November 30, 2021

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An in-depth look at GovTech’s new common hosting platform for Singapore Government websites

An in-depth look at GovTech’s new common hosting platform for Singapore Government websites
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Above photo: Mr. Tan Eng Pheng, Senior Director, Clusters Group at GovTech speaking at the AWS Public Sector Summit

Websites are often the first point of contact between citizens and government. They deliver information and provide a convenient platform for transactions. The Singapore Government has over 500 of them.

Earlier this year, PM Lee Hsien Loong said, “There are big things which we need to do and many small things which we ought to do better. Every time I go on to a Government website, if for some reason I have to transact a service and I cannot find the link, I tell them, please put this link in.”

To support the government agencies in improving the digital shopfront and the user experience, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) introduced a common hosting platform for government websites, called the Content Websites Platform (CWP), in  October2016.

The CWP is a common secured environment based on a resilient, robust and controlled platform which provides a suite of standardised software for hosting content-based websites. It enables unclassified government websites to be centrally managed and operated on public cloud, bringing the benefits of convenience, greater security, optimisation of resources, faster deployment speed and cost savings through economies of scale.

The idea behind CWP is to improve the government’s digital shopfront experience and help organisations build websites within significantly reduced timeframes. CWP accomplishes that by leveraging public cloud technology and putting together a stack of services, around not just hosting, but also security and operations management.

On October 4, at the inaugural AWS Public Sector Summit, Mr. Tan Eng Pheng, Senior Director, Clusters Group at GovTech spoke about the CWP, outlining its development, adoption and benefits.

The project started at erstwhile Infocomm Development Authority or IDA and moved on to GovTech (IDA and the Media Development Authority were re-structured to form GovTech and the Infocomm Media Development Authority last year). The procurement and development process took around 15 months.

Traditionally, each agency built everything from the ground up. In the data centre approach, they were responsible for the everything, from storage through servers, virtualisation, operating system (O/S), middleware and runtime to services and the website itself.

In the private cloud approach, parts of the stack are managed for the agency but the agency is still responsible for at least half the stack.

With the CWP, the agencies only have to manage their own websites and they can focus on delivering the best possible user experience. Everything else is handled for them by GovTech.

Hosting environment

CWP is hosted in the Public Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and G-Cloud, IM8[1] Compliant Hosting Environment, for the ‘unclassified’ front-end website and ‘restricted’ form services respectively.

Above image: Public Cloud and IM8 Compliant Hosting Environment Hosting Illustration/ Credit: GovTech 

CWP offers two categories of services, Base Services and Catalogue Buy Services.  Base Services include virtual hosting environment services (AWS) and Form services (G-Cloud or Government Cloud) and bundled security infrastructure services; and security management services.

Agencies can choose from 3 website tiers for the virtual hosting environment services: Small (Website page views of 50,000 per day and website data transfer of 5GB), Medium (Website page views of 200,000 per day and website data transfer of 20GB), and Large (Website page views of 800,000 per day and website data transfer of 5GB).

There are similar categories for Form Services with small, medium and large for form traffic of 200, 400 and 800 per day respectively.

Integrated, centrally-managed security

Mr. Tan said, “In this heightened cyber risk landscape, security probably takes more effort than the website itself.” CWP centrally manages the security protection of all hosted websites, through a range of integrated security infrastructure and management services.

At the perimeter, measures comprise: 1) CyberWatch Centre, which captures and processes security alerts; 2) Content Delivery Network (CDN) for caching and distributing load; 3) Web application firewall to filter malicious web traffic; and 4) Defacement monitoring, which monitors webpages against unauthorised changes.

There is another layer of security which includes Virtual Private Cloud to protect cloud resources; End Point Protection against viruses and malware; Network Intrusion Protection System to examine network traffic flows and block exploits; Patch Management for monitoring and administering timely software patches, fixes and updates; and Cert Management for managing SSL/ TSL[2] certificates.

In addition, vulnerability assessment is conducted annually for application software/ customer website and on a quarterly basis for the Operating system, Database management system and the Network infrastructure. Both automatic and manual Penetration Testing is done once a year.

All of this is integrated as part of the basic services package.  The agencies don’t have to go around shopping to find security solutions. In addition, CWP leverages multiple availability zones[3] of AWS in Singapore, adding another layer of resiliency.

Content Publishing Services

This falls under the ‘Catalogue Buy Services’. (Catalogue Buy also includes a range of miscellaneous services, such as additional website traffic, form traffic, data storage; invoice options; urgent service requests; and performance test tools.)

CWP provides improved manageability and operational efficiency with five Content Management Systems (CMS) standardised software. Customer may bring their own CMS licenses over to CWP provided the licensing scheme is supported in CWP. Alternatively, customer may procure the CMS licenses in CWP. They can choose to deploy HTML websites where CMSes are not required.

The five supported CMSes are WordPress which is Open Source (with commercial support for plug-ins) and four proprietary CMSes, namely SharePoint, SiteCore, Swiit and Sitefinity.

Mr. Tan explained the selection process for the CMS software, saying, “Unfortunately, we are unable to service all CMSes. As the suite of offerings expands, the management complexity escalates. So, we decided to do the top 5 CMSes, which have the highest utilisation rate in government.”

Simple process for agencies

Agencies developing and deploying websites through CWP follow a simple 4-step process. GovTech has developed self-service portals for Service, Deployment, Security, Utilisation, User management, operations and service desk.

The requester goes on to the Service portal and signs up for an account. Once the account is approved, the requester can subscribe for the tier of service they want. After provisioning for the staging and production environment, the developer can start deploying their codes through the Deployment portal and then conduct user testing.

This is followed by booking and running security tests through the Security portal. Once vulnerability and penetration testing is completed, the security findings verified and any loopholes remediated, the agencies can deploy the website and go live.

The result of this process has been a drastic reduction in time taken for developing and deploying websites. It is down from months to weeks or even days. Mr. Tan said that a corporate website for Vital.Org, which provides human resources and finance services to government agencies, went from ‘signup’ on CWP to ‘go live’ in 7 working days.

Two examples of public cloud benefits- auto capacity scaling and security patching

In his presentation, Mr. Tan talked about how CWP leverages a range of useful utilities and services provided by AWS, such as Simple Queue Service, Lambda, CloudWatch and Elastic Load Balancing.

He gave two examples of how public cloud can provide distinct advantages in terms of operations, as well as security. Peak loads for websites can come at inconvenient or unpredictable times. Traditionally, the organisation would buy excess capacity, in case the need arose. But this ‘just in case’ came at a heavy cost. With the cloud infrastructure, the utilisation can be monitored (through CloudWatch) and a threshold set for it. Once the threshold is crossed, a new instance[4] is automatically created. Once connected to the Load Balancer, it goes live immediately. Surges in website traffic are handled with little to no downtime. And this flexibility enables rapid scale-up without having to go through hardware and set-up.

Another issue is security patching.  Each time a vulnerability is revealed, it has to be patched to make sure that it is not exploited. Here, public cloud provides the ability to do the patching offline. A similar instance can be patched, connected to the load balancer and once it is connected, the old unpatched can be discarded.

Previously, for patching, website administrators announced maintenance periods, taking the website offline for x hours and patching it before bringing it back online. There’s almost no downtime now. The patching can be done in minutes instead of hours.

In January 2017, WordPress had a vulnerability that was exploited worldwide. 1.5 million websites were affected. GovTech was able to complete the patching in a total elapsed time of 23 hours. The staging environment was patched in 4 hours, while the production environment was patched in 5 hours. There was no defacement and no downtime.

“The ability to patch very quickly is what separates the vulnerable and the ready. More than 90% of exploits will continue to be these known ones. Everyone knows about it. It’s a matter of who can get to the finishing line faster, the hacker or you,” Mr. Tan said.

Future plans

The CWP is already proving to be a transformative platform. It is allowing agencies to achieve cost and time savings and transparency. They no longer need to deal with multiple vendors. Moreover, Mr. Tan mentioned in post-presentation panel, that many government agencies are taking the opportunity of the migration to re-design the website and rewrite the content.

Around 70% of government websites, around 380, have migrated to the CWP. The number is expected to increase to 400 by the end of the year.

Going forward, GovTech wants to provide services to mobile platform through APIs. For instance, GovTech is working with the Ministry of Education (MoE) for native mobile apps which will consume content hosted on CWP through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).

GovTech has also developed an Outlook and mobile calendar synchronisation solution for public servants using CWP.

The other part of the plan is exploring the possibility of pay-as-you-use Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, in areas like learning management and mass communication (marketing emails) on subscription basis in the future.

[1]The Instruction Manual for ICT or IM8 aims to enhance the overall effectiveness of ICT in the public sector, and establish minimum standards leading to a networked government.

[2] Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are cryptographic protocols that provide encryption and authentication between applications where data travels over an insecure network such as the Internet.

[3]AWS locations are composed of regions and Availability Zones. Each region is a separate geographic area. Each region has multiple, isolated locations known as Availability Zones. Availability Zones in a region are connected through low-latency links. If instances are distributed across multiple Availability Zones and one instance fails, an instance in another Availability Zone can handle requests.

[4] An instance refers to a virtual server for running applications.

Pandemic Makes 85% of Vietnamese Consumers More Likely to Use Digital Banking

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Around 85% of Vietnamese banking consumers are more likely to use online and digital banking services compared to 18 months ago, according to a recent report. Globally, nearly two-thirds (61%) of consumers have made greater use of digital banking services over the last 18 months. Two in five (41%) have started using digital banking services for the very first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Vietnam, these numbers are higher, at 70% and 54%, respectively. Approximately 90% of respondents use online and digital banking services mostly to pay bills, transfer money, and check account balances. These statistics will help banks understand customers habits and behaviours to create more effective online services.

The report surveyed 4,500 consumers globally, including Vietnamese consumers (accounting for 11%). It identifies five emerging financial “tribes” that banks need to know about in a post-pandemic world. These consumer groups include techcelerators, ethical bankers, convenience cravers, covidpreneurs and neo asset hoarders. Techcelerators are recent converts to the world of digital banking who have adopted digital services amid physical branch closures.

Vietnam was most likely to identify with techcelerators, with 33% of respondents showing the traits of this group. Ethical bankers are young, purpose-driven savers that want to make a positive impact in the world. Some 76% of Vietnamese consumers agreed that they are willing to pay a premium for financial services if a cut goes towards helping the environment or local communities.

Convenience cravers are one-stop shoppers who want all-in-one services at their fingertips, and no extra cost. Covidpreneurs are entrepreneurs who have set up their own business during the pandemic, in need of easy-to-use and reliable business banking services. 14% of Vietnamese respondents belong to this group. Neo asset hoarders are new asset owners who want to use financial services to buy, trade, and hold assets. This group is the smallest, but a rapidly growing tribe globally.

An industry expert explained that each tribe shows something significant about the way consumer behaviour is adapting and what banks must do to stay ahead of the curve. Traditional audience segmentation in financial services is broken. The one-size-fits-all model, in which customers are divided based on how much they earn, or simple demographics, is redundant in a world of open finance. If banks want to survive, they must think about how to affiliate themselves with the new groups within society and appeal to them with products and experiences that meet their shared values and user needs.

Digital transformation in banking has accelerated in Vietnam and the report shows that 87% of local banking customers agreed with the importance of online and digital banking services in a bank or financial institution. Over 80% of respondents prefer to save or invest rather than spend money – the highest rates of all surveyed markets, and more than 74% are willing to pay a premium for financial services that save their time and offer greater flexibility.

The Development of Machine Learning Model that Understands Object Relationships

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Many deep learning models struggle to see the world in which there are objects and the relationships between them. Most models do not understand the entangled relationships between individual objects. Without knowledge of these relationships, a robot designed to assist someone in a kitchen would have difficulty following commands such as “grab the spatula on the left side of the stove and place it on the cutting board.”

In an effort to solve this problem, MIT researchers have developed a model that understands the underlying relationships between objects in a scene. Their model depicts individual relationships one by one and combines these representations to describe the overall scene. This allows the model to generate more accurate images from text descriptions, even when the scene contains multiple objects arranged in different relationships to each other.

This work can be applied in situations where industrial robots need to perform complex, multi-step manipulation tasks, such as stacking items in a warehouse or assembling devices. It also brings the field one step closer to enabling machines that can learn from and interact with their environment more like humans do.

When I look at a table, I cannot tell there is an object in the XYZ location. Our minds do not work that way. In our minds, when we understand a scene, we really understand it based on the relationships between the objects. We think that by building a system that can understand the relationships between objects, we can use that system to more effectively manipulate and change our environments.

– Yilun Du, PhD Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory & Co-Lead Author

The framework the researchers developed can generate an image of a scene based on a text description of objects and their relationships, such as ‘A wooden table to the left of a blue stool. A red bench to the right of a blue stool.”

Their system would break these sentences into two smaller pieces describing each individual relationship, then model each part individually. Those pieces are then combined through an optimisation process that generates an image of the scene.

The researchers used a machine learning technique called energy-based models to represent the individual object relationships in a scene description. This technique allows them to use one energy-based model to encode each relational description, then assemble them in a way that infers all objects and relationships.

The system also works in reverse: with an image, it can find text descriptions that correspond to the relationships between objects in the scene. In addition, their model can be used to edit an image by rearranging the objects in the scene to match a new description.

The researchers compared their model with other deep learning methods that were given text descriptions and tasked with generating images showing the associated objects and their relationships. In any case, their model outperformed the baselines.

They also asked people to evaluate whether the images generated matched the original scene description. In the most complex examples, where descriptions included three relationships, 91% of participants concluded that the new model performed better.

While these initial results are encouraging, the researchers would like to see how their model performs on more complex real-world images, with noisy backgrounds and objects blocking each other. They are also interested in eventually incorporating their model into robotic systems, allowing a robot to derive object relationships from videos and then apply this knowledge to manipulate objects in the world.

NUS-ISS Unveils New Facility and More Initiatives to Grow Singapore’s Digital Talent

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The National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS) recently introduced new buildings and initiatives to strengthen the digital skills pipeline in Singapore and beyond. The agency’s signature investment for the next generation of digital talent, according to NUS-ISS CEO Mr Khoong Chan Meng, is this expansion and change. “We intended our new facility to be a beacon on campus, attracting and enticing industry experts to come to NUS-ISS and experience the thrill of learning. We look forward to welcoming more learners and organisations to our new facility and embarking on a journey with them to help them achieve their digital excellence goals.”

Completed over two years, the revitalised NUS-ISS building provides an inspiring, adaptable and innovative setting that is ideal for learning, practice cooperation and social networking. The buildings are outfitted with cutting-edge technology to assist learners and educators in implementing hybrid and blended learning strategies.

NUS-ISS has trained over 157,000 professionals, managers, and executives from over 8,000 organisations in the public and commercial sectors since its foundation in 1981. This year, the Institute celebrates its 40th anniversary by reaffirming its commitment to assisting industry partners in their digital transformation efforts. NUS-ISS will do so through a variety of new projects that will draw on its experience in establishing essential digital competencies.

Moving forward, NUS-ISS will focus on forging comprehensive collaborations with businesses, trade groups, and professional bodies to strengthen and sustain digital capacities in many industries. NUS-ISS is aiding these partners in a variety of ways, including internships, project collaboration, talent acquisition and retention, career development activities, consulting, and research, in addition to training and upskilling.

NUS-ISS will also co-invest and cooperate with its industry partners to assist them to establish and run their digital academies, based on the NUS-ISS operating model, to help them develop organic digital skills.

Industry personnel must build dynamic digital skills more synergistically as the working environment undergoes a paradigm shift, through holistic, just-in-time learning. NUS-ISS uses a unique approach of numerous learning pathways and blended learning to ensure that upskilling is a lifelong process that may take place at any time and in any location. The Institute is collaborating with new channel partners and facilitating new modes of delivery to reach more learners in Singapore and throughout the world, to make its programmes more widely accessible and scalable. NUS-ISS provides an open platform for collaboration to assist our learning organisations to climb the next curve of digital excellence, from stackable to certifiable routes, online to face-to-face interactions, and formal to social learning.

“Since its inception in 1981, NUS-ISS has demonstrated an unrelenting commitment to enhancing the digital competencies of our workforce, thereby aiding Singapore’s economic growth and transformation,” Minister Chan said. “I hope NUS-ISS continued success as it continues to pave the way for our people and businesses to be future-ready.”

Professor Tan Eng Chye, President of NUS, stated that the NUS-ISS has progressed tremendously over the years, adapting to changing workforce and industry needs and generating digital talent for Singapore.

OpenGov Asia reported the official opening of a Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DS&AI) Lab was recently announced with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Singapore’s IT manufacturer and Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) collaborated to enhance local DS&AI education, empowering students with the tech tools and skills needed to inspire a brighter future.

The Lab will put together the IT firm’s cutting-edge deep-learning technology with NTU’s global strengths in artificial intelligence and data science, allowing local data scientists and AI experts to pioneer the development of meaningful AI solutions in important industries.

“Singapore aspires to be amongst leaders in developing and deploying scalable impactful AI solutions in high-value sectors. Entering the next phase of growth, it is imperative to build a strong bench of multidisciplinary talent to meet the needs of the industry,” affirmed Senior Vice President and Head Operations, Semiconductors of the IT company. “This partnership between aims to nurture next-generation tech leaders will contribute to this effort, creating good economic opportunities for Singaporeans,” he then added.

Vietnam to be Fastest-Growing E-Commerce Market in Southeast Asia by 2026

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Vietnam is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026, with e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) reaching US$56 billion by 2026, 4.5 times the estimated value of 2021, according to a recent survey.  Vietnam is at the forefront of driving change and seizing opportunities to thrive based on digital transformation in a post-pandemic future.

A study surveyed about 16,700 digital consumers and more than 20 C-level employees in six Southeast Asian countries, including 3,579 survey participants from Vietnam. The report described Southeast Asia as a leader of digital transformation in the Asia-Pacific region and Vietnam as one of the best performers. In Vietnam, seven out of ten consumers have digital access, and the country will have 53 million digital consumers by the end of 2021.

The number of goods categories purchased by Vietnamese online shoppers this year went up 50% compared to 2020, while that of online stores in Vietnam also rose by 40% year-on-year, resulting in a 1.5-fold increase in total online retail sales nationwide. Some 49% of Vietnamese consumers switched to a new online marketplace within the last 3 months, based on considerations of price incentives (45%), product quality (34%), and availability of goods (33%).

For the first time, the payment using cash is at risk of being dethroned with a significant decrease from 60% in 2020 to only 42% in 2021. Safety, privacy, and service fees are the three main concerns of Vietnamese consumers when considering these types of payments.

This year, Vietnamese people spent most of their time using social networks, texting, watching videos, shopping online, and emailing, the report showed.  The rapid growth of the market is forecast to continue increasing. It will not only bring about major opportunities but also challenges for the development of online platforms to meet the increasing demand of customers and the market.

OpenGov Asia reported recently that online transactions in Vietnam for the first four months of this year jumped 66% compared with the same period last year, which has been accelerated enormously by the pandemic. There has also been an increase in the use of e-wallets, payments via smartphones and QR codes, and high demand for ‘instant credit’ solutions such as buy-now-pay-later, particularly among those segments of the population that remain unbanked or underbanked. Fintech and e-wallet penetration reached 56% in 2021 for Vietnam, a hike of 40 percentage points from 2017. This penetration level is higher than the average of Asia-Pacific (APAC) emerging markets (at 54%) and developed markets (43%).

The large majority (73%) of Vietnamese consumers are multi-channel banking users. This means they use a combination of digital banks and physical branches. In light of this, banks need to strengthen branches’ omnichannel delivery – measuring both financial goals and customer satisfaction. They should play the role of a digital attacker (digital-only banks using a cloud-native, low-cost platform) or an omnichannel incumbent to stay competitive. In doing so, they must differentiate their digital value proposition from existing offerings, focus on gaining access to a large customer ecosystem to scale fast, and capture transactions and balances as primary banks. Banks in emerging markets are already leading digital innovation but the market is getting crowded and competitive. To stay relevant, banks should think about building (or acquiring) AI/ML capabilities in sales and service, operations, and information technology (IT).

EXCLUSIVE! The Power of Information Management for the Public Sector

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Globally, public sectors are overwhelmingly moving to information digitisation. This has been proven to be a catalyst and fuel for transformation within the public sector today, allowing them to understand trends, make decisions and better serve citizens. With this, though, comes the tremendous responsibility of managing and protecting data – in terms of privacy as well as safekeeping. This is done through policy, process and infrastructure.

While policy establishment is the purview of the government, it needs input from various stakeholders and experts. More so, as with cutting edge technology and solutions implications and ramifications are not necessarily, readily foreseeable.

Process and infrastructure are the other two pillars that a good data strategy rests on. Information management allows data processing techniques in the public sector to become more secure and integrated. The capacity to quickly organise, integrate and safeguard data alleviates many of the problems that agencies face, particularly when it comes to managing sensitive data and providing effective citizen services.

Information management has been proven effective in meeting the needs of the post-pandemic environment. In an increasingly VUCA environment, good data that is robustly managed and protected is essential.

The question is: How can information management improve processes in the public sector?

With the right information management solutions, governments can improve decision-making and demonstrate accountability and openness. The public sector will be able to gain insights from data to make better decisions for citizens’ economic and health benefits. Properly managing public sector information, will ensure that it remains reliable, trustworthy and promotes the use and reuse of data by both public sector entities and the general public.

Agencies will also be able to interpret structured and unstructured data insights into actions and outcomes through mastering information management methodologies. Analytics and trends will generate information-driven, actionable insights and simultaneously speed up decision-making.

Enterprise content management technologies also ensure instant access to information whenever it is needed. Obtaining this actionable result will increase decision-making speed and transparency, as well as add value to the data when it is transformed into recommendations for change.

Further, the risk of data being tempered or distorted can be mitigated if the information is automated using tools to adhere to governance and compliance protocols, as well as diminishing risk.

This was the focus of OpenGovLive! Virtual Breakfast Insight which was held on 26 November 2021, which aimed to provide the latest information management tools to improve public sectors governance, compliance and security at an accelerated speed. This is a closed-door, invitation-only, interactive session with top-level executives from Singapore public sector.

Demonstrating government accountability and transparency by accelerating information

Mohit Sagar:  Information management in a data-driven world

Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, OpenGov Asia, kicked off the session with his opening address.

Culture has shifted drastically because of Covid-19, Mohit asserts. There is a need to fundamentally relook at approaches and strategies. “Just because something is not broken does not mean it does not need fixing or changing,” says Mohit.

For him, another crisis will inevitably hit. As such, he implores organisations to think ahead, reimagine the needs of their employees and future-proof their organisations.

When it comes to information management, Mohit believes in the importance of setting and following a proper road map that is regularly monitored. Otherwise, it would be a long-term disaster. For instance, a $2 billion air traffic control system had failed due to insufficient computer memory, hundreds of LAX flights were delayed or cancelled because all computers in the airport crashed due to a bug in the En Route Automation Modernisation (ERAM) system.

“Where is data residing and how are they working for your organisation?” Mohit asks.

He believes that organisations have to relook at their strategy because the future will be different. Especially in the public sector, Mohit asserts, poor information management is something that the public sector must avoid at all costs. The lack of effective data governance is a security concern for two reasons – unstructured data and regulatory compliance issues.  Bad data and badly structured data poses a security risk for the simple reason that poor data makes it difficult to detect and monitor when something goes wrong.

For Mohit, having advanced information management provides clarity on adherence to data governance. It highlights what must be done to achieve these standards and what needs to be done to continuously improve. Some principles include:

  1. Recognise (and manage) complexity
  2. Focus on adoption
  3. Deliver tangible & visible benefits
  4. Prioritise according to business needs
  5. Take a journey of a thousand steps
  6. Provide strong leadership
  7. Mitigate risks
  8. Communicate extensively
  9. Strive for a seamless digital employee experience
  10. Choose the first project very carefully

Managing such massive collection of information properly and avoiding any data breach or misinterpretation of information requires balancing compliance and efficiency when managing records, improving adequate resourcing or skill set and managing secure disposal of all information assets.

Aware of the mounting challenges, such as legacy applications and lack of skill sets for true digital transformation, he is firmly convinced that transformation should not be done alone. He urges delegates to partner with organisations with the expertise to facilitate digital transformation. Partners bring a wealth of expertise and experience that will make the journey far easier to manage and navigate.

Harnessing information management tools to deliver effective services

Randy Goh: The Power of Information Management for the Public Sector

Randy Goh, Regional Vice President, Southeast Asia, OpenText introduced the delegates to OpenText and the solutions that OpenText can offer.

As Canada’s largest software company, OpenText is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada but they also have regional headquarters in Germany, Tokyo, the United States, and Australia. With 53 offices worldwide, they provide global coverage for our global enterprise customers.

OpenText has been delivering trusted and quality solutions for 30 years, the go-to solution for 80% of the Fortune 1000 companies who use OpenText to manage information in their enterprise. Incredibly, OpenText has over 3 exabytes of information under their management.

To put that into perspective, Amazon Web Services had 1.3 exabytes of consistently managed data at the end of 2019. Add to that 60M secure IDs, 40M endpoints and 100M end-users and OpenText’s install base translates into a world-class information ecosystem, which OpenText customers can integrate into and leverage to their advantage.

OpenText has customers across various industries such as banking and insurance, manufacturing, healthcare and the public sector in their EIM journey. With an arsenal of experience in industry solution-based best practices, along with experienced delivery and advisory resources, both OpenText’s global and local teams in Southeast Asia have helped customers achieve huge success in their EIM projects.

 

Before closing, Randy emphasised that OpenText is filled with a team of experienced and dedicated staff who will be able to help organisations work out the best way to manage information according to their needs.

Brian Chidester: Roadmap to Legacy IT Modernisation

Handing the time over to Brian Chidester, Head of Worldwide Industry Strategy for the Public Sector, OpenText spoke next on legacy IT modernisation in the government sector.

“Data in and of itself is useless, but information is valuable,” Brian opines. “The question is how can organisations can turn data into information.”

With his vast amount of experience working with governments, he projects the future of government to be focused on security, digital experience, remote work, collaboration.

Credits: Brian Chidester

Based on a study on global CIOs, Brian highlighted some of the key challenges of government, the first being the lack of information on governance policies. The second challenge is the lack of visibility of the data life cycle – knowing where the data is coming from, how it is being managed and processed. For that to occur, he notes, the policy has to be in place and the relevant technology needs to be layered in the process.

When it came to selection criteria, government agencies are searching for applications that offer ease of integration with business applications. Additionally, they are looking for solutions that do not require additional coding to configure and customise solutions.

Brian also notes that having the ability to leverage existing talent across the workforce without needing specialised talent is important.

The prevailing drivers for governments are the improvement of digital experiences and the need to integrate and align data and applications. On this journey of digital transformation, he points out the difference between an E-government, which is concerned with getting services online without a strategy, and a truly digital government that puts citizens and stakeholders at the centre of the strategy.

Brian urges delegates to recognise the reality that another crisis will eventually hit organisations. For him, being able to introduce platforms that increase the resilience of the agency is paramount if governments want to equip themselves for the challenges to come.

Achieving adaptive data governance through information management

Mitra Bhar: Information management at a glance

Mitra Bhar, Chief Information Officer, NSW Education Standards Authority gave an insightful overview of the importance of information management from her perspective.

In many organisations, the responsibility for information management lies with IT. However, enterprise information management is a business-led programme that recognises information as an asset that drives better business outcomes. However, organisations face the challenge of demonstrating business value before the programme is complete. As a result, many avoid large, enterprise-wide information management (IM) programmes.

Organisations avoid large, enterprise-wide information management (IM) programmes because they are not able to demonstrate business value before the programme is complete. Mitra also observes that information management problems are approached in individual project silos, which prevents organisations from leveraging their efforts across multiple programs and limits functionality. She emphasises that the value of IM is not focused on business outcomes but individual needs analysis.

For data management solutions, Mitra advises organisations should consider seven principles, defined by the IEC 25010:

  • Reliability: Encompasses lower-level attributes such as stability, availability and recoverability
  • Usability: Covers areas such as “speed to learn,” as well as ease of use
  • Performance efficiency: The number of computing resources needed to provide an appropriate level of performance
  • Maintainability: Relates to the design attributes of the software, which make it easy (or hard) to make changes to the functionality, fix bugs and ensure the quality of service
  • Portability: Covers both the portability between devices and operating systems, but also the ease with which an application can be localised for geographically specific capabilities
  • Security: All attributes of the software system’s security
  • Compatibility: Defines the ease and efficiency of integration provided by the software.

At the same time, Mitra adds that organisations looking into information management need to consider the organisational structure responsible for the governance of the data.

Credits: Mitra Bhar

On building a secure and integrated information management system, Mitra highly encourages the integration with data governance, endpoint management, endpoint security and identity access management tools and processes to gain a complete picture of data usage. Organisations need to consider ways to improve security posture and through centralised security platforms, as well as manage, automate and enforce configuration policies consistently across the data repository.

Digital transformations and the continued adoption of cloud services mean that personal data is processed in more locations than ever. To ensure citizen confidence in the public services, organisations must automate data discovery and governance functionalities to better protect personal data throughout the data life cycle.

While privacy regulations across multiple jurisdictions have differing requirements, consent remains one of the key factors upon which personal data can be processed. On that note, new technologies are emerging that allow for organisations seeking to respect the privacy rights of individuals while using data for information sharing, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) modelling.

Speaking from experience, she believes that public services need to aspire to achieve adaptive data governance. That means having the agility to use multiple governance styles, which are sensitive to business context; enabling data innovation at both the centre and the edge; applying a flexible, dynamic governance strategy across the organisations and its ecosystems and applying distributed decision rights, both formal and informal, that are connected to business value.

Adaptive data and analytics governance enable organisations to stay safe amid data disorder through governing the right data to the right degree, allowing the best-positioned stakeholders to make governance decisions.

Mitra advises organisations seeking to improve data quality on several steps they can take to get started on improving data quality. The strategies include:

  • Establish a data governance committee made up of business stakeholders to manage the broader responsibilities
  • Design data quality governance principles in the lines of business units and align them with the data governance committee.
  • Encourage self-service in business units through the promotion of data preparation technology. At the same time, ensure an ongoing dialogue with the business units on decisions relating to data of high value and risk.
  • Build a platform for ongoing dialogue and listen to business concerns — ensure that the dialogue goes both ways. Create a forum for data quality improvement based on these interactions.
  • Establish data quality improvement as an ongoing initiative, aligned to data strategy to achieve the desired business outcomes.

In closing, Mitra reiterates the areas of focus for agencies seeking to improve their organisation’s information management: governance, management structures or systems, and good data quality. Bearing in mind the data decree from a data-driven world, Mitra encourages delegates to embark on the journey by taking small steps to improve data management.

Interactive Discussion

After the informative presentations, delegates participated in interactive discussions facilitated by polling questions. This session is designed to provide live-audience interaction, promote engagement, hear real-life experiences and impart professional learning and development for the participants. It is an opportunity for delegates to gain insight from subject matter experts, share their stories and take back strategies that can be implemented in their organisations.

The first poll asked what delegates deemed as their most important IT priority. An overwhelming majority indicated digital transformation and innovation (69%) as the most important priority. The rest of the delegates opted for improving efficiencies and reducing maintenance costs (19%), digital record-keeping to comply with government legislation (6%) and building resilience into their enterprises (6%).

Echoing Brian’s earlier point about turning data into information, Mohit points out that the end goal is to extract information and intelligence from data. He advises delegates to think deeply about what true digital transformation looks like in their organisations.

It is critical to put aside considerations about technology to look into business processes because “without a business case, the technology means nothing,” Mohit contends. Understanding how information management fits into the overall strategy is more valuable than blind adoption of technology.

On that note, Brian posits the importance of looking at citizen or user experience in tandem with Customer Experience (CX). To drive more power in citizen experience, one must “look under the hood to see what is powering the engine.” In other words, the goal of delivering a seamless citizen experience necessitates an examination of backend processes in CX.

He emphasises the need to provide internal stakeholders with the power to be strategic by automating mundane processes. A delegate adds that delivering personalised experiences comes down to good data management and a frictionless platform for easy access to information.

On their key initiatives in the next 12 months, delegates were split between cloud migration (29%) and AI/ML tools (29%). The others chose employee enablement (21%), followed by compliance(7%).

A delegate shares the observation that government agencies are moving data onto cloud. However, he believes that the journey of digital transformation requires looking holistically at data, design and technology – the management of data, the design of systems and processes that people use and the tools that enable digital transformation.

Mohit acknowledged that the technology already exists as a solution to problems faced by agencies but that the journey is one of “finding the right tech that fits the requirements.” To effectively do that, agencies need to understand their own needs and understand the technology through and through. The heart of the matter, Mohit believes, comes down to the skill sets of employees within organisations and being able to enlist the help of partners with a wealth of experience.

Compliance, Brian emphasises, is foundational to information management. Having the technology alone is not enough, it needs to be grounded by policy – processes enable people to utilise technology in empowering and effective ways.

Regarding challenges delegates have in managing change in data or business requirements, most delegates found employee skill sets challenging (33%), followed by the lack of flexibility or agility in current systems (27%) and time involved to make changes (20%). The remaining delegates indicated the reluctance to look at new technologies (13%) and the uncertainty around future needs (7%) as the main challenge.

Randy agrees that upskilling is a vital component of successful projects – employees need to have the capability to utilise tools at their disposal. Mitra opines that the case for some organisations might be that of legacy systems. Using state of the art platforms across those applications makes it difficult to extract data in a meaningful way that addresses business outcomes.

When asked what new IT strategy Digital Transformation would require, delegates were evenly split between evolving business value (36%) and partnering for capabilities (36%) as the main reason. The remaining delegates selected new IT enablers (26%).

Highlighting the urgency of evolving and future-proofing the next inevitable challenge, Mohit stresses the importance of leveraging partner capabilities to expand the capacities of agencies, which could help in strengthening business value.

The next poll inquired which infrastructure technology modernisation areas delegate organisations are investing in or planning to invest in support of Digital Transformation (DX)/IT Transformation (ITX) projects. Most of the delegates selected data analytics (36%), followed by deploying AI/ML tools (29%) and reducing data silos (21%). The remaining delegates selected migrating data to the cloud (14%).

Mohit believes in introducing the technology in layers after there is a shift in mindset. The process and policy need to support the taking of calculated risks.

A delegate points out that the public trust in the Singapore government is high and people expect a certain amount of quality from the government. He asserts the importance of looking at the citizens and how they are also on the journey.

On the biggest challenge in data management, most delegates indicated ‘others’ as their biggest challenge (39%). For the remaining delegates, the challenge was in real-time insights and having the ability to analyse data in real-time (23%), regulatory compliance(15%), fast accessibility in being able to get the data quickly (15%) and data loss prevention (8%).

A delegate expressed that the challenge is multi-fold. From the organisation’s objective, being able to manage information in a way that allows the organisation to channel it as an ‘engine’ is not an easy task. Aside from that, being situated in the public sector also has its own set of social responsibilities that have to be balanced.

Conclusion

In closing, Randy Goh, Regional Vice President, Southeast Asia, OpenText acknowledged the difficult work in the public sector because it is impossible to please everyone. He emphasised that information management is a key strategy that can alleviate the mounting pressures governments face in keeping up with citizen demands.

Having accumulated decades of experience, he is confident that OpenText is well-poised to help agencies undertake the challenging task of aligning people, processes and technology vis-à-vis organisational objectives.

Before ending the session, Randy thanked the delegates for the highly illuminating sharing and invited delegates to reach out to him and the team if they wanted to understand how they could get started on this journey with OpenText.

AI-generated Brain Data to Help the Disabled

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To improve brain-computer interfaces for people with disabilities, U.S. Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering are using generative adversarial networks (GANs) — technology best known for creating deepfake videos and photorealistic human faces.

In a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers reported the development and use of a generative model—a model that synthesises a virtually unlimited number of new data distributions from a learned data distribution. The team successfully taught an AI to generate synthetic brain activity data. The data, specifically neural signals called spike trains, can be fed into machine-learning algorithms to improve the usability of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI).

BCI systems work by analysing a person’s brain signals and translating that neural activity into commands, allowing the user to control digital devices like computer cursors using only their thoughts. These devices can improve the quality of life for people with motor dysfunction or paralysis, even those struggling with locked-in syndrome – when a person is fully conscious but unable to move or communicate.

Various forms of BCI are already available, from caps that measure brain signals to devices implanted in brain tissues. New use cases are being identified all the time, from neurorehabilitation to treating depression. But despite all of this promise, it has proved challenging to make these systems fast and robust enough for the real world. Specifically, to make sense of their inputs, BCIs need huge amounts of neural data and long periods of training, calibration and learning.

In an experiment described in the paper, the researchers trained a deep-learning spike synthesiser with one session of data recorded from a monkey reaching for an object. Then, they used the synthesiser to generate large amounts of similar—albeit fake—neural data.

The team then combined the synthesised data with small amounts of new real data—either from the same monkey on a different day, or from a different monkey—to train a BCI. This approach got the system up and running much faster than current standard methods. In fact, the researchers found that GAN-synthesised neural data improved a BCI’s overall training speed by up to 20 times.

It is the first time we’ve seen AI generate the recipe for thought or movement via the creation of synthetic spike trains. This research is a critical step towards making BCIs more suitable for real-world use.

– Shixian Wen, Lead Author

Additionally, after training on one experimental session, the system rapidly adapted to new sessions, or subjects, using limited additional neural data. Creating fake spike trains that look just like they come from this person as they imagine doing different motions, then also using this data to assist with learning on the next person is the big innovation.

Beyond BCIs, GAN-generated synthetic data could lead to breakthroughs in other data-hungry areas of artificial intelligence by speeding up training and improving performance. When a company is ready to start commercialising a robotic skeleton, robotic arm or speech synthesis system, they should look at this method, because it might help them with accelerating the training and retraining.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, BCI can restore communication to people who have lost the ability to move or speak, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (NIH BRAIN). The BCI is designed specifically for people with spinal cord injuries and neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

NIH BRAIN Initiative states that this study represents an important milestone in the development of BCIs and machine learning technologies on how the human brain controls communication processes. This knowledge is providing a critical foundation for improving the lives of others with neurological injuries and disorders. Therefore, the results open a new approach for BCIs and demonstrate the feasibility of accurately decoding rapid, dexterous movements years after paralysis.

PolyU to Help HK Shine as an International I&T Hub

Image Credits: HK PolyU, Press Release
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The 85th Anniversary of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) was recently held. Under the theme of “We Are PolyU • Together We Excel”, more than 600 distinguished guests, alumni, staff and students attended the occasion, which shared the accomplishments the University had made over the years and paid tribute to its supporters.

The milestone also represents a time when PolyU is embarking on a new journey aiming to strengthen its position as a leading university with world-class education and research, help Hong Kong shine as a leading innovation and technology hub, and further contribute to a better and more prosperous future for the Nation and the world.

Among the new initiatives in the years to come, the recently established PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR) will spearhead the University’s interdisciplinary research efforts in cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence, carbon neutrality, deep space exploration, smart cities, and smart energy. PolyU will also launch new education programmes in emerging technologies to meet the needs of society for interdisciplinary talents while continuing to work together with the Government, the University Grants Committee and other key partners to nurture the next generation of socially responsible leaders.

The University will further promote and support entrepreneurship through education, seed funding programmes and the “GBA PolyVentures 2025” initiative in partnership with industries and investors to help translate PolyU’s research outcomes into real-world impact.

Other highlights of the celebration in the coming months include the publication of a book on PolyU’s history; the opening of a University history museum; the enhancement of the southern entrance at Core A as the University’s main entrance; and the hosting of an innovation and technology day.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region stated that PolyU has become a global powerhouse in university education and continues to attract gifted innovation and technology academics from around the world. The Chief Executive added that she fully supported the University’s initiatives to nurture innovation and technology talents and help young entrepreneurs to thrive in the GBA. Regarding PolyU’s plan to establish a new campus in Foshan, Guangdong.

The Chairman of the University Grants Committee stated that PolyU had delivered a wide array of research outputs with a positive impact on society. The latest Research Assessment Exercise rated 70% of PolyU’s research as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”. He noted that everyone is proud of how the Surface Sampling and Packing System developed by PolyU played a vital part in the Nation’s first lunar sample return mission.

The Council Chairman of PolyU stated that PolyU had nurtured more than 400,000 alumni, empowering the development of Hong Kong. He said, “PolyU will continue to work together with the Government and support Hong Kong’s integration into the Nation’s development, develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub, and make greater contributions to Hong Kong, the GBA and the Nation.”

Meanwhile, the President of PolyU stated that the University is committed to enhancing the long-term competitiveness of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area at the international level.

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