From 1980s to Now : Navigating Digital Revolution in Singapore

Growing up in the early 1970s in Singapore, I spent my childhood in a world where our experiences were largely mechanical and tangible. A handful of digital games were becoming available globally, but not in Singapore.

Singapore was then a third-world country. In the mid-1970s, Singapore’s GDP per capita was about half of Japan’s and 30% of the USA’s. The black and white TV was the most technologically advanced item in most Singapore households.

It was vastly different from what it is today.

During the 1980s, Singapore experienced rapid economic growth and modernisation. My formative teenage years also coincided with significant breakthroughs in digital technology that marked the onset of the Digital Revolution.

The launch of the IBM PC in 1981 was a game changer. IBM’s decision to use off-the-shelf components and open architecture allowed it to quickly develop and bring its PC to market.

However, with Compaq’s success in reverse-engineering and legally cloning the IBM BIOS – one of the few proprietary components, other manufacturers started to produce IBM-compatible PCs that were competitively priced. This led to the rapid proliferation of these clones.

The Singapore government was habitually farsighted in preparing for the digital revolution. The National Computer Board, established in 1981, formulated the National IT Plan. From the mid-1980s, it started to introduce computer training in secondary schools.

In school, I remember learning to use Logo programming with its “Turtle up,” “Turtle down,” “Penup,” and “Pendown” commands. However, I was often distracted in class, pondering the relevance of “Turtle” in understanding a machine touted to think much faster than a human.

When I was 14, my parents bought my sister, who was 3 years older and in junior college, an IBM-compatible 286 PC. My sister used the PC primarily for school projects. She had started dating and had other preoccupations. The distractions allowed the intensely curious me hours at the PC, making sense of MS-DOS commands, exploring WordPerfect, and using dBase to build simple databases that I did not require.

The digital revolution soon gained momentum in both hardware and software. By 1989, the 486 PC with the latest Intel 80486 Central Processing Unit (CPU) was circa 9 to 10 times faster than the 1984’s 286 PC.

The launch of Windows with its user-friendly graphical interface propelled the rapid adoption of personal computers in businesses and homes. The MS-DOS was frankly quite a pain – the command syntax, spelling and directory paths must be exact or nothing worked.

The 1980s also saw significant developments in PC gaming and related technologies. I was never really captivated by the fancy new games, not even by SimCity. My idea of fun was simpler games like Pac-Man, which only required the four arrow keys and didn’t tax the brain.

Creative Technology’s Soundblaster became the global market leader in PC sound cards. I couldn’t afford one, but to this day, I still have a soft spot for their products.

The creation of the World Wide Web in 1991 made the internet accessible to the general public. In university, the PCs in the computer labs had access to the internet. However, they were mostly used for word processing, spreadsheet, statistical analysis, and bulletin board systems (BBS).

I did not recall browsing the internet using Mosaic, one of the earliest web browsers, as being all that exciting. It was probably because there were few available websites, and obviously the contents were far from what later years would term as NSFW.

From 1994, the births of Netscape Navigator, Yahoo, Java, and JavaScript revolutionised the internet, making it more user-friendly and interactive. “Do you Yahoo?” was the catchphrase of the ’90s for searching the internet, similar to how “Have you Googled it?” is used today.

In 1995, I signed my first internet subscription with Pacific Internet. Suddenly, access to knowledge was no longer constrained by physical limitations. The world felt larger, and yet more accessible. The distinctive sounds of the dial-up modem became a symbol of liberation and adventure, opening a window to immense knowledge and new possibilities.

When I started work in 1997, Louts Notes was still popular as an email and collaboration software. It was only in early to mid 2000s that Outlook began to dethrone Lotus Notes. However, at that time, Microsoft Office’s Word, Excel and Powerpoint had already displaced WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and Harvard Graphics respectively as the market leaders.

Lotus Notes had interesting features such as “prevent forwarding”. When set, the recipient would not be able to forward the email nor reply with the original content being visible. I remember this vividly because a colleague activated the setting in an email update to the Managing Director.

We were naturally awed with his bravery. From the roasting he received, we learned one of the most valuable lessons.

From the late 1990s, we experienced the full prowess and disruptive forces of digital advancements. Numerous tech startups promising to revolutionise industries through the internet were formed. Many of them had shaky foundations and bubble eventually burst in 2000.

We witnessed meteoric rise of technology-driven companies, fall of market giants once thought too big to fail, obsolescence becoming a constant looming threat, and entire industries and job categories extinguished. It was a period of massive changes and births of many innovations that evolved and became part of our lives.

Google deserves a special mention. I think very few companies can match Google for its staying power and sustained influence.  Google’s search technology was from the onset in 1998, superior to Yahoo! and AltaVista, the market leaders at that time.

In June 2000, Yahoo! made what was with perfect hindsight, a strategic error to outsource its search technology to Google. The duo were then a classic example of David and Goliath. In 2000, Google was still privately held but based on its 1999 funding round, it could have been valued at circa US$250m. In contrast, Yahoo!’s market cap was over US$100 billion at that time.

Yahoo! subsequently realised its strategic error and began to refocus on developing its own search technology. In February 2004, it terminated the partnership with Google. By then, Google had grown significantly. In August 2004, Google became public-listed with a market cap of circa US$23 billion, half of Yahoo!‘s US$45 billion. Two months after listing, Google’s market cap soared to US$47.8 billion, surpassed Yahoo! and never looked back.

The hours I spent tinkering with PCs as a teenage, including getting rid of the Ping Pong virus, proved invaluable throughout my career. Though I didn’t pursue IT, my tech proficiency and knack for applying it to business challenges became defining strengths and passions.

In my various roles, I leveraged technology for innovation and efficiency. For our de-registered vehicle storage business, I digitised processes with MS Access, streamlining operations. When I was in the retail mall business, my team and I built a cutting-edge retail mall asset management system entirely in-house using Tableau, earning recognition from institutional investors for its advanced capabilities.

As CEO of a REIT, I used Tableau for both retail and office portfolio management. I also served as Group Chief Digital Officer for parent manager group to drive digital transformation. I nudged my analyst, also from a real estate background, to learn Tableau. Very quickly, he mastered it and started to create sophisticated dashboards for our hotel operations.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, I used Miro for collaborative brainstorming on festive gift items. This experience underscored how digital tools can foster creativity and teamwork, even in challenging times.

Looking back, I am grateful for how my passion for technology complemented my business career. If there were a parallel universe, I think I would want to be an AI programmer or a cybersecurity specialist.

I bought my first mobile phone, a Philips, in 1997. As a die-hard gadget enthusiast, I regularly upgraded to the latest models from various brands like Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Palm, and Blackberry.

There are many theories on why Nokia fell. My own experience was that the extremely laggy and counter-intuitive Symbian OS played a crucial role in Nokia’s downfall. In the early 2000s, Nokia began using Symbian OS for its early models of smartphones. However, the Symbian OS could not handle the advanced features required for smartphones, as its architecture was originally designed for basic feature phones with a focus on battery efficiency.

In 2010, Nokia decided to partner Windows. By then, both IOS and Android were already rapidly eroding Symbian OS’s market share. It was already too late.

Large established companies usually handle market challenges well due to their resources and positions. However, they struggle when seismic shifts happen. The necessity of significant investments to modernise current systems, combined with organisational resistance and the challenge of altering established business models, hinders these companies’ ability to promptly and efficiently adapt to disruptive innovations.

Nokia’s struggles with Symbian OS highlights the crucial role of agility and visionary leadership during significant technological shifts.

The entry of M1 in 1997 and StarHub in 2000 introduced significant competition for SingTel, previously the sole provider. This competition led to cheaper mobile phone subscriptions.

Given that all three telcos had government-linked companies as controlling shareholders, I often wondered if it were a mere coincidence that their logo colours mirrored those of our traffic lights.

Up until the mid-2000s, the three telcos were charging 10 cents per SMS and 50 cents per MMS. I recall at one work event, a telco executive spoke about the market potential of China using SMS as an example: “Imagine 5 cents per SMS and 1 SMS a day by 1 billion people…”.

When WhatsApp became available in 2009, I often reflected on his words as a powerful reminder of how technology could fundamentally disrupt business models and market dynamics (Though WhatsApp doesn’t work in China, there are alternatives such as WeChat.)

When the IPhone launched in 2007, I renewed my subscription and got one at a subsidised price. I planned to sell it after a week or two, but I was impressed by how intuitive the interface was. Since then, I have become a devoted Apple fan.

IPhone’s launch catalysed the mobile technology revolution and set new standards for user experience. Coupled with the rise of cloud computing and wireless internet access, smartphones have become powerful mini-computers in the hands of individuals. Businesses, such as banks, have empowered their customers by integrating them into their processes, resulting in gains in efficiencies and customer satisfaction.

The IPhone also spurred the growth of e-commerce. In Singapore, e-commerce began to gain traction in the early 2000s with platforms like Qoo10 and Zalora. However, it wasn’t until after 2007 that e-commerce truly took off. The advancements in mobile technology allowed consumers to shop online anytime and anywhere, dramatically boosting the adoption and growth of e-commerce in Singapore.

The most significant impact of digital revolution on traditional retail format isn’t the E-Commerce. It is the altering of balance of power as consumers became more knowledgeable; at times even more than the salespersons themselves. Businesses can no longer rely on asymmetric information to make supernormal profits.

The impact of digital revolution on retail is a topic that warrants a more comprehensive write-up that I hope to do in future.

In the earliest days, access to internet required a dial-up modem connected using the telephone line. The connections were painfully slow and would also tie up the phone line when in use. In late 1990s, Singtel and Starhub both introduced broadband subscriptions using different technologies and yielding much faster speeds.

In 2006, the government launched the Wireless@SG initiative to deliver high-speed wireless connectivity in locations such as shopping malls, schools, MRT stations and other public amenities buildings.

In 2009, the government launched the initiative to provide ultra-high speed internet access using fibre optic technology. The initial offerings provided speed from 100Mbps to 1Gbps. With recent advancements, the speed could go up to 10Gbps. By 2013, fibre broadband reached milestone of national coverage, ahead in time of many countries.

Whilst Facebook’s launch in 2004 was a pivotal moment, it was not the beginning of social media. Earlier platforms like Six Degrees, Friendster, and MySpace, which started just a couple of years earlier, introduced social networking basics.

Facebook built on these foundations with innovations like the News Feed and a user-friendly interface, rapidly expanding to a global audience and transforming social media into an essential part of daily life.

I must admit, I have never quite caught on with the social media wave. I grew up during a time when diaries were regarded as sacred and personal, kept hidden under lock and key. I learned that as a young boy after my mother caned me with the rattan for reading my sister’s diary.

When Facebook emerged in 2004, I was already in my early 30s. As an introvert, the concept of broadcasting my life online felt alien and uncomfortable. When I finally set up my Facebook account, it was only to play the once-popular fish feeding game with my nephew. 

My stint in China from 2010 to 2012 managing shopping malls business opened my eyes to the immense potential of social media. I began to acquire social media skills to better capture the wallet-share of the shoppers.

During the Covid years from 2020, the focus for the hotel business swung from brand marketing to locale-specific marketing targeting domestic customers. The social media skills I acquired and honed over the past years targeting shoppers were put to good use. With the help of Esther and J.J., I documented my thoughts into two domestic markets playbooks for our hotels, demonstrating how the digital skills I have developed throughout my career continue to evolve and adapt to new challenges in an ever-changing landscape

Recognizing my own struggles with social media, I understand why many businesses stick to static images despite the dominance of short videos. Those in charge often belong to generations that find these new formats alien. 

Let those under 30 take charge of short videos, and it is not about empowerment. Most companies today still follow a traditional management model, where empowerment implies management’s superior knowledge and authority. Instead, it is about recognising the natural proficiency and affinity younger individuals have for this medium.

With the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, there has been a frenzy of interest and rapid adoption. AI and machine learning are poised to revolutionise various industries by providing more intuitive and powerful tools for automation, customer service, and data analysis.

I am convinced that the next phase of the digital revolution will be even more disruptive. By democratising access to knowledge and skills, it will upend how businesses operate and compete. 

Reflecting on the digital revolution, I feel fortunate to have witnessed its inception, growth, and transformative phases. Unlike generations before us, my peers and I were not too old to learn and adapt. And unlike the generations after us, we can seamlessly bridge the old days with the present. This revolution has yielded valuable business case studies with critical lessons. I believe our generation has a crucial role, especially in change management, to prepare both older and younger generations for the 5th Industrial Revolution.

During this career break, I am dedicating time to exploring and learning AI. I feel the same excitement as when I first turned on the PC as a teenager. Now, with practical ideas of AI’s potential, I look forward to sharing my journey and insights. Stay tuned!