Week in Review: Buying or adopting tech should come later

• Both Maxis and Singapore’s GovTech get it right about collaboration
• The more things change, the more important the core becomes

I SEE some similarities in our stories this week on Maxis Bhd, one of the big three mobile telcos in Malaysia, and Singapore’s GovTech, the self-proclaimed ‘startup’ within the government.
 
In this case, both entities are aiming to be catalysts for greater digital adoption because this would lead to greater profits for them:  For Maxis, by charging for its services; and for the Singapore government, through higher tax collection from capturing a bigger chunk of the digital pie that it hopes will flow through its borders.
 
An irony of the digital world is that it still needs to operate from a legal and regulatory aspect in a physical world marked by national boundaries.
 
Interestingly, both Maxis chief executive officer Morten Lundal and GovTech chief executive-designate Jacqueline Poh highlight the importance of collaboration in being able to deliver better services to stakeholders.
 
Management consultants have already zoomed in on the importance of cross-function collaboration if any organisation hopes to deliver seamless services to an increasingly digital-savvy market.
 
Fostering this collaboration is definitely harder to do in government but if anyone can get it right, it would be the formidable Singapore Government, thus paving the way for other governments to learn from it.
 
No surprise then that the spirit of collaboration is embodied as one of the core values at GovTech, which aims to reduce friction through the services it delivers. Over at Maxis, Lundal talks about the three-year internal revolution it has gone through to now have a “hyper-collaborative spirit.”
 
When you strip away all the sexy phrases such as Lean Methodology, etc. that are being thrown around, the ability to deliver friction-less services or create new products fast – with failure recognised as part of the product development cycle – ultimately rests on people; not algorithms nor some supercomputer.
 
Which then reminds us that, the more things change, the more important the core becomes.
 
There is now a great opportunity for any organisation hoping to capture economic value in this digital disruption age to begin by strengthening the capabilities of its people and changing processes. Buying or adopting more technology can come later.
 
Before I sign off, do also have a read of our latest Digerati50 to be featured this week, Faiz al-Shahab of Xentral Methods, a one-time hothead who decided it was smarter to focus his aggression on overcoming the many obstacles that lay in the path of entrepreneurship.
 
The digital version of our Digerati50 is sponsored by Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
 
Have a restful weekend and a productive week after.
 
Editor’s Picks:
 
Go-Jek’s US$550mil funding a game-changer for Indonesia
 
Maxis CEO: Google and FB should be sending us flowers!
 
New agency aims to be a ‘govt startup’ for Singapore’s Smart Nation
 
Cyberjaya all set to be SEA’s first LoRa-powered smart city
 
Open source: It’s about the community, says Red Hat exec
 
Adknowledge Asia aims to rule the social media and video advertising roost
 
GuestReady launches, aims to 'professionalise' the Airbnb experience
 
 
Previous Instalments:
 
Week in Review: Legalising Uber and Grab the easy part, what of Airbnb?

Week in Review: Go-Jek’s US$550mil funding sparks intriguing scenarios
 
Week in Review: Adapting to the new reality of a world going digital

Week in Review: A trend emerges with bricks-and-clicks model
 
Week in Review: Enter the third certainty of life

    
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