The Insights towards the Local Service Industry

When one talks about academic symposia and summits, people may readily associate these with international exposure. In recent years, however, local competitions and conferences have matured themselves in laying a concrete foundation for innovative ideas to breed and grow in Hong Kong. For instance, JOS Innovation Awards aims to inspire, nurture and recognize local tertiary students for their ideas and innovative thinking in improving industry performance. As one of the award recipients, Gigi Tsang (BEng (CivE)) shared with us her award-winning story, we will depict a clearer picture of this competition, and more importantly, her insights towards the local technological landscape.

"The key to a successful business strategy always lies in uniqueness and practicality.”

“In my point of view, innovation is to bring new ideas to reality and it leads to sustainable success. The key to a successful business strategy always lies in uniqueness and practicality.” At the beginning of our interview, Gigi first highlighted her definition of “innovation”. She explained that a successful innovative solution must add value to the effectiveness, efficiency and customer experience of the company. This vision perfectly coincides with the rationale of the JOS Innovation Awards, providing Gigi strong motivation to participate.

Aiming to use technology to foster easier management of the conventional insurance procedures, Gigi’s team, ‘Smart L’ targeted their project at Manulife. “We identified their current features at first and then aimed at changing customers’ purchasing habits from face-to-face communications to virtual meetings. We designed a mobile application to shift customer habits and minimize repetitive procedures at execution.” Never forgetting the virtue of ‘innovation’, their fantastic design won the award and the essential spirit of creativity.

Apart from the success, Gigi reminded us of her greatest inspiration throughout the programme, “Technology reshaped our business world. Companies run the business on technologically supported systems, tools and skills. People, things and data are all closely connected and conveniently reached with the help of technology, to conduct business on a much larger scale.” Gigi restated that the world is ever-changing, while she continues her academic pursuits, we all know that constant improvement is crucial for a person, an industry, and a city.

Written by:
Amadeus Cheung
Year 3, Faculty of Law
April 2020