“Digital transformation will pare costs on an unimaginable scale for companies that learn how to manage them effectively by eliminating intermediaries.”
Take the opportunity to leapfrog by avoiding Western counterparts’ mistakes, says IFS Global chief executive officer
DARREN ROOS, IFS Global chief executive officer
MALAYSIAN companies can benefit immensely by including digital transformation as an integral part of their future business plans, said IFS Global chief executive officer Darren Roos.
“Companies simply cannot afford to operate in an analogue environment anymore. Many companies appreciate the opportunities presented by digitalisation but fear the costly investment with a high risk of failure,” he said in a statement recently.
IFS is an Enterprise Resource Planning vendor for selected industries in Malaysia. It has 3,000 clients globally and had reported revenue of US$511 million (RM1.9 billion) last year.
Roos, who took over as chief executive officer (CEO) on April 1, said companies in Malaysia and the region can learn from earlier pitfalls in digital transformation.
“Instead of emulating their Western counterparts, Asian companies must take the opportunity to leapfrog by avoiding their mistakes and, more importantly, identifying the specific problems to be addressed.
“This must happen quickly as the competitive playing field in the years ahead will see a ferocity unknown to CEOs today,” said Roos.
He said one of the early pitfalls in Europe was investing heavily in customisation, which inevitably resulted in inefficient and highly inflexible digital platforms.
“These platforms have limited ability to keep up with the latest technological developments, in- cluding robotic process automation, artificial intelligence and next-generation user interfaces due to the unspecific level of customisation of their solutions,” said Roos.
In Asia, IFS has targeted construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, aviation and defence, and infrastructure as key growth segments.
Roos said companies below the blue-chip tier are the ones that need to migrate and digitally transform for long-term success.
One way to achieve profitability amid pressure on margins is by reducing operating costs, he said.
“Digital transformation will pare costs on an unimaginable scale for companies that learn how to manage them effectively by eliminating intermediaries.
“The recipe for failure is talking to vendors interested only in selling software instead of finding the right partner to solve specific business problems” he added.
In terms of emerging technology, Roos expects mobility to be a key business driver, adding that IFS can design replications with a mobile interface to enable companies to work via their mobile devices rather than stationary computers.
IFS Southeast Asia vice-president Sridharan Arumugam said: “Automation, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and voice recognition, has also picked up rapidly in Malaysia since the launch of the National IoT Strategic Roadmap in 2015, providing grants to local companies to invest in automation.”