Corporate Malaysia need to invest in new digital culture
KUALA LUMPUR: the changing face of Malaysia’s workforce has resulted in a need for organisations to foster a new culture of work to achieve digital transformation success, a Microsoft Study has concluded.
In fact, 74 per cent polled felt that more can be done by their organisations to invest in culture development.
In a statement, Microsoft Malaysia chief marketing and operations officer Michal Golebiewski said: “The rise of digital technologies, along with a new generation of millennials entering the workforce, has brought about a need to address changing workers’ expectations, knowledge and skills, as well as the tools they use.
“And with more than half of the world’s millennials residing in Asia, the workplace will need to transform to adapt to the technology habits of these digital natives. In addition, due to deployment of advanced and emerging technologies, organisations need to relook at reskilling its workforce to develop creative and strategic skills for the future.”
Even as 80 per cent of business leaders in Malaysia acknowledge the need to transform into a digital business in order to succeed, it noted that people are ultimately the main drivers of digital transformation.
“People are at the heart of digital transformation. Their expectations, knowledge and skills, as well as the tools they use for work, are determining factors in the level of transformation that any organisation can achieve. The challenge that they face now is how to implement new ways to foster a modern culture of work to better empower Asia’s workers, especially those at the frontline. By estimates, there are two billion firstline workers globally, and make up majority of our workforce today,” added Michal.
The study found the following factors influencing the culture of work in Malaysia today.
These include increasingly mobile workforce and exposure to new security risks such as the rise of mobility and proliferation of mobile and cloud technologies have resulted in individuals working across multiple locations and devices.
The rise of diverse teams as 31 per cent of workers in Malaysia are already working in more than 10 teams at any one point in time. This makes the availability of realtime insights and collaboration tools crucial to get work done.
It also pointed out that there are gaps in employees’ digital skills even as leaders are in the motion of embracing digital transformation.
It added, as the bar is raised with new technologies adopted across industries, deployment is uneven. In fact, it pointed out that 68 per cent of respondents feel that more can be done to bridge the digital skills gap among workers. “Today, firstline workers serve as the first point of contact between companies and the rest of the world - first to engage customers, represent brand, and see products and services in action.
“To unlock the potential of employees, organisations need to address and elevate their workforce, especially firstline workers, through addressing the core values of the new culture of work,” it said.
“We believe that every worker – from the factory floor to the front desk, to the executive boardroom – can contribute to an organisation’s collective endeavours.
“It is our view that involving firstline workers in digital transformation will drive unprecedented opportunity – for workers, the organisations that they work for, and the industries and society at large,” added Michal.
“At Microsoft, we see the opportunities that can be unlocked with technology by equipping frontline workers with the right tools, such as Microsoft 365.
“Ultimately, digital transformation projects can only succeed if the right tools are in place for workers to leverage and maximise upon.”
Microsoft has announced the expansion of Microsoft 365, including Microsoft 365 F1, which provides purpose-built capabilities that help foster firstline culture and community, train and upskill employees, digitise business process, deliver real-time expertise, and minimise risk and cost.
For organisations still on Office 2007, end of support will happen on October 11. Customers who are still using Office 2007 products and services are encouraged to move to Office 365 or Microsoft 365 to stay supported, and ensure uninterrupted support from Microsoft.
Michal concluded: “With cloudbased productivity tools being a key pick among Asia’s mobile workers to drive greater collaboration among teams, we urge organisations to take the opportunity to evaluate Microsoft 365 as an option to modernize their workforce.”
The rise of digital technologies, along with a new generation of millennials entering the workforce, has brought about a need to address changing workers’ expectations, knowledge and skills, as well as the tools they use. Michal Golebiewski, Microsoft Malaysia chief marketing and operations officer