This is a 30-second TVC for a detergent brand So Klin Softergent under FMCG company Sayap Mas Utama (Wings). I was in charge of developing the script, supervising the shooting process and VO recording, as well as assisting the production house in any pre- and post-production needs.

Rowing in sync against the tides is perhaps the perfect analogy to describe Doreen’s passion and work. “Every weekend, I have dragon boat training sessions with my team, as we have to prepare ourselves for the coming World Championship in August in Pattaya, representing Singapore. It’s always been my humble dream to contribute to the Nation.

It’s surreal that at the age of 49, I can be a national athlete,” says Doreen Tow, Campus Operations Manager at OCBC Campus.

“With faster processes, I can provide more incisive loan advisory services to customers.”

“I am not afraid of challenges at work as they have helped me acquire new knowledge and skills,” says Katrina Weng Kai Tang, Branch Credit Manager at OCBC Wing Hang, Macau.

With a desire to constantly upskill herself, Katrina volunteered to be a part of the core team at the Bank’s Retail Mortgage Division to develop a new initiative for a faster loan application process. The initiative is aimed at improving customer experience in retail loans through high-touch services.

“Being proficient in programming isn’t everything. It’s about having a pioneering spirit to explore new programmes and systems.”

Min Yeow is among a few brave souls who dare to venture out of their comfort zone. To him, learning through experience is the best teacher one can possibly have. He also believes in taking control of disruption before it controls us.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but the biggest one by far is how it will replace us, humans. AI is actually a tool. Just like any other tool, its only purpose is to increase the efficiency of the user.

Thus, it is imperative that we upgrade our skills so we can be proficient with it. We also need to explore other areas where this technology can benefit us,” says Bingle Wu from the Technological Information Security Office (TISO), OCBC Bank Wing Hang (China) Limited.

“Being a woman in a male-dominated field – data science, never demotivates me. In fact, it fuels me to work even harder.”

“Women in data science are still quite rare. But, being a minority in a male-dominated profession never makes me feel demotivated, even if that means most of the time I’m the only woman in the room. I think if you have the knowledge and skills, there’s no reason to be afraid,” says Fitri Nindyasuri from the Data & Insights department at OCBC NISP in Indonesia.

People often find themselves engulfed with self-doubt whenever they are in a room full of experts and senior managers. Not Fitri — being one of the few female data analysts at OCBC NISP hasn’t deterred her from achieving her goals.

“We are building the foundations for structural and technological changes happening across the Human Resources industry.”

“We have become the springboard to our department’s massive digital transformation. Thanks to our latest digital initiative, we are creating the digital infrastructure to usher in the next wave of change,” says Geraldine Ng, Head of People Services, Group of Human Resources (GHR) at OCBC Bank.

In line with OCBC's massive digitalisation efforts, the People Services unit rolled out an initiative to revamp the bank’s employee file repository. This involved digitising all employees’ personal files (P-files) and storing them in a robust online repository accessible through a centralised portal.

“We acquired new skills to harness the power of AI to derive insights for investment decisions and market actions.”

Gleaning useful information from enormous troves of digital data can be a laborious task for credit research analysts. “Credit research also requires specialised skillsets,” explains Ezien Hoo, Global Treasury, Credit Research. The team decided to leverage AI, and in the process, they found they had to pick up new skills which, ironically enough, included teaching the AI machine how to learn.

To provide better advisory services, OCBC Global Treasury in collaboration with the in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab launched a new initiative called Project Reed last year. The initiative aims to enhance the unit's research capabilities primarily in corporate bonds and bank capital instruments by utilising AI. It is run by a cross-unit collaboration between Credit Research and Business Management.

“We cultivate a strong customer-centric mindset at the grass-roots level and champion the use of technology to shape culture.”

Fostering customer-centricity has radically transformed the way Digital Office provides technical support to employees across departments.

“Digital transformation at OCBC has enabled us to adopt a customer service mindset when handling queries from colleagues. We have radically transformed our way of thinking. By putting the user at the centre of the universe, we are able to understand the problem from their perspective and always provide a quick solution,” says Viju Jacob George from the Digital Office, Group Operations & Technology, OCBC Bank.

“Digital transformation caused our ecosystem to change – our job roles, work processes and team structure was overhauled to leverage the power of technology.”

Learning new skills on the job is part of the Learning & Development (L&D) Operations Team’s daily routine as they manage Campus on Cloud. Consisting of 6,700 online learning courses and 170 conducted courses, Campus on Cloud is among the first digital pilot projects aimed at reskilling and upskilling employees. It is the job of the L&D team to make sure that learners can access courses uninterrupted.

“I continually learn on the go so I can thrive with leading-edge technologies in my work environment.”

If there is one word that can aptly describe Sakthivel, it's Philomath—a person who greatly enjoys learning and studying new things. He believes that being open to learning is important not only for his personal growth but also for his career development.

“High Tech has helped me to be more High Touch with our customers.”

“Some people, especially the elderly are afraid to use ATM machines because they fear if they press the wrong buttons then their money will be gone,” says Aisha Poh, OCBC Digital Ambassador at Ang Mo Kio Central branch. Her empathy and desire to introduce elderly customers to the digital life have led her to infuse her brand of high-touch with the bank’s high-tech.

“Connecting the dots and acquiring adjacent skills help me and my team bring more value to the business.”

How can employees thrive in an industry facing an onslaught of disruptive technologies?

Simon Quek, Group Head of Sanctions at OCBC Bank, believes that rather than resisting the change, it is imperative for everyone to seek ways to enrich themselves with new knowledge and skills.

“Age is just a number. As I grow older, I find more creative ways to learn.”

“I think in the digital age, one has to adopt a growth mindset, which actually is a change in our perspective to take some risks to learn about new things without being afraid of failure,” says Cliff Shoung, Head of Employee Development, Group Operations & Technology (GO&T) at OCBC Bank.

Quitting is not a word in Cliff’s book. He always believes that with perseverance, he can push through any adversity. Having been diagnosed with advanced Glaucoma in 2007—resulting in partial vision loss, Cliff didn’t let this limitation restrict him from doing the things he loves. In fact, he has a new-found appreciation for photography. He often goes to the East Coast in the early morning just to take pictures of beautiful sunrises.

“When I re-joined the workforce after a sabbatical, I took every opportunity to develop my digital skills.”

“I always have a motto in life that learning is not a final destination, but a stepping point to the next one. Life-long learning is the way to go, so you never fall behind because whatever is going to come your way, you are going to embrace it,” says Monica, from the Contact Centre at OCBC Bank.

Monica’s learning agility has stood her in good stead as she made the leap back into the workforce and in the challenging area of frontline service. She had left her previous job to have her second son. After a sabbatical and despite her fears, Monica decided to re-join the workforce by working part-time in OCBC’s Contact Centre in 2014.