In its latest annual report published on July 7, Singtel’s chairman Lee Theng Kiat and chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon have recognised that the Covid-19 pandemic has provided the group with tailwinds of digitalisation that the telco intends to exploit.
This comes on the back of Singtel announcing its plans for a strategic reset on May 27, as what analysts have been calling a “clean slate” for the group to move ahead in FY2022. This was also announced alongside a lacklustre FY2021 ended March earnings which fell 49% y-o-y to $544 million, as well as $1.2 billion in impairment.
See: Singtel reports 49% lower earnings for FY21, announces new strategic direction
In the annual report, Singtel noted that it will be fighting to increase its market share in the 5G space, particularly in Singapore and Australia. For the consumer segment, the group intends to push out innovating products and services to deliver the best possible customer experience, and growing digital businesses in adjacent lifestyle sectors. For the enterprise segment, it will be focusing on cloud and more holistic technology solutions.
With that, Singtel has identified NCS as its key growth engine and recasting it as the group’s pan-Asian B2B digital services provider.
NCS also on July 7 announced a major business and people transformation to reposition the company for growth in the 5G era. The strategic reset focuses on growing digital services, scaling its government and telco business segments and capturing new growth opportunities in the enterprise sector, across the key regional markets of Singapore, Australia and Greater China.
Speaking at the NCS transformation event, Ng Kuo Pin, CEO of NCS says, “There isn’t a more opportune time for us to make the pivot from a traditional ICT service provider to a digital and technology services firm in Asia Pacific.”
“Covid-19 and the mass migration online have put digital transformation on everyone’s agenda, and we intend to leverage our strengths in the public and telco sectors to capitalise on this opportunity to redefine and grow our company. We will be ramping up our offering of digital services as we reposition ourselves to capture new business from the enterprise sector and expand into the high-growth markets of Australia and Greater China where we have presence and synergies.”
At the heart of this transformation is NCS NEXT, a separate service organisation created to drive the company’s new focus on digital, cloud and platform services. NEXT will complement NCS’ other core service offerings in applications, infrastructure, engineering and cyber security, and provide a differentiated and comprehensive suite of end-to-end technology services. NCS intends to hire up to 2,000 tech talent over the next two years.
Given its proven strengths and track record of success in servicing the Singapore public sector, NCS will double down and scale this business segment with the creation of Gov+. This strategic business group will focus on building NCS’ digital government portfolio and strengthen its position as the leading digital catalyst for governments and smart cities across the Asia Pacific.
A second strategic business group, Telco+, is a joint initiative between Singtel and NCS to help telecom companies transform digitally. The goal is to help telcos improve operational efficiencies and leverage data driven insights to deliver enhanced customer experiences. With the combined 5G capabilities of the Singtel Group and NCS’ expertise in digital and technology services, Telco+ will also develop a full stack of 5G-enabled solutions to help enterprises capitalise on the applications of 5G.
Ng explains that the “plus” in Gov+ and Telco+ is the company’s intent to double down on the government and telco sectors, leveraging our expertise in servicing the public sector and the right to play in the Telco sector as part of the Singtel Group.
“We are committed to work even more closely with government agencies and will invest in building deep digital government capabilities to support their digital and innovation needs. Similarly, working off synergies with the Singtel Group, we stand ready to help telcos digitalise their operations so that they can go to market competitively and innovatively,” adds Ng.
As part of its plans to expedite expansion into the enterprise sector, NCS has identified industries to focus on: Healthcare, Transportation, Financial Services, Industrial, Commercial, Communications, Media and Technology.
Its expansion into Asia Pacific will be targeted, focusing on the high-growth markets of Singapore, Australia and Greater China, building upon NCS NEXT which was launched in last year.
Speaking at the NCS event, minister for communications and information Josephine Teo says, "As most sectors embark on digitalisation, the economy and demand for tech talent is set to increase significantly. The sector's growth also translates into attractive careers for Singaporeans."
Teo elaborates that the local employment in the infocomm media sector grew by 5% last year, or some 8,100 people, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. And while the broader economy declined by 5.4%, the sector saw a 4.8% growth.
"Collectively, these trends point to a picture of Singapore's digital future, the forefront of our economy, and that offers exciting opportunities for Singaporeans, both on people as well as businesses who are willing to consider their own capabilities. And of course, nothing stays still. It therefore does not take a great leap of faith to postulate that the ICM sector will expand beyond its current 10% of our economy," says Teo.
