INGENIEUR
With ASEAN’s digital economy projected to
add US$1 trillion to the region’s gross domestic
product during the next 10 years, Malaysian
companies need to leverage digital innovation
across all business activities, and they need to do
this faster than ever.
In other words, it is about building upon a
vibrant domestic ICT industry, transformative use
of digital solutions by Government, businesses
and citizens, as well as the constant nurturing
of a robust ecosystem. The vision of Digital
Malaysia is aimed at enabling the country’s
digital economy so that Malaysians and our
country’s businesses can thrive within this new
business environment. 2017. Among MNCs, we are already moving up the
services value chain.
The Prime Minister noted that there has
been a strategic shift in investments, where
Malaysia used to be a base for shared services.
Multinationals are now using Malaysia as a hub for
catalytic digital technology and services. One such
example is French company Dassault Systemes,
a world leader in 3D design, who has chosen
Malaysia to host their Global Development Centre
for 3D Business Experience Platform.
The challenges Malaysia is addressing include
improving a structured approach, overcoming
budget limitations, developing more digital
workers as well as helping to clarify paths towards
more efficient digital transformation.
Engine of Growth Digital Transformation Labs
To speed up the transformation, we are forming
Digital Transformation Labs to provide consultancy
and assist in prototyping new digital products and
services. The labs will then match participant
companies to digital companies. This programme
intends to achieve three main outcomes -
increased productivity, reduction in foreign labour
dependency as well as a new business model or
source of growth for the participant companies.
This model has been tested on Top Glove and
Gamuda with encouraging results.
By digitising the chemical testing line, Top
Glove managed to completely remove the need
to allocate labour for this task, as well as reduce
unplanned downtime by 100%. Similarly, Gamuda’s
mall management was able to reduce man-hours
by 50%, while fully digitising their processes. The
next step for Top Glove and Gamuda is to scale
this approach to their other production lines and
properties respectively.
Another major factor to grow the nation’s
Digital Economy is building the right talent pool:
our forecast reveals that Malaysia needs one
million digital workers, such as coders, application
developers and software engineers by 2025. We
are pleased for the support for Digital Maker
Movement, i.e. the initiative to identify and nurture
young talents to be future digital innovators. It
includes the move by Ministry of Education to
incorporate computational thinking and computer
science in schools, and for more collaboration
with the private sector as well as support from
Following the 29 th Malaysia Implementation
Council meeting (ICM) in October last year, Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a new
stream of initiatives to boost nationwide digital
transformation.
“I really believe that digital economy can
become the engine of growth for Malaysia,” the
Prime Minister said after the meeting. “Although
what we are experiencing today is amazing, I want
to further challenge MDEC and all involved in
driving the digital economy of the country and get
it to supercharge our country’s economy. In fact, I
want it to be one of the sectors that will power our
growth.”
Vowing to take the Government’s commitment
to drive Malaysia’s Digital Economy to a
higher level, the Prime Minister’s wide-ranging
announcements included a national artificial
intelligence framework, digital accelerators,
new company builder tech startup funds from
Mountain Partners Europe and Bridge IP Japan,
as well as new digital transformation acceleration
programmes for mid-tier companies.
This stepping up of gear brings to mind the
2020 Vision - which remains a major milestone
of development for Malaysia - a year by which
the nation is determined to achieve a digital,
developed economy status.
Malaysian companies are stamping their mark
globally; for example, Elsoft was recognised by
Forbes Asia as ‘Best Under A Billion’ in 2015 and
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VOL
VOL 73
55 JANUARY-MARCH
JUNE 2013 2018