Role of Science & Technology in the Workplace

1. The use of Technology increase efficiency and reduces cost
2. Safeguards Personal Property
3. Heightens Security
4. Technology in Schools - Education
5. Contributes to Green efforts
6. Undermines Green efforts.

The Good

1. The use of Technology to increase efficiency and to reduce cost.

· Business meetings made possible over great distances. Through the technology of video and phone conferencing.

· Web conferencing as revolutionized the way businesses work.

· It facilitates effective communication, increases employee productivity, enhances customer service and lastly reduces travel expenses and time.

· Considering that the business class tickets are the most profiting for airlines, it naturally takes up a huge amount of budget in a company. Thus, by reducing air travel through using conferencing, it reduces the expenditure of companies significantly.

· In addition, this would mean less travelling and hence more energy efficient since there is less harmful carbon dioxide emissions, reducing their carbon footprint.

· Online meetings are also convenient as they may be conducted anytime and anywhere, there is no need to worry about the time difference between countries, or booking of meeting rooms etc.

E.g. 1 - Increased interest in Telecommuting in SG

· A survey indicates that 1.7 percent of 630 companies has formal telecommuting arrangement, and is likely to increase to 3.6 percent in the near future and an additional 21.6 percent would like to explore the concept.

· Singapore possess many criteria, thus is a wonderful breeding ground for telecommuting: a high and growing proportion of information workers, an excellent telecommunications infrastructure, and a large installed base of personal computers.

· To assess the potential effects of telecommuting, a stratified travel demand analysis was performed by using travel characteristics specific to different groups of information workers. The results indicate that a considerable reduction in vehicle trips to work can be achieved if telecommuting becomes more popular.

· The potential reduction is up to 4.9 percent in the year 2005 and up to 11.2 percent in 2010. Although these predictions have a high degree of uncertainty, they indicate that telecommuting has potential to provide significant travel reduction benefits in Singapore and should be used as a travel demand management tool.

2. Safeguards Personal Property

Authentication technology such as built-in fingerprint scanner prevents identity fraud. The biometric fingerprint scanner has over 99% accuracy rate, and eliminates a need for password lists.

E.g. 1

· “High-tech measures such as authentication technology, antivirus software and firewalls are fine for reducing the risks of unauthorized people getting improper access to PCs at home or work.” - Jonathan J. Rusch (Counsel for fraud prevention, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice)

E.g. 2

“A significant number of companies have been victims of white-collar crime. In 2007, nearly one in four of Singapore’s larger companies was hit by fraud. The amounts involved were also increasing – from an average of S$1.4m per incident in 2004 to S$4.4m per incident by 2007.” – Singapore Academy of Law

E.g. 3 - The SIA Heist

· In 2000, Teo Cheng Kiat’s case was the first major (as in involving huge amounts) white-collar crime case involving computers.
· Teo was granted almost total control over the Cabin Crew Allowance System, a computer program which computed and paid out the crew’s salaries and allowances by making direct credits into SIA staffs’ bank accounts.
· Teo misappropriated numerous amounts from the airline’s bank account with Overseas Union Bank Ltd (“OUB”) by causing them to be paid to bank accounts which were in his name or controlled by him.
· Supervisors could not verify all the details keyed in by Teo, and Teo had also falsely altered a computer-generated report printed daily which contained all the adjustments made to crew allowances for that day.
· The 25 charges involved almost S$35m.


3. Heightens Security

E.g. 1 - Security cameras

Security cameras can help to prevent people from committing crimes in the workplace, such as theft by employees, fraud, vandalism, arson, abusive and threatening behaviour, or can help to record such crimes.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has in all its planes surveillance cameras installed to allow the pilot to view the cabin area just outside the cockpit. This is just one of the stepped up security measures which the airline has undertaken.

E.g 2 - CCTV cameras

CCTV cameras helped the cops crack a 2004 case at Newton Food Centre when a group of 10 men armed with parangs, samurai swords, knives and metal rods attacked two men. Police nailed the assailants after clothing found in an abandoned van matched that worn by the assailants in the footage of the assault.

'Such breakthroughs and successes have upped the deterrence effect against criminals, who are more wary of committing crimes in areas where there is CCTV coverage,'' Inspector Razif added.

4. Technology in Schools - Education

E.g. 1 - Cashless Transactions in Schools

Since 2002, students from Anglo Chinese Primary School uses EZ-Link cards to make purchase in canteen.
Electronic payment will reduce time and allow shorter queue lines
Survey showed that 55% of pupils preferred using their EZ-link cards to cash transactions
The main reason is because the system is faster as it speeds up purchases

E.g. 2 Wireless LAN system in Campus

- Implemented in NgeeAnn Polytechnic as early as 1998 and many other schools and institutes.

- The system works together with NgeeAnn's mobile computing initiative, where all students have their own notebooks to access course materials, submit assignments and engage in independent learning "anytime, anywhere".

- By inserting the Network Interfacing Card into their notebooks, students have gain access onto the Internet at high speed without having to plug onto any port. Using radio frequency signals, the card acts as a modem, sending and receiving information from a remote access point connect to the main server.

- 76% of these students felt that the use of mobile computing has greatly increased the accessibility of the internet and intranet materials. Their IT knowledge has increased and they are equipped with better skills to face the changing and latest technology available.

E.g. 3 NTRIX School Management System

First developed for Bukit Panjang Government High School in 2001
Used in more than 40 schools in Singapore – eg. TPJC and Maris Stella High
Received an INNERGY award from MOE Singapore
The modules include attendance, conduct, progress reports, result analysis, events, news, facility bookings, e-forms and resource download.
90% of the students in Maris Stella High showed satisfaction from using the system and want to continue using it.
Other products: Online School System: NTRIX E-Streaming, NTRIX School Mgmt System, Open source LMS, E-Talk

E.g. 4 - E-LearningNEC INspace (integrated NEC smart portal for academic collaboration and exchange)

•AIM - Automate school management process as much as possible to allow educators and students to focus on teaching and learning.

- Attendance Management S olution:
Store attendance records and absentee info
SMS integration which makes it more convenient to submit attendance or information

- Asset Management:
Keep track of school facilities like laboratories, gym and equipments
Allows booking or cancelling facilites

- Canteen Management Solution:
Electronic Menu with detailed information on dishes
Electronic payment which will reduce time and allow shorter queue lines

- Library Management Solution:
Track library catalogues and coordinate access to materials
Keep users updated about loans

5. Contritbutes to 'Green' Efforts


The Bad

6. Undermines 'Green' Efforts

We can compost and conserve all we want at home. But as soon as we hit the office, we turn into triplicate-printing, paper-cup-squashing, run-our-computers-all-night-so-the-boss-thinks-we're-working earth befoulers.

· One office worker can use a quarter ton of materials in a year--which includes 10,000 pieces of copier paper.

· Heating, cooling and powering office space are responsible for almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and gobble more than 70% of total electricity usage.

· Commuters spew 1.3 billion tons of CO2 a year. Computers in the office burn $1 billion worth of electricity annually --and that's when they're not producing a lick of work.

All our unnecessarily generated company waste adds up to unnecessarily wasted company cash.