Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

IT professionals and business leaders came together at IBM’s Digital Reinvention for Business organised by IBM and its business partners at the Garden’s Theatre in Kuala Lumpur. The one-day event explained to guests the importance of embarking on a digital journey and the various solutions IBM and its business partners can provide.

In her keynote address, Catherine Lian, Managing Director for IBM Malaysia, highlighted IBM’s digital journey itself from a hardware company to a technology services provider. She said that organisations need to be sure of how ready they are for transformation and focus on three main areas, which are people, process and data.

In her keynote address, Catherine Lian, Managing Director for IBM Malaysia, highlighted IBM’s digital journey itself from a hardware company to a technology services provider.

Catherine said that IBM and its business partners are not only leading in the enterprise segment. They are also equally committed to scaling mid-market and commercial segments. In Malaysia, she pointed out how IBM is working with the Penang state government in utilising AI for their traffic management and urban planning.

“In 2019, 40% of digital transformation will use AI for services. In 2021, 75% of commercial enterprise apps will use AI instead. Today, only 20% of data is being used by businesses. The remaining 80% of data is unstructured.”

While businesses continue to make decisions on how they want to transform, Catherine said the adoption of digital transformation depends on how ready businesses are to invest. It’s a question of must vs needs. Businesses need and want to make more profits. But what they need to achieve this is being able to have the right digital ecosystem.

“We want to partner with you to build your ecosystem.”

Echoing her speech was Raja Segaran, Head of Strategy and Research, MDEC. He said that there are three critical barriers that businesses face in digital adoption, which are awareness, capabilities and cash. While some businesses are aware of the need to speed up their digital journey, they often lack the capabilities and funds to implement it.

Raja Segaran, Head of Strategy and Research, MDEC said that there are three critical barriers that businesses face in digital adoption, which are awareness, capabilities and cash.

“Businesses are not just shifting to IR4.0. They are leaping into IR4.0. This is because of the convergence of tech in so many areas.”

Also, in attendance at the event was Ganesh Kumar Bangah, Chairman of Pikom. In his address to the guests, Ganesh spoke about how innovation is actually sparked by the trends in technology. For example, he said messaging app WhatsApp became successful because of the ability to receive notifications on mobile. Another example he highlighted was how mapping technology allowed companies like Uber and Grab to be successful.

However, Ganesh pointed out that will all this technology and data available today, the biggest problem with innovation in the future will be trust. Businesses need to be able to gain the trust of consumers in their innovations.

Other sessions at the event included a case study by Star Media Group and presentations by IBM’s Business Partners that included Silverlake Holding Bhd, Adept Solutions Pte Ltd, Infoconnect Sdn Bhd, Numa Solution Sdn Bhd and Persistent Systems Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

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