NUS and IBM create Enterprise Social Business Centre of Excellence

This Centre is set to transform Singapore's workforce by making it future-ready and keen to opportunities available in social media platforms.

According to a release by IBM, the company and the Institute of Systems Science of the National University of Singapore announced a collaboration, supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, to create the Enterprise Social Business Centre of Excellence. This Centre will catalyse the transformation of Singapore’s workforce and ensure that Singapore is future-ready and able to leverage social media platforms to improve productivity, connect for innovation and create communities for competitive advantage. 

Enterprise Social Business embeds “social” in all of its processes, connecting people to people, people to information, and data to insight. It is a company that engages its employees and clients in a two-way dialogue with social tools, is transparent in sharing its expertise beyond its four walls, and is nimble in its use of insight for rapid change and action.

Enterprise Social Business has the potential to unlock the intellectual capital within organisations, connecting experts and expertise, and paving the way for unprecedented innovation. By applying social technologies to business processes, we can radically improve the way organisations operate, for example, by linking skills to the right opportunities where and when they are needed. Enterprise Social Business can reveal the untapped power of “data” generated by these connections. By “instrumenting” the social networks inside and outside of the organisation, by interconnecting key data created and applying analytics to gain insights, we will be able to make more intelligent business decisions.

The Enterprise Social Business Centre of Excellence will thus focus on three pillars: training, pilot and practice and research and development. Executive seminars conducted by this Centre will commence in May 2012. These seminars will help executives develop a business culture that fosters open collaboration and sharing among partners, clients, citizens and employees. In other words, the Centre aims to help businesses transform their relationships with their constituents by engaging new technologies and platforms that powerfully and easily connect them in trusted and experiential ways.

“Today we achieved yet another significant milestone in the longstanding partnership between NUS-ISS and IBM.” said Janet Ang, Managing Director of IBM Singapore. “Enterprise Social Business goes beyond what users know of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. It acknowledges the intrinsic value in the way employees, customers, citizens and partners engage and that business value is the result of those interactions. That is the competitive advantage that Enterprise Social Business offers. It is our goal that this collaboration will serve as a platform for C-Suite leaders, government leaders, and community leaders to explore and to create a bold unique Enterprise Social Business Agenda.”

“This partnership allows us to tap on IBM’s technology and global expertise to deliver Enterprise Social Business know-how to businesses and organisations in Singapore,” said Dr Christopher Chia, Chairman of the Management Board, Institute of Systems Science. “NUS-ISS will work closely with IDA and WDA to align the Enterprise Social Business training curriculum to the National Infocomm Competency Framework and develop holistic continuing education and training pathways through various modular and qualifications programmes to widen and deepen the capabilities of industry professionals.”