Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Application softwares or Apps for short, have become the corner stone of our ever advancing society and looks to become even more integral to our everyday lives as technology vendors shift their business strategies to adopt more app platforms and governments push for a high digitized eco-system.

From the mobile app, to the computer app or even the web app, like it or not, are here to stay. For those who were around to see the time of the mobile phone become popular, the app world can be a little confusing. One would ask, why do we need them? How do they work? What are they used for?

Initially there was confusion on its use and if it was actually necessary to take up space on a smart phone. It would also exhaust the battery and storage space quickly leaving one perpetually glued to a power point and always in search of space for the next new app!

Well, the ‘App’ has matured quite a bit from its humble beginnings of assisting users to make simple calculations or browse their email, to being voted word of the year in 2010 by the American Dialect Society!

Seven years on and the humble mobile app is pegged to transform our very way of life from how we work, eat, exercise, spend money, find life partners, travel and even making every day logistics that much simpler.

The mobile applications has driven deep hooks into our lives creating a symbiotic bond like never before where some would even go as far as to say, could not live without, if it ever broke down. And that is going to become ever more apparent in years and even months to come.

Not one to be left out, Malaysia has been embarking on a digital transformation for many years now and its fruits are beginning to come to bear in recent times. Working together with the World Bank, the Malaysian government intends to make the country more digital friendly through the implementation of the Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA).

An example of a recent startup that has taken to using the open data platform is WRZiT, a bus service app that makes public transportation easy and convenient. By using the Open Data provided by the government, the app, uses crowd sourced information to provide details bus location, availability and timing of bus services within the country.

Another recent advancement is in becoming a cashless society and promoted by major banks within the country. These debit card apps that promote a cashless society are already being promoted. In a recent advertisement by CIMB, they send out two tv personalities to brave the elements and see if they can actually go cashless by travelling to 3 cities within the country.

From ride-hailing, to public transportation and even ordering meals at local restaurants, the two personalities were successful in surviving their ordeal going cashless across the 3 states and make payments only through their debit card. Even able to hire a car for a day.

Where the business world is concerned, the mobile app is changing how work is conducted through bring your own device (byod) which is becoming a popular adoption by many companies, as a way for businesses to communicate with their employees and vice-versa, thus reducing workspace and traveling to and from work. Some research even show that it improves employees work productivity as work desks tend to create work stress and anxieties.

With both, governments and private sectors aiming their solutions towards the mobile app platform, there is strong backend support for the public to leverage on these solutions. Though security issues need to be addressed by all parties, and ways of mitigating ransomware and malware attacks need to be taught, it doesn’t look like anything will come in the way of the mobile app revolution taking front and center in every vertical, be it business, private or government. This writer is in fact, looking forward to it! To infinity and beyond perhaps? While living long and prospering no doubt!

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