On 24 January 2018, Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law & Ministry of Finance and Co-Chair for the Future Economy Council (FEC) Modern Services Sub-Committee, launched the Professional Services Industry Transformation Map (ITM) at the official opening of media and digital marketing communications group, Dentsu Aegis Network’s new Asia Pacific Headquarters in Singapore. 

The ITM charts a roadmap to develop the industry to become a global market leader in high-value, specialist services, driven by innovation and partnerships, over a five- to ten-year horizon. Key initiatives featured in the ITM aim to drive innovation in the industry and to equip our workforce with specialised skillsets in high-growth areas such as data science, analytics and artificial intelligence. 

Showcasing how advertising firms, one of the key sub-sectors covered under the ITM, tap emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) to innovate new products and solutions, SMS, together with Ms Teo Lay Lim, Co-Chair for the Modern Services Sub-Committee and ASEAN Managing Director of Accenture; Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman, Singapore Accounting Commission; Ms Goh Shu Fen, President, Institute of Advertising Singapore; as well as government agencies and other invited guests, were led on a tour of Dentsu Aegis Network’s innovation centres where they interacted with holographic technology, a VR-enabled showroom, a voice-activated planning room, among others. The Professional Services sector includes firms in Architecture and Engineering Services, Consulting, Accounting, Legal and Advertising. Making reference to the diverse sub-sectors, SMS was quoted in the media that while is no “one size fits all” solution to help the sector transform, “there are a couple of important anchors – making sure that professionals have the right skillsets… and innovation capability, supporting the employers to be able to innovate and grow.” Through the ITM, the industry is projected to post an average growth rate of 4.6% from 2015 to reach a value-add of S$31 billion by 2020 and generate 5,500 new Professional, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) jobs every year in the same period.