Brunei Shell Petroleum Company (BSP) recently participated in the 2021 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) with participants from across the world, echoing theme “Building Our Sustainable Digital Future”.
The annual summit which was held virtually on Monday highlighted the importance of being able to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger, while considering the role of digitalisation.
BSP started its Digital Transformation Strategy in 2019 as a roadmap to achieve strategic priorities and promote a more efficient ways of working.
By focusing on the development of in-house and specialist digital skills, through its digitalisation strategy, BSP aims to increase productivity, reliability and performance.
Speaking in the panel session on the future of working in a post-pandemic world, BSP Managing Director and Brunei Shell Country Chair Agnete Johnsgaard-Lewis, shared that the pandemic has catalysed the users’ uptake for digital transformation.
“The pandemic has pushed the world to go through a rapid digital transformation and while that has its own challenges, it also provided some opportunities,” she said.
In the panel discussion, Agnete shared how workforce globally are highly adaptive to the challenges presented by the pandemic.
This has led to the innovation in ways of working in order to keep operations going as usual, as demonstrated by the positive remote working implementation and uptake.
For BSP, remote working had to be enabled within a short period of time during the first round of COVID-19 in Brunei.
The decision was made as an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 by making sure employees remain connected to the business, while supporting BSP frontliners who are working on sites.
Remote working was integral in ensuring business continuity and making sure that Brunei receives the energy supply that it needs, especially in the current situation.
Reflecting further on the impact of the pandemic to the ASEAN region, Agnete also shared on the strength of collaboration.
“There is a real opportunity here, as a region, to work together.” Agnete said.
As demonstrated by the outstanding efforts between ASEAN leaders, as well as the leaders from Japan, Australia and China, collaboration has been the key in managing the impact of COVID-19, especially in the provision for vaccines.
The continuous efforts displayed by ASEAN countries in fostering close relationships have enabled Brunei to continue with its National Vaccination Programme – most currently, more than 81 per cent of the total population in Brunei have received their first doses of the COVID19 vaccines.
It is imperative that this close partnership to continue to pave the way for the sharing of best practices, trade networks and growth through digitalisation and innovation for a sustainable future.
The Southeast Asia’s premier forum brought together Head of States and Governments, Presidents, Prime Ministers as well as industry leaders and players to discuss on key topics and emerging trends in the ASEAN region. – Analisa Amu
This article was first published on 30 October 2021 in our Weekly E-Paper issue 165 | More stories here
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
