Teo addressing Sains’ 25th anniversary gala dinner. — Photo by Mohammad Faisal
KUCHING: Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains) owes it to its ‘people’ that the organisation had flourished for the past 25 years and made world class achievements in the field of information and communications technology (ICT).
Sains chief executive officer Dato Teo Tien Hiong pointed out that it was a core team of technically competent and committed people with a ‘can do’ attitude that made the difference.
“There’s no secret to success but it all boils down to one factor, the people. Faced with difficult opportunities, we don’t say ‘No’ but ‘why not’. We shall continue to cultivate that ‘can do’ attitude,” he said in his address at the Sains 25th anniversary gala dinner at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here on Wednesday night.
The event, themed ‘Achieving and Sharing World Class Experience’, celebrated Sains’ world class achievements in the field of ICT, its solutions for government and its expansion out of Sarawak onto the international stage.
It was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, representing Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, as the guest of honour for the night as well as Sains and state IT and Resources Council chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
Continuing with his views on the importance of its people, Teo elaborated that the number of staff has increased to 700-strong today, which in turn contributed challenges in human resource development.
“The biggest challenge is in human resource training, acculturating and incentivising new intakes around the fringes, so that they can perform and produce uniformly,” he said.
Despite achieving major milestones, Teo reminded that Sains is still very much a work in progress as this notion will ensure Sains continues to grow beyond this Silver Jubilee.
“Let’s not be too gung-ho about the recognitions and achievements because in my mind, the day we said we have succeeded is the day we will be going backward,” he reminded.
Teo also expressed his deepest appreciation and gratitude to their loyal customers and clients, saying Sains would not be here today without them.
“So I reckon that Sains has the world class experience which can be shared with the local and international community. In this era, it’s through sharing that we can optimise our knowledge. The system won’t be there if not for the customers, so thank you to you all,” he added.
Aware that the world of ICT is in constant rapid change and that the scope of ICT continues to deepen and enlarge, he pointed to the importance of collaboration with technology partners and business alliances in order to sustain in the game.
“No one can claim to be able to catch up with everything because let’s face the reality, things are moving so fast. So let’s be humble. It is about collaboration, not singularly able to do everything. That’s the game we need to play to stay strong,” he said.
“Together, we can produce collective rewards for the benefit of all including the community at large,” he reiterated.
Sains, he emphasised, has grown by leaps and bounds, moving beyond the shores of Sarawak with operations now from New Zealand up to Africa.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of partnering with people from local, national, regional or even global in scope. That’s the way to go, without which we cannot sustain ourselves,” he added.
Some of the countries that Sains has successfully developed business collaborations with include New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Oman and Qatar.
Among the achievements, Teo highlighted that Sains has developed more than 300 software solutions, especially for the Sarawak government, making it one of the leading and most admired ICT solutions and services providers in the country.
“Many things have been done over the years and work will continue including mobile applications, cloud computing, Internet of Things or Internet of Everything, e-Government or i-Government,” he said.
Moving on to the future, Teo elaborated that they have been looking into eight key areas for two years now to see how they can be leveraged further.
“Geomatics involving gathering, storing, processing and delivering geographic information from satellite imagery to remote sensing imagery like drones. Logistic because it is the driver of the economy,” he explained.
“We cannot leave out healthcare and education as well as energy power and utility which are of particular interest to Sarawak which has so much energy potential, as well as local government, information and cyber security and spatial surveillance,” he added.
Teo assured that Sains will continue to identify the main activity sectors which can be explored and nurtured to their fullest potential and welcomes interested partners to discuss any opportunities and possibilities to move forward.