Governments and state enterprises play an important role in providing online public services, but involving the private sector can lead to more and better innovations, says a regional expert on Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
A passenger passes through an automated immigration control gate at Changi Terminal 4 in Singapore. Photo: Reuters
Public-private partnerships (PPP) have been shown to deliver smart-city solutions that can help improve the quality of life in communities, according to Irza Suprapto, director of the Asia IoT Business Platform.
Promoting positive public attitudes to encourage the use of digitised services is also important, said Mr Suprapto, a former Lehman Brothers analyst who co-founded the Singapore-based digital consultancy Industry Platform Pte in 2012.
In Thailand, the state-owned TOT Plc and CAT Telecom are involved in several IoT initiatives, such as the smart city project in Phuket being undertaken by CAT Telecom and the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa). These pioneering ventures need to continue beyond basic services such as closed-circuit television (CTTV) security and smartphone applications for foreigners, said Mr Suprapto.
In Bangkok, Microsoft is developing a facial-recognition project that could be a cornerstone of a broader smart city programme. It is working with cities around the world on various applications supported by its Azure cloud computing service.
For example, the Azure Analytics Hackathon held in Bangkok last year led to the development of a water quality evaluation system. New Zealand-based Aware Group used Azure tools to develop sensors that can send real-time water quality information to a mobile phone when queried by a user.
Aware Group says the system could be used by residents or tourists who want to now if water in a certain area is safe for drinking or swimming. But while it won praise for its effort at the hackathon last September, it says it has not been involved in further development of the bot since then.
"All IP (intellectual property) from this project is owned by Microsoft, and we have not been involved in any further negotiations between them and the Bangkok city council," it said in a blog post.
Digital Economy Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj watches as students demonstrate their skills at Coding Thailand in June. Photo: Digital Economy and Society Ministry
In Singapore, where programmes are easier to carry out because there is only one government running a country half the size of Bangkok, standout IoT projects include high-resolution three-dimensional mapping.
The Singapore Land Authority initiated the project to cover all 700 square kilometres of the city-state, with a budget of S$8 million (US$5.9 million). The creation of 2D and 3D datasets in several data formats has resulted in more than 50 terabytes of data. The challenge is managing and updating the data, according to Bentley, a US-based software developer that is working with Singaporean authorities.
"Programmes are really easy to implement (in Singapore)," Mr Suprapto said. "Singapore is doing this 3D mapping project and has been really consistent with updates. Now, it is nearly completed."
After all the mapping is complete, the government will be able to install sensors at all traffic lights to monitor various types of movement and activity, along with facial-recognition technology for security and enforcement.
Mr Suprapto acknowledges that even in Singapore, where people are accustomed to obeying rules, not everyone believes IT has to be so intrusive.
"Some people are against [facial recognition technology] because every citizen in Singapore already has a biometric passport such as the ones being use at (Changi) Terminal 4 where you can now literally go through [to the plane] without speaking to anyone," he said.
"Terminal 4 is an example of schemes that are making everyone's life easier, but on top of it you also have all these programmes where people are asking, 'Why do you have to recognise my face when I'm walking?'"
In terms of streamlining government services, Mr Suprapto pointed to CorpPass, which allows all businesses in Singapore to do online transactions with the government, from applying for work permits and business licences to paying salaries or getting certificates of domicile for tax purposes.
"You can do all of that online in Singapore now and it takes two minutes to log on to the platform, which means that you could set up your business within one day there," he said.
Singapore's ranking on the World Bank Doing Business Index is second only to that of New Zealand. It takes just three procedures to register a business and the entire process can be completed in two and a half days. It makes no difference if the applicant is a man or a woman, although in some countries married women have to go through additional steps.
Malaysia is ranked second in Asean and 24th worldwide for overall ease of doing business, but registering a business there involves eight procedures taking 18 days. Thailand ranks 26th overall but business registration requires just five procedures and 4.5 days. In Vietnam (68th) and Indonesia (72nd), it takes 22 days to register a business.
Mr Suprapto illustrated some of the challenges facing companies: "For us to set up a Thai entity, we would need get an office space so that we have an address to register," he said. "Then we need the landlord to issue us two documents and we need to bring them in person to the Thai authority to say that we have an office space.
"Even when we talked to a lawyer in Thailand, they still said it would take two months and this creates a lot of slippage for businesses, but the law firms and the governments are benefitting."
However, Thailand is still above average in Asean in terms of its e-government programme overall, he added.
"I would actually place Thailand quite high in terms of e-government programmes because of the things they are trying to do. In terms of enterprises, I would also place Thailand quite high, but not yet at the same level as Singapore - comparatively it is somewhere around Malaysia."
Singapore, he said, is a small and very young country that has always had to innovate to survive. That has created a mindset that is shared by the government and citizens alike.
"It is not just the government. If the people are frustrated that things are not working well, they will effect change, so I think it is really about the mentality that changes things."
Singapore digitised government and public services because people there are obsessed with efficiency. If even one train breaks down, something that has happened in the past two years, it will be all over social media in minutes.
"They will ask, 'Why is our government making so much money when a train can't even run properly?' So there is this environment which forces the government to not slip up, with little margin for error," said Mr Suprapto. "If you look at the Japanese, now that is the next level."
Trains in Japan rarely depart at a different time from their schedule. In November, an operator apologised to the public because one of its trains left the station 20 seconds early.
Consumers generally are becoming accustomed to instantaneous responses, and this will fuel demand for even faster and better services from businesses and governments alike.
"You know you have been to a bad website when it takes about five minutes to buy something. There is a study which says that every single second after the initial three seconds that it takes a website to load, you will lose about 30% of your business because people would just get frustrated," he said.
Mr Suprapto said that in Thailand, Depa has been doing a "very good" job to promote digital literacy, through programmes such as Coding Thailand to encourage students to develop computational thinking skills.
The project aims to reach more than 10 million people within three years. CodingThailand.org has been developed as an online learning platform to promote computer science as well as to inculcate systematic thinking in general.
"(Public awareness) forces enterprises and governments, which are serving the people, to step up themselves but it is not cheap. It certainly wasn't cheap for Singapore to come up with this e-government programme," he said, referring to CorpPass.
"It has gone through a lot of iterative processes. They got businesses to give feedback, and they had a pilot phase along with a beta phase which only began sometime last year, and now if you do not have a CorpPass for your company, you will not be able to do a lot of things. This forces everybody to register for it."