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The False ‘No’

Across the globe, we are living through an unprecedented experience of our lifetimes. Experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic unfold daily these last 16 weeks has got me reflecting.

The term VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) was introduced in early 2000 and was relatively unknown then. This acronym later became trendy in explaining the 4th industrial revolution.

But who could have imagined disruption at this scale? Post-pandemic, can we build a VUCA-ready government and business architecture?

My medical and healthcare career spans almost 30 years now and I have seen my share of wide-ranging challenges. But the challenges from this pandemic overshadows them all. The pace of growth and learning has been nothing short of warp-speed. Management concepts which took years to roll-out are now being implemented in a matter of days.

Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society have been advocated in recent years, but today, the COVID-19 response is witnessing an almost seamless inter-ministry and inter-agency collaboration.

The national COVID-19 front liners comprise not only healthcare staff and workers, but include others like the Royal Malaysian Police, the Malaysian Armed Forces, Civil Defence Force, the Immigration Department, various other agencies and volunteer groups.

The unprecedented amount of corporate social activity and volunteerism has been amazing. This was particularly so during the early phase of supply chain disruptions where we saw the coming together of volunteers to produce PPEs for the front liners.

Not forgetting the support and cooperation from the private sector, telcos, industry leaders, academia, civil society, community, families and individuals. Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society is possible after all.

With the pandemic having such a huge social and economic impact, now seems the right time to drive Health in All Policies (HiAP) to put health at the heart of government. COVID-19 has proven that health and well being require a holistic approach as they are influenced by many non-health factors including housing, water and sanitation, living and working conditions, employment, education, agriculture and food production.

Just how would the post-pandemic socio-economic policies be? Loaded with health agendas, I should hope so. The window of opportunity is wide open.

This crisis offers a unique opportunity to accelerate digital transformation. Virtual engagements and virtual work-space have expanded. Work from Home is practically possible for a larger segment of the population than initially thought.  Service beyond walls is not a myth. Virtual clinic is completely acceptable today.

Systems implementation and solutions for COVID-19 are going live at a record speed. Digital connectivity has become apparent in almost every aspect of life. COVID-19 has altered attitudes and accelerated the adoption of policies that enable the business of work. All perceived roadblocks can be removed – it is a function of how strongly we want it.

With rapidly expanding knowledge and emerging scientific data, polices and guidelines are being revised and updated constantly. In the last 5 months, we have progressed to the 6th version of our national Management Guideline for COVID-19. We are living the play-book on agile policy making. Aside from Divine scripture, nothing is ever really cast in stone.  Rigidity and slow decision making have little room in this pandemic.

COVID-19 brought unity and solidarity amongst public health, medical and scientific communities from across the world to fight the spread of the pandemic. No war or famine or any other disease has brought us together like this. The phrase Leaving No One Behind seems to characterize this pandemic; everyone has been touched-rich and poor, old and young, rural and urban, all races, all religions, all nations.

I have come to discover most things in government are possible when there is greater imperative – our health and well being. It has been a false no all this while. It took a virus to expose this truth.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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