Covid-19 and the resulting Movement Control Orders (MCO) brought great challenges to Malaysia – to the people, businesses and the economy as a whole. Many businesses were not allowed to operate. The Government announced financial relief initiatives to help Malaysians and SMEs weather the storm. Responding to the call from the Government, TM One worked hand-in-hand with the Government so that Malaysian SMEs could #stayinbusiness in these challenging times.
Malaysian SMEs enjoyed the seamless uninterrupted experience on the government portal.
In the current digital era, Governments are using tech to build predictive models, expand the reach of their services and save time on serving people - why shouldn’t hospitals do the same?
It takes a range of tech tools to accomplish all of the above, but one tool in particular makes it much easier. The cloud places all information and services on a centralised platform, instead of in a single computer. Anyone with an internet connection and the necessary authorisation can easily access this data. Cloud users don’t have to fret over software upkeep, as cloud providers will take care of that.
This tech has huge potentials in transforming the healthcare sector, among others. We look at how the cloud can improve patient experience, enable virtual consultations and speed up medical research processes.
An increasingly critical challenge for the healthcare sector rests in uncoordinated and outdated patient data, which can lead to extended waiting times. In a 2015 study by Malaysia’s Ministry of Health1, less than 40 per cent of patients were satisfied with waiting times in hospitals. This is not surprising – as it can take up to five (5) hours for a patient to receive outpatient treatment at a public hospital, reported The Malay Mail2.
Longer waiting times may also resulted from various inefficiencies including tedious paperwork and unnecessary procedures3. Cloud can address these issues by drawing together relevant information from hospitals, and other crucial services such as pharmacies and test providers, to ensure that healthcare workers can access “a holistic view of a patient’s journey”, said Brian Owens, tech chief at a US-based health tech company4.
Medical professionals could more safely and easily transfer data between organisations by utilising the same cloud network5. While patients move across departments and hospitals, medical professionals will still be able to safely access patient medical records and provide a well-rounded treatment.
Patients will also be able to easily access their personal medical records on the cloud at their convenience, thus benefit from being able to make better decisions about their own health. Health IT Outcomes reported that making data accessible to patients “leads to informed decision making by acting as a tool for patient education and engagement.6”
The cloud also allows doctors to monitor patients in real time, allowing for faster intervention. This is critical in healthcare, where saving lives could depend on seconds.
Storing data on a cloud makes data accessible anytime, anywhere. This opens up worlds of possibilities for telemedicine, which is now ripe for rapid expansion given the country’s high broadband connectivity - every Malaysian has an average of 1.29 devices connected to high-speed internet7.
Doctors will be able to offer virtual consultations, benefitting patients who may not be able to travel. These include elderly patients with disabilities, or patients who have to care for others at home, no longer have to miss their appointments, and doctors can check as well as are able to monitor their conditions more regularly.
Hospitals would also be in a position to extend their expertise to remote areas with limited access to healthcare services. Patients could take a picture of their condition, then upload it onto the cloud, so doctors or relevant Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems may examine it and offer appropriate advice8.
These abilities rely substantially on smooth video live streaming, allowing doctors to examine a patient’s condition accurately. In addition to connectivity, which is a prerequisite, cloud will help run such processes faster than a local computer server, and videos will not be disrupted by low bandwidth or network noise.
Telemedicine has been an important area of exploration in this country over the last three decades, and the potential for greater and more sophisticated use to reap its full benefit remains massive. As illustrated above, telemedicine is an important driver to increase healthcare accessibility, and also offers greater distribution of resources so that doctors in less demanding areas can assist their counterparts in the busier areas, alleviating issues of overstretched medical professionals especially in major hospitals.
Telemedicine is already proving its usefulness during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown measures. Malaysians have been seeking advice from doctors using these virtual channels, reported Computer Weekly9. The article also mentioned about a medical video consultation portal that is accessible seven (7) days a week, and is free to use.
Malaysia spent RM1.2 billion (US$309 million) on healthcare research in 2015 alone10. Cloud computing can help to maximise the return on Research and Development (R&D) spend as well as accelerate the go-to-market of medicine for the benefit of the public.
In addition to handling massive amounts of data, cloud can process that data more quickly with its integrated AI and machine learning capabilities11. For instance, hospitals can process multi-dimensional images of organs in 10 minutes instead of 90, shared Datamation. This could help to dramatically improve care pathways efficiency and enhancing coordinated activities among healthcare workers – a welcome change to address issues of long queues and waiting times at Malaysian hospitals.
Besides saving time on hospital operations, the cloud will speed up medical research. AI is able to analyse large data sets, and identify population health trends that may have gone unnoticed otherwise. Data analytics processing of patient records also enables more personalised treatments and care12. For example, doctors in Europe are currently working on a system to consolidate and analyse data to administer personalised treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer13.
Medical records are sensitive and need the highest level of protection against cyber threats. These records often include address history, identification numbers and financial data. Hackers can use this personal information for identity fraud14 - applying for loans, purchase medical equipment, file false insurance claims under fake identities, or even selling it to third parties for profit.
In September 2019, Greenbone Network revealed that close to 20,000 patient records, along with 1.2 million linked images, from Malaysia were publicly accessible on the Internet15. Cloud services can be integrated with Blockchain to ensure patient data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Blockchain is a secure way of storing digital information - its records cannot be deleted and it tracks all changes made on a document. This allows patients’ records to be shared without concerns about false changes. Blockchain can even be used to verify a doctor’s credentials in telemedicine consultations, according to ReferralMD16.
TM One, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM)’s enterprise and public sector business arm, recently launched its Cloud Alpha17 service, which integrates AI, Internet of Things (IoT), big data and Blockchain. This system is designed to provide a seamless transition to the cloud by offering a variety of cloud models to suit every need.
In a scenario where unstructured, isolated data could result in more lives being lost, digital action must be taken. The situation today is that more and more hospitals around the world are rapidly turning to cloud services to improve patient care, serve more people, and conduct research more efficiently.
References
[1] http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2015-VolumeIII.pdf
[2] https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2017/08/22/hours-long-hospital-waits-driving-some-to-abandon-treatment/1447711
[3] https://penanginstitute.org/publications/issues/cut-the-queue-a-basket-of-solutions-for-malaysian-hospitals/#ftn7b
[4] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/next-gen-cloud-computing-how-healthcare-can-prepare-future
[5] https://solutionsreview.com/cloud-platforms/8-benefits-and-risks-of-cloud-computing-in-healthcare/
[6] https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/ways-cloud-computing-is-impacting-healthcare-0001
[7] https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/3Q_CM_2019.pdf
[8] https://www.datamation.com/cloud-computing/cloud-computing-for-healthcare.html
[9] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252481183/Malaysias-telemedicine-vision-gets-fresh-boost
[10] https://www.who.int/research-observatory/indicators/gerd_gdp_October_2018/en/
[11] https://solutionsreview.com/cloud-platforms/8-benefits-and-risks-of-cloud-computing-in-healthcare/
[12] https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/ways-cloud-computing-is-impacting-healthcare-0001
[13] https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/417984-big-data-to-personalise-therapy-for-lung-cancer-and-alzheimer-s-diseases-analysing-data-with-
[14] https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2019/03/01/hackers
[15] https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2019/10/10/malaysia-patient-data-leak-came-from-private-entity-moh-says
[16] https://getreferralmd.com/2018/09/can-blockchain-technology-improve-the-healthcare-industry/
[17] http://jetpack.tmone.com.my/solutions/cloud-services
Today, more than ever, the cloud's value as a business partner is proving to be a lifeline for our economy to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing an upswing in the usage of cloud and its related services and tools by companies of all sizes.
As businesses reposition themselves to maintain productivity, employees are now finding themselves having to work from home. When disaster strikes, it is imperative that we revisit our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which often include fuller use of cloud offerings to greatly mitigate the negative impact.
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, IDC had suggested that by 2020, cloud-based IT spending will reach up to 60% of all spending on IT infrastructure and 60-70% of all software, services and technology spending globally[1]. Global Data, on the other hand, estimated that by 2020, enterprises’ spend on cloud computing is estimated to be more than half a trillion dollars! Meanwhile in Malaysia, spending on cloud computing is RM10 billion, which is about 12% of overall ICT spending.
Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, many companies have directed or requested their employees to work from home. Business leaders and employees today find themselves - in line with other digital era professionals – making massive changes in the way they work and live.
Many companies have almost overnight dropped the resistance to remote working, and indeed are realising that productivity gains outweigh any concerns about employee engagement. In fact, employee engagement has continued even during this lockdown.
The cancellation of events and travel bans are of course pushing businesses and most of us to increase our use of digital tools and virtualising meetings and events.
As more people log into networks from home, there is an increased challenge to cloud and connectivity resilience as well as risk increased attacks by hackers - who, presumably are also working from home, #WFH.
A quick scan of media reports show that cyber gangsters have been taking full advantage of this new way of life.
A popular video conferencing application Zoom has been among the targets of cyber attackers, as video conferencing becomes an essential tool for us to connect with each other at work. Check Point’s threat research team says the sharp rise in new Zoom domains has also followed by a sharp rise in the number of fake sites, which are impersonating genuine Zoom domains with the intention of capturing and stealing personal information[2]. It has triggered some organisations and countries to issue advisories against the use of Zoom, amidst cybersecurity concerns.
Malaysia’s national cyber security agency, NACSA & MyCERT has also issued multiple advisories to warn Internet and mobile phone users on the increase in scam campaigns and phishing attacks that attempt to obtain valuable personal information by using COVID-19 as a bait[3][4].
Trend Micro discovered that almost 70% of all cyber threats leveraging the COVID-19 were spam messages[5]. One cybercriminal group hit a UK medical firm that was preparing for work on COVID-19 with Maze ransomware attack. The Maze ransomware group published personal and medical details of thousands of former patients of a London-based medical research company.
Closer to home, despite the overall growth in cyberattacks, less than half of organisations surveyed (Southeast Asia [SEA] 43%, global 36%) say the cybersecurity function is involved at the planning stage of a new business initiative, according to the EY Global Information Security Survey (GISS).
This year’s GISS surveyed almost 1,300 cybersecurity leaders at organisations worldwide, including 76 across SEA that covered Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. The survey showed that 59% of organisations (SEA and global) have faced an increased number of disruptive attacks in the past 12 months.
In addition to scaling up layers of cybsecurity provisions, businesses need to continually educate their teams to increase awareness concerning more sophisticated personalised spoofing attacks, and so forth.
In an effort to provide a more consistent and resilient level of security, digital identity is expected to become a foundation layer for all things we do online and join other multiple levels of security measures.
In a recent interview with TM ONE Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Taufek Omar, he opined that blockchain authentication may be well positioned to solve password issues and provide a more secure and advanced login method.
“A blockchain-enabled solution can simplify the data objects using various algorithms, each offering a different level of anonymity to its users, which non-blockchain solution cannot process in few seconds," he said.
Speaking more recently of the latest actions to offset some of the impact of the pandemic, he said: "It is heartening to see so many companies and Malaysians steadfastly staying on course in these difficult times while remembering the true values in our everyday life: health, family, happiness. Everything in balance!".
We're in this together - let's review our safety and security measures and build our inherent corporate trust quotient!
References
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/04/29/roundup-of-cloud-computing-forecasts-2017/#62d3901431e8
[2] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252480806/Coronavirus-Warning-over-surge-in-Zoom-security-incidents/
[3] https://www.nacsa.gov.my/index.php
[4] https://www.mycert.org.my/portal/advisories?id=431fab9c-d24c-4a27-ba93-e92edafdefa5
[5] https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/coronavirus-used-in-spam-malware-file-names-and-malicious-domains
Malaysia kicked off the new year bursting with energy and determination. Indeed, 2020 was supposed to be a milestone year for Malaysians - with everyone hoping to make great strides forward – and propelling our digital nation further along the trajectory to becoming a more developed nation on the world's stage.
However, as we all now know, the entire world was caught off-guard by the unprecedented health crisis brought on by the novel coronavirus virus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the Covid-19 disease. In addition to the ensuing panic, the world economy has come to a virtual halt as the spread of Covid-19 has single-handedly disrupted the world.
In what seems like the blink of an eye, this disease has upturned our lives and our businesses. Aimed at slowing down the spread of the pandemic, Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) has now been in effect since 18 March 2020. At the time I penned these thoughts, we are moving in the right direction, with encouraging results hard-won by the sacrifices by both the community as well as local businesses.
You and I have seen businesses across multiple sectors come to a standstill, delivering a significant blow to our economy.
However, I believe that within every crisis, there is an opportunity. Many businesses have had to drastically change their models in order to stay competitive.
Technology has emerged as a powerful lifeline, which has proved to be an invaluable to users - both for running many kinds of business as well as to keep us connected within the home. China is using robots to disinfect hospitals and drones are being used to deliver medical supplies; while in South Korea, authorities are tracking potential carriers using cell phone and satellite technology
The year 2020 is proving to be a milestone year after all. Many of us are now seeing these days as a turning point: a make or break time. Industry leaders are finding themselves in a transformational landscape, and are rolling out solutions that will not only help mitigate the impact from Covid-19 - but also allow Malaysians to bounce back from the MCO safely and responsibly.
Every day, analysts and commenters are trying to measure the impact of Covid-19 on global economies. According to Bank Negara, our economy is expected to contract by 2% this year.
Echoing this sombre outlook for Malaysia, The World Bank has revised its initial 4.5% growth forecast for 2020 down to 0.1%. On the employment front, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research estimates that about 2.4 million may lose their jobs.
However, proactive steps are already being taken to mitigate these expectations from the Covid-19 crisis. These include the RM250 billion stimulus package introduced by the government on March 27, which will be used to protect the welfare of Malaysians as well as support local businesses.
Currently, our key priority is to curb and control the spread of the disease: flattening the curve remains paramount. This will help pave the way for us all to get our lives and our economy back on track.
We have to balance controlling the spread of Covid-19 with implementing those steps that will help our businesses weather the storm. In common with most countries, Malaysia needs to focus on containment, and to phase in various degrees of relaxations in the lockdown to promulgate a return to work, beginning with gradually extending the list of essential industry sectors.
As industry leaders, we realise that the pace of the return to a new normality - with continued social distancing, working from home, and so forth - will depend on a hist of factors. The use of technology has already been proven to enable many business operations and social connectivity to remain in place - as proved during our MCO. However, the increased wise deployment of technologies will also speed our path in the post-pandemic world.
Indeed, industry players like you and me - and many, many others - have worked hard to maintain a functioning ecosystem of connectivity, which has enabled some degree of business and lifestyle activities!
The government recently announced that businesses could operate from 4 May 2020 - while still adhering to the SOPs and guidelines set by Ministry of Health (MoH) and other authoritative agencies. However, the stigma from the global pandemic remains within many in different degrees.
Also, remote working, digitalised processes, and many other uses of technology has delivered the real possibility of a different lifestyle, and alternative - perhaps more effective - ways of working. Unsurprisingly, Malaysians have been quick to adapt to this new normal!
Nevertheless, its a question of balance: for example, our frontliners, backliners, and many others who hold critical functions will still need to be present physically for work. And it is part of our duty as Malaysians and business leaders to play our part in safeguarding them in their work
Looking at the wider scenario, I believed that the use of technology would see a rapid uptick during the MCO. Many digital solutions have been innovated, and are energising an ecosystem that was already in a transitional stage of transformation. We are seeing business behaviours being reshaped, consumer activities shifting to online platforms, and socialising across conferencing tools.
Of course, many roles and organisations will still need return-to-work strategies. Many team members and functions will require procedures and tools that encompass web-based self-assessment forms, body temperature screening, and contact tracing, and much more. Examples of solutions include those that will help screen potentially infected individuals while allowing healthy employees, contract workers and visitors to access offices or premises via a unique QR code for greater control and contact tracing. Combined system-generated QR codes and QR code readers will also ensure smooth flow at workplace entry points, thus avoiding crowding, preventing surface reinfection and ensuring social distancing.
Physical screening also plays a key role in halting the spread of the coronavirus - though the use of thermal scanners, cameras and sensors, which can be utilised to screen symptomatic employees, both at entry points and within the workplace. Businesses and building owners can also opt to leverage off data analytics to statistically monitor information gathered by e-forms, scanners, sensors and cameras to limit employee gatherings and detect potential infections while ensuring swift and effective contact tracing.
As more data is generated, artificial intelligence (AI) will help us to build predictive measures. And of course, the Cloud adoption rate in Malaysia will also continue to see a major boost. The global cloud computing market is expected to reach USD623.3 billion by 2023 (Source : Report LinkedIn). By 2021, cloud data centres will process 94% of workloads making turnaround time faster, according to Cisco. With the dizzying speeds at which new technologies are being introduced and adopted, the dilemma of balancing privacy concerns against enhanced efficiencies will remain top of the agenda.
Here, technology in the form of cutting-edge cybersecurity measures need to be in place: this points to the urgency of having an end-to-end strategy as a business priority.
In my discussions with my peers and partners in the industry, talk of 'the new normal' is becoming an every day topic. Businesses and human resource management are finding themselves well out of their comfort zones!
To plan and implement an effective return-to-work strategy, businesses must ensure that all employees' well-being and safety are integral aspects of their forward-motion: We need to take care of our people so that they can take care of the business.
By using high-performance connectivity, complemented by the most effective digital infrastructure, we at TM ONE are playing our part in providing the most effective platform to help drive Malaysia's post-MCO strategy forward. Equipped with a number of comprehensive digital solutions, we are determined to help our nation combat Covid-19, and to also help the workforce get back to work safely - and wisely.
To ensure that the needs of all are taken into consideration, we are offering multiple flexible solutions for businesses to leverage, according to their specific needs. These involves building their own return-to-work technology solutions that are aligned to their budget and their needs - coupled of course with expertise from top solution consultants.
Moving forward, these newly-introduced technological solutions will help businesses rapidly adapt and grow in a post-Covid-19 world - and also enable continued operations in these challenging times. Most importantly, TM ONE's approach opens up the avenue for growth in a post-MCO landscape, and also helps to build their resilience to future upheavals.
As part of an integrated telco, and an enabler of the Digital Nation for all Malaysians - consumers and businesses alike - TM ONE, the enterprise and public sector arm of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), is well-positioned to enable the ecosystem for digital society, digital business and digital government.
This also transcends into operating within a new digital framework as a direct result of the impact of Covid-19. We are fully committed to combat this pandemic, to help industry, and the nation move forward – stronger than ever before or stronger as one!
While COVID-19 outbreak is wreaking havoc globally, massive changes are afoot in the way we live, work and play.
At the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic is spurring governments around the world to enforce different levels of counter measures not seen since the Second World War to better safeguard their national health and economy.
Malaysia's current Movement Control Order (MCO) since 18 March 2020 was preceded by a rising tide of event cancellations and global travel bans. Businesses of all sizes - and indeed many of us - are dialling up our use of digital tools. Meetings - both business and social - are now virtualised.
Overnight, companies have dropped resistance to remote working and indeed are beginning to realise finally that productivity gains and cost savings outweigh concerns about employee engagement. In fact, employee engagement can continue even during a lockdown!
In addition, working from home - #WFH - is refreshing our appreciation of the real values in life.
A scan of surveys and media reports in the last couple of years was already showing deep interest in remote working.
According to Buffer's annual report The State of Remote Work (2019), showed 99% of respondents said they would like to work remotely for at least in some time throughout their careers.
"This is a notable stat to have discovered; while remote work is sometimes portrayed as a trend, these results seem to infer that this current way of working is here to stay. Out of all the data we collected, no response was as powerful as this one," suggested the report.
The 2020 edition of the report confirms that remote workers "almost unanimously want to continue to work remotely (at least for some of the time) for the rest of their careers."
In addition, 97 percent of the respondents would recommend remote work to others. However, the current enforcement of remote working due to the pandemic is facing some resistance: most are unused to the new domestic pressures of being indoors and coping with demands of their children and so forth.
TM ONE's recently put out a call to see how people were finding WFH on LinkedIn and Twitter. The LinkedIn poll drew an immediate flood of comments, many of which favour WFH and even WFA (work from anywhere). However, the same straw poll on Twitter instead shows an almost 50-50 split between favouring WFH and the workplace. Overall, we found that 56% still prefers being at the workplace, 37% thinks WFH is great for every day, while 7% don’t think WFH is for them.
These findings and feedbacks suggest the new normal in Malaysia would involve reduced days in workplaces or shift of supervisors and employers’ mindset towards WFA.
Moving forward, the COVID-19 crisis is going to leave many aspects of our lives changed.
The new reality is that connectivity has become an essential resource. Whether for news, shared experiences, or maintaining business – connectivity joins the list of shelter, food and clothing for most of us, commented TM ONE's Executive Vice-President & Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Taufek Omar.
"Indeed, the new reality of WFH could perhaps become the new normal for many of us - even after we have beaten this COVID-19 pandemic. Much of our daily lives, how we work and play could well be permanently changed - and we may find a much healthier balance in the new era," he added.
For now, the mission for most of us is to stay at home. Malaysia is waking up to the reality of why becoming a truly digital nation is the next big step ahead in the journey. Stay safe, everyone - and stay productive!
It was the 36th day of the Movement Control Order (MCO). An announcement made by the Government recently has led to hundreds and thousands of people to swarm an organisation’s website. The servers have hit the limit. Bandwidth is reaching its maximum capacity. The website had gone down. An upgrade has become imperative and must be done immediately. It is national interest!
Within only 24 hours, an infrastructure upgrade was complete. The system has moved to the cloud, and the system was up and running again, securely, as usual.
The above scenario is real in today’s crisis period. Volatility and uncertainty have become normal. It is clear that this pandemic has become an ultimate test for all organisations across various sectors. For those organisations that have emerged as critical during these challenging times, they need a trusted digital provider who can offer the agility, flexibility, scalability and security to meet their needs within a very short period of time.
At Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), we are currently seeing more than 30% increase in usage trending during the MCO period. Of course, our vast and diverse network connectivity nationwide and worldwide is sufficient to continuously support any sudden spike in demand for internet bandwidth. In the meantime, Malaysia Internet Exchange, MyIX, reported the highest internet traffic peak of 532Gbps at the start of the MCO on 18 March 2020 – an increase of 6.4% from 2019’s highest traffic peak point record of 500Gbps.
This is a worldwide phenomenon. According to international media reports, in Europe recently, Internet Exchange Operator DE-CIX said it has seen average data traffic at its exchange in Frankfurt alone increased by 10%. That includes a 50% rise in video conferencing traffic (including Skype, Teams, and WebEx) and a 25% increase in online and cloud gaming. Meanwhile, all of DE-CIX’s Internet nodes worldwide are reporting a 20% increase in demand for additional capacity since the beginning of March.
As part of MCO, people are encouraged to work from home (if their job function allows) to reduce the risk of them coming into contact with someone who might have the virus, or – if they are infected themselves – passing it on. Some organisations are seeing a spike in traffic or in demand for their services, as a result of government announcements or market dynamics arising from the pandemic.
The challenge for many enterprises and public sector bodies is to ensure their IT infrastructure can accommodate a sudden increase in traffic to their systems when there is a sudden spike in demand, while most if not all of their employees are now working from home.
But it is a challenge we have to rise to, to ensure the business can continue to function in this unprecedented pandemic situation that is affecting everyone across the world, while ensuring the health and safety of our employees.
Many experts say that enterprises that have already gone all-in on public cloud from an infrastructure perspective, or are largely familiar with software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, should be at lower risk of experiencing technical difficulties at this time.
And it must be noted, a key benefit of cloud-based application and infrastructure resources is that they are accessible from anywhere, enabling businesses to gain control of their operations during the MCO. As the scenario at the start of this article has shown, the cloud also offers the scalability and flexibility when there is a sudden change in resource demands, enabling users to upgrade or downgrade anytime.
The reality of the situation, though, is that relatively few organisations out there that are truly “all-in” on cloud, and many others are still highly reliant on their internal IT environment to host their business-critical applications.
According to Global Data, Malaysia’s spending for Cloud Computing – is forecasted to reach RM10 billion in 2020, an 18% increase from 2019. Yet, cloud computing is expected to amount to merely 12-15% of all ICT spending. This is in contrast with data from research and predictions, where cloud expenses are expected to amount to 70% of all tech spending globally by 2020.
Certainly, there is a lot of growth potential here. The global cloud computing market is forecasted to exceed US$350 billion this year, an 18% rise since 2018 and the impressive Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is bound to continue. In Malaysia, Software as a Service (SaaS) accounts for about half of enterprise expenditure on cloud computing, but spending growth in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) is expected to rise as enterprises demand more cloud storage and compute capacity, cloud-based database, application development software, and analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities.
The resilience of cloud computing is being out for the test as never before as a critical enabler of remote operations and continuous innovation.
Many organisations have moved mostly tactical business functions to either SaaS or public cloud. Those companies that chose to keep business-critical applications in their own data centre – presumably to have lower latency and more control over performance – now find themselves in a quandary as overnight their offices become empty when working from home has become mandatory in most scenarios.
This is where a multi- or hybrid cloud strategy becomes a viable approach for organisations that want the best of both worlds. While the trend towards public cloud especially in SaaS applications is increasing, shifting towards private and hybrid cloud will enable organisations to meet varied business requirements and workloads. With hybrid cloud, they can enjoy gains in speed and efficiency, where certain workloads are kept on-premise or in the private cloud, while public cloud is used for non-mission critical workloads.
Malaysia, as with the rest of world, has changed in the last few weeks. The measures we’re taking to push back against the COVID-19 are affecting the way we interact, live, work, and take care of our finances. A new chapter has begun featuring a sharp rise of digital technology adoption, which will help to illuminate a path forward for our businesses.
When pushed to the wall, most humans can unveil the best and the worst. Fortunately, the majority are united especially bridged by digital tools and services. We will all get through this together.
