Customer Story
Singapore’s Jurong Port enhances communication and collaboration to drive its next stage of growth
Cloud solutions have enabled Jurong Port to manage a workforce that has doubled in size in two years, and optimise internal communications for on-site and off-site employees.
Jurong Port has been the main gateway for general and bulk cargo into Singapore for more than 50 years. The port’s multipurpose port operating expertise includes efficient handling of general, bulk and containerized cargo, management and operations of the Tuas Offshore Marine Centre and Lighter Terminals in Penjuru and Marina South. Besides Singapore, the port is involved in overseas joint ventures in China and Indonesia.
An essential port of call in Singapore’s growth story
The multipurpose port operator is Singapore’s main steel port, managing 8 million tonnes of general cargo per annum and handles more than 90 per cent of Singapore’s bulk cement imports. It is also developing a state-of-the-art tank terminals designed to store and handle both clean petroleum products and petrochemicals that is expected to be ready by first quarter 2019.
As business continues to boom, the port is currently undergoing a period of rapid growth – its workforce has doubled within the last two years – and must anticipate and meet the requirements of an ever growing and changing industry as it moves towards becoming a next generation multipurpose port.
Singtel helps Jurong Port leverage the power of the cloud to enable rapid transformation
For the IT function within the company, this has meant looking to the cloud to harness new efficiencies and models that will support the Port’s growth.
“We are in the process of moving most of our systems to the cloud,” said Wei Hoong, VP of IT at Jurong Port. “As the company undergoes a transformation, we are interested in moving non-core services out of the entity itself. That will allow the IT function to be very focused on supporting the business rather than worrying about hosting and running data centres.”
Part of this transformation has been adopting software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 since a few years ago. Jurong Port recently switched to Singtel as its Office 365 provider.
Implementing Office 365 has delivered multiple benefits across the organisation, including greater scalability, improved efficiency in internal communications, and support for mobile workers.
Not only has Office 365 provided a centralised document management system, but using SharePoint Online as an intranet system also makes sharing information throughout the organisation much more efficient.
“For example, rather than email broadcasts, messages from our CEO are posted on the intranet. It is the first thing the teams see when they open up their browsers, so that helps to synchronise and push out information efficiently,” said Wei Hoong.
“Any changes or updates to standard procedures are easily communicated to all our employees, whether they are on-site, off-site, or on the road. This ability helps to close knowledge gaps throughout the organisation and therefore keeps our service level to our customers high.”
Wei Hoong also favours the superior scalability that the subscription-based SaaS model offers.
“The subscription model helped us avoid the heavy upfront capex investment, and because we are ramping up quite quickly, we don't have to worry about acquiring traditional software licences as our headcount grows. Conversely, if there’s a need to scale down, we can do that too by leveraging the subscription model of Office 365. It really helps us to be very flexible.”
Jurong Port chose to award the contract to Singtel as the Office 365 provider not only for the cost savings, but also for the value-added customer support offered by the company.
“Our previous Office 365 provider offered no support. Technical enquiries had to be logged directly with Mircosoft,” said Wei Hoong. “Singtel offers a dedicated SaaS IT Helpdesk and has been very responsive to our queries and very prompt in their service delivery. We are happy with the experience.”
More collaboration between Jurong Port and Singtel in the future
Given their positive experience with Singtel’s services, Wei Hoong and the management team are currently considering other cloud solutions to run alongside Office 365. Thus, Singtel will play a strong role in supporting the Port’s growth in the coming years.
“Singtel offers very competitive solutions, is able to bring in the right expertise, and understands our needs very well,” said Wei Hoong in parting.
A piece of Do Different advice from Wei Hoong
“Singtel offers a dedicated SaaS IT Helpdesk and has been very responsive to our queries and very prompt in their service delivery. We are happy with the experience.”
– Sam Wei Hoong
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