Mrs Tan Ching Yee, Chief Executive Officer Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Welcome Remarks at IDA-Sybase Luncheon Talk on "The Future of Unwired Enterprise", Fullerton Hotel
Mrs Tan Ching Yee, Chief Executive Officer,
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Welcome Remarks at IDA-Sybase Luncheon Talk on "The Future of Unwired Enterprise", Fullerton Hotel
Singapore, 03 August 2004
Mr. John Chen, Chairman, CEO and President of Sybase,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
1. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Mr John Chen to Singapore. John is widely known to be a visionary leader in the IT industry. Not only is he known for his fine work at Sybase, he also contributes to public discourse on international relations, particularly China-US relations.
2. John is no stranger to Singapore. He visited us, when we were still called the National Computer Board (NCB), in 1998. NCB was merged with TAS to form IDA a year later in 1999. In a short span of 5 years, the global Infocomm industry has experienced many changes.
3. Sybase is not an exception. It has transformed itself from a database company, to a company that offers end-to-end solutions for enterprise-infrastructure and mobile-software to help enterprises manage, develop and integrate information.
4. Singapore has been part of Sybase's growth over the last decade. To meet the growing demands of the customers in Asia, Sybase set up its Singapore office in 1995. This was followed by the establishment of the Asia Development Centre (ADC) in 1998. The Asia Development Centre is Sybase's first development centre in Asia and leads the worldwide development and support for some of Sybase's products and services. The Asia Development Centre also works closely with the rest of the developers in US and Beijing. The setting up of the Asia Development Centre is testimony to Singapore's strength as a key hub for global multinational corporations.
5. Information is at the heart of any knowledge enterprise, from the practice of medicine to design. An enterprise must first manage its information well (Information management) and then make it "liquid" (information to flow freely) and finally mobilize it to get it to the right point of action (people accessing information instantly through wired or unwired).
6. The mobility brought about by the use of wireless technologies holds much promise. Recognising this, IDA launched its "Wired with Wireless" programme in October 2000 with the aim to develop Singapore into a living lab for wireless development in Asia.
7. One of the key areas defined under the "Wired with Wireless" programme was the Wireless Enterprise. Not quite as elegant as the "Unwired Enterprise". The Mobile Workforce Call For Collaboration (CFC) was initiated in Oct 2001 to encourage the use of wireless technologies in business operations. A series of pilot projects incorporating innovative use of wireless technologies across industries such as field monitoring in the construction industry, mobile sales in property and real estate industry to even in-flight meal order system for airlines were being deployed. The pilot projects were launched between May - Dec 2002.
8. The results are - a total of 52 companies participated in the pilot (including users and vendors) with a good mix of global multinational corporations and local small-medium enterprises. It also resulted in the development of 32 products and services with a total of $10 million invested by the companies.
9. Noticeably, the companies that participated in the CFC had gained an increase in productivity and customer service levels. It also helped them to empower employees and shorten the time to market. In today's fast moving environment, being able to response instantly to the market needs ensure that they have an edge over their competitors.
10. Given that Sybase and IDA both have common areas of interest in mobility and the need to harness information assets well, there is scope for us to explore how we can work closer together. Collaboration and partnerships between Sybase and IDA can work to the benefit of both parties, and also for the wider Singapore infocomm industry.
11. On this note of partnership, I would like invite John to share with us his insights on "The Future of Unwired Enterprise".
12. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to John. Thank you.
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