By Dato’Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of Multimedia Development Corporation
have been in the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) industry for more than two decades and had previously consulted for both private and public sector organizations in IT policy and project implementation in government, defense and education sectors in Malaysia and abroad. My passion lies within the areas of managing large-scale projects, in the scope of Strategic IT Planning, Project Management, Systems Integration, and Methodologies Development.
At MDeC, my areas of responsibility include Corporate Governance, Information Intelligence & Analytics and Corporate Performance; while I also oversee various operational divisions such as Creative Multimedia, Infotech, Global Business Services and Critical Enablers including Talent, Innovation Capital as well as Digital Enablement and Customer Service. It is also my mandate to oversee the successful implementation of the Digital Malaysia vision.
MDeC’s relevance and impact in the market since it was incorporated
MDeC was incorporated close to two decades ago to oversee the development of the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor (now MSC Malaysia) and to advise the Malaysian Government on legislation and policies, as well as to set breakthrough standards for multimedia operations. Our primary focus was to create an ideal and conducive platform to nurture Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT sector, to become world-class businesses whilst attracting participation from global ICT companies to invest in and develop cutting edge digital and creative solutions in Malaysia.
Today, I am proud to say that MSC Malaysia has driven the development of the Malaysian ICT industry, enhanced technology adoption, and has made significant strides in increasing the economic impact and footprint of ICT for the nation.
At the same time, it is heartening that Malaysia is today viewed as a preferred ICT investment hub with over,3,600 MSC Malaysia Status companies, employing over 147,000 people, these include: 441companies in the Creative Multimedia Cluster, 125 Institutions of Higher Learning and Incubators, 2,690 Information Technology companies and 413 Global Business Services providers.
MSC Malaysia has seen a solid performance and consistent growth in 2014, showing the measurable and sustained benefits of the initiative. We registered an 11% increase in revenue for 2014, a huge turnaround from the marginal increase of 3% the year before. The RM38.52bil in revenue works out to MSC Malaysia contributing 1.3% to the country’s GDP (gross domestic product), a 14% growth from 2013. Total export sales from MSC Malaysia companies also grew to RM13.73bil, a 11% increase from 2013.
The Global Business Services sector, which specializes in shared services and outsourcing, was our main contributor, in particular Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) which deals with the handling of high-level tasks.
Since our baby steps of 1996, the MSC Malaysia initiative has contributed more than RM275 billion in revenue and RM206.14 billion in investments. In this light, we are very confident that MSC Malaysia will continue to play an important role as a catalyst for the ICT sector and the larger digital economy.
Malaysia’s Digital Economy aspirations
Digital Malaysia is built upon a vibrant domestic ICT industry, transformative use of digital solutions by government, businesses and citizens, as well as a robust enabling ecosystem.This will in turn connect communities globally and enable them to interact in real time, increase the country’s Gross National Income, enhance business productivity and improve the standards of living.
Ultimately, Digital Malaysia aims to turn Malaysia into a developed digital economy that connects and empowers the government, businesses and citizens. Today, both MSC Malaysia and Digital Malaysia run concurrently to spur Malaysia’s ICT industry development and digital transformation, under the purview of MDeC.
Growth areas for the ICT (information, communications and technology) industry within Malaysia
We are currently focusing on Big Data and the Internet of Things amongst few other strategic initiatives. We rolled out the country’s Big Data framework earlier this year and foresee a bright future ahead in this area. Among benefits we intend to realize for the country include talent development using public open data to produce useful applications, technology development; and creating awareness within the private and private sectors
Plans to develop Malaysian ICT companies into being global ones
We aspire to create more world renowned local companies such as financial services solutions provider Silverlake Axis, and app and device management solutions company Fusionex Corp which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.,
In this light, MDeC is committed to provide market access to companies with global aspirations. As it stands, we have already helped open up foreign markets for companies like VitroxBhd which is now in Thailand, China, Vietnam, the United States, Europe, Mexico and Brazil; and MDT Innovations which has expanded to Japan, Thailand, Australia, the United States, Taiwan and Indonesia.
Malaysia’s journey to the world’s top three outsourcing hubs and plans for further improvement ahead
Our shared services and outsourcing (SSO) a sector has since been renamed as global business services (GBS) and it is an area which paves the way for Malaysia to move rapidly up the value chain as a technology driven economy. It is already testified by AT Kearney, ranking the country in the top three in its Global Services Location Index, and the value proposition of Malaysia as a global hub for business services is strengthening by the day.
To date, 350 companies already operate in the GBS space, offering a wide ranging services such as call centres as well as more advanced services such as finance and accounting ledger work. Subsequently some go into financial analysis, while others move into global taxation.
