Reflecting on my 1st year at Singtel

Tomorrow marks an eventful first year for me at Singtel.

I continue to be amazed by my immensely talented colleagues who live our purpose of empowering every generation in every product and service they deliver. I’ve had a busy year restructuring the business to get us fitter. From setting up a new leadership team and integrating the consumer and enterprise streams to simplifying our product portfolio and improving customer experiences – it’s been a sea of change but am glad to have a great team to do this with.

Some notable moments include:

1.      Getting future-ready.

 Evolving cyberthreats, including mobile phone scams, are an area of concern with victims in Singapore having lost more than half a billion dollars in 2023. Added to this is the emergence of deepfake videos spreading disinformation which can lead to harm. As the telco with the largest customer base in Singapore, we take this very seriously because we know that our customers rely on our expertise to keep them safe. 

Last September, we introduced Cyber Elevate, a one-stop affordable cyber security resilience programme designed to equip #SMEs with the necessary capabilities and skillsets to prepare, detect, respond and recover from cyber-attacks.  We also teamed up with the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Academy to develop “Defence Against Cyber Scams" – a cyber scam preparedness programme aimed at #upskilling and #reskilling staff large enterprises, especially those handling frontline communications from financial institutions that are more commonly targeted by scammers. The programme kicked off with UOB - training over 1,000 of their frontline branch staff. These are meant to prepare small businesses and employees deal with increasingly sophisticated threats, many which involve social engineering.

We’re also very proud that Singtel has been appointed by IMDA to develop Singapore’s first National Quantum-Safe Network Plus (#NQSN+) for enterprises, in partnership with global industry leaders, ID Quantique, Fortinet, Cisco and Nokia to secure Singapore against future threats. 

To many, the idea of getting scammed or cyber attacked is seen as a distance threat or something that’ll “never happen to us”. “We’re just an SME, nobody will want to attack us,” is another common refrain. But the nature of the fast-evolving technology is that the measures of today will fast become obsolete. And to wait till things are dire to set things up is like trying to put out a forest fire when it’s at your doorstop – it might be too late. Not to sound too dramatic but seeing how quickly businesses, especially SMEs, can crumble when faced with such calamities, we  cannot emphasise enough, the importance of being prepared. And we know it can seem overwhelming to the small businesses – but there are numerous avenues to seek help, including government grants to offset costs. Inaction in this matter, could be fatal. 

2.      Going more social.

The convergence of social connections and commerce is driving more personalised, social and interactive purchasing experiences for customers, and this will increase in the years to come. That’s why we added a Tik Tok studio to our flagship store, 313@Somerset, so we can help content creators and entrepreneurs build their brands or sell their products using the popular social platform. We also added dedicated spaces within our store for our partner brands to engage and educate customers on their products and services; to this end, the first Casetify studio in Singapore that has done so well.

For larger brands, providing that personal touch can be challenging amidst rising manpower shortages. Like many organisations, Singtel’s been leveraging AI to automate more routine tasks such as making payments and replacing SIM cards, so that our customer service agents can be freed up to support customers in more meaningful and personal ways. 

But we want to be able to offer our customers more. Considering the high volume of data that telcos possess, we wanted to find a way to leverage this data to provide more value-added services to our customers. So we teamed up with leading telcos, SKT, TMobile and e&, with the support of Softbank, to develop  Large Language Models (#LLM), optimised for the telecommunications industry. Covering languages such as Korean, English, German, Japanese and Bahasa, the LLMs are helping us to improve our customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. Soon, interactions across countries will no longer be limited by language barriers.

Companies that’d like to scale beyond Singapore should factor in such advancements into their future plans.

3.      Bridging divides and connecting communities.

I had my first chance to participate in many of our ESG activities – from planting trees to meeting many of our wonderful special needs students with all their hidden talents. It was a humbling experience for me to experience their tenacity and positive attitude. They truly teach us the value of empathy and how to harness our strengths.

Our seniors are another resilient group teaching us how to be adaptable. Though many understand how to use the basics, there are many who are not as tech savvy and need help navigating their way through an increasingly digital world. Between the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day, let’s find ways to support these vulnerable groups so they too can feel connected in a digital economy.

Change can be good.

Many technology innovations have emerged over the past year, rapidly shifting how we live, work and play. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of Generative AI tools like #ChatGPT, quantum computing, #metaverse, #blockchain, augmented and virtual reality (#AR&VR), and other technology breakthroughs are shaping a new world. 

I am looking forward to an even more exciting year ahead and very proud to be working in a place that’s always striving to be at the leading edge of innovation to uplift communities and advance economies.

#CyberSecurityInstitute #SingtelCSI #DigitalConnectivityBlueprint #SmartNation #Singtel5G #SingtelAI