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In this client success feature, we speak with S Devendran, the Chief Executive Officer of Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore). Sree Narayana Mission is an IPC charity that operates a nursing home, senior care centres, and runs outreach and assistance programmes.
The charity has been in consultation with Straits Interactive on its data protection journey and their CEO shares why it was important for them to do so.
Why did you and your team decide to go on a data protection journey for Sree Narayana Mission?
Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore) is an institution of public character (IPC) with charity status and we operate in the community care sector, where we run nursing homes and senior care centres, as well as in the social service sector, where we run a psychiatric welfare home for destitutes and a slew of community programmes for the less privileged.
In recent years, community organisations such as us have been encouraged to digitalise our operations, to be more productive, more effective and more efficient. These last two years, the pandemic has only underscored and emphasised the importance of going digital, and going digital brings a lot of benefits, but also brings risks.
The importance of data protection has been highlighted recently in the media with the reports of an increase in online scams, and we at SNM wanted to acquire a robust framework that would protect the data of all our clients, donors and members. This would extend not only to our systems, but also to our staff – by training them to be digitally astute and capable of fulfilling the needs of our donors and beneficiaries.
For more information on how to get your organisation started on its data protection journey, please schedule a 20-minute strategy call or contact sales@straitsinteractive.com to get your queries answered.
What had been your data protection strategy before this journey?
When I joined SNM in June 2016, my senior management team, my department heads, myself, together with the executive committee, we put an emphasis on ensuring that data was managed in a safe way and we conducted workshops and attended webinars organised by the Commissioner of Charities and other agencies on this issue.
The strategy was to follow our internal data protection policy for front-facing departments. When Covid-19 was upon us, staff started working remotely. Only then, with the rise in data breaches around the world, did we realise that everyone should be equipped with knowledge and skills to be able to handle data correctly.
We felt that staff ranging from healthcare attendants all the way up to CEO were vulnerable. Thus, equipping staff with the necessary knowledge was what we needed to do. In 2020, we formed a Digitalisation Sub-Committee that has provided expertise in assisting operations and guidance in terms of technology and digitalisation plans.