Tech whiz Orapong Thien-Ngern recently stepped down from his position as managing director of Microsoft Thailand to lead Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) as it heads for the dangerous waters of fintech.
Mr Orapong, 55, was appointed as chief executive of Digital Ventures (DV), SCB's fintech investment and development subsidiary. SCB is Thailand's oldest bank, with more than a century of history, as well as the country's second-largest lender by assets.
Mr Orapong comes to SCB with a wealth of international and local experience, having worked in the US for 13 years before moving back to Asia in 1997.
In Asia, he worked in Singapore for three years before moving to Accenture Thailand. He stayed with US management consultancy Accenture (formerly known as Andersen Consulting) for 17 years before being approached by Yingluck Shinawatra's government to serve as the prime minister's information technology adviser.
He took a brief career break after the May 2014 coup. Later that year, he joined Microsoft Thailand as top executive of the company for three years.
Mr Orapong ended his long career in the technology industry as general manager of Microsoft Thailand, a position he held until he joined SCB. He spoke to the Bangkok Post about his past and present career moves.
Mr Orapong (left) and SCB president and chief executive Arthid Nanthawithaya (right) promote the bank's QR code payment service at Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Q: You had been approached by Arthid Nanthawithaya (SCB's president and chief executive) many times before actually joining the bank. Why did you decide to join in the end?
I have known Mr Arthid for about five years, since I worked at Accenture overseeing SCB's account. As you say, he approached me several times, but I was not interested at that time.
Fintech disruption, and other challenges in the banking industry made me interested in the job. Normally, top executives of successful corporate firms sleep on their laurels and enjoy their achievements, but SCB's chief executive foresaw the challenge and the need to change in order to survive. I love that kind of environment, and I felt like it was my turn to grapple with disruption.
Working at an organisation that faces big challenge would open more opportunities to learn and be a fun place to work at. If we find our jobs fun, we will wake up energised every morning.
Q: SCB is the first Thai company you have worked for. Is it a different culture?
Yes, absolutely. I worked for foreign companies my whole life, especially for American firms. In short, basically, foreign employees express their opinions fully, which gives you the freedom to talk and give opinions based on facts and attention to detail.
From the Thai working culture, I have learned that people take pride in their work. I need to be more careful about how I talk and pay more attention to language nuances. It's like I'm learning a new culture I hadn't faced in decades.
Working in foreign environments for an extended period of time made me lose cultural sensibility for such things. A word can be interpreted in more than one way. I learned to deliver messages to match the workplace environment and Thai culture. With Americans, you discuss and argue when you disagree. In Thailand, there is a fine line between analysis and criticism.
I act with a good intention, so hopefully everybody around me understands I do not have a hidden agenda.
Orapong (fifth from left) and Arthid Nanthawithaya (sixth from left), SCB's president and chief executive, are promoting the bank's QR code payment service at Chatuchak market. In courtesy of SCB.
Q: Were you approached by other companies?
I was, just like other people with IT skill. We have more opportunities to shop around for fun jobs, especially now, when technology is disrupting almost every industry.
Q: How long will it take for fintech to disrupt the local banking industry?
Nobody knows. As far as SCB, we are preparing for the impending disruption in the next 3-5 years, and moving to a digital banking platform as fast as possible.
Fortunately, the banking business is regulated and regulators will not let the industry sink in the face of technology. Local banks have enough time to handle the disruption.
Several industries have already been disrupted, particularly media, which is suffering heavily. Global news agencies are in a great deal of pain, and no one knows how to deal with the digital disruption yet. Telecommunications and travel are already heading for massive disruption, and the banking industry is next.
Q: What is your work philosophy?
Learning. If we know a job inside out, it won't be fun anymore and we should exit the industry. Even if we know 70% of the job, I think it's time to step down and open the opportunity for others.
At DV now, I only know 30% of the role. I still have the passion to wake up every day and learn. For instance, a technology service provider company recently taught me about quantum computing. I understand only 5% of it, but the knowledge gap encourages me to learn more.
Q: Are there enough IT experts in Thailand, or do we need to import them?
There are enough IT people, but we are looking for people who have a passion for learning and working in a changing world, rather than for those with expertise in the old world.
I interviewed a highly qualified applicant with several experiences in IT. Unfortunately, that applicant does not fit with the changing environment. As far as the younger generation, they need to be grounded in the real world.
DV works like a startup, but it should be a realistic startup. Young people want to be startup business owners and become millionaires. In fact, the survival rates of startups have declined. In 2016, investment in startups across the world was $127 billion, down 24% year-on-year.
Bright ideas are not enough to create a business. Business needs reality. We want qualified staff overseeing fintech, rather than upgraded technologies. In the past one year, DV looked at 500 startups across the globe. My duty is to find a diamond among them and adopt the ideas that fit our business model.
There are a lot of smart Thai IT people who now enjoy great opportunities to learn in this constantly changing world. It's the best time to learn.
Just like me. I think of myself as a child playing in a space of possibilities that offers the opportunity to create, test and build things that answer to real consumers' requirements.
Mr Orapong (second from left) and his son (third from left) visit with SCB clients.
Q: You are 55. Any plans for retirement?
I retired for six months after the coup, but I found it hard to adapt to that lifestyle. I can't live without working.
I used to dream about my retirement. Playing sports, spending more time with my kids, travelling. When that time came, I realised that I had too much time on my hands. More importantly, I felt like I lacked an objective in life.
Retirement is harder than working. My brief retirement wiped out any thoughts of retirement from my mind, but that doesn't mean I want to work for a corporation forever. I am not motivated by a position or money.
I usually travel by public bus in order to learn something. In fact, I went to my appointment with Mr Arthid by public bus. I don't care too much about salary, but I want a challenge. I remember showing him my bus ticket.
I want to have my own company one day, after collecting a large number of experiences. I want to offer products and services that lower costs through technology and digitisation. I don't even need a large investment; unlike in the past, digital marketing can broaden a customer base for essentially zero.
Telephone services spent 70 years collecting 50 million customers. The internet spent four years gathering the same number of clients. But more than 50 million people bought the iPhone in less than three months.
Companies can now scale in a short period of time, and need less infrastructure and resources to do so.
Q: How will you measure achievement in your current job?
By preparing the bank for disruption. SCB is a successful bank with a very solid status now. It does not need my assistance in the current world. My role is in the future, in the next three to five years.
Q: What are your key objectives in life?
Taking care my kids and seeing them become good and successful people. My sons are 9 and 12, and because they are young I have to keep working rather than thinking about retirement.
