Boston Business School Launches Cybersecurity and Product Management Programmes in Singapore

BBS, the Boston Business School, a long-established training academy in Singapore, is introducing new programmes designed to train, upskill and reskill people for technology jobs that employers are struggling to fill. The first courses target work as cybersecurity analysts or investigators and in incident response teams, where demand is growing quickly. A further programme is meant to give people the digital and analytical skills needed to work as product managers. Teaching will take place in purpose-built classrooms and also online, in a hybrid format.

Lee Kian Chong, director of BBS, said the region has a very large number of vacant technology positions, which he attributed to a mismatch between the talent on offer and the technical skills the jobs demand. According to Lee, BBS worked with industry partners and drew on Israeli expertise to build programmes that create a pool of people with the digital skills to perform well in those roles, while preparing students in line with industry certifications.

Israeli training methods and local industry advisers

For the curricula of its technology practice, BBS has teamed up with Wawiwa Tech Training, a specialist in tech education that has helped set up comparable academies in other parts of the world. Wawiwa bases its approach on experience with technology companies in Israel, a country with an international reputation for research and development, cybersecurity and tech firms. The company refined methods the Israeli army uses to turn recruits with no technical background into capable programming, data science and cybersecurity professionals within a few months. Its own Job-Effective Training (JET) design methodology aims to make the training feel much like a normal working day in the role the student is heading for. More than 70 percent of those who complete Wawiwa's cybersecurity programmes have gone on to relevant jobs in the private and public sectors, the company says.

To keep the courses relevant to the local market, BBS has brought in industry partners including Qavar and Choco Up, which advise on programme content so that graduates are prepared for local employers. The school has also formed an advisory board of well-known cybersecurity figures to contribute to the design of the curricula. Among them are Eugene Ching, managing director of Qavar Security, and Efrat Rahat, a prominent name in tech human resources (tech HR).

A number of highly qualified trainers with long industry careers have been hired to teach at the school's purpose-built premises at The Plaza on Beach Road. Between them, they bring decades of experience in areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud applications, AI and solutions architecture.

The cybersecurity courses

Digitalisation on an unprecedented scale has pushed cybersecurity onto the board agenda and made it a leading priority for organisations. Research by Techshielder found that demand for cybersecurity staff is highest in Singapore, where average pay exceeds $100,000 a year.

BBS will offer upskilling programmes that prepare people to become a Cyber Advance Malware Analyst Investigator, and to work in Cyber Security and Incident Response and in Practical Cyber Forensics Investigation. Another programme will upskill or reskill employees to work as Cybersecurity Analysts in as little as six months. The school intends to add programmes covering OT security, threat hunting and threat intelligence later. The courses are aligned with certifications recognised by the industry, from bodies such as Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

Training product managers

Product managers matter more and more to businesses, and their work touches the whole organisation. They are responsible for finding new sources of revenue, designing new products, services or activities, making go-to-market decisions and taking an active part in setting prices, and they rely on analytical skills to study metrics and extract insights. In technology and data businesses, demand is strong for product managers who can identify and build new revenue streams, so the skills the job requires lean heavily towards the digital. Most companies value the role because a product manager can adapt the organisation's product strategy as market needs change.

The BBS Product Management Programme is intended to reskill or upskill people for forward-looking product management roles. Local trainers lead it, supported by guest workshops, and the practical course covers both the current practice and the theory of the discipline. Students work with instructors and industry professionals so that they are ready for a job when they finish. They study the full product life cycle in a realistic, rounded way: conception, business planning, solution definition and requirements, guidance through development, product marketing, launch and later enhancement. The practical exercises and projects they complete can be shown to prospective employers.

Study options and career support

Students can take the BBS technology programmes part time and keep their jobs while studying, or full time if they want to upskill quickly. For fresh and mid-career graduates looking for internships and employment, BBS runs an established career counselling department and is already working with local companies on openings.