Some of you may know I worked for 1 year in Myanmar, trying
to help make a traditional insurer more data-driven. I am now not in Myanmar
anymore, however I keep an eye on the happenings in this amazing country.
To me, Myanmar is a country with enormous potential; as a
foreigner, you only have to open your eyes and leave your preconceptions at the
door.
Attitude
One of the amazing things about Myanmar is the attitude of
the people. There is no hiding that the country deals with some issues in terms
of development. What surprised me most when I went to the office is a lack of
people in what would be called mid-career age in the office. There is a bunch
of young people (more on them later) and a bunch of more seasoned people (50s
and above). But do not underestimate Myanmar’s ‘older’ generation.
A simple example would explain what I mean. I thought it
would be good, as part of spreading the word about the use of data, to have
basic statistics and analysis classes for my colleagues. This was open to all
staff. Again I have a bunch of young eager students and a bunch of older ones.
One of my students was in his 60s, and regularly attended.
He told me “I enjoy your classes. I always want to learn, and these classes
open my mind and I learn new things”.
Many of us working in data have to deal with people who refuse
to change their ways, and this is one of the major obstacle to organisations on
their journey to becoming data driven. But to hear someone tell you this is
very encouraging. And this is not an isolated case.
Potential
When I arrived, after taking stock of things, I realised
processes were very manual. I enquired with the CIO (an expat) and he said that
it was impossible to get talent, and that he had to search high and low for
qualified people, hence, despite being there for quite a while, the best he
could do, with the resources is maintain the systems. The skills he was talking
about was basic database skills, SQL.
I found that to be totally wrong.
I found quite a good team of talents in Myanmar (one from
the CIO’s office who wanted a change). There are very talented people in the
latest technologies in Myanmar, from local universities. We developed and built
forms that could be used to send applications instantly to the back-office for
processing and the back-office underwriters were willing and able to use the
new methods. We revamped the auto claims systems to more than half the time to
pay, and this involved a lot of adjustments within the claims team, not only
among new and young staff, but also among the more experienced staff. We even
trialed telematics for insurance (I hope that was going well after I left).
I will state things simply:
- From my personal experience, Myanmar has very talented young people who are very eager to learn and grow.
- So in technical terms, in the world of data, Myanmar has the skills.
- Myanmar also has people with great attitude, eager to learn, and able to put theory into reality.
My hope
My basic hope for Myanmar is that the situation is resolved
without bloodshed, like what most people would agree.
But equally importantly would be for the potential that
Myanmar has to be realised.
The young people in Myanmar today should be provided a good
framework where they can engage in the intellectual pursuits, grow and learn,
and be allowed to contribute back to their country in terms of leap-frogging
into the 21st century.
I have seen first-hand the passion these young people have
to grow and contribute back to the country, what I hope is that they are
allowed to do so.
Furthermore, this should happen soon, so the more
experienced people in Myanmar can work side by side with the young.
It would be horrible if Myanmar were to miss another
generation.
I have always been against country-wide economic sanctions
because it is the ‘normal’ people who suffer and any change is driven from that
suffering pushing people to the brink so they have no choice to enforce change.
To me, there is too much suffering in this approach.
I believe that ASEAN should take the lead in interfacing
with the power in Myanmar. Many people in the region recognise the alignment of
the military who now hold power in Myanmar and economic power. Instead of
“managing” the economic conditions of the whole country, the economic interests
of the people in power is what should be understood and their incentives which
are likely have driven them to take power in the way they have be managed. And
this is one place where “big data”/”Data science” can help.
P.S. Since I started this blog, 3 new events occurred
1 Someone at the protests was wounded by live ammunition. I
hope the least other countries can do is put pressure on the powers that be in
Myanmar not to use excessive force against the civilian population, their own
people.
2 I have been reading that some people are divesting from
Myanmar, for example a personality from Razer (1). I believe that, as with
economic sanctions, people should be careful. If the partner in Myanmar is from
the Military or is military linked, then yes, this can help the military change
their minds, and put a higher cost to their recent actions. But then, it may be
worth asking why it took recent events to cause divestment, after all 30 years
ago Myanmar was under military control. But if the partner is not associated
with the military, then it may cause more harm – make some people lose their
jobs- than good.
3 someone has made a good start to understanding pressure
points that may work without much damage to the people of Myanmar (2). It is up to us as individuals to act. Using
big data at a granular level can uncover so much more. If there is a will…
