NCS Group

NCS Group (also known as NCS Pte Ltd or "NCS", previously known as National Computer Systems) is a multinational information technology company headquartered in Singapore. Found in 1981 as an agency of the Singapore government, it was privatised in 1996 and subsequently become part of the Singtel group in 1997. NCS has over 12,000 staff located in more than 20 cities across Asia Pacific.[2]

NCS Group
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryIT, infocomm
Founded1981 (1981)
Headquarters5 Ang Mo Kio Street 62, NCS Hub, Singapore 569141,
Singapore
Key people
Ng Kuo Pin (Chief Executive Officer)
ProductsApplication, infrastructure, engineering and cybersecurity NEXT capabilities in digital, cloud and platforms
Number of employees
10,000[1]
ParentSingTel Group
Subsidiaries
  • NCS Communications Engineering
  • NCSSI-Solutions
  • 2359 Media
  • DataSpark
  • Clayops
  • Riley
  • Velocity Business Solutions
  • ARQ
  • Dialog Group
Websitehttps://www.ncs.co/en-sg/

History

NCS was founded in 1981 when the Government of Singapore embarked upon initiatives to harness information technology (IT) for both the public and private sectors.[3]

It was restructured as a commercial entity in 1996 and a year later, became a wholly owned subsidiary of SingTel Group.[4] NCS adopted its current name on 1 November 2003.[3]

SingTel Aeradio was a communication engineering services provider in airport consultancy, facility management services, engineering and radio communications, C4ISR*, intelligent building, smart security services, transportation services, IT infrastructure system, IT Security training and certification, telecommunication and multimedia.[5]

In 2002, SingTel Aeradio merged with NCS, retaining much of its identity as NCS Communications Engineering (NCS Comms Engg).[6]

In 2008, NCS bought 60% of local rival IT company, Singapore Computer Systems, shares, triggering a buyout of the company.[7]

In 2020, NCS acquires digital services 2359 Media.[8]

In Jan 2021, NCS launched NEXT Shenzhen Innovation Centre (SIC) in China. [9]

In Apr 2021, it also integrated with DataSpark, a telco-centric data science and engineering subsidiary of Singtel Group.[10]

In Jul 2021, NCS refreshes its branding alongside its business and people transformation plan.[11]

In Sep 2021, the company announced its triple acquisitions – ClayOPS, Velocity Business Solutions, and Riley – in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.[12]

In Oct 2021, the company acquired a majority stake in Eighty20 Solutions (Eighty20).[13]

In Mar 2022, the company announced its acquisition of digital services firm ARQ Group (ARQ) in Australia. [14]

In Mar 2022, NCS bought The Dialog group.[15]

Management

In 2005, Chong Yoke Sin became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She resigned in 2007 for personal reasons and Lim Eng took over as the CEO.[16]

Lim retired in 2010 and Chief Operating Officer Chia Wee Boon took over as CEO.[17]

On 1 August 2019, the Singtel Group appointed Ng Kuo Pin as the new chief executive officer of NCS after the Chia stepped down.[18]

Products and services

The company offers several services including consultancy, development, integration, infrastructure management, and BPO to customers from the public, education, financial services, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, logistics, telecommunications, utilities and transportation sectors.

Controversies

Corrupt acts for business recommendations 2020

On 24 March 2020, Teo Joo Tye, Senior Technical Services Manager of NCS Group, and Ngiam Chee Chong, Director of Emersion IT Services Pte Ltd, were charged in Singapore court for corruption practice.

Teo Joo Tye accepted bribery from Ngiam Chee Chong, in exchange for Teo to recommend Emersion as a subcontractor of NCS Group to perform IT infrastructure works, relating to 13 contracts that were awarded to Emersion.[19][20]

CHAS computer system error

On 16 February 2019, the Ministry of Health (MOH) released statement that there was an error in the computer system, managed by NCS, for the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS). The error miscalculated the amount of health care subsidies applicants could receive through means-testing their income information. Thus, approximately 1,300 people received lower subsidies and 6,400 people received higher subsidies.

The first discrepancy in a result of a CHAS card holder was detected on 24 September 2018 by MOH. NCS was informed immediately, which then initially attributed the issue to intermittent network connection problems. Between 9 October 2018 and 2 November 2018, another 5 more discrepancy cases were detected and thus leading into a deeper investigation. In November 2018, NCS Pte Ltd traced the cause of the discrepancies to a software version issue used on a server used by the system. The identified issue occurred during a migration of the system to another government data center in September 2018. The software version issue was resolved as a resolution to an unrelated slow performance issue on 10 October 2018. However, incorrect results that were generated between 18 September 2018 and 10 October 2018 remained.

Remedial actions were then carried out by MOH and NCS to assess impact on the affected applicants. MOH would then work with grant scheme administrators and healthcare institutions to follow up with notifications and reimbursement to the affected applicants. MOH reportedly had the intention to recover costs and expenses due to this incident from NCS as allowed in the contract between them.[21]

References
  1. "NCS PTE. LTD". Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  2. "NCS - Make IT Happen". The Straits Times. 20 November 2012. p. C17.
  3. Hanna, Nagy; Knight, Peter T. (2012). National strategies to harness information technology : seeking transformation in Singapore, Finland, the Philippines, and South Africa. New York, NY: Springer. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-1-4614-2086-6. OCLC 769644297.
  4. siowmeng (22 January 2021). "NCS Has Moved Out of Singtel Group Enterprise and Doubled Down on Digital Services". IT Connection. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  5. "NCS Communications Engineering". NCS. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  6. "INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS". Australian Financial Review. 2 October 2002. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  7. "SingTel buys 60% of rival IT company SCS". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  8. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  9. "NCS Launches the NEXT Shenzhen Innovation Centre (SIC)". The Asian Banker. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  10. https://www.asiaone.com/business/ncs-offer-new-big-data-and-mobility-intelligence-services-through-integration-dataspark "NCS to integrate fellow Singtel subsidiary DataSpark". {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  11. "NCS Group refreshes branding to reposition firm for growth in 5G era". www.marketing-interactive.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  12. "NCS kicks digital into overdrive amid triple acquisition in Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong". www.arnnet.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  13. "NCS buys majority stake in Sydney's Eighty20 Solutions". CRN Australia. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  14. "Singtel's NCS moves forward with A$290 million acquisition of ARQ in Australia".
  15. "NCS buys Dialog Group for $325M". Digital Nation. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  16. "CEO of SingTel's unit NCS stepping down". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  17. "Singtel's subsidiary NCS CEO to retire". Reuters. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  18. hermesauto (28 June 2019). "Singtel promotes Ng Kuo Pin to next CEO of unit NCS". The Straits Times. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  19. Auto, Hermes (29 October 2020). "Man jailed for 12 weeks over bribes to secure contracts involving government agencies | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  20. "Charged with Committing Corrupt Acts for Business Recommendations". www.cpib.gov.sg. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  21. Ng, Huiwen (16 February 2019). "Chas subsidies for about 7,700 people miscalculated due to IT error: MOH". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
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