REINVENTING SYSTEMS DESIGN
For the last twenty years, Systems Design always held the annual dinner in January at a hotel or some nice location. The annual dinner was not only for staff but also for spouse and directors as well. From this year onwards, Systems Design has decided to make the annual dinner a staff affair only. The environment out there has changed and we have to re-invent ourselves to make ourselves relevant. The company shrunk from an all-time high of 75 staff to only about 38 now. We need to break down our inter-department barriers. “We are a smaller company and must think along those lines,’’ indicated Willy Taw, the managing director. “Everyone has to chip in to cover another person’s duties. It is not going to be this is yours, this is mine. The mindset has to change.” That was the theme of Willy Taw’s address to the staff on its 21st gathering on 25 January 2002 held in the office premises at 5.30 pm.
Willy started his talk with a tribute to the seven staff who have put in 20 years of service to Systems Design. They are Doreen Phang, Cheng Jui Hup, Chia Yee Jock, Lee Choon Lin, Chi Ming Fai, Spencer Wong and Willy Taw. There is one staff, Japar, who has put in 15 years of service. Because of bad times, there will be no 20 year award benefits. Willy Taw indicated that after this transition, we can look forward to some good 25 year award.
The company has changed considerably in the last six months. Apart from migrating existing Unix users to Linux on Compaq servers, a number of new products or services have been introduced. These include RATS-LE, different modules of RATSLINK, Sophos Anti-Virus, Rainbow’s Electronic License Distribution, Hitachi Laser printers and new 3Com Gigabit switches. The old traditional products from CalComp, Motorola, StorComp have all taken back seats. Systems Design is a different company from the past.
As the company changes to meet the external needs, the internal staff will need to do the necessary adjustment. One should question why certain things are done in a certain way and not just take it for granted just because it was done this way before.
Also one should set certain objectives to achieve and not just sit and relax because there are no calls coming in. This is a good time to do the things that there was no time to do before. Willy quoted the example of Intel on how it pushed the chip technology to run at a higher performance for every version.
If one is not able to solve a problem or have difficulty with an issue, one should escalate the problem or issue upwards. Most people keep quiet about the incident until something blows up. It is better to bring up the matter so that different approaches can be examined and hopefully the problem can be addressed.
As the company changes course, it is important that this is communicated to all the staff. This way all can move in the same direction and not in all directions because of different interpretations. The company is moving into uncharted waters and if the mindset and attitudes of the staff can be changed, half the battle is already won. After the talk, a buffet dinner rounded off the evening.