NCS Impact Forum : An Elaborative AI Transformation Initiative

NCS launches S$130M AI transformation initiative across Asia Pacific focused on Intelligentisation, Internationalisation, and Inspiration

In a time when AI is crucial for driving transformation, NCS today revealed a S$130 million investment over the next three years to spearhead change throughout the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. During its annual flagship Impact Forum, which was attended by over 1,200 leaders and technology professionals from APAC, NCS presented a vision where technology crosses borders, best practices are exchanged across various markets, and AI is used to enhance communities rather than replace human abilities.

NCS introduced Sunshine.AI, a collection of AI tools and accelerators designed to revolutionize how organizations create intelligent solutions. NCS also announced strategic alliances with leading global technology companies and reinforced collaboration with research institutions, fostering a vibrant community of AI experts that boosts NCS’ AI capabilities and regional leadership.

"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,” said NCS CEO Ng Kuo Pin. “Expanding our APAC footprint and doubling down on collaborations with technology leaders are still important in a bifurcated world. The investment we are making over the next three years and our blueprint anchored by three pillars – Intelligentisation, Internationalisation and Inspiration – will better enable our people and clients to create new business outcomes and build a resilient, innovative future with AI,” he added.

Intelligentisation: More than Digitalisation – A Blueprint for AI-Powered Transformation

Intelligentisation is a comprehensive, structured strategy for integrating intelligence into the core of business processes, government workflows, and human experiences. This involves designing AI systems not as isolated tools but as essential parts of decision-making, service delivery, and operational flow. Key to this are NCS's proprietary tools, accelerators, and methodologies.

From assessment through design to implementation, the NCS Sunshine suite of tools is specifically designed for developers, IT operations teams, and corporate users. It includes:

• Sunshine.Coder, an AI coding assistant that facilitates language conversion, test generation, and code analysis

• Sunshine.Operations, an AIOps platform aimed at automating incident triage, system log analysis, and operational task flows

• Sunshine.Productivity, a collection of tools that improve daily tasks such as summarization, content retrieval, and secure document management.

NCS's accelerators include proprietary frameworks, code libraries, and deployment toolkits that emulate human cognitive functions like perception, reasoning, decision-making, and action. This approach acknowledges that AI's strength depends on a system's digital resilience, which encompasses Cybersecurity, Data Backbone, Applications Interplay, Infrastructure Robustness, and Operations Responsiveness. These elements guarantee that organizations have the qualities needed for continuous AI adoption.

For instance, NCS has entered into a five-year Master Agreement with Singapore’s HTX to design HTX’s foundational data core, incorporate intelligence like Agentic AI into systems, implement quantum-safe technologies, and expand robotics solutions. This partnership aims to integrate and streamline data across Home Team agencies and infuse next-generation intelligence into systems to boost operational efficiency.

Moreover, Singtel Group is collaborating with NCS to embed AI as a fundamental capability throughout its business, positioning AI as a strategic catalyst. As Singtel’s AI-implementation division, NCS will develop solutions utilizing its extensive range of tools, including the Sunshine.AI suite, along with Gen AI and Agentic AI resources and accelerators. Singtel and NCS will work together to identify, shape, and achieve impactful opportunities, using AI to transform operations, enhance customer experience, and fortify its data, AI, and cloud infrastructure.

This includes optimizing customer value management through personalization, streamlining processes, and developing autonomous networks – all based on a foundation that supports scalable AI adoption. "Intelligentisation means treating AI as part of the enterprise's core nervous system, engineered with the same rigour, trust, and responsiveness demanded of mission-critical infrastructure," explained Kuo Pin.

Internationalisation: Fragmentation – the Reason for Collaboration

With the global AI landscape becoming fragmented across various technology stacks, governance models, and digital ecosystems, international collaboration and reliable technology partners are more crucial than ever for providing significant value to clients.

Regional AI Capability Expansion:

In March, NCS revealed a Joint Venture with Globe Telecom of the Philippines to acquire a majority stake in its technology services division, Yondu. This move will bring 1,200 technology experts into the NCS team, enhancing its capabilities in Agentic AI, Data Foundation, and Data Management services. These professionals will join the current NCS workforce of 13,000 across Singapore, Australia, Greater China, India, and Southeast Asia, allowing NCS to better serve its clients. Additionally, Globe Telecom and NCS are collaborating to develop telco-centric solutions that address specific telecommunications transformation challenges in the region.

Inspiration: Empowering people, hyper-localising AI, advancing communities

As AI progresses, worries about job displacement and losing control may increase among the public. However, this offers a chance to create AI that enhances human abilities instead of replacing them, maintaining humans at the core. Inspiration goes beyond being a theme. It is a call to action for business leaders to use this powerful technology to benefit communities, fostering a future where people and AI grow together, not separately.

Advancing Hyperlocal AI Ecosystem:

NCS plays an active role in shaping Singapore's AI landscape through collaborative efforts that emphasize cultural relevance and ethical development. As a major industry partner with AISG's SEA-LION, the company aids in refining language models tailored for Southeast Asian contexts and applies them in enterprise operations. As a founding member of the MERaLiON Consortium, NCS promotes the use of conversational AI that reflects regional languages and operational contexts, ranging from next-generation contact centers to enterprise productivity assistants.

NCS also contributes to the Infocomm Media Development Authority's AI Verify Foundation, showcasing its dedication to establishing internationally recognized standards for AI reliability, safety, fairness, and robustness, and helping define how AI systems can be measured and trusted at scale.

Uplifting an Entire Workforce:

Over 10,000 NCS employees have become AI-enabled through extensive training, industry certifications, and hands-on implementation experience. This includes more than 1,000 professionals certified across major cloud platforms such as AWS, Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, forming an AI-capable workforce ready to lead clients through complex transformations.

"Intelligentisation is how we harness AI, Internationalisation is who we work with, and Inspiration is why we do this — to advance communities," said Kuo Pin. "This is central to NCS' purpose. We partner with governments and enterprises to harness the best of AI not just for efficiency gains, but to uplift people and advance communities."

Photo Credit : NCS

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