HANOI, Vietnam: Malaysian companies need to step up in their automation efforts to 'future proof' their core businesses and unleash innovation to stay ahead of the competition, said Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood.
"With the Fourth Industrial Revolution now in full-swing, companies can no longer second guess themselves as newer innovations continue to show up and consistently shake-up the existing state of affairs.
"Industrial trends like big data analytics, machine learning, internet of things, virtual and augmented reality, mobility, artificial intellegence and eCommerce have already broken the proverbial glass ceiling as they move to digitise the world,” said Yasmin at the World Economic Forum (WEF) currently being held in Hanoi, Vietnam.
She said seeing as these technology trends empower the digital economy, it further reinforces the notion that they should not be under-estimated or disregarded.
"Businesses must be immersed with any one, or all, of these influential factors to ensure their technology offerings are future-proof and able to take on these seismic shifts that the world is now experiencing,” Yasmin said.
The use of advanced technologies will be vital, and, thus, it is only appropriate that businesses step up their efforts to spur digital transformation from within at all levels, she said.
Quoting a study by International Monetary Fund (IMF), Yasmin noted that Asia is the global leader in employing robots for manufacturing, at 65 per cent of global usage led by China, South Korea and Thailand.
“Automation is one way to future-proof this sector. Malaysian manufacturers must step up,” said Yasmin.
Malaysia’s Top Glove Corporation Bhd founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai recently said the cost of technology and automation will surely keep going down and cost of labour will surely keep going up.
It’s a belief shared with Yasmin who encouraged local companies to start embarking on their digital transformation journey.
Top Glove is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves and a visionary-company that’s been steadily digitising its operations.
The company is a firm believer of technology and how digital transformation yields greater profitability, productivity and operational efficiencies.
The company is also currently employing other latest technologies to further automate its production lines, together with other manufacturing and operational processes.
"As the world embraces the digital age, at a never-seen-before rapid pace, it is clear that there is a revolution taking place right now with technology taking centre stage since it has, and still is, changing all the rules and propagating how disruption is now the norm,” said Yasmin.
“As consumers change according to trends, businesses must be ready for this never-ending game of evolution and be quick to absorb, understand, and adapt to these transformative processes. If they don’t, there is no chance for them to ever catch up. This applies to all industry sectors as disruption is not discriminative and will have a knock-on effect among inter-related verticals,” she added.
Last month, Yasmin was named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in digital government by Apolitical, a UK-based global network for government which focuses on helping public servants find the ideas, people and partners they need to solve the hardest challenges facing the societies.
Moving forward, Yasmin said the way forward is for businesses to embrace the idea of being disruptive and not be disrupted.
According to Yasmin, future-proofing covers a broad stroke of processes that mostly rely on engaging the ‘digital native’ (the younger generation who grew up with the internet).
“That one aspect alone is a necessity as it will enable businesses to be more aware and highly relatable to the ever-changing landscape that on-going and soon-to-come disruptions have brought about,” she said.
“Having such engagements in mind will give rise to interest or, perhaps, instantly spur many towards transforming how they operate to make it more technologically inclusive and be fully prepared for the oncoming wave of disruptions,” she added.
“This is, essentially, a crucial factor for businesses to keep in mind as they study and figure out what is needed for future-proofing.
“Understanding the digital native certainly goes above and beyond deploying new technologies and enhancing how the workforce operates. In fact, the two inter-linked functions would only work when more start to understand and embrace the need to become digitally enabled, not just from a business perspective but in how they go about their daily activities as well,” she said.