Staying competitive: Manufacturers will look to the vendors which provide the most reliable, cost-effective and powerful hardware to provide the computing capabilities they need to stay ahead of the curve.
Asean has always been an exciting region for investors, showing great growth and potential, and its manufacturing industry is set to accelerate Asean’s already impressive development.
A recent report from IDC Manufacturing Insights predicts that intra-Asia trade for the manufacturing sector will continue to grow in 2015, while the emergence of new governments in some countries and investor interest from other countries including China will help this trend to continue.
A recent McKinsey Global Institute study predicted that the employment of disruptive technologies would produce US$220bil (RM946.6bil) to US$625bil (RM2.6tril) in annual economic impact for Southeast Asia.
As such, careful attention should be paid to the four biggest technological trends of the moment – big data, cloud computing, mobility and social media – and how these will affect Asean’s crucial manufacturing industry.
According to a study commissioned by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) with IDC, although the awareness of big data analytics (BDA) amongst Malaysian companies is already high, their readiness or willingness to actually adopt it is still relatively low .
Big Data promises to help companies glean valuable insights from data analysis that can be applied to business strategies. Through the customer insights provided by Big Data, companies can anticipate customer needs and focus their research and development efforts to create products which their customers will find truly useful.
The analytical capabilities of Big Data can help businesses to critically examine every aspect of their operations, with benefits like the optimisation of production processes and distribution chains.
As with cloud computing, big data requires the use of stable and powerful enterprise hardware to collect and analyse the massive influx of data.
With the advent of high-speed Internet connections, companies have begun to migrate their intranets to the cloud, and IT departments can now support users from across the globe, leading to more secure networks and an easier deployment of software changes.
Cloud computing investments in Malaysia is predicted to hit RM2.8bil (RM12bil) by 2020, according to Forrester Research and has proven to be a massive boon to businesses with multinational operations.
This is often the case with businesses that set up manufacturing centers in Asean while keeping other aspects of their businesses, such as the design and engineering teams, in other countries.
Cloud computing has ensured that teams working across different continents are completely synchronised with one another, reducing redundancies and improving productivity.
Over the last two decades, personal computers have become progressively smaller and more portable, unchaining users from the immobile desktops of yesteryear. Tablets and smartphones have exploded in popularity, enabling media consumption on the go.
At the same time, most mobile devices on the market were designed for media consumption and entertainment rather than productivity, and do not support enterprise applications.
This has led to a demand for products built specifically for business users for maximising productivity while retaining the mobility offered by portable devices.
This can be seen in the manufacturing sector, which allows employees to perform stock-keeping and inventory management through real-time data updates. Powerful enterprise devices also allow users on the go access to functions which require intense computing capabilities, such as modeling software for the design and engineering teams.
However, according to IDC’s Enterprise Mobility MaturityScape, enterprise mobility adoption in Malaysia showed signs of progress, but remained firmly in the early ‘Opportunistic’ phase, where the focus is still primarily on rolling out and supporting devices .
Social media has dramatically altered the relationship between customers and businesses, and customers are now able to share their opinions and feedback on companies and their products with a global audience.
Malaysian companies have noted the importance of social media to their business and 69% are said to be active on social media.
Through the analysis of social media, companies are able to receive authentic and honest feedback from consumers as well as discover trends, which manufacturing companies can then translate into the creation of better products.
Social media is thus one of the best ways of measuring customer reactions, allowing businesses to respond quickly and appropriately so as to keep customers happy.
With the right choice of technology, manufacturing enterprises can optimise productivity, reduce operational costs, improve customer experience and grow faster.
Business leaders within Asean’s manufacturing industry are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the latest technologies in enabling them to take full advantage of this business trend, and are deploying them to great effect.
IDC Asia reported that 37% of Asia Pacific manufacturers are already using Big Data and Analytics technologies to improve production quality management.
With these latest trends also comes the requirement for powerful enterprise-ready hardware. As such, manufacturers will look to the vendors which provide the most reliable, cost-effective and powerful hardware to provide the computing capabilities they need to stay ahead of the curve.
The Asean region is enjoying a surge in investor interest, but businesses will need to continue investing in the technology needed for these emerging technologies to maintain their competitive advantage.
However, according to IDC’s Enterprise Mobility MaturityScape, enterprise mobility adoption in Malaysia showed signs of progress, but remained firmly in the early opportunistic phase, where the focus is still primarily on rolling out and supporting devices.
Khoo Hung Chuan is the country general manager of Lenovo Malaysia.
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