Looking back at an Incredible 2024!

2024 Look Back LinkedIn Article

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Looking back at 2024, it’s been an incredible year filled with many global events that captured attention. We saw the rise of ChatGPT, which continues to help many people discover their hidden potential, countries coming together to triple climate finance for developing nations to better support their efforts, and on a fun note, the debut of breakdancing at the Summer Olympics that took the world by storm.

For me, three themes stood out for business: digital transformation, evolving cyber threats and growing sustainably.

Transforming the way we work, live and interact

Singtel has come a long way since achieving nationwide 5G coverage in July 2022. We’ve been unlocking many new features such as network slicing so enterprises can exploit the technology to build new apps, operate more efficiently and enhance their customer engagement experiences.

It’s exciting to see how network slicing and other 5G capabilities are being used across sectors like healthcare for surgical planning using augmented and mixed reality applications, advanced manufacturing to assemble cars or check for defects in products, and so much more.

3D visualisation of organs via mixed- and augmented-reality applications

That’s not all. By tapping on the huge volumes of data we process through our networks, we’re able to develop Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that can be used to tailor solutions that meet the unique needs of businesses. For instance, we can use APIs to build security apps that detect and mitigate threats in real time, enable seamless integration of payment systems, or even test and deploy multilingual communication platforms. This makes it easier for enterprises and developers to have the tools to create truly personalised and powerful digital experiences.

And for greater impact, we’ve been forging global alliances to explore APIs in a range of areas like security, 5G, and customer service. We’re developing a global first multilingual telco-specific large language model (LLM) with other leading telcos Deutsche Telekom, e&, and SK Telecom, as well as SoftBank that can be applied worldwide, democratising AI in the region. These advancements are not just transforming industries but impacting everyday lives.

Tackling Cyber Threats

Another game-changer is AI which has brought new opportunities for business innovation and growth as well as challenges like evolving scams and cybersecurity risks.

This year, we rolled out many AI-enabled measures to enhance our scam prevention capabilities. One proud achievement is the development of SingVerify that leverages telco data to perform authentication in real time. It’s all done in the background and more importantly, provides an additional layer of defence from scams and fraud. But for this to be truly effective, we need to include all the local telcos and we’re working on that. In tandem, we’ve taken this initiative regional by deploying it in Malaysia and Thailand. Through our efforts, we’re protecting over 57 million customers in these markets. By federating the telco APIs more telcos can protect their customers from digital fraud and scams. Here is us signing an MoU with M1 to extend the protection to their customers.

As much as we’re grappling with beating the ever-evolving cyber threat – a new form is in the works that’ll be more powerful than any other threat we’ve faced before. Quantum computing will soon become mainstream and will render current encryption and security measures ineffective. There is a pressing need to protect businesses here and our way of life.

To get ahead of the threats, we launched Southeast Asia’s first quantum-safe network with industry leaders and have been progressively building a robust ecosystem of solutions that will help enterprises safeguard their digital assets. It’s all about staying one step ahead because the bad guys are also preparing, and we can’t wait for them to show their hands and react – we’ll likely to be too late.

Having the technology alone isn’t enough. We need to prepare our workforce to have the skills necessary to thrive in an increasingly digital and automated world. That’s why we’ve been investing in equipping our employees in areas like AI, cybersecurity and 5G so they can harness the tech as transformative tools and not fear that their jobs will be taken over.

All companies should be actively looking into this to ensure their staff and businesses are ready for what’s to come.

Making Sustainability Real

As we continue to pursue new innovations, we are mindful of our impact on our planet. For years, we’ve taken steps to lower our carbon emissions throughout the supply chain – from switching to electric vehicles, tapping solar energy for business operations, and cutting down on plastic packaging, to name a few. Our upcoming data centres are also going to use highly-efficient cooling technologies to cut water consumption. We will continue to explore the latest technology and industry best practices to reduce our carbon footprint as we work towards our net-zero 2045 goal.

One of the exciting projects I was involved in this year, was the opening of Sisters’ Islands Marine Park, which includes a lagoon tidal pool that has underwater cameras powered by #Singtel5G. With our connectivity, we’re bringing a slice of Singapore’s incredible biodiversity into classrooms, to help students see the natural world in a whole new way and hopefully appreciate and learn to care more about our environment.

The tidal pool will serve as a sanctuary for marine life and a living classroom for future generations to learn about and appreciate our thriving bio-diverse ecosystem.

It's also been a year of milestones for Singtel Singapore. We scored a couple of big wins globally like with Nestlé, one of the world’s biggest food manufacturers. We’re helping to turn their global network into a cloud-centric one. On our shores, we’re helping PSA to build a fully sustainable and autonomous port to meet rising global transshipment demand. These are proud moments for me when you can see the impact of what we do.

At the Tuas Port, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) will be upgraded to enhance real-time shipment tracking and further streamline crane operations.

As we step into 2025, we’ll be looking into how we can further harness emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing, and 6G to address the most pressing challenges of our time. Sustainability will remain a core focus as we explore innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint while driving digital transformation.

Technology for me has the power to bring us closer, to solve big problems, and to unlock new opportunities. And I know as a community we can achieve so much together. So let’s keep pushing the boundaries for a better future.

Here’s to an exciting 2025 for everyone!

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