Summary Bullets:
- TM ONE has the right products and capabilities to address the growing trend of workplace transformation.
- Increasing digital wallet adoption in Malaysia drives the opportunity for service providers, especially with PCI-DSS compliance in data centers.
At the TM ONE Leap Summit held in Kuala Lumpur in November 2019, the Malaysian incumbent fixed-line provider shifted the conversation from product solutions to business outcomes. This is in line with its direction moving from connectivity to a solution provider. The event focuses on two digital transformation areas: the importance of workplace transformation in today’s digital era and the disruption of digital payment in fintech.
Workplace Transformation
In a keynote session, one of the largest banks in Malaysia shared how technologies have helped the organization to transform the workplace from the legacy nine-to-five to more flexible working hours. The transformation may sound straightforward, but many pieces needed to be put together at the back end before the bank could implement the plan. This includes unified communications, enterprise mobility and security services to ensure consistent user experience and optimal protection for business data when accessed from both private and public networks. As a result, the bank saw an increase in its employee satisfaction, which led to a growth in overall productivity. The bank also saw a reduction in its operational cost through lower usage of the office facilities. While this is a HR-led transformation, digital technologies and ICT solutions played crucial roles in enabling this initiative. This underscores the importance for service providers to have touch points across different lines of business (LOBs) for business transformation opportunities. Professional services offered by service providers are important to map the products to business benefits and ensure the outcomes. The bank is just one example. There are more businesses embracing similar initiatives, as workplace transformation has become a key trend today. As an ICT solution provider with a wide network and IT portfolio (e.g., cloud, UC&C, managed security services, IoT, mobility) and professional services capability, TM ONE has an edge to position its capabilities to address the growing trend of workplace transformation. For example, it could bring together standard products (e.g., network, cloud, UC&C) and go a level further by offering analytics, workload automation, and orchestration across different applications and products, as well as offering a set of APIs for integration with enterprises’ existing systems. As an incumbent fixed-line carrier with existing relationships with the majority of domestic enterprises, the provider could also extend the engagement from just connectivity to a digital transformation focus.
Digital Payment
In another session, a group of panelists – all seasoned industry players – shared their insights on the digital payment sector in Malaysia. The FSI sector is seeing significant disruption from the increasing number of financial technologies such as digital payment or mobile wallet. The latter has grown dramatically in Malaysia. Today, there are over 20 different major mobile wallet providers (e.g., Boost, FavePay, GrabPay, LazadaWallet, SamsungPay, Setel, TouchnGo, WeChatPay), and more are expected to enter the market. While the growth may seem a bit out of control, it shows a strong increase in demand driven by end-user adoption. The digital wallet scene in Malaysia is still far from what China has achieved today, but more merchants and retailers are adding these features as payment options in their physical and/or online stores. While the regulation on the digital wallet competition may still be loose, digital payments need to comply with strict network and data center requirements such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). TM ONE could again leverage its wide ICT portfolio to capture the growing opportunity, especially from digital wallet providers and retailers: for example, positioning its PCI-DSS compliance twin-core data centers for enhanced data reliability and security. It could also position its managed security services such as the recently launched Managed Intelligent Threat Defense to address the growing cybersecurity threats.
The TM ONE Leap Summit discussed the key industry trends in Malaysia and highlighted the direction the provider should take. Apart from bringing together products and solutions to address specific vertical needs, TM ONE could also consider expanding its partner ecosystem and cross-industry collaborations to co-create solutions with other industry players and customers. This will offer the provider the added skillsets and capabilities needed, especially in solution selling and vertical plays. It could also shift the market perception of the company from a connectivity supplier to a digital transformation partner.
IT Connection 