Digital transformation in the time of Covid-19
The pandemic and rapid digitalisation has resulted in CPF members expecting greater ease and personalisation when transacting with the Board.
Mr Teo’s department expanded quickly as the Board turned its focus to the innovation of digital services and the building of in-house digital tools to provide the best digital experience for members.
It was a steep learning curve, but Mr Teo relished the challenges and felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
"I had to take a few courses, including product management and web design. I didn’t come from an IT background so I had to learn things like JavaScript," he says, adding that he studied materials engineering at university.
He received invaluable support from his employer as he moved into his new role.
"The Board not only funded me for all these courses but gave me the time and space to explore them on my own," says Mr Teo, who was given the Exemplary Trainer Award in 2021 for his efforts.
The first of the two key projects Mr Teo helped implement during the pandemic was the roll-out of the use of digital signatures for forms. The second was a more fundamental digital shift, involving the phasing out of hard-copy letters, hard-copy forms and supporting documents. These initiatives helped to provide more convenient options and an improved experience for the Board’s 4.1 million members.
"With the heightened focus on digitalisation, we took the chance to push the bar; rather than just seeing whether people can submit forms digitally, we worked to see how we could make all our correspondences be defaulted to digital instead of sending out letters," he says.
Exploring new ways to engage members
In recent years, the Board has also ramped up efforts to engage its members and help them make the most of their CPF savings, using new digital content formats and popular social media platforms.
To create higher quality videos and digital assets in a more agile manner, Ms Diviya Dharshini was called to head the newly-formed Digital Content Production team in 2019.
“We recognised the greater reach we could achieve with well-designed and well-timed content using the right medium,” says Ms Diviya, who joined the Board’s Media and Publicity Department eight years ago, and is currently Deputy Director (Service Excellence Management).
One memorable project for her was the video featuring CPF Volunteers, which was one of the first in-house videos produced by the young team.
“The video was for the launch of the Community Paying it Forward movement in 2021, where we gathered Singaporeans from all walks of life to pay it forward by encouraging people around them to make the best use of their CPF savings,” she says.
“There were only three of us in the team then, and we handled everything from pre-production, including conducting pre-interviews with the volunteers, planning the shoot, doing the actual shoot, multi-tasking as interviewer and art director, to post-production and editing,” adds Ms Diviya.
The team ultimately came up with two versions of the video. One was in English and the other featured various vernacular languages so that a wider pool of audience could relate to it.
“The videos were well-received and the success gave us the confidence to pursue larger-scale productions and expand the team,” she says.
As the work environment is "collegial" and "nurturing", she has never felt apprehensive experimenting and taking on new projects.
At the Board, new joiners and long-serving employees attest to a supportive culture where they are encouraged to take on new roles to expand their skill sets.
"We encourage employees to work with their supervisors to achieve their goals, or simply to find their own equilibrium – regardless of the role they play within the Board," says Ms Caroline Loh, Director (Human Resources) at the Board.
"We respect that everyone has his or her own unique set of aspirations, values and personal circumstances, some of which evolve with time," she adds.
