KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) today encouraged local companies to embrace latest technologies to “future proof” their business models while developing new revenue streams.
 
MDEC vice president (growth ecosystem development) Norhizam Kadir said that, with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) now in full-swing, companies can no longer second guess themselves as newer innovations continue to emerge and shake-up the existing state of affairs.
 
“Industrial trends like artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics have already broken the proverbial glass ceiling as they move to digitise the world,” said Norhizam.
 
“Businesses must be immersed with these technologies to ensure their business models are future-proof and able to take on these seismic shifts,” he further said, adding that companies should continue with their digital transformation efforts.
 
Prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had emphasised earlier this month that Malaysia “must adapt to changes wrought by the 4IR to ensure that the Malaysian economy remains competitive, and that the country will once again attain the status as one of the world's most dynamic economies.”
 
“The 4IR calls for a new level of thinking, and in many cases, novel approaches to business,” Dr Mahathir had said.
 
“We need to arm ourselves with new knowledge and take the risks to apply technology not just to increase output and productivity but also to create new products and services.”
 
Norhizam was speaking at the Asian Innovators’ Summit held today. The event was organised by SAP, one of the world’s largest enterprise solutions providers.
 
SAP Malaysia managing director Duncan Williamson shared the government’s view, emphasising that advanced technologies should not be underestimated or disregarded.
 
He encouraged local companies to consider its SAP S/4 HANA real-time enterprise resource management suite as a “defensive strategy” in their efforts to transform into being “intelligent enterprises”.
 
“SAP S/4 HANA reduces obstacles associated with legacy enterprise resource planning applications,” said Williamson, adding that SAP S/4 HANA is “future ready” and helps to embrace advanced technologies.
 
“If a disruptive start-up enters their market, companies with SAP S/4 HANA are in a position to adopt best practices and processes very quickly,” he added. ““If on the other hand the company is sitting on older versions of software, they are in a position of weakness.”
 
Meanwhile, PIKOM, the National ICT Association of Malaysia, also believes that technology is taking centrestage and “changing all the rules and propagating how disruption is now the norm within the 4IR.”
 
PIKOM chairman Ganesh Kumar Bangah said that local businesses must be ready for this never-ending game of evolution and be quick to absorb, understand, and adapt to these transformative processes.
 
“This applies to all industry sectors as disruption is not discriminative and will have a knock-on effect among inter-related verticals,” said Ganesh.
 
Source: MDEC, SAP, PIKOM
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Zalinda Zainon
GM (Corporate Communications) MDEC
Email: zalinda.zainon@mdec.com.my
 
Name: Michael Ang
Consultant for SAP Malaysia
Email: mike.ang@alconsulting.asia
 
Name: Azlina Ishak
GM (Industry Affairs) PIKOM
Email: azlina@pikom.org.my
 
--BERNAMA