The international project management and construction consultancy company, ISC Integrated Solutions Consultancy (ISC Global), is expanding its operations to Malaysia as a strategic move to strengthen its position in the South-East Asian region, following the increase in investment and the development of large-scale projects in the country.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of ISC Global, Dr. Ahmed Helmy, said that the decision to choose Malaysia was made after studying several markets in the South-East Asian region and seeing that the country has a very good position in terms of location, business ecosystem, and local workforce.
More importantly, the company sees Malaysia as having the potential to develop into a regional hub for ISC Global's operations in the future.
"After conducting research on several countries in South-East Asia, we see Malaysia as the right choice, especially at this time when more and more investments and large-scale projects are starting to come into the country."
"We see Malaysia having the potential to become our main hub in South-East Asia." However, we want to focus on the Malaysian market before expanding our next steps to other markets," he said.
Unlike the traditional approach that requires project owners to deal with various parties separately, ISC Global offers an integrated project management approach that combines multiple functions into one system.
According to him, their main strength is the ability to integrate technology, engineering, and construction management aspects to move in one direction.
"Our strength lies in providing comprehensive project management solutions. For developers who want to start a project, they usually have to deal with many parties. We can consolidate all those aspects and allow them to deal with just one entity.
"At the same time, we believe that the local workforce is very important because they better understand the work culture, market, and business practices in Malaysia." That's why our operations here will heavily rely on local expertise.
"We have also started discussions with the government and the private sector, including preparations for cooperation through a memorandum of understanding," he said, optimistic about Malaysia's great potential.
ISC Global's experience in managing large-scale projects is also one of the factors that instills confidence in the company to enter the Malaysian market.
Among the highlighted experiences is involvement in a mega project in Saudi Arabia that involves collaboration between the Saudi Arabian and United Kingdom governments, including infrastructure development components.
The project, valued at around US$1.2 billion, is comprehensively managed by ISC Global, including coordination among various stakeholders as well as knowledge transfer and capacity building.
In Egypt, ISC Global is involved in projects that encompass eight hospitals up to the operational level, in addition to large-scale infrastructure projects with the Ministry of Defence.
Commenting further on the Malaysian market, Ahmed Helmy stated that his team sees several sectors with great potential, including the development of healthcare infrastructure and data centers.
Among the challenges observed in the Malaysian construction industry is the need to integrate technology with engineering and construction aspects more comprehensively.
"We are confident that ISC Global's expertise can add 'colour' to the development of infrastructure in Malaysia," he said.
"In planning its expansion in Malaysia, ISC Global does not want to rely too heavily on a static five-year plan given that the construction industry is now changing rapidly, particularly in terms of technology.
"Our planning is flexible to ensure the company can respond quickly to changes in market demands.
"We do not set a five-year plan because the world is changing so rapidly. Technology is also evolving, including the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the construction industry. That's why we prefer to make annual plans, with clear targets for the first one to two years, while subsequent plans will be adjusted based on market and technological changes," he added.
Meanwhile, ISC Global also signed a Tripartite Teaming Agreement with Dataprep Holdings Berhad, ISC, and INZOX LLC to explore collaboration in the field of Sovereign AI and next-generation Edge AI. This collaboration, among other things, opens up opportunities to develop a more secure AI infrastructure that can operate autonomously.
With over 25 years of experience in project management, ISC Global has expertise covering the entire construction project cycle, from the planning and design stages to construction, cost management, scheduling, and various complex projects in several regions of the world.
The company, headquartered in London, now has an international network of operations, including London, Dubai, Riyadh, Muscat, Cairo, and Windhoek, in addition to managing various complex projects in several regions of the world.
