My initial assignment at the United Nations was working in the Protocol Office of the Division of Administration at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. My duties often required me to resort to information technology (IT) to provide effective and efficient services to both internal and external clients.

I now manage a Human Resources (HR) data unit for ESCAP. My duties include ensuring the integrity and validity of HR data as well as providing a reporting service. Part of my role is to find ways for IT to bridge some HR service gaps and to incorporate strategic organizational direction into technology integration.

The United Nations has had a presence in Thailand for 60 years. In this time span, services that were heavily dependent on the processing of paperwork were modernized through the use of technology. Ensuring coverage of services, monitoring, and controlling can be done through technology. The Organization therefore developed the idea of adopting technology in its work since applying state-of-the-art IT allows us to serve our clients much better.

I started to acquire knowledge on IT, mainly by self-study, enrolling in programming courses and keeping fully aware of new developments in this field. Coupled with an increase in assignments with which I have been entrusted, I started to apply more IT into my daily tasks, working towards transforming services into systems and e-services. I like the fact that we can resort to IT as a tool to manage our services to clients.

Information Technology can make the work of Human Resources much more streamlined and efficient. HR is expected to be instrumental in ensuring the effective implementation of strategic organizational direction. I feel I make a contribution to the mandates and goals of the United Nations by making tools available that help in moving forward and achieving results.

Whenever I encounter a challenge, I start with a ‘YES, this can be done’ in my head. I think having a positive attitude plays a crucial role in achieving results. I permit myself to explore the possibilities and counteract the challenges. On the other hand, starting with a ‘NO’ shuts every window of opportunity. It is important to be open to new challenges, and approach them with a proactive nature.