broadband and mobile penetration; enjoys a great reputation for intellectual property protection and global financial infrastructure; and most importantly – perhaps – the Singapore government is all out to encourage tech innovations with its many friendly government schemes and initiatives, including the setup of SG-Innovate in the recent times to support startups specifically. Indeed, the plethora of “Made in Singapore” innovations and their popularity evidence that we are on track to increasing Singapore’s brand equity. And this presents abundant opportunities for aspiring, budding and seasoned tech professionals – alike – to positively contribute to future “Made in Singapore” solutions. One example is Enterprise Solution provider Nugit, which is set to revolutionise the big data game with artificial intelligence. However, the startup scene in Singapore hasn’t always been sexy. You just need to speak to
EDITOR Tan Teng Cheong CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Saurav Bhattacharyya Vladyslav Koshelyev Lau Soon Liang David Sanderson Min-Liang Tan EDITORIAL SUPPORT Claudia Lim
ADVERTISING SALES & ADMIN Claudia Lim For ad sales enquiries, Tel: 6226 2567 ext 12 Email: claudia.lim@scs.org.sg Mailing Address 53 Neil Road Singapore 088891 EMAIL scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg EDITORIAL & DESIGN Lancer Design Pte Ltd
Adrian Chye, Co-Founder and General Manager of Mediafreaks, and Eddie Chau, Entrepreneur and Angel Investor of TNF Ventures to know how much the environment has changed since the days of the dotcom bubble. Today, Singapore has much to offer as a launch pad for startups. Our entrepreneurial ecosystem and cosmopolitan city-state provides conditions optimal for startups to test ideas before launching to regional and international markets. But make no mistake – the real test of business sustainability still lies in the relevance of the offering to the target audience and the tenacity of the leadership, as Razer and Quantum Inventions can testify to from their experience. The stage is set and the script is ready. It’s time for us – tech professionals – to get up there and put up a good show to tell the rest of the world what “Made in Singapore” really means. Question is, are you ready? Well, there may still be time for you to touch up your skills with SCS industry certifications, but you got to get down to it now. Enjoy your dose of The IT Society! TAN TENG CHEONG Editor Fellow, SCS tengcheong.tan@scs.org.sg
FEEDBACK We value your feedback for this magazine. Simply email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg with your comments to help us produce an even more interesting and relevant magazine for you in subsequent issues. You are welcome to submit articles for inclusion consideration. For advertising enquiries, please call 6226 2567 or email scs.secretariat@scs.org.sg. The IT Society is the official publication of the Singapore Computer Society. Any part of this publication may be reproduced as long as credit is given to the publisher, Singapore Computer Society. All views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Society.
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THE BIG IDEA
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Razer: From Startup to Cult Brand How two guys on opposite sides of the planet birthed an industry. Every business starts with an idea. The success of that business relies on the passion of its exponents. Sometimes the idea is deliberate, thought-out and built from fundamentals into a going concern. Other times, well, there’s just something you think should be better, so you take it upon yourself to improve it, and a company happens before you know it. Razer falls into that second category.
R
azer’s genesis came about when I met Robert Krakoff online whilst playing Quake. Between games, we would be chatting online, musing about how the world needed a mouse that didn’t suck, that was fast enough and accurate enough to keep up ingame with our actions in real life. BIRTH OF AN INDUSTRY In a surprisingly short amount of time, pontifications became discussions, which in turn matriculated to planning and the creation of the world’s first gaming mouse. We had no idea how huge an impact the Razer Boomslang mouse would have on gaming, we were just excited for our friends to get their hands on what we’d created.
Between the two of us, we had created a faster, more accurate mouse than anything on the market. How do I know, you ask? Well, while testing the mouse in an online First-person Shooter (FPS) game, I got booted off the server because I was suspected of cheating. I was simply too fast and too accurate to not be cheating somehow, they concluded. That, inspired me to do more – to give gamers an “unfair advantage”. Robert was just as keen. We took some time to get our act together, and started Razer as a company in Carlsbad, California – near the “Silicon Valley South” area, which was a great location for a startup. There was more appetite for new businesses
MIN-LIANG TAN Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Razer SCS YP of the Year, 2007
there as opposed to other parts of the world. Although being an entrepreneur and running a startup back then were nowhere near as “sexy” as today, the experience was definitely gratifying. When we started in 2005, we had a small office that could barely fit our three staff members. Every day was a battle to stay solvent. We had one product, a fistful of ideas and rapidly dwindling capital. The one thing we did have going for us though was an unending pool of passion. We were all gamers and, rather than making a product then trying to figure out how to make people want it, we decided to engineer what we and other gamers would want and bring those concepts to life. continue on next page
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THE BIG IDEA
BUILDING A BRAND We spent the next 10 years building our brand. There were ups and downs but we stayed true to our vision of creating cool products that gamers would want, sometimes in defiance of common business sense. Slowly but surely, we began to grow. We hired more staff and built our community together with the gamers out there. The real tipping point came after we had been in business for a few years. We were going through a trying period; a bigger company approached us to sell out. It warranted serious consideration. I went as far as to meet the company’s CEO who told me point blank that if I didn’t sell, he would simply run us into the ground.
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This would have sounded intimidating if not for the realisation that we had something they did not – the Gamers. They were a big company that would devote maybe two percent of their time on thinking about what gamers want. We, however, spend all day, every day thinking about what gamers want. Since the beginning we have been hyperfocused on our niche target audience – the Gamers, and instinctively I knew if we continued on that track, we would eventually succeed. On that same day, I returned to the office and assured my staff that we had nothing to worry about. I was right. FROM STARTUP TO UNICORN From that point, our growth was exponential. We stayed hyper-focused on
THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
our target audience, making sure that we didn’t lose sight of what they wanted by staying close to them through social media. Today, we have over a million followers on Instagram, over two million followers on Twitter and another seven million plus on Facebook. We even have our own channel to talk to our community in a completely unfettered way: Razer Insider. There are no canned responses at Razer. Every comment comes from a real person, in a real, uncensored way. We are guided by our motto, “For Gamers. By Gamers.” And we will never compromise on our values or our promise to gamers. The result is, we now have a pretty phenomenal gamer community around Razer – active, engaged and real. We will change nothing.
3 MUST-KNOW FACTS ABOUT RAZER FACT 1
FACT 2
FACT 3
Min-Liang Tan met Robert Krakoff in 1998, but only officially founded Razer in 2005
Razer’s first product was a gaming mouse named “Boomslang”
The world’s bestselling gaming mouse “DeathAdder” was first launched in 2006
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THE BIG IDEA
05
The Startup Culture – Views from the Top The word “startup” has been popularised – thanks to huge success of the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Uber. In addition, the portrayal of workplace cultures as creative and dynamic has also heightened the appeal of startups. The outcome is, there is a thriving ecosystem of startups raring to revolutionise the world. However, is the view from the inside really as exciting as it seems on the outside?
SAURAV BHATTACHARYYA Member, SCS Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Quantum Inventions SCS YP of the Year, 2013
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n the case of Quantum Inventions (QI) – a technology services company that develops solutions for intelligent mobility, the journey was definitely not always easy. Particularly, the perception that it only takes a killer idea and (sometimes more than) ample funding to establish a successful business is all too often, too good to be true. While having a good idea did help us get started, it was clear that more needs to be done, and continuously, if we want to conquer the innovation-hungry marketplace.
BOOTSTRAPPING – NOT SEXY BUT VERY TANGIBLE We knew we had to scale up but that also meant the need for more resources. Although we could raise angel capital (and yes, there are true angels), we quickly realised that the amount of money raised was insufficient to create a product roadmap. Therefore, very early on in QI’s journey, the strategy of innovating on the back of contracts – aka bootstrapping – was adopted. We exercise cautious pragmatism – build a minimum viable platform; find a customer; license; and build some more. This model led QI into producing our first consumer product for the automotive market – our real-time traffic enabled navigation software, Galactio. In exchange for exclusive rights, our marketing and sales partner committed to initial payments. It all worked out. Today, that partner is under the same roof as QI.
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THE BIG IDEA
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PRODUCT – ALL ABOUT MARKET FIT Since the inception of QI in 2006, we have grown from strength to strength. Today, we are not only a market leader in connected navigation and GIS (geographic information systems) products, we also create state-of-the-art fleet management solutions and industry-leading intelligent transportation solutions used by government agencies – counting among our customers big names such as Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Defence, PSA, Singtel, Vodafone (Egypt), Toyata Tsusho and Google. Underpinning these achievements is an in-depth understanding of what the customer wants and where the market is heading. While we are not Steve Jobs who possessed an uncanny ability to know what the customer needs, we got started by acknowledging the customers’ needs and making it a point to ensure that our customers form part of our acceptance loop in new products development. This unwavering focus empowered QI to constantly set technology, efficiency and innovation standards for intelligent mobility solutions, enjoy a profitable track record of over a decade and continue growing.
THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
CULTURE – IT CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR STARTUP Increasing number of statistical reports show that very few startups last. They do something right that the other 99% did not. There is no formula for success but with startups – the culture, as it is referred to, has to share a part of the blame. Misunderstood, the startup culture has become synonymous with sizable valuations, a swanky workplace and flexible work hours. Venture capital firms are both victims and propagators in this situation, bold enough to invest money on unproven ideas. This culture is forcing many to go against the traditional business-making practice, where companies respond to consumers’ needs rather than vice versa. Yes, there have been true innovators, but that’s still a very rare breed.
SURVIVAL – NO LONGER A LONG-TERM COMMITMENT One of the key differentiating factors of QI is that we believe in taking a long-term commercial view to technology development as well as our operations. Comparatively, the motivations for many startups these days detract from the core objective of making a viable business through revenue (and profits), marring the spirit of true entrepreneurship. News rife with stories of million dollar acquisitions and buy-outs further encouraged the tendency for the millennial generation to sell their companies to larger corporations for “quick cash” instead of creating a sustainable business. The phenomenon of the serial entrepreneur – entrepreneurs who move from venture to venture with an exit-oriented game plan – has also changed the norms of good entrepreneurship. The value of businesses is measured by the amount of money one cashes in by selling their companies rather than as vehicles to achieve wide-scale impact.
There has been a fundamental shift in the motivation for business ownership, and it is likely to stay for a while. It is obviously different from the set of values and beliefs that QI is built on. But, there is no telling if it may prove to be better. Perhaps it is more practical to take a long hard look at your own business and evaluate its tangibility based on the core significance of business existence – to make money!
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THE BIG IDEA
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Big Data: Love it or Hate it? The growth of digital data is accelerating at an exponential pace. With the ability to collect real-time data on everything – from customer identities to advertising ROI, companies are increasingly overwhelmed by the copious amount of data and what to do with it. In the era where high velocity and high variety big data takes over, should companies embrace or resist it?
B
eing able to efficiently sieve through and find crucial gems of data in ever-growing data warehouses can mean the difference between success and failure in today’s breakneck speed business world. And this fact is certainly not lost to the corporate world.
BIG DATA IS GROWING BIGGER In a recent Big Data Executive Survey1, 70% of respondents reported that Big Data is of critical importance to their firms, up from 21% in 2012; and 54% of firms claimed that they have appointed a Chief Data Officer, up from 12% in 2012 – reaffirming the growing importance of data-driven decisions. Where data analytics is concerned, every company’s data needs are different and there is no cookie cutter approach which can fully satisfy everyone’s needs. Most companies simply hire more data analysts to deal with the deluge of data. Resultantly, the shortage of skilled analysts is evident. The World Economic Forum2 predicts that data analysts will become increasingly essential to all industries by 2020. MORE DATA ANALYSTS = BETTER INSIGHTS? However, hiring more data analysts to make sense of data is not a
sustainable approach as the pace of data proliferation easily surpasses the number of skilled analysts available in the market. To make matters worse, companies often have no modus operandi when storing the increasing warehouses of data. Disparate sources of data from the sales, customer service, finance and marketing teams often sit in silos, making it time consuming for the analyst to wrangle data from different data pipelines and even more difficult for the C-level to
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devise business strategy. It is also not uncommon for reporting to be a race to churn out statistics as quickly as possible. Consequently, a final output devoid of real insight and no more than a messy landscape of numbers, which begs the question “Now what”, results.
DATA EVOLUTION AT A GLANCE
The
1990s
2000s
Future
Manual data wrangling with Excel, pivot tables and scripts
One size fits all, standalone dashboards
Intelligent, decisionready reports powered by artificial intelligence
http://newvantage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Big-Data-Executive-Survey-2016-Findings-FINAL.pdf https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/8-jobs-every-company-will-be-hiring-for-by-2020/
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DAVID SANDERSON Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Nugit
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THE BIG IDEA
THE DATA GAME IN PLAY Truth is, to stay ahead in the data game, companies first need to ensure that their tools and processes are aligned with their strategic goals before thinking about managing the data to provide clarity to the most important business questions. There, we said it. But it really sounds simpler than it works – if you consider the factors involved. The Identification of Business Metrics to Track To design a productive reporting function that fits into data-driven decision-making workflows and processes, key goals have to be determined by asking and answering serious questions such as “What really drives the business bottom line?” or “What is the founder’s vision?”
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The Attitude Towards New Tools and Workflows To help analysts arrive at critical business insights faster and better, workflows and decision support technologies need to evolve. And investment in reporting technologies has to be perceived as a value-adding function instead of a cost function because companies which are stuck in their old ways of reporting will be rendered redundant soon since they will never be able to extract business insights as fast as computers. The Upgrading of Human Capital Deliverables According to the Harvard Business Review3, “a new generation of data professionals is now emerging. They have grown up using statistical techniques and languages like Hadoop and R, and as they enter the workplace in greater numbers, traditional approaches to data management and
THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
analytics will have to give way to these new techniques.” For one, it is a matter of time before manual processes involving exporting and combining data across spreadsheets will become obsolete. PLAY THE BIG DATA GAME RIGHT The data evolution trend is still nascent. Instead of resisting it and sticking to existing processes, why not leave it to the experts to delve deeper into the core of your business and help you prepare for the future? And it doesn’t necessarily entail hiring data analysts. You could choose to go with a third party data analytics technology platform like Nugit, which provides easy-to-read high-frequency insights that enables you to think critically about the data you see and how it connects to your larger business goals. But no matter your final decision, this is definitely the time to get into the big data game and cultivate your love for it!
GETTING FROM DATA TO DECISIONS EFFICIENTLY
DATA PIPELINE
DATA HARMONISATION
https://hbr.org/2016/02/just-using-big-data-isnt-enough-anymore
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DECISIONREADY REPORT INSIGHT ANALYSIS
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SPOTLIGHT
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Insider’s Perspective:
A Serial Technopreneur Speaks Up Are investment decisions of venture capitalists driven purely by the measure of monetary returns or are there other factors at play? In this issue, The IT Society chats with Eddie Chau, Entrepreneur & Angel Investor at TNF Ventures, to understand his motivation for investing in companies as well as things he will look out for when making his investment decisions.
EDDIE CHAU Entrepreneur & Angel Investor, TNF Ventures
Age: 55 Experience: More than 30 years Earliest Tech Experience: Electronics Project in Technical College in Hong Kong in 1977 First Love for Tech: Apple II Clone “Coconut” with 64kb of RAM in 1981 Always Game to: Dream big, talk ideas and challenge the status quo
THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
Q: Question, EC: Eddie Chau AS AN ENTREPRENEUR Q: How did you end up as an entrepreneur? EC: I started out pretty much the same way like most people – working for a company – until the idea for e-Cop came about. At the age of 39, I was comfortable. I had garnered solid experience in the corporate sector; held a senior executive position in a reputable multinational company; and earned a pretty decent salary. I could continue with what I was doing but I told myself if I don’t do it now, I would probably never get down to doing it. So I gave up my job and started e-Cop with my co-founders. That marked the beginning of my journey as an entrepreneur back in year 2000. Q: What are some attributes that define you as entrepreneur? EC: Running your own business and being your own boss is nothing like a walk in the park. You are where the buck stops. Compared to working in a company where you can always refer to someone higher up for direction or assistance, you will have to solve every problem in your business. For example, till today, I can still vividly remember having to sign my personal cheque for $50,000 to tide over a cash flow crunch in January 2001. Fortunately, I have a high tolerance for pressure and a sound ability to handle anxiety. These qualities have been instrumental to my development as an entrepreneur.
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Q:Has the entrepreneurship landscape changed over the years? EC: Definitely. During the time when I started e-Cop (in 2000), the dotcom bubble had just burst, and banks as well as people were generally skeptical about startups. It was to the point that we even had challenges trying to find staff. The odds were stacked against us. In contrast, the market today is receptive and welcoming towards startups. It is easy to get funding support and resources. The Singapore government has been especially encouraging in rendering both monetary and infrastructural support. AS AN INVESTOR Q: What changes do you hope to see in the local entrepreneurship landscape? EC: Without a doubt, the industry will continue to grow and mature. In tandem with this development, the government and investors will become more selective in providing support to startups. It means
SPOTLIGHT
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that while good ideas will get support, the rest will either be weeded out or strengthened to deliver real value. The impact to this is, startup founders will become savvier and better attuned to the viability of their ideas. These are positive developments which are set to make the industry more robust. Q: What do you look for when deciding to invest in a startup? EC: First and foremost, the quality of the idea. It must be able to solve a real problem and have the potential to scale up. Almost as important as the idea is the co-founding team – are they talking sense; do they have good chemistry with one another in the professional sense – because at the end of the day, they are the ones who will grow the business and hold the fort during a crisis. Extending this chemistry beyond, we keep a lookout for open communication between the co-founding team and the operational people; at the same time, we also ask ourselves how we can come in to valueadd. From experience, when everyone has
sights aligned on the final goal and knows their respective roles, the business tends to do better. AS A PERSON Q: What is your motivation for investing in startups? EC: I am a naturally curious person. Since young, I always have many ideas about the future and imagine various possibilities. And in some cases, I will be so intrigued by the ideas that I will delve deeper to try and materialise them. For instance, at one stage in the 80s I thought it would be great to augment handwritten greeting cards with personalised voice messages. With that, I started searching for a chip that can be used to make the mechanism during my free time. Although I did not commercialise the idea in the end, my explorer spirit lives on. I am fired up whenever I come across good ideas.
“Don’t just blindly chase the rainbow because by the time you get there, it will be gone. Instead of chasing those big buzzwords, if you think what you want to do is the right thing, just do it. There is never going to be a good, better or best time.”
What is one advice for aspiring technopreneurs?
Everyone should consider becoming a technopreneur because…
You love Singapore because…
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What is a quote you live by?
Who inspires you professionally?
You are a geek because you…
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SPOTLIGHT
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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
Great Things Happen When
Preparation Meets Opportunity ADRIAN CHYE Co-Founder & General Manager, Mediafreaks Age: 37 Experience: 12 years Studied: Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Earliest Tech Experience: Assembling his own personal computer at the age of 15 First Tech Gadget: Intel 386 Intrigued by: How Netflix reinvented HR Current Pet Topic: Digital marketing
Q: Question, AC: Adrian Chye
For many people, starting a business and becoming a boss is like a dream come true. However, few realise that being a boss is hardly the end. It is the beginning. Adrian Chye, Co-Founder and General Manager, Mediafreaks, testifies to that little known fact by sharing with The IT Society about the ups and downs of his entrepreneurship journey over the past 12 years.
Q: Has running your own business always been part of your career plan? AC: Just like most University students, I figured that I would work for a technology company after graduation. But, as it happens, I attended an entrepreneurship talk organised by the University and was deeply inspired by the speakers. Hearing their experiences, stirred my curiosity about the potential a business can bring, and – for the first time – opened my mind to the possibility that “The world may have more to offer...” Q: So was that what got you to start Mediafreaks? AC: While attending the talk caused the instrumental paradigm shift, it was the six-month graduate diploma I took up in the U.S. – after graduating from NTU – which really set me on the path of entrepreneurship. Just by being at the Silicon Valley, interacting with highly driven people and experiencing first-hand the charged up atmosphere, were all I needed to throw caution to the wind and start something for myself.
Q: After which, was the going allsmooth? AC: Far from it. In fact, that was where the hard work really began. My partners and I were young and had little (or almost no) work experience behind us; we didn’t really know how to sell ourselves effectively. To make it worse, we are the new kids on the block with no portfolio to show. I can still vividly remember going around and knocking on many doors – again and again – just to get that one opportunity. You cannot imagine the happiness and the relief I felt when I finally managed to bag my first job. Q: Were there any other moments where your commitment was put to a test? AC: Certainly, there were. But the beauty of running a business is that as long as we have our hearts and our minds in the right place, we can change things around. And as long as we keep trying, we will somehow overcome the challenges and, even, take away valuable experiences from these difficult episodes. For example, when our foray into China did not turn out the way we hoped it
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would, we learnt important lessons about the market and ourselves. These prepare us for our next venture out of Singapore. Q: Can you share another important lesson learnt over the past 12 years? AC: As a matter of fact, I am still learning today. The business environment is dynamic and everchanging. Be it in the course of everyday operations and interaction with my customers and employees or during the networking and exchange sessions with other SCS members, I am continuously energised by the perspectives and insights of these individuals. Notably, one realisation that has stuck with me is the importance of always putting customers and their needs first. Although it is easy and very tempting for businesses to prioritise profits above all else, it is the relentless emphasis on value delivery that will sustain the business and win the customers’ trust and loyalty.
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Q: How about sharing some human resource management wisdom? AC: It is a myth to think that the boss is singlehandedly responsible for the success of a business. In the real world, especially one that is getting increasingly complex, the business can only go so far with one person’s ability. A complete support system, encompassing every team member as well as both internal and external business partners, is necessary to grow the business and ensure its continued health. That is why I would often jokingly tell my people that I am working for them, and not the other way around. Q: You have come so far. What is next on the horizon for you and Mediafreaks? AC: We are living in exciting times. Technology levels the playing field by availing abundant information and enabling a wide reach at little costs. As a result, new entrants can get into the game quickly; at the same time it
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“You only fail when you stop trying.” is hard for anyone to enjoy an edge over another for long. For that reason, I make it a point to allocate a portion of my resources and time looking into upcoming trends and making plans to disrupt our current offering, so as to stay competitive. On a personal level, I find my love for this industry burning stronger than ever now. I see many possibilities and am passionate in contributing to the buildup of a robust community. To which end, I am actively engaged in teaching duties at tertiary institutions. Concurrently, I volunteer my services at the SCS Student Chapters – to share my industry knowledge and experience. Just like how many others had inspired me, I wish to also positively influence our youths.
SINGAPORE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM The Singapore Startup Environment
Significant Growth Trends
Pros
Increased number of tech-related businesses Ease of setting up a business
Multicultural, cosmopolitan society
Stable political climate and rule of law
A fivefold rise in tech startup funding Huge mobile and online penetration
Robust financial and technical infrastructure
Access to foreign investment
Increased number of tech-related businesses
Cons
Shortage of technical talent
High cost of living
Shortage of investment past series B stage
Small local market
Adapted from Michael Tegos “How Singapore’s startup ecosystem has grown up in the last 5 years”, Tech in Asia, 1 June 2016
Initiatives by the Singapore government include the creation of Block 71, the country’s signature startup hub.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE.
Solving complex problems demands more than just big ideas. It requires inspired thinking. Now in our second century, Booz Allen Hamilton is the essential partner for corporate and government leaders. Driven by our culture of innovation, we collaborate with clients to help them achieve their goals. We devise breakthrough solutions through our expansive network and unparalleled expertise in technology, engineering, and analytics. To find out more about how our people can help you drive your purpose and passion, visit boozallen.com/consultants/international/southeast-asia. Pictured from left to right: Angela, IT Leader, and Mark, IT Infrastructure Operations Engineer, Information Services
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POWER BOOST
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SCS Industry Certifications – “Made in Singapore” Looking to acquire knowledge in a particular IT domain? Or keen to sharpen your skills in a specific area? Today, you are spoilt for choice in the number of programmes available. Question is, how do you decide when confronted with so many alternatives?
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n late 1990s, Singapore experienced rapid growth in IT project management – many multinational corporations used Singapore as the base to grow their businesses; concurrently large local enterprises and government agencies embarked on numerous IT projects. The resultant shortage of qualified IT project managers led both private and public organisations to employ experienced and qualified IT project managers from overseas to meet their needs. GO FOR AN ESTABLISHED PROGRAMME In a period where employers were unsure about the basics or guidelines to judge the quality of one IT project manager versus another and IT professionals were finding it hard to justify their competency, SCS introduced the Certification in IT Project Management (CITPM) programme. Fully developed by a team of local IT professionals who researched trends of the local IT industry and needs of local employers, CITPM is the first “Made In Singapore” IT certification programme for the local IT professionals.
Under the same premise of individual skills upgrading and common benchmarking for organisations, other certification programmes such as Certification in Outsourcing Manager for IT (COMIT), Certification in IT Business Continuity Manager (CITBCM) were subsequently launched. CHOOSE PROGRAMMES BENEFICIAL TO YOUR LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT Beyond being instrumental in bringing up the overall quality of local IT professionals, these certification programmes also empower your longterm professional development. SCS certification programmes require you to continuously practise your skills in order to get recertified every five years – unlike many other certifications on the market where candidates are certified after passing the examinations. SCS certification process ensures that your knowledge is always up-to-date, and you maintain a high standard of competency. On a professional level,
LAU SOON LIANG Fellow, SCS Chairman, CITPM & COMIT Resource Panel and CITPM Board of Assessors
the process is also consistent with the increasing emphasis private as well as public sectors place on relevant specialised certification. Your continuous professional development is enabled with an SCS certification. PICK PROGRAMMES WHICH ARE PROGRESSIVE Although SCS certification programmes have been successful so far, SCS constantly reviews the certification programmes’ Body of Knowledge, which specifies the scope and skill sets required for each certification, to ensure their relevance to your growth and needs of the changing industry. This progressive approach underpins SCS’ mission to add value to your career and personal development – bringing about sustainable advancement of the IT community at large.
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POWER BOOST
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I Just Learnt Data Science Online A lot has been said about how Internet will change the future of education. However, many people are of the mindsets that online education is something that will only happen in the distant future.
T
he reality is that the richness of online content today already gives instant access to almost any information and knowledge. And as I have discovered through my personal experience in trying to learn a fairly complex subject, data science, completely online – the future of education is already here. THE PUSH TO LEARN DATA SCIENCE After finishing high school, I studied banking and marketing, followed by diplomas in business administration and economics. While math was featured prominently throughout my studies, the main focus was always on broader business skills. Similarly, although I have always worked in the technology industry, I have never taken on a pure technical role until about a year ago when I had to work on a project that required crunching through a lot of data and visualising the insights for my team. Once I had my first taste of data analytics, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to learn more. THE DECISION TO GO FOR ONLINE LEARNING However, going back to the university to
study data science wouldn’t be practical as I had to balance learning with a demanding day job. In the end, I decided to give online courses a shot. Wary that e-learning is still a nascent industry with significantly disparate content quality, I deferred to strong brands as a filter and, to my surprise, discovered that many renowned institutions such as Harvard, Stanford and MIT offer free content. THE LEARNING JOURNEY For starters, I learnt general knowledge of computer science and how data analytics fits into the overall framework of software languages from Stanford University’s iconic course – CS101. The well-structured curriculum covered key concepts in information technology, computing and coding. Better yet, this gem was available for free! As a next step, I chose to refresh my knowledge in statistics. Seeing that many people commended the “Intro to Statistics” course from Udacity – led by a famous robotics and AI visionary Sebastian Thrun, I took the leap of faith and got reacquainted with probability, inference, linear regression. The course proved to be excellent for both people
VLADYSLAV KOSHELYEV Member, SCS Client Solutions Manager, Facebook
without statistics background as well as those of us who need a quick refresher. And, of course, data science can never be mastered without grasping its standard language – SQL, which is designed to help people query large datasets and find the proverbial needle in a large haystack of information. Eventually, I went with the “SQL Essential Training” from Lynda because it offered a comprehensive curriculum that took me from a very basic knowledge of SQL to comfortably writing fairly complex queries. THE FUTURE OF LEARNING Whether it is coding, design, foreign languages or aerospace engineering, learning from the screens of our laptops, tablets and even phones is already happening. Online education is a growing phenomenon that sees both world-renowned universities as well as disruptive startups actively publishing courses in practically any discipline imaginable. E-learning tools have become a powerful counterweight to the forces of rapid change and enabled us to quickly learn essential skills to fuel our passions and careers.
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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
Guest of Honour, Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for Manpower (fourth from the right), with SCS President Howie Lau (fourth from the left) and six industry representatives at the launch of the TeSA Integrated Career Services.
Discover your True North with SCS Career Compass
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gainst the backdrop of ongoing economic transformation, SCS introduced the SCS Career Compass – an initiative under the SCS TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) Programme – in collaboration with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Workforce Singapore (WSG), National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and Institute of Employment and Employability (e2i) on 21 October to help members and tech professionals cope with immediate needs and prepare for the new economic environment ahead.
Hearteningly, more than 110 Senior and Fellow SCS members stepped forward to volunteer their service as ICT Career Mentors for SCS Career Compass, and industry advisors for the new SkillsFuture Advisors Programme. Together, SCS and partners will work closely with ICT Career Mentors to provide career and training guidance as well as assistance in career development opportunities to tech professionals through SCS Career Compass and SCS careerrelated events.
Over 110 Senior and Fellow SCS members stepped forward as ICT Mentors to guide the way forward amidst uncertainties
Wong Tew Kiat, SCS ICT Mentor, providing career advisory to tech professionals.
Find out how you can benefit from SCS Career Compass, visit https://www.infopier.sg/scs-career-compass
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SCS Career Crossroad Series: Options and Opportunities Tech professionals found common grounds at the inaugural SCS Career Crossroad group mentoring session.
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t the SCS Career Crossroad group mentoring series held on 19 November, tech professionals got to share about their career development concerns and sought advisory from SCS ICT mentors as well as WSG and e2i career coaches. They also picked up valuable tips on resume preparation from featured speakers. Missed the first SCS Career Crossroad session? You can now gain insights from the speakers’ sharing via videos at https://www.infopier.sg/list-scs-career-crossroads-19Nov
Business Leaders in Conversation about Cybersecurity
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hemed “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security”, the SCS Business Leadership Seminar, held on 12 November, saw over 130 professionals partaking in the session. Comprising two distinct segments – expert sharing and panel discussion, the event got underway with Lim Yee Hon, Director from Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) sharing about misconceptions of cybersecurity and the need to have sound cyber situational awareness. Lawrence Ng, Head of Infocomm Technology, PSA Corporation, leveraging his deep expertise and knowledge of transhipment, expounded on how an integrated suite of systems – Port
Panel Moderator Chai Chin Loon (GovTech) leading the discussion with Lawrence Ng (PSA), Lim Yee Hon (CSA) and Richard Koh (Microsoft).
Community Systems, Planning & Operating Systems and Enterprise Support System – is used to reinforce Singapore’s position as the world’s busiest transhipment hub. Richard Koh, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Singapore, rounded up the expert sharing segment by providing insights on how technologies can combat advanced cyber threats and cyber criminals. The panel discussion, which followed, was moderated by Chai Chin Loon, Senior
Director, Government Cyber Security Group, Government Technology Agency, and joined by the three speakers. During which time, a lively exchange surrounding topics such as implications of no Internet access for employees and the type of corporate culture necessary to inculcate a cybersecurity resilience mindset among employees and customers took place. All in all, attendees gained a good overview of the various trending cybersecurity issues from the session.
The Magazine of the Singapore Computer Society
Recognising Brilliance in Our Youths
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or Singapore to become a Smart Nation by 2025, there is a demand for talents who are passionate to join the industry. In support of this movement, SCS gives recognition to the most outstanding in Singapore’s tertiary institutions every year through SCS Medals and Awards. This year, we applaud the following winners for their academic excellence.
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE Award Course SCS Best Graduate Award Master of Computing Programme in Infocomm Security SCS Best Graduate Award Master of Computing Programme in Information Systems
Recipient Cai Zhenquan Yulis Ang
SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY Award Course SCS Best Final Year Student Award Bachelor of Science (Information Systems)
Recipient Heng U San
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE SINGAPORE Award Course SCS Gold Award (First Year) Bachelor of Information Technology SCS Gold Award (Second Year) Bachelor of Information Technology
Recipient David Koo Marcus Ong Yixiong
“The significance of the SCS Best Graduate Award is more than a recognition of my academic excellence. It is a motivation to continuously improve myself in the everchanging IT industry – and eventually make positive contributions to the society.”
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“Studying IT puts me on a constant learning and proficiency quest. While the journey has its fair share of challenges, it has also been tremendously fulfilling. I am humbled and grateful to be a recipient of the SCS Best Final Year Student Award.”
“I am grateful to be surrounded by teachers who constantly inspire me to push the limit and not settle for status quo. Thanks to these teachers, I have become a better person, learnt much and garnered the SCS Gold Award.”
Heng U San
David Koo
Yulis Ang
SCS Adds Yet Another New Student Chapter to Our Fold!
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n 28 September, SCS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with S P Jain School of Global Management, Singapore campus to mark the start of a new student chapter. Over 50 participants witnessed the significant signing ceremony between SCS President Howie Lau and Dr Karippur Nanda Kumar, Associate Professor & Area Head of IT.
Associate Professor & Area Head (IT) of S P Jain Dr Karippur Nanda Kumar with SCS President Howie Lau.
New Leadership for IT Youth Council
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T Youth Council (ITYC) provides a meaningful platform for the next generation of infocomm professionals, technology developers and enthusiasts to engage in constructive discussions and interactive sharing of views and insights. In December 2016, the new committee members were elected to provide leadership continuation in 2017. The injection of new blood is set to bring youth engagement to a new level.
New team elected at the ITYC Biennial General Meeting. Seated (from left): Honorary Treasurer Kaylee Fung, Vice President Lin Jing Yang, President Jason Chen, Honorary Secretary Derek Loh; Standing (from left): Hedren Sum, Tan Boon Kiat, Simon Ma, Alan Ng, Lim Hang Loon, Foo Ce Wei, Lee Jia Ming, Fairil Yeo, Soffenny Yap, Tan Fei Zhen; Absent: Arvin Tang, Tommy Tien
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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 04/2016
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Splash Awards 2016 Champions Show Flair in Advancing Cyber Wellness
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s more and more Singaporeans look to social media platforms to connect and stay in communication, cyber etiquette becomes increasingly essential for the maintenance of a civil and prosperous cyber space. SCS showed support for the cause with the SCS Splash Awards 2016.
Jointly organised by the SCS Student Chapter and Interactive Digital Media Chapter, the 13th edition of the SCS Splash Awards took on the theme, “Cyber Wellness”, and saw participation from close to 300 secondary school and tertiary institution students. The students learnt the importance of fostering a healthy cyber community through coming out with original ideas which contribute towards the creation of a more responsible cyber community for Singapore. Notably, “SocialShield” from Dunman High impressed the judging panel with their submission and won the top spot for the Pre-tertiary Category while “Keyboard Warriors” from Singapore Institute of Technology bagged the award for the Tertiary Category. Dr Janil Puthucheary, Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Education graced the award ceremony. “SocialShield” from Dunman High was shortlisted for the National Infocomm Competition Face-Off (App Development). In addition, the students also represented Singapore for the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards) in Taipei.
Tertiary Category
Team Name
School
Champion
Keyboard Warriors
Singapore Institute of Technology
Pre-tertiary Category
Team Name
School
Champion
SocialShield
Dunman High School
Most Innovative Award
Team Name
School
Winner
SocialShield
Dunman High School
Top Performing School
School
Pre-tertiary
Dunman High School
Tertiary
Nanyang Polytechnic
SCS Splash Awards 2016 Sponsors and Partners Presenting Sponsor Singtel Sponsors HP Inc Infocomm Development Authority National Crime Prevention Council Singapore Institute of Management Singapore Pools Venue Partner Singapore Management University
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SCS Turns 50!
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SCS membership can benefit your professional development no matter what career stage you are in. Get connected to the largest infocomm body in Singapore now as we are rewarding you with lifestyle vouchers and more.
Celebrate Strength. Celebrate You.
Empowering You for the Future We pave the way for you to be future-ready through active member engagements and industry collaborations. Come journey with us and invest in your future.
NEW
Enhancing Professional Standing SCS Industry-based Certifications & Skills Mapping
Deepening Tech Skills SCS Specialist Groups, Tech Series & Business Leadership Seminars
Exploring Career Choices SCS Student Chapters & IT Youth Council
Members Entrance fee waiver worth $85.60
1
year Membership
$15 CapitaVouchers or Starbucks Card
Staying Future Ready Scs Techskills Accelerator (Tesa) Initiatives
Growing Career Pathways SCS Career Compass & GroupMentoring Series
3
Widening Network Social & Business Networking
years Membership
$50 CapitaVouchers or Starbucks Card $42.80 off membership fee
Promotion is valid for a limited period only, so make the most of this valuable opportunity! Sign up or renew your membership at SCS website www.scs.org.sg. For more details, contact the membership secretariat at membership@scs.org.sg.
5
years Membership
Free membership for the 5th year
SCS EVENTS 2017 JAN
Site Visit to Citibank
12 JAN
25 MAR
17
JAN
19 ASCENT Series: Blockchain
IDEAS Series: Risk and Fraud Analytics
FEB
8 MAR
22
Cloud Computing 201 Series: Containers – How to Think Inside the Box
JAN
20
Site Visit to RSA & IBM Security Operations Centres
MAR
Cloud Computing 201 Series: Multi-Tenancy in Clouds
MAR
10 23
IDEAS Series: Data Visualisation
SCS Gala Dinner and IT Leader Awards
SCS 50th Annual General Meeting
The event listing provided above is correct at the time of printing. You are encouraged to visit the SCS website for any updates and latest information about the events.
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At your own pace. At your own time. At your convenience. With a personal mentor. © 2016 Lithan Academy | All Rights Reserved. | Company Registration Number: 200202841R | ERF Registration Period: 6 August 2014 to 5 August 2018
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GEEK SPEAK
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FIELD REPORTS from the Helpless Desk
Mad in Singapore By Franky Siow
H
i everyone, it’s me Franky again. Hope everyone is doing fine and getting ready for 2017. The new year is set to be transformational – first with Brexit, then DU30, and now we are all Trumped. And the tech front is just as exciting with the promise of greater productivity. I met up with my good friend Ahmad (he’s a chauffeur) the other day for a coffee catch-up. Over coffee, he told me he feels very threatened – everyday we read about “driverless this, driverless that”. It looked like someone is really trying to get rid of all the drivers. If Ahmad doesn’t start planning, he’ll soon be a car-less chauffeur. The Future of Singapore Roads Since Google started making news a few years ago with its self-driving car, so many others, including some of us here in Singapore, have jumped onto the self-driving bandwagon (is there someone working on a self-driving bandwagon?). Except that true to the Singapore style, we take something classic, and give it a twist – much like Durian Ice Kacang and Milo Dinosaur. So for the domain of autonomous vehicles, why stop at cars –
when we can aim for self-driving taxi? Think about it – why does anyone need a car when all they have to do is to make a booking via the smartphone app, and then lo and behold – the self-driving taxi magically appears? Everything looks the same – the car will have a steering wheel and a human whose job is to make sure that the computer drives the car the way it is supposed to and arrives at the right destination. Oh, I am so looking forward to my first ride in the world’s first selfdriving taxi. But I wonder how it helps productivity since we still need to deploy one human to one taxi. The Future of Singapore Hospital Hallways Well, surely the self-driving wheelchairs that are being tested at our hospitals and can move around without instructions adds to productivity. After all, the motivation behind these wheelchairs is so that nurses can do more important work. I understand though that these wheelchairs run on batteries – and cannot help but wonder what happens when batteries run out while in operation. Seems like congestions along hospital hallways and
nurses double hatting as traffic marshals will be inevitable. The Future of Singapore Cafes And the push for productivity goes beyond self-driving vehicles to extend to innovations in the food service industry. Ahmad and I just bought our usual KopiC-Siew Dai from a vending machine. It was definitely quite an experience. Who would have thought that we could enjoy such localised flavour straight out of a machine? The taste came close enough to the other human-run coffee joints and with greater consistency too. Without a doubt, this is a major productivity booster – as long as you are not thinking of having your orders customised or craving for a social experience. As we emptied our coffee cups, Ahmad suddenly remembered why he asked to meet me; he wanted some career advice from me. It is easy – he can be the human supervising the self-driving car! P.S. Yes, it all sounds a little bizarre. But I can assure you that we are anything, but mad.