Latest news with #NCSImpact2025
Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
CPF Board uses AI to improve call centre services, prioritise help for less tech-savvy users
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox With the help of local tech firm NCS, the CPF Board is currently piloting a feature that can identify callers who are less tech-savvy and prioritises them to reach a call agent faster. SINGAPORE - The CPF Board has been using artificial intelligence (AI) since March to automatically transcribe and summarise calls made to its helpline, allowing human call agents' time to answer more calls as well aid those who need more help. With the help of local tech firm NCS, it is currently piloting a feature that can identify callers who are less tech-savvy and prioritises them to reach a call agent faster . Previously, call agents had to transcribe and summarise every call that they handled after the conversation ended. 'Now they become editors instead – they still need to go through the transcript to ensure that it is correct,' said Mr Ng Hock Keong, CPF Board's deputy CEO of infocomm technology and digital services. Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the NCS Impact 2025 held at Marina Bay Sands Expo on July 10, he said the impetus for the project was to leverage AI to better serve Singaporeans. In 2024, the Central Provident Fund call centre managed 622,000 calls. 'The cognitive load on the call agents will also be different because they don't have to worry about how to summarise a call later,' said Mr Ng, adding that it means agents will be able to concentrate better on explaining CPF's policies or handling a case. The AI system was built using a large language model from cloud computing company Amazon Web Services. Its transcription function is currently available in English, Chinese and Malay , with Tamil in the pipeline. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties Singapore Spike in piracy, armed robbery cases in straits of Malacca and Singapore in first half of 2025 Singapore Singaporean fugitive charged over alleged drug trafficking, faces death penalty if convicted Singapore KTPH trials 'smart diapers' for adult patients to prevent skin conditions, relieve burden on nurses World 'Do some homework': 6 key exchanges between US Senator Duckworth and S'pore envoy nominee Sinha Sport No pain, no gain for Singapore's water polo teams at the world championships Singapore Singapore launches centre to drive sustainable aviation in Asia-Pacific Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? In June, new functions were introduced to the system. One of the new features automatically evaluates a call's service quality, based on indicators such as the caller's language, tone and volume. A rating is given for every call, and supervisors can also review the ratings to ensure fairness. This feature helps cut the time needed to audit service quality of calls, which can be a labour-intensive task, said Mr Ng. Another new feature identifies and prioritises members of the public who could be less tech-savvy, allowing them to get help faster. Using data like a person's profile and his past interactions with the statutory board, like whether he has accessed digital services recently, the AI system is able to flag if self-help options are enough for him, or he requires more direct assistance. 'We want to bridge the digital divide for those who are less tech-savvy, like the elderly. It's very important for old folks to be able to continue to be functional in the digital world,' said Mr Ng. 'With government services going digital now, we must be able to give them a service channel where they feel like they're being served.'
Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Singapore tech firm NCS commits $130m to accelerate AI development, adoption
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong added there is a need to institutionalise the use of AI within companies big or small. SINGAPORE - Homegrown tech services firm NCS will invest $130 million over the next three years to develop AI intellectual property, pilot sector-specified AI projects and train its workforce. NCS can also help smaller firms benefit from artificial intelligence (AI), Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said on July 10 at its flagship forum NCS Impact 2025 held at Marina Bay Sands Expo. 'Besides offering AI-enabled solutions, they can partner companies to co-develop use cases, re-design their workflows, and even transform their business models.' 'I am glad to note that NCS will invest $130 million over the next three years to support its clients in scaling AI adoption, through its proprietary suite of tools, methodologies and accelerators,' said Mr Gan. But as Singapore pushes ahead with innovations, it must ensure that the benefits of AI are shared broadly, he said. Mr Gan added there is a need to institutionalise the use of AI within companies big or small, even though larger companies tend to use AI more than smaller ones. Based on the Singapore Digital Economy Report released in 2024 , AI adoption has more than doubled among large enterprises over the past five years, from about 17 per cent in 2018 to 44 per cent in 2023. On the other hand, AI uptake among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increased from 3.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent over the same period. 'Despite the lower rate of adoption among SMEs, it is heartening to note that both SMEs and large enterprises alike saw benefits from using AI – in fact, more than 90 per cent of both types of companies that used AI reported that the technology had improved productivity and processes,' said Mr Gan. Under NCS' $130 million investment, the company will develop a suite of AI tools tailored for developers, IT operations teams and corporate users. It comprises an AI coding assistant that supports language conversion; a platform that automates system log analysis; and Sunshine Productivity, a suite of tools that enhance day-to-day tasks such as summarisation. Part of the $130 million will also be used to co-develop new concepts and pilots under new strategic partnerships. For example, NCS will work with analytics company Databricks to trial new AI solutions for the finance, energy and utilities sector. It will also work with Nvidia to expand the use of three agentic AI solutions: to enable faster video search and summarisation; to automate operations; and to make issue resolution more efficient. Agentic AI is able to make decisions on behalf of users. NCS chief executive officer Ng Kuo Pin said: 'With AI reshaping industries as it becomes more accessible than before, we're partnering government agencies and enterprises to help them harness the best of AI, not just for efficiency gains but to advance communities.' The company will also ensure that its workforce of 13,000 employees continue to get comprehensive training and industry certification in AI, it said. Mr Gan pointed out that AI can unlock a new frontier of economic growth for Singapore, and the country has made good progress in catalysing AI innovation within its economy. For example, more than 25 companies including American Express, Grab, Oracle and Prudential have set up AI centres of excellence to drive creation of AI solutions. Just as AI applications are customised for specific business contexts, there is also a need to localise AI models and solutions for specific linguistic and cultural contexts, said Mr Gan. To that end, he noted Singapore's development of Sea-Lion, a large language model to understand and generate human language from South-east Asia. He said that NCS is among the first companies to adopt Sea-Lion, and hopes that more businesses can leverage AI for operations in the region, through the use of locally relevant models and applications.
