With his deep expertise and 'SIMPLE' modern leadership style, Andy seeks to bring fresh ideas and strategic insights to enhance Colliers' leasing and management services offering.
How long have you been in the real estate industry, and how did you come to join Colliers?
I started my career in the real estate industry immediately after graduating from the National University of Singapore, School of Building & Estate Management. My 30 years of experience in the industry covers asset management, lease management, property and facilities management for a wide array of properties including residential, retail malls, commercial and industrial properties.
"In every business, there are always challenges. Whether they are exciting or not depends very much on one’s mindset."
Through the years, I also have had the privilege of managing several heritage properties such as the iconic Stamford House, Capitol Theatre and Cuppage Terrace.
I always believe that everything happens for a reason. Before joining Colliers, I was managing Paradigm Mall, a two million sq ft mega mall in Johor Bahru. In my search for an opportunity to work in Singapore after my stint in Malaysia, I was connected through my network of friends to a senior executive – who happened to be my schoolmate in varsity – in Colliers.
I joined Colliers’ Real Estate Management Services (REMS) department two years ago and took over the leasing and tenancy management business unit.
Tell us about your current role with Colliers. What do you find most fulfilling about it?
As a Director, I am responsible for growing our business in commercial, residential and retail tenancy and operations management. My team focuses on representing landlords in the leasing and management of their properties.
"Aspiring to do things innovatively and effectively is what truly excites me. I find it most fulfilling for me to bring specialised knowledge and expertise into projects to steer valued changes."
In every business, there are always challenges. Whether they are exciting or not depends very much on one’s mindset. I always question and challenge the norms. Aspiring to do things innovatively and effectively is what truly excites me. I find it most fulfilling for me to bring specialised knowledge and expertise into projects to steer valued changes.
Based on your experience and taking into consideration the current climate, what are the top three trends that will accelerate success for real estate management?
Data analytics, robotics and smart systems. These trends in technology are accelerating as companies look towards them to solve problems due to the lack of manpower and to manage their businesses remotely under lockdown conditions.
Whilst these trends are not new, adoption and implementation have been slow as real estate management has traditionally been manpower and skills reliant. The pandemic took the world by surprise and put companies into a hunt for technological solutions and systems to solve the current challenges.
Whilst the investment of such costly technologies and systems may not be at the foremost of everyone’s concerns now, a long-term solution and strategy could be a competitive edge once business resumes to normal levels.
"Above all these technological advances, the human touch remains the crucial element of customer satisfaction."
Examples of this transformation would be the use of sensors and data analytics in a smart system. A smart system incorporates functions of sensing, actuation, and control to analyse a situation and make decisions based on the available data in a predictive or adaptive manner.
Surveillance camera systems are now integrated with video analytics to sense and alert security personnel to unattended items, identify persons through facial recognition algorithms, spot suspicious gatherings and so forth. This reduces the need to have security personnel in the control room, and they can be better deployed where manpower is optimally needed.
Sensors that detect the amount of rubbish and the amount of ammonia in the air would help cleaning companies optimise their cleaners to carry out work where required, rather than the need to check and monitor regularly.
It is about leveraging on technology to optimise limited manpower resources, increasing productivity, minimising costs, and delivering higher-value services. Above all these technological advances, the human touch remains the crucial element of customer satisfaction. These advances are meant to enhance our ability to improve the level of customer satisfaction that we can humanly deliver.
How would you describe your management style and way of working?
- S – Simplify: Take large problems and make them bite size.
- I – Innovate: Find creative ways to solve complex problems in an efficient and pragmatic way.
- M – Mentor: Coach staff to perform well. When they do well, you do well too.
- P – Patience: Be patient with people and problems. Good solutions need time.
- L – Listen and Learn: Be attentive. Learn from others and from past mistakes.
- E – Empower: Don’t micro manage. Guide and advise staff, then give them the authority and freedom to do what is necessary.
What inspires you?
I cannot attribute my inspiration to just one factor. There are several that motivate me in a holistic way, which can be summed up with four “F” words. Nothing vulgar:
- Family – Their love and support towards my career.
- Firm – The company that believes in, supports and appreciates me.
- Future – The technological advancements that we can embrace to make work efficient.
- Flip – Opportunities to turn negative situations to positive ones.
Editor's note: This blog post was originally published in September 2018 and has been updated for relevance.
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