dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Social Links
  • zedreviews.com
  • citi.io
  • aster.cloud
  • liwaiwai.com
  • guzz.co.uk
  • atinatin.com
0 Likes
0 Followers
0 Subscribers
dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
  • Technology

Singapore-Based Renewable Energy Company Digitalizes To Create Synergetic Employee Experiences

  • January 20, 2022
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

As one of the largest energy players in Singapore, Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) has a balanced energy portfolio with substantial renewable energy capacity across the world. Sembcorp seeks to meet the rising global demand for sustainable solutions while ensuring a safe and flexible workspace during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has set up its modern workplace by accelerating deployment and adoption of Microsoft 365, particularly Microsoft Teams, for connectivity and collaboration.

Driven by a purpose to do good and transform its portfolio from brown to green, Sembcorp is one of the largest, homegrown energy and urban development players in Singapore. The company owns and operates solar, wind, and energy storage in key markets across the world. Today’s global context sees a rising demand for sustainable solutions to address the megatrends of decarbonization, urbanization, and electrification. Sembcorp seeks to strengthen its position by digitalizing many of its processes. “For any company to operate at speed and scale, digital capability is the must-have,” says Charles Koh, Chief Digital Officer at Sembcorp.

Digitalization with employees in mind

Sembcorp maintains an energy portfolio of over 13 gigawatts, with more than 3.5 gigawatts of renewable energy from solar, wind, and energy storage around the world.  The company also has a proven track record of transforming raw land into sustainable urban developments, with a project portfolio spanning over 12,000 hectares across Asia. In its journey as a sustainable company, Sembcorp considers the modern workplace important for its employees’ productivity and well-being.

“As a company, we like to focus on enhancing the employee journey, innovating our business models, and ensuring superior productivity of our operating assets. These are the three key things we look at in terms of our digitalization,” adds Alancia Neo, Vice President, Group Strategic Communications at Sembcorp.

In terms of digitalization, we like to focus on enhancing the employee journey, innovating our business models, and ensuring superior productivity of our operating assets.

Alancia Neo: Vice President, Group Strategic Communications

Sembcorp

To enhance employee productivity, the company recently accelerated the adoption of Microsoft solutions. “The big picture for us was a modern workplace that’s sustainable – just like our goal of building a sustainable future for generations to come. Microsoft gives us the digital glue to build that workplace,” says Charles. “We also needed to deal with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and to adapt to government guidelines on safe distancing and safety management measures in the workplace. The key is to ensure that our people can stay connected during office hours, whether at home, in the office, or in transit.”

Charles knew that for a new system to be embraced by employees, it needed to be likeable. “For us, a digital system must create a positive emotional experience for our employees, who are at the heart of everything we do. Microsoft Teams does exactly that. It’s practical, too, because it’s integrated and bundled with Microsoft 365. It’s easy to use.”

A digital system must create a positive emotional experience for our employees, who are at the heart of everything we do. Microsoft Teams does exactly that.

Charles Koh: Chief Digital Officer

Sembcorp

Getting everyone on board

To help employees transition from other collaboration tools to Microsoft Teams, the digital team started with commitment from top management to use Microsoft Teams for their meetings. Employees started seeing the advantages of the platform, such as how accessible it is and how seamlessly it integrated with Microsoft solutions. Next, the team introduced useful functions to support employees in their work. The IT team embedded a Work-bot in Microsoft Teams to manage various types of approvals such as applications for leave. “This strategy made approvals easier because, as users, it means a single touchpoint. We don’t have to go through another system with an additional login,” says Alancia.

The company supplemented its efforts to get everyone on board with Microsoft 365 through communications and e-learning. Every month, it sent out an infographic to talk about a certain feature. “If we wanted to encourage staff to hold meetings on Teams, we would use an infographic to give step-by-step instructions,” says Alancia.

Keeping employees safe

Another application Charles’s team developed was the C-19 Notify app, an engagement tool to help Sembcorp manage COVID-19 transmission risk in a timely manner. “Our employees report their potential exposure to the virus on the app integrated in Teams. In addition, employees will submit return-to-office request via the app and this allows the pandemic response team to manage our response to the fast-changing workplace guidelines set by the authorities. The app is fast and accessible to everyone across the organisation,” says Alancia.

In embracing more automation, Sembcorp’s newest effort is to move towards a self-serve culture with a chatbot. To further encourage employees to adopt such digitalisation efforts at workplace, Sembcorp provides mobile and data allowances to subsidise data plan cost.

Sembcorp’s concern for employee safety is also the main reason they’ve adopted automation in the field. “We’re using drones to automate the operations and maintenance of our solar panels. This reduces reliance on labour and also helps to reduce safety risk for our people,” says Alancia.

A highly efficient, modern business

“We have around 4,000 users daily and approximately 750,000 chat messages a month,” details Alancia. “Since we made the shift to Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, we’ve had more than 5,000 meetings a month of total 19,000 hours. This means substantial cost saving as this function is already part of our Microsoft subscription.”

Sembcorp also leveraged Microsoft Azure services in its floating solar farms to automate processes. “It used to take our solar team 30 days to key in performance data from the solar farms. With automation, that’s now down to five minutes with 95 percent accuracy. This helps us with general maintenance, which in turn, helps prevent revenue leakage. We’re also using the data for commercial billing,” says Charles. These smart monitoring systems were also deployed in its wind farms. With smart metering, Sembcorp can calculate wind velocity and estimate how much energy can be generated from its wind turbines.

In the future, Sembcorp hopes to extend its partnership with Microsoft by building an energy operating system. Charles says, “We are a renewable energy company as well as a digital company with broad capabilities. We want to partner with Microsoft to create an operating system on a large scale, geographically and conceptually. Together with Microsoft, we can work on building a renewable energy operating system that will take us closer to a green, sustainable future that is worth striving for.”

Total
0
Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Share
Related Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Sembcorp
  • Sustainability
dotlah.com

Previous Article
  • Cities
  • Lah!

Singapore Airlines Extends PPS Club And KrisFlyer Elite Statuses For Third Year, And Enhances Programme Benefits

  • January 20, 2022
View Post
Next Article
  • Technology

Career Certificates For Singapore’s Future Economy

  • January 20, 2022
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Apple Vision Pro upgraded with the powerful M5 chip and comfortable Dual Knit Band

  • Dean Marc
  • October 15, 2025
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Meet Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Series: Packing Everything You Expect From a Premium Tablet

  • Dean Marc
  • September 4, 2025
View Post
  • Technology

Malaysia’s ‘ASEAN Shenzhen’ needs some significant legal reform to take off — here’s how

  • dotlah.com
  • August 25, 2025
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Samsung Electronics Debuts Odyssey G7 Monitors, Showcasing Top Games on Its Displays at Gamescom 2025

  • Dean Marc
  • August 20, 2025
View Post
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Technology

Thoughts on America’s AI Action Plan

  • Dean Marc
  • July 24, 2025
View Post
  • Technology

ESWIN Computing launches the EBC77 Series Single Board Computer with Ubuntu

  • dotlah.com
  • July 17, 2025
View Post
  • Gears
  • Technology

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones

  • Dean Marc
  • July 9, 2025
View Post
  • Cities
  • Technology

Meralco PowerGen’s PacificLight starts up 100 MW fast-response plant in Singapore

  • dotlah.com
  • June 20, 2025


Trending
  • 1
    • Cities
    • Lah!
    JTC & Shell To Explore Semakau Solar Farm To Meet Singapore’s Growing Clean Energy Needs
    • June 18, 2021
  • 2
    • Cities
    • People
    Uncertainties And Shifts: The World Of Generation Z
    • June 12, 2020
  • 3
    • Cities
    • Science
    Looking At Infections Through How Microbes Interact
    • May 24, 2021
  • goswifties-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-fathers-daughters-super-bowl-bonding 4
    • Featured
    • People
    How Taylor Swift Unexpectedly Brought Fathers and Daughters Together Through Football
    • February 11, 2024
  • 5
    • Lah!
    Enterprises To Benefit As Singapore Furthers IP Cooperation With The Republic Of Korea
    • July 2, 2020
  • 6
    • Lah!
    • Technology
    Singapore Honours Innovation And Digital Readiness Trail Blazers
    • November 7, 2019
  • Singapore 7
    • Cities
    • Economy
    South Africa’s new pension rules: Australia, Chile and Singapore show how personal savings can grow the economy
    • August 30, 2024
  • 8
    • Lah!
    Asia is Now: A Celebration of Singapore Content
    • December 4, 2019
  • Netherlands 9
    • People
    How We Can Identify Climate-Vulnerable Neighbourhoods And Protect Inhabitants
    • January 26, 2024
  • 10
    • Cities
    • Lah!
    Singapore Airlines Enhances Customer Wellness On World’s Longest Flights In New Partnership With Golden Door
    • October 16, 2021
  • 11
    • Economy
    • People
    • World Events
    Global Poverty: Coronavirus Could Drive It Up For The First Time Since The 1990s
    • June 17, 2020
  • 12
    • Technology
    SMU Hosts The Inaugural ASEAN University Network-Technology-Enhanced Personalised Learning Symposium Online
    • February 28, 2020
Trending
  • 1
    Why climate summits fail – and three ways to save them
    • October 21, 2025
  • Bluetooth speakers 2
    Best Bluetooth Speakers Under $200 (2025 Edition)
    • October 16, 2025
  • 3
    Apple Vision Pro upgraded with the powerful M5 chip and comfortable Dual Knit Band
    • October 15, 2025
  • 4
    Apple unveils new 14‑inch MacBook Pro powered by the M5 chip, delivering the next big leap in AI for the Mac
    • October 15, 2025
  • 5
    Apple introduces the powerful new iPad Pro with the M5 chip
    • October 15, 2025
  • 6
    Singapore’s national identity excludes those who don’t look like a ‘regular family’
    • October 9, 2025
  • Smart Watch 7
    Best Smartwatches, Your Gateway to Health Monitoring and Everyday Use
    • October 5, 2025
  • Cooking pots and pans 8
    Best Pots and Pans 2025: All-Season, All-Purpose Picks for Every Kitchen
    • September 23, 2025
  • 9
    Politicians love comparing NZ’s economy to Singapore or Ireland – but it’s simplistic and misleading
    • September 21, 2025
  • Kitchen Knives - Best All-Around Picks in 2025 10
    Kitchen Knives : The Surgeons of Cooking – Best All-Around Picks in 2025
    • September 15, 2025
Social Links
dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Connecting Dots Across Asia's Tech and Urban Landscape

Input your search keywords and press Enter.