Mr Derek Williams, Executive Vice President of Oracle Corporation (www.oracle.com), was in town recently to deliver a talk on "The Century of Asian Innovation", as part of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore's Distinguished Infocomm Speaker series. Below are excerpts from the question and answer session that followed his presentation.

What advice would you have for those who want to play a role in the next stage of Asia Pacific growth?
Three things are vital. The first is focus. When you have so much opportunity, don't go chasing after rainbows. It's a bit like a surfer hoping the next wave will be bigger. One of the reasons we do well is that we are focused on a few key priorities and we have not wavered, we have not gone chasing after rainbows. The second is managed growth. Over-trading is as dangerous as not having enough business. Managed growth - I guess that sometimes means not growing as much as you could, but as much as you can manage. The third is sustained high performance. All that movement - up and down performance - will create issues associated with confidence. When you are always hiring and firing, you become known as an employer that is not reliable.

Mr Williams: One of the reasons we do well is that we are focused on a few key priorities and we have not wavered.

Asia is not a one-size-fits-all market. How do you sell to the Asian market?
It's different in different places, even in different cities in the same country. Oracle was an early entrant in the market - we entered China in 1990. We have three golden rules.

The first is total commitment, locally, on the ground, working 24x7 with partners and customers. One hundred per cent local commitment. There is nothing worse than flying in, flying out. You create the excitement but you are not there to follow through. The second is partnering, working with local partners because we may not have the local expertise and you need geographic coverage. Partnership is absolutely critical. The third golden rule is localisation. A product that works perfectly well in the US, United Kingdom or in Germany may not be fit for purpose for the local market. You may get early success but not sustained high performance if you do not localise.

What can Singapore do to enrich its infocomm ecosystem?
A company like ours is always keeping an eye on cost. Singapore can be a more costly environment compared with other parts of the world, so we have to balance the benefits of Singapore with the cost of doing business here. The infrastructure, the communications, transportation are very important benefits, but we control costs very carefully. The second thing is to get more students to join the IT industry. The challenge is to find high quality, good young people. The third is communication. Communicate what is available - the programmes and incentives, and how organisations can benefit from them. This should be a continuous campaign because there are new people moving in every day.

What are the necessary skills to survive and thrive in this industry?
The one skill which is critical, regardless of industry, is communication. Technology has created a global communications network, but how often do people send emails instead of talking to each other? No matter how good the technology is, the intelligence, the government support, if you do not have good communication skills, it's really tough.