SPECIAL SERVICES
After a 30-year career with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, including five years with the Ministry of Defence, Muzri Mokhsin has earned his position at the government owned acquisition management and service provider RBTS. With rapid expansion on the agenda, Muzri has targeted his goals with militar y precision.
The Armed Forces are not the first thing to spring to mind when one thinks of company strategy. However, a military background can prepare business leaders in a multitude of ways. Prioritising tasks, planning, execution and problem solving are just some of the key skills this career path imparts. It goes without saying that management and leadership are also part of this package, something that Muzri Mokhsin can attest to. Royal Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) CEO for three years, prior to this appointment he served in the Armed Forces for 30 years.
“My military background has served me very well indeed. When I joined RBTS, we had been doing procurement primarily, but I thought we could do more than just this and further our approach into competitive procurement.”
Lifecycle
Trying to make sense of the RBTS core business, Muzri could see that despite the company evolving with the likes of engineering services and training, it needed to maintain its offering and invest in its future. The answer?
“We embarked on a lifecycle management approach and haven’t looked back.”
A fully government-owned company based in Brunei Darussalam, the RBTS mission is clearly laid out: to deliver reliable lifecycle management services, on time and on cost. Founded in 1988, it engages and partners with key manufacturers and suppliers in delivering value for money solutions, an approach that has seen it become the leading acquisition management and systems management service provider in the country.
Customer satisfaction is at the heart of the RBTS DNA, and the company ensures that the needs of the client are met in the most cost-efficient way, while conforming to international standards.
That said, the company is still in flux, intent on rapid expansion over the next few years to build its capabilities significantly through organic growth and strategic alliances. It will continue to expand its services as it adheres to its life cycle management principle, from concept to acquisition and commissioning, through life support, training, and also overseeing disposals or decommissioning processes.
Muzri says: “We have plans to further enhance our offering and plenty of opportunities coming our way. While originally we were focused on defence and security, there’s a significant element of tech and security tech
“We have plans to further enhance our offering and plenty of opportunities “coming our way
that we can work on. In three to five years, we hope to have improved our supply chain efficacy so that we can be more self-sufficient.”
Indeed, since RBTS has been focused on defence and security, the supply chain was always of particular importance.
“Over the years we’ve worked very closely with suppliers,” says Muzri. “I consider them critical, as is our relationship with customers. Maintaining these relationships is key and we make sure we treat them with respect, since they are such a crucial element of the business.”
Not without its trials and tribulations, leading the company into a new era has ensured Muzri’s military eye for detail and 27 years of procurement experience has been put to good use. Redefining company thinking is not something that happens overnight, and the team is still grafting to surpass challenges in confidence and internal structure and sharpen focus on new customer needs. Additionally, the move away from defence and security into tech requires that RBTS’ network with suppliers has to be further enhanced.
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Over the last few years, we have been investing heavily to retrain people to acquire new skills in line with our
“new approach
Motivation
“Competency issues were spotted, along with certain key skills that were lacking which we needed to develop internally,” says Muzri. “Over the last few years, we have been investing heavily to retrain people to acquire new skills in line with our new approach. My people are my greatest asset. If I have a committed workforce that delivers, we will go from strength to strength.”
With his long-serving military background, you would be hard pushed to find a more suitable candidate than Muzri to enthuse and motivate a workforce. It certainly looks as though RBTS is in very safe hands for now.