Innovation assures seamless process, continuous functioning of govt during pandemic – IBM
06 Sep 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for new innovations to ensure a seamless process and continuous functioning of government during the crisis.
IBM Malaysia managing director Catherine Lian said emerging technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing, they are always looked upon as game changers.
It allows both the public and private sectors to get a real-time view into their data, thus bringing about instantaneous insights.
She said these technologies have become more a business imperative than just a technology to adopt, and therefore is no longer considered as a cost-saving investment alone, but a driver for business innovation.
Technologies like AI, cloud computing, blockchain and Internet of Thing (IoT) are transforming how organisations operate and deliver value, while simultaneously improving efficiencies across the organisations.
“Technology like AI in the public service sector can relieve public sector servants of tedious, repetitive tasks, save hundreds of work hours and improve the customer experience for the people.
“It can help evaluate response faster than a person can and enables public servants to work on more critical tasks and increase operational efficiencies,” he told Bernama.
Lian said the government has taken an increasingly important role in the advent of coronavirus as citizens look to government agencies for trusted information for their individual safety, well-being and beyond to both support and benefit themselves socially, economically and emotionally.
“The government priorities that existed before the pandemic take on a new urgency in order to meet the challenge of our current climate, including heightened citizen expectations, innovative delivery of services to citizens, budget, and spending efficiency,” she said.
With digital transformation empowering citizens’ lives in almost every daily interaction — from e-commerce shopping to digital banking to name a few examples — she said the public is expecting the same level of engagement from the government.
Fundamental government services such as health, taxes, social services, immigration, manpower and transport need to be accessed quickly and efficiently, as well as be effectively available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.
Commenting on how is the government helping customers deal with that complexity, Lian said Cloud, AI and Robotics are the key factors to generate an increase in net productivity.
To make the adoption of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0 or IR 4.0) a success, a sustainable approach by the government must be taken to ensure continuous growth of the digital economy in Malaysia.
“We firmly believe, as the country moves forward and navigates post-crisis, the government will look at ways to fully embrace cloud-based support systems along with their remote working strategies. With the right technologies, solutions and best practices, they can ensure continuity of their business operations,” she said.
In Malaysia, digital transformation has been talked about for quite sometime across all sectors of the industries.
Today, with the current situation, businesses of any size and across industries are required to transform how they operate and do things, and IBM Malaysia is seeing a myriad of opportunities for new partnerships and new ways of working.
The right solutions can help organisations navigate uncertainty, adapt to changing conditions and become more resilient quickly, she added.
So far, IBM Malaysia has seen Malaysia continuously striving to accomplish four common and prime objectives in driving the digital economy and to achieve Industry 4.0 by leveraging AI.
“They include formulating policies for workforce in an automated economy; creating jobs across emerging sectors which leverage new technologies; building data ecosystem to be leveraged by cross-verticals to foster innovations; and (conducting) intelligent mitigation of impact on workers affected by adopting AI and risk reduction,” she said.
IBM Malaysia works with public and private agencies such as the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Invest KL, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, as well as the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) to support the government’s objective of preparing Malaysian businesses for the challenges and opportunities arising from trade liberalisation and globalisation.
“We have been supporting the Malaysian government and businesses, especially in the financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and education industries in their transformation journey,” she added.
Source: Bernama
