Institutional capital forms the core of our business. It comprises intangible components such as business ethics and values, organisational knowledge and intellectual property. We ensure that these receive the best governance on offer, from the highest reaches of our operations.

Our Values

There are seven core values (inner front cover) that lie at the heart of SLT.

We aim to be customer-oriented, trustworthy, innovative and responsive. We ensure that we work together as a team to deliver exceptional results.

We emphasise these values in all our employees. All new employees are enlightened on the above through induction schemes. We offer refresher programmes to complement these as well. SLT prizes itself on leading by example, and to this extent, all management staff take it upon themselves to disburse and foster such values.

We possess written policies on all legal and ethical protocols. These cover the entire breadth of material from whistle-blowing to individual employee grievances.

Corporate Culture

SLT has a corporate culture that encourages communication and engagement with employees. This helps build confidence amongst employees and helps them dare to innovate. We further encourage employee contribution through suggestion schemes, registers and brainstorming sessions.

Our Subsidiary, Mobitel also shares an open working environment. It possesses a flat organisational framework, and even encourages lifelong employment amongst its peers.

Systems and Processes

Improvements in internal efficiency

As detailed earlier, we engaged in an organisational restructuring of the SLT Group. This will help us profit from the ensuing synergies and help reduce costs through the sharing of resources and the elimination of duplicate investments.

We integrated and automated processes through the introduction of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This was expedited in the third quarter of 2016. To complement this, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system was envisaged. This was green-lit in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Improvements in investment

governance processes

We reduced the number of Investment Governance Boards from seven to four as detailed below:

Existed governance boards	New governance boards
SGB: Strategic Governance Board	SGB: Strategic Governance Board
TGB: Transformation and Change Governance Board
NGB: Network Governance Board	PPGB: Project Portfolio Governance Board
IGB: Information Technology Governance Board
FGB: Facilities Governance Board
PGB: Product Governance Board	PGB: Product Governance Board
ESGB: Enterprise and Solutions Governance Board	ESGB: Enterprise and Solutions Governance Board

Existing CAPEX projects were classified as ‘projects’, ‘business as usual activities (BAUs)’ and ‘procurement-only investments’. Projects combining both BAUs and procurement-only investments are named ‘strategic projects’ for investment governance processes.

Reducing the governance boards as such, lead to several benefits. Decisions in capital investments were improved. The supply chain management saw similar enhancements, and there was better utilisation of resources.

Project management and benefit

realisation management

Reports on the progress of projects are compiled on a monthly basis for the top 25 projects. These are then duly communicated to the Board of Directors.

The financial benefits of all investments are captured at the level of the programme. These are then reported on a quarterly basis to the senior management. The outcomes are measured and reported at the level of the project.

Operational excellence

ERP

The ERP system helps both SLT and Mobitel in digitising and streamlining several business processes. These include activities in finance, enterprise asset management, human resources, projects and the supply chain. The automation and standardisation of processes, with an integrated approach, eliminates delays for greater efficiency and productivity.

Big data analytics

Mobitel employs an analytic platform, together with an algorithm, to analyse multiple lines of information from global markets and business trends; to further develop its corporate strategy.

Contingencies

Through international consultancy, disaster recovery (DR) systems in ICT and networking and cyber security mechanisms, SLT possesses a stringent business continuity plan that can successfully navigate unforeseen events and serve customers without any interruptions in service.

Finally, the increased adoption of our data centre and cloud services can bolster local enterprises to compete amongst global players in their industries.

Brand Image

SLT enjoys respect and approval amongst its customers as the ‘national’ ICT service provider for Sri Lanka. It enjoys similar regard in the development of infrastructure and the roll-out of broadband technologies. Our island-wide connectivity, and strong regional presence further contribute to this distinction. To supplement all this, we maintain an active media and social media presence.

Our subsidiary Mobitel is equally renowned as being the leading national mobile service provider. With carefully-executed marketing and promotional programmes, we wield an influential position on all sections of society.

We wish to extend this in the years to come by positioning ourselves as a bespoke digital lifestyle services provider. Our customers will be able to integrate all aspects of their lives; from their workplace to their home and beyond, with the services we provide, to benefit from the entirety of what we offer.

Quality Assurance and Certification

SLT continued its operations under the ISO 9001-2008 framework. We have views on upgrading to the more recent version of ISO 9001-2015. We similarly visualise using the system to digitise tasks and solve routine issues. This will increase the efficiency of our operations and therefore our productivity.

Our contact centre in Gampaha was the recipient of the Silver Award in the International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC) 2016. This event was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand.

We equally received the Overall Winner Award as well as the Gold Award in the service sector by the Sri Lanka Association of the Advancement of Quality and Productivity (SLAAQP) in 2016.

Information Security

SLT’s information security policy is compliant with the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 International standard. To further improve our security, we undertook measures to evaluate the existing infrastructure and take appropriate measures as required. This similarly helped us in shaping the existing collateral to be more ergonomic and efficient.

Compliance

SLT possesses separate regulatory and legal divisions that monitor all regulatory and statutory ratifications. Employees are kept aware of relevant developments through the SLT Intranet portal. All our human resources practices are compliant with labour regulations and related statutory collateral.

We also ensure the compliance of our outsourced operations, such as making contributions to Employees’ Provident Funds (EPFs) and Employees’ Trust Funds (ETFs). SLT takes every effort to fully comply with all Government regulations.

As a listed company, SLT closely follows the rules and regulations imposed on it by the Colombo Stock Exchange. All company policies, procedures and guidelines have been developed in compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements. Our compliance is audited by Auditors both internally and externally.

For the period under review, SLT did not face any fines in relation to issues of non-compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to the provision and use of our products and services. Similarly, we did not receive any complaints on discordances in customer privacy.

Finally, we ensure that all our activities are compliant with established guidelines on environmental protection.

Risks and Contingencies

The Board of Directors bears total responsibility for the setting-up and monitoring of the Group’s risk management framework. The Audit Committee inspects management’s monitoring of compliance with the Group’s risk management processes. Aspects of financial risk management are covered under Note 4 to the Financial Statements. Any other extraneous aspects are discussed under Note 32 to the Financial Statements.