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RESEARCH
       receive  remote  healthcare.  In  the  wake  of  the   There has been a rise in fintech activity of late, rightly   ANALYSIS
       pandemic, a Malaysian tech startup, DoctorOnCall, has   canvassing  to  be  inclusive.  After  all,  the  marketplace   TRENDS
       offered a virtual health advisory platform for people to   will  adjust  to  new  realities  and  fintech  is  already
       consult  doctors  amid  the  coronavirus  outbreak.   adapting  to  these  changes  since  the  start  of  the
       Innovation, being cited as one of the areas of emphasis   pandemic.   Perhaps,   ultimately,   the   fintech
       of Malaysia’s future health care system in the blueprint,   companies  who  are  able  to  tweak  their  solutions  to
       is  now  in  full  effect.  Moving  forward,  solutions  in   solve  today’s  problems  will  emerge  strong  after  the
       telehealth and telemedicine will require the promise of   crisis,  according  to  Dato’  Ng  Wan  Peng,  COO  of
       better data management and security. The public also   MDEC.
       expects  platforms for  these  purposes  are  designed  to
       protect  the  safety  of  all  personal  data.  Internationally,   Concurrently,  the  present  observation  is  that  digital
       organizations  involved  in  contact  tracing  apps  or   payment  players  that  service  e-commerce  platforms
       devices have ensured all data collected will be stored   have  a  strong  position  in  this  MCO  scenario.  This  is
       privately  and  anonymized  on  their  platforms.  Their   due to the surge of online purchase brought about by
       approach also includes the data being held in trust until   millions of Malaysians who are staying at home.
       requested  by  relevant  local  authorities  who  will,  with
       their  respective  contact  tracing  protocols,  choose  to   As  businesses  and  consumers  turn  to  digital  banking
       contact users.                                      services,  traditional  financial  institutions  will  be
                                                           compelled  to  hasten  their  digital  innovation  efforts.
       E-Learning                                          Consequently, many traditional banks may seek fintech
                                                           to bring more inclusive digital banking solutions to the
       90% of future jobs will require digital literacy. However,   economy. This  will,  possibly, make the visit to a bank
       the world has fast-forwarded to the future in a matter of   an increasingly rare occurrence.
       weeks. The call for schools, institutions and universities
       worldwide  to  instantly  begin  offering  virtual  learning   Recovery with the Digital Economy
       options  is  gaining  momentum.  Malaysian  institutions   We  may  be  bent  by  COVID-19,  but  we  will  not  be
       offering online courses in areas such as cybersecurity,   broken. At a dialogue session organized by Ministry of
       data  analytics,  coding,  artificial  intelligence  and  other   Finance  (MOF)  and  Ministry  of  Science,  Technology,
       digital skills, have received very good response.
                                                           and Innovation (MOSTI) recently, discussions focused
       Meanwhile,  many  varsities  have  shifted  to  online   on  engaging  our  local  tech  startups  and  tech  funding
       classes  to  minimize  the  spread  of  infection,  said   agencies.    Such  efforts  from  the  government  and  its
       Universiti  Malaya’s  Academic  Enhancement  and    agencies show strong commitment to continue to work
       Leadership  Development  Centre  (ADeC)  e-learning   and  find  ways  how  it  can  help  mitigate  the  negative
       Head,  Dr  Zahiruddin  Fitri  Abu  Hassan.  To  ensure   impact  of  COVID-19  on  various  communities.
       effective  learning  continues,  institutions  in  Malaysia   Over  the  past  weeks,  the  Malaysia  Digital  Economy
       offering online courses include MDEC’s Premier Digital   Corporation  (MDEC)  has  collaborated  with  various
       Tech Institutions (PDTIs).                          industries  and  ministries  to  bring  tech  assistance  to
                                                           businesses and entrepreneurs whose source of income
       Fundamental  challenges  prevail  in  e-learning,  all  of   have been affected by the pandemic and MCO.
       which  need  to  be  addressed  if  Malaysia  wishes  to
       accelerate the digital economy. In a recent report by a   In  line  with  the  government’s  announcement  of  the
       local  newspaper,  Professor  Dr  Abdul  Karim  Alias,   People-Centric   Economic   Stimulus   Package
       Director  of  the  Centre  for  Development  of  Academic   (PRIHATIN)  and  the  subsequent  enhancements,
       Excellence  (CDAE),  Universiti  Sains  Malaysia  (USM)   MDEC  launched  the  #DigitalVsCovid  movement  to
       states that there is a dire need for an efficient system to   support businesses and consumers by providing a list
       be  developed.  He  stresses  on  the  challenges  like  the   of  e-services,  e-learning  and  e-businesses  for  their
       experience  and  skill  of  those  imparting  education   convenience,  and  to  obtain  information  and  benefit
       online,  the  readiness  of  connectivity  and  devices,  as   from our digital ecosystem.
       well   as   resistant   mindsets   towards   adopting   Malaysia may be in the thick of battle, but as a nation,
       technology. This will be the next barrier to break.
                                                           we are prepared to emerge victorious as various efforts
       Digital Banking Services and Fintech                are made to accelerate the development of digital tools
                                                           and solutions and thus, hasten Malaysia’s healing. ◊
       The  population  of  the  unbanked  in  Malaysia  stood                  By Raymond Siva, CMO, MDEC
       at 8% or two million of the country’s 24 million adults,
       according to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s Financial
       Stability  and  Payment  Systems  Report  2017.
       Essentially, they are unserved or underserved.




       9                                               April 2020: Social Commerce & Influencer Marketing: social shopping as the future of commerce
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