KUCHING, Jan 17: Industry players in the state are urged to embrace the digital economy or Industry 4.0 not just for the sake of upgrading their hardware and technology but also to digitize how their products and service are delivered to customers.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, delivering a speech on behalf of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg earlier today, said the digital economy was not just merely about technology per se but also to enhance humanity.
“This wave of change will certainly impact on how we deliver our jobs and make the global economy more competitive. Hence, we should intensify our efforts in building competencies and capabilities to solve the challenges and create new industry solutions.
“Early examples of Industry 4.0 companies or startups such as Grab, Uber, Waze and Lazada, to name a few, were successful because they were able to democratise technologies such as cloud computing and even Internet of Things (IOT) as platforms for rapid innovation,” he said during the opening of the ‘Workforce of the Future — Driving the Digital Economy For Sarawak and Beyond’ forum at Pullman Hotel here.
Uggah said the aim of the forum was to serve as a platform for industry players to have meta-conversations on how to utilise technology to enhance not only their hardware and workflow, but also their humanity as it was very much interwoven with the people’s work and lives.
“Let us listen and learn with an open mind and heart. Do ask questions and have good deliberations,” he said.
Uggah advised small medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals to be more agile and open to fully leverage on the facilities being provided to innovate and compete effectively. Above all else, he added, they must have a mind-set change and embrace the new digital future.
“We need to ask relevant questions on ‘how I can do my job better and faster?’, ‘what steps should I take to offer my products and services internationally?’, and ‘how can I bring technology to the market?’
“I believe that if we can look for answers to these questions, we would be able to attract the right talents to be part of your organisations especially among the local youth. In this context, the need to become a digital leader becomes imperative to understand the new work culture of the future workforce.
“Being a digital leader would mean that we would have to shift our focus from the inside-out to outside-in; immersive in our approach to engage in diverse conversations; be able to utilise data analysis for better decision-making and encourage greater collaborations across industries,” he said.
The forum was attended by more than 200 participants and representatives from various industry players in the state looking to delve into the digital economy as envisioned by Abang Johari. — DayakDaily
