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MOST employers have adopted some form of disruptive tech. It’s a question of degree.

Some are just in the preliminary stages whereas industries like the banking sector have advanced greatly.

Quoting a report by think-tank McKinsey Global Institute, Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan says disruptive technologies could produce US$220bil (RM975bil) to US$625bil (RM2.77tril) in annual economic impact for South-East Asia by 2030, but to capitalise on the boom, we must invest in infrastructure.

Bank Negara is set to launch more financial tech-related (fin- tech) activities this year, following the recent “fintech hacks” initiative where members of the public were asked for ideas on improving financial services with tech.

Last October, the central bank granted regulatory flexibilities for fintech solutions. It also liberalised motor insurance tariffs using telematics (long-distance transmission of digital information) enabled by the Internet of Things, where devices – vehicles in this case – are connected to the Internet for monitoring purposes.

“The pace and extent of the adoption of these technologies will depend on feasibility and the cost of developing and deploying them.

“Benefits like higher output, increased quality, and labour cost savings must be taken into account,” Shamsuddin says.

“Some five million jobs will be replaced by tech by 2020,” he says.

“Robots will replace humans in many future professions and mobile or Internet tech will be important in their careers.

“Jobs that are the most at risk of machine takeovers are in the manufacturing and engineering industries.

“Adopting these technologies would affect the cost of doing business as well as workers, but the impact will vary across different activities, occupations, and wage and skill levels,” notes Shamsuddin.