Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s Exclusive Roundtable: Addressing Digital Resilience In The Corporate Sector

KUALA LUMPUR  – The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s exclusive roundtable on ‘Digital Resilience in the Corporate Sector’ was held in a hybrid setting yesterday at the Element by Westin Kuala Lumpur. The discussion focused on what business leaders need to understand, to ensure business resilience and sustainability as well as to remain relevant in the digital economy especially as part of their post-COVID-19 recovery strategies. In attendance as guest of honour was Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin.

In his keynote speech titled ‘Driving Digital Resilience in the Context of Regulatory and Policy Frameworks’, Datuk Zahidi said, “The Malaysian government will also continue to invest in digital infrastructure. The case in point will be the 5G rollout. The new 5G networks support a massive number of connected devices and are expected to be much faster, reliant, and efficient. 5G technology will also provide a more stable mobile network for these activities and will also enable infrastructure for other services. This will allow foreign and domestic investors the required bandwidth to grow well into the future.

“Emphasising on empowering the youth and fresh graduates in the digital economy, strengthening and nurturing skilled human capital is essential in the digital economy but the individual has a responsibility to themselves to be digitally resilient by equipping and arming themselves with the right skill sets. This will ensure they are future-proofed so that Malaysia can be an investment destination not because we have cheap labour but because we have highly qualified and productive individuals,” he added.

In the Asia Pacific region, investments in digital resilience reportedly grew fastest in 2020 in correlation with the region’s overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to Europe and North America. The surge is due to organisations realising the importance of being prepared for future business disruptions.

Founding Chairman of the Malaysia Global Business Forum, Nordin Abdullah, said, “We are at the beginning of a megatrend. The next generation of corporate leaders need to be empowered now. To survive in the business ecosystem that has become increasingly digital, leaders must be cognisant of the evolving threat matrix of the global digital economy.

“From start-ups to small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) to larger organisations, all must invest in their own digital resilience. Simply because it is a component of any sustainable future. Failure to do so will only ensure you become a dinosaur in the digital era,” concluded Nordin, who is also a crisis management analyst.

Chief Executive Officer of Novem CS Sdn Bhd, Murugason R. Thangaratnam, in his closing remark, said, “Cyber security is the minimum baseline in a corporate sector’s digital equation thus, cyber-resilient organisations need to prioritise the protection of their crown jewels. A major component of cyber resilience is the ability to adapt and evolve your security posture to stay ahead of threats.”

The outcome of the discussion highlighted three critical success factors – a policy and regulatory ecosystem that encourages innovation that leads to economic growth, the need for considerable investments from both the public and private sectors, and to empower the next generation of human capital and to inculcate the understanding of digital resilience for a sustainable future.

Held at the Element by Westin Kuala Lumpur, the “Digital Resilience in the Corporate Sector” discussion is the second of the Malaysia Global Business Forum’s 2022 series of exclusive roundtables on “The Evolving Threat Matrix of the Digital Economy”. This series will confront critical questions impacting the future of business in the rapidly digitising world.

Speakers at the event also include Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC), Iskandar Ismail; Chief Executive Officer of Big Dataworks Sdn Bhd., Sheriza Zakaria; Chief Executive Officer of The Center of Applied Data Science (The CADS), Sharala Axryd; Director of International Business Development for Perfios Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Nantha Subramanian; Chief Executive Officer of Matryzel Consulting Inc., Bobby Varanasi; Founder and Director of SoCo and World Wonderers (WoW), Dr Sophie Lemière; Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Dr Julia Roknifard; Co-Chairman of Malaysia Global Business Forum and Executive Director of Tindakan Strategi Sdn Bhd, Rizal Kamaruzzaman; and Chief Executive Officer of Novem CS Sdn Bhd., Murugason R. Thangaratnam. The panel session was moderated by Editor-at-Large for News Hub Asia, Ruzanna Muhammad.

MGBF was established to empower stakeholders at the intersection of international and Malaysian business. Through government relations, business intelligence, advocacy, media engagement, market research, networking, advisory and business matching, MGBF will continue to explore threats and opportunities with industry leaders and policy makers to ensure that Malaysia becomes a leader in the context of Asia.