“There is a way to do it better – find it. Thomas Edison”.  This quote, and Kaizen, a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement, is a practice that have guided Kian Seng’s approach towards his various roles undertaken over 20 years in the IT industry. 

Today, the concept of kaizen, is even more relevant with increasing pace of change in the world of IT. The opportunities to learn new ways of doing things better, is what attracted him to take up his current role as Senior Director for Growth Programmes in NCS’ Telco+, a joint initiative between Singtel and NCS to help telcos drive their digital transformation initiatives. 

Telco+ is a strategic business group focused on scaling NCS’ business in the telecom sector, and Kian Seng is responsible for driving the growth initiatives to achieve this goal.

“With Telco+, our team’s mandate is to break ground in new markets, while continue to expand on the good groundwork present in both Singtel and Optus. This means we must be creative in ways we work towards outcomes, establish new relationships, identify new areas where we can present a compelling value proposition to our clients. To quote our team motto, "To do different things, and do things differently” said Kian Seng.  “Breaking new ground can be challenging at times, but it is also exciting, as you are always finding solutions to the problems you are encountering. What motivates me is working with a strong and dedicated team where everyone is committed to a common cause. This is critical to help everyone stay on course when going gets tough.”

Kian Seng tries to identify a new area to get himself competent in every year, as part of his commitment to the kaizen philosophy. One of the most recent fields that he has taken up is coaching, where he seeks to help individuals to find their own answers by listening and asking the right questions.

He believes that the best answer for one is through self-discovery. The ability to leverage on the different strengths of team members is important to drive strong performance together.

Kian Seng hopes to use the coaching skills he has learnt to help his team realize their full potential and empower them to make the best decisions for themselves.

Kian Seng also uses a journaling app on his phone to pen down his thoughts at the end of each day. “I try to make time each day to reflect what went well, and the things I can do better” he said. “I hope through this will help me to make small incremental steps in improving myself continuously.”

Reflecting on his first six months at Telco+, Kian Seng acknowledges the numerous opportunities for learning. “It has been fun so far and I enjoy learning new things every day, working with different people in the team, gaining different perspectives. The opportunities to keep learning and improving is what makes IT industry so interesting and working with like-minded people in the Telco+ team is what makes it an exciting place to work in”.