Decades from now, when historians look back on today and write our history, how will they describe this epoch? What grand, sweeping theme will they say is the characteristic of our age? The polarisation of our beliefs? The rise of narrative economics and capitalist power? Or will we be remembered as the generation that squandered a chance to course-correct environmental imbalance?
History will define us as the age of transformation. They will say that we live in the greatest bout of compressed, complex, life-altering transformation humankind has ever experienced. If you take a closer look at the themes that characterise our age; the root causes of our best moments, our achievements, our learned traits and behaviours, and our greatest excesses and ailments--the stuff that makes us, us--and it can be traced back to transformation. A transformation of a very specific kind.
This transformation has helped the world’s best pharmaceutical companies to bring out a vaccine in record time. It has enabled us to make swift advances in diverse areas such as electric mobility to food technology and astronomy. Companies and governments have come together to collaborate to help solve the biggest challenge faced by our generation. All of these are defining characteristics of our time and they are tied together with a single invisible string: Digital transformation.
Before the pandemic, Malaysia has had a slower pivot to digital transformation. The country was ranked 38 out of 141 countries in Cisco’s Global digital readiness index. According to IDC, 55% of Malaysian organisations do not have an integrated enterprise-wide digital transformation strategy, and 91% of Malaysian enterprises are either on stage one or two, of a five-stage IDC maturity curve. The results are not surprising due to the complexity and risk associated with every digital transformation initiative. It is a multi-year, multi-stakeholder, enterprise-wide effort that requires vision, and changes to people, process and technology. It requires multi-domain expertise spanning business and technology, which is hard for enterprises to acquire. The positive news however is the rapid digital adoption of digital services across the board during Covid-19. SME businesses also moved to online and adopted social media and e-commerce platforms to gradually build digital led revenue streams. Many companies have begun shifting their business approach, from traditional lead to more digital lead.
After the very challenging 2020, the global business and political environment is now getting ready for a renewed growth agenda. Companies and leaders need to prepare for this next decade of growth by leveraging all the positives that digital transformation has helped us achieve. This calls for a new growth mindset amongst all stakeholders including the government. Leading ahead, the Malaysian Government has been quick to respond with a very ambitious MyDIGITAL – Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint, an action plan with initiatives to be implemented till 2030. With six (6) different thrust areas, it is a comprehensive plan with milestones for success across the three (3) dimensions of citizens, businesses and government. It aspires to create 500,000 new jobs, 5000 new start-ups and a rapid migration to digital for government and citizen services. The government’s adoption of digital will be a catalyst for the entire nation in the journey to building an inclusive society for all Malaysians.
At the heart of digital transformation are the technologies and technology platforms that serve as catalysts for change. It is on this foundation that the pillars of Digital Malaysia will find their footing. TM One understands and realises the power, significance, and impact that these technologies have in enabling digital change.
To facilitate and accelerate digital adoption, TM One has built its offerings along four (4) technology pillars that underpin digital transformation - Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Connectivity and Smart Services. While each of these pillars are individually very important, the convergence between them enables the curation of new customer and business experiences.
While technology is important, the effective implementation can only happen through collaboration with stakeholders across the entire ecosystem. As the enterprise and public sector business solutions arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), TM One is well positioned as the ENABLER for businesses to realise their full potential of their digital opportunities. We are privileged to have this opportunity to play a role in bringing the ecosystem together.
This monthly insight platform is our attempt to connect and collaborate with you on “Taking Transformation Forward”. Every month, we hope to bring you insights into business strategy, demystifying technology as well as sharing of best practices on companies, government agencies and even individuals leading the way for us as a nation. We welcome your feedback, ideas and innovation stories. Let’s connect, collaborate and build a better future for all Malaysians.
