Fusionex’s Ivan Teh – ACCELERATE NOW INTO IR4.0 OR RISK FALLING BEHIND

” CHANGES are currently happening. And as business leaders, we have no choice however to adapt to these modifications,” states Perdana Management Foundation (PLF) Board of Trustees chairman Azman Hashim.

This declaration, which belonged to his opening speech, completely encapsulates PLF’s CEO Online forum 2019. Held on April 4, the online forum is themed around the need to accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) in Malaysia.

And the requirement is vital. In the forum’s very first panel discussion, entitled “Comprehending and Accelerating the 4th Industrial Revolution,” the panellists stress that if Malaysia does not embrace and hasten their progress into IR4.0– an industrial revolution marked by automation, data exchange, Internet of Things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence– they risk of falling behind their neighbours.

” If we do not step up to the game, you will discover that we will not have just fallen behind China, however a number of our neighbours like Thailand and Vietnam, who are rapidly reaching us,” states Dr Ong Kian Ming, Deputy Minister of International and Trade Industry (MITI), who was one of the panellists.

” Our significance worldwide is at stake, and this is something that we need to get right.”

Obstacles and opportunities

Another of the panellist, Google Malaysia’s nation head Marc Woo, highlighted 3 essential obstacles that are affecting Malaysia’s foray into the fourth industrial revolution. The first is ease of access– that is, the speed of the country’s connectivity and access to the Web and services.

The 2nd obstacle remains in empowering little and medium business (SMEs)– which form 98.5% of the country’s business establishments– to embrace the fourth commercial transformation and to provide them the toolsets and platform to drive it.

fusionex ivan teh

Last but not least, Woo reveals a dream that Malaysia can produce more “unicorns”– referring to start-ups with assessments at US$ 1 billion– at a greater rate. “China produces one unicorn every 4 days. I believe Malaysia, through utilizing the power of Asean, might produce numerous unicorns in a year,” he says.

Panelist Ng Wan Peng, who is COO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), notes another priority to address: Talent. “For Malaysia to actually make the most of IR4.0, we require to have actually individuals trained as a user along with at the developer level,” she states.

” If you are not knowledgeable about what Industrial Transformation 4.0 is about and how it impacts your work, your company will not have the ability to make the most of it.”

Fusionex International’s founder and managing director Fusionex Ivan Teh, the final panellist of the session, says that he finds it “disconcerting” that the majority of action he gets when asking SMEs about IR4.0 is “I don’t understand.”

” Their [the SMEs] typical response is ‘Where do I start? What do I do?’ Some say it’s not for them– that IR4.0 it’s something for the MNCs and enterprises, and not for me. This is an exceptionally distressing situation, since we’re seeing an interruption that is blurring the lines in between the physical and digital world,” he says.

By adhering to this state of mind, Teh says that we will see sellers closing down, and producers losing versus the competitors.

Talent and education

Resolving concerns about finding skill to foray into IR4.0, Teh says that SMEs require to look at more youthful individuals– millennials and those simply getting in the workforce– who he states are already built for the innovation and developments these days.

“If you give them a platform that appropriates, they will build efficiently. They are naturally born in this digital world. You don’t need to fret that they will drown,” he quips.

When inquired about the fears of automation destroying tasks, Ng states that AI and robotics are said to create more tasks that they get rid of, mentioning a research study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that states that the robot revolution will still create 58 million net brand-new jobs. Read more: https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/digital-economy/accelerate-now-ir40-or-risk-falling-behind