I’ve just had the pleasure of attending both the APRC/AMSRS and RANZ conferences. Both had excellent content and I can certainly recommend that you attend both conferences next time they are held if you get the chance. I was also honoured to be invited to the APRC Committee meeting held the day before the APRC/AMSRS conference, and I must say that I was very impressed with the work being done by the national associations in this region, in particular in the field of data analytics/science.
Leading Digital Transformation
The Taiwanese association (CMRS) are running a Big Data Analyst (BDA) Certification programme, and are co-operating with the Chinese association (CMRA) to offer this certification in both Taiwan and China. To date, incredibly, over 56,000 people already have been certified to at least Primary Level. This is a fantastic achievement already and a truly exciting opportunity for our industry, and we look forward to CMRS telling you more about the BDA programme in a future issue of Global Insights.
CMRA continues to play its part in driving the new wave of digital transformation in China. In addition to the co-operation with CMRS on the BDA programme, CMRA activities include holding a Data Integration Innovation Summit with over 500 participants, running a university cooperation roadshow and the publishing of numerous thought-leadership articles.
Seeing the future
As the world, client needs and our industry all continue to evolve, the associations in APAC continue to ensure that their members are kept up-to-date with the latest developments and have a window into the future by running events, such as the Research Day ran by KORA in Korea, the Digital Strategy in Action conference in Thailand, the AMSRO Leaders Forum and the AMSRS Festival of Research Conference in Australia, and the New Horizons Conference in New Zealand. In Malaysia, MRSM has been certified by The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), a government agency, which means that people attending MRSM training/conference events can get a full refund on the cost. It would be fantastic if other national associations could leverage this example to achieve similar certification in their countries if such an option exists.
Ensuring Quality
The associations in the region, such as JMRA in Japan and MMRA in Mongolia continue to ensure quality standards are maintained in the region through working with the new ISO-20252 standard in their countries.
A GREAT family feeling
When I reflect on the time I spent my APRC association colleagues over a wonderful lunch at the Sydney Opera House and during the Summit itself, as well as on the Karaoke bus tour of Sydney, the one word which comes to my mind most strongly is family. The spirit of togetherness amongst the association leaders is fantastic and I feel very grateful to be made to feel a part of the APRC famil.
I would like to thank all those who work for the APRC associations, either in employment or in a volunteer capacity, for the hard work they are putting into building our sector in their region, as well as for the energy they put into building the APRC family.
A big thank you also goes to Elissa Molloy and her team at AMSRS for doing such a great job hosting the 10
th APRC Summit and Conference!
Looking forward to Chengdu
Whether or not you attended this year’s APRC Conference, I can highly recommend that you look to do so next year. The 12
th APRC Conference will be hosted by CMRA in China and held in Chengdu. It promises to be another unforgettable experience.
Andrew Cannon
Executive Director, GRBN
