THE genesis of Straits Interactive began when a managing director of a real estate company sought help to comply with Singapore's impending Do-Not-Call (DNC) Registry rules back in 2013.

Complying with these new rules and later with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) of Singapore presented a challenge for most companies unaccustomed to the culture of personal data protection. A decade ago, spurred by the desire to create a solution that made compliance simple, easy-to-use, and operational, I joined forces with my former colleague from Sun Microsystems, Alvin Toh, and together we started Straits Interactive.