Ms Tan Swee Hua: ICT can be challenging because the pace of change is very fast, but a lot depends on how you manage it.

As Chief Information Officer of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, Ms Tan Swee Hua helps set and align the ICT strategies and directions of CPF Board and oversee the overall management of its ICT function in line with organisational needs as well as national objectives and goals.

Ms Tan entered the then-emerging field of computing after graduating with a degree in Mathematics. The Public Service Commission scholar worked with the Ministry of Finance’s Computer Services Department before joining the National Computer Board (NCB) during the nascent years of the Civil Service Computerisation Programme in the early 1980s. She subsequently joined the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore which was created with the merger of NCB and the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore in 1999.

In a candid interview with e-Government Bulletin, she shares her views on how Infocomm Technology (ICT) has evolved over the years, and the challenges she faces in her role today.

The changing role of ICT

I have gone through many generations of ICT. In the early days, Information Technology (IT) was used mainly as an automation tool and viewed as a cost centre.  Every project had to be justified in terms of ROI (return on investment). Today, we have gone beyond that - beyond enhancing productivity, beyond keeping the lights on, to using IT (now referred to as Infocomms Technology or ICT) as a strategic tool that is used to create value for the organisation.

The changing profile of stakeholders and customers

The younger generation of leaders is a lot more IT-literate, and they have higher expectations. So, the challenge is to articulate the value of ICT in relation to business. We must always be on the lookout for ICT trends, solutions and best practices, and explore how these can be leveraged to enhance business value.

At CPF Board, another thing we are mindful of is that our customer base is very large – about 3.3 million – and very diverse. Our services touch many milestone events throughout the lifespan of the individuals, ranging from buying a house to CPF LIFE, a new scheme to provide lifelong income for the elderly in their retirement. 

At one end of the spectrum, we use ICT to engage younger CPF members who are more technology-savvy. We have made our services more accessible to them, such as through mobile devices. We also use ICT in reaching out and educating our members. For example, we have financial planning games on our website for students. Of late, we have also built up our online presence on Facebook and Twitter as part of our e-engagement efforts.

We have not forgotten our older members. We have used ICT to reach out to this group of members. For instance, we have a biometric counter where our older members can use at our service centres, if they forget their SingPass. The biometric system allows them to access our services using their thumbprint. We will continue to encourage them to self-help using ICT, by finding more ways to get them on board the ICT journey.

IT in CPF Board

We have many CPF schemes and policies catering to different generations of members and cohorts. The environment in CPF Board is a highly dynamic one. Our schemes and policies are constantly being reviewed, and as they evolve, systems need to be changed. We need agility and flexibility in our ICT in order to implement new policies and schemes or changes at short notice and within fixed timelines; so we constantly have to look at how ICT can be leveraged to benefit the organisation.

In the last two to three years, we have embarked on a major initiative – the Enterprise Architecture (EA) programme. This programme gives us an opportunity to look at all our business processes, to streamline and rationalise them, and to create shared service components for common processes.

The EA initiative

We started with “as is” documentation in late 2006, which looked at what systems we had. In 2008, we began to focus on business strategies and identified common processes. EA is a massive undertaking because we have to comb through many processes and ask fundamental questions such as the rationale behind each process, with some of these dating back 20-30 years.

The key benefit of EA is that it gives us a holistic view that enables us to align ICT more closely with our business. There are four components to the EA:

• the business architecture which focuses on core and common processes,
• the application architecture which comprises components of a service oriented architecture. These can be assembled when needed to create new services, just like Lego bricks,
• the information architecture which comprises a repository of data and its management to make better use of the information that we have,
• and the technical architecture, which may include virtualisation of ICT resources.

Having this holistic view allows us to be more flexible and to optimise ICT to respond more quickly to policy changes.

Getting user buy-in

We are happy with the support that we have received so far. The management sets the tone - staff across the organisation work closely to see the project through. There are different review teams for the programme, and a director sponsors each of them.

The biometric system allows older CPF members to access services using their thumbprint.

To convince the senior management of the benefits of EA, I shared the concept at our IT Steering Committee meeting - why it is beneficial to our organisation, what is involved, and the structure recommended to support the initiative.

It is not easy to articulate the benefits of EA because it is a journey. We will not see the results immediately. In my sharing on EA, I try to quote specific examples. People need to see and hear real life examples, not mere motherhood statements.

For example, when we built our schemes, we had specific requirements, but there were opportunities for sharing of processes. An example is the way we handle the different modes of payments to our customers under the various schemes. We can streamline this in the different schemes.

Challenges and learning points

Business processes are multi-layered. When examining business processes, we have to drill down layer by layer, with patience. What we do is to break the processes down to bite-sized parts and try to demonstrate the value of the review. If users see the value of what we are doing, they will want to do more. We also have to collaborate with the Directors who are the owners of the schemes to see how best to move the project forward. Without their unwavering support, it would not be possible to succeed.

Another challenge we face is resource management. Our users and my IT colleagues are busy with day-to-day operations. How do we accord priority and put in the right resources - people with good knowledge of the business and the systems – to work on the EA project? We have to pull experienced people out from operations and deploy them to the project. This means sometimes having to outsource some of the operations to a third party vendor or engage personnel from external sources. It also means there will be a transition phase in which the third party vendors/personnel have to be trained.

Thriving with change

As CIO, you need to know the broad trends before deciding which area you want to delve deeper into. It is not possible to be a know-all, but it is important to familiarise yourself with trends, directions and best practices, locally and globally.

Networking is also important. You learn a lot from people – your peers and vendors in the industry. ICT can be challenging because the pace of change is very fast, but a lot depends on how you manage it. I see the change as something to look forward to. I welcome it, rather than have things remain static.