DESPITE government efforts to promote artificial intelligenec (AI) adoption in the public and private sectors, most Malaysian businesses remain cautious, says Chan Kee Siak, CEO and founder of Exabytes – a cloud and digital solutions provider.
“When technologies are introduced, there is always initial scepticism and uncertainty about their safety and benefits,” he notes.
“We saw this with the arrival of eCommerce, and again when the cloud was introduced. It usually takes two to three years for people to understand and accept such technologies. AI is going through a similar process.”
Exabytes, founded in
2001 by Chan, provides accessible, end-to-end solutions to help businesses grow through digital transformation. With operations in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, it serves over 160,000 customers globally through services like domain hosting, cloud solutions, marketing, digital tools and cybersecurity.
The CEO highlights Exabytes’ increasing focus on AI products and services to empower business growth.
Larger corporations are limited in leveraging AI due to a lack of policy frameworks and standard operating procedures. The rapid evolution of AI also makes it hard for businesses to keep up.
“If you compare the start of 2024 with December that same year, the difference in enhancement and use cases has been huge. It’s developing faster than they can adopt it,” he adds. SMEs in Malaysia face barriers to AI adoption, including resistance to change, limited digital skills, and security concerns.
“While many do use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, they are largely using them as search engines rather than leveraging AI’s potential for advanced tasks, such as financial data analysis.”
Before businesses trust AI tools with critical functions, they need an assurance that their data will be secure.
“Companies should familiarise themselves with the technology, while AI service providers must improve their security policies to address these concerns,” he says.
Another major challenge to AI adoption is that many SMEs have not started digitalising their businesses.
“Their processes are mostly manual, and their data is fragmented,” he says. “AI models usually learn from years of collected data, so if the data isn’t available, it’s hard to fully utilise AI.”
SMEs that delay in leveraging AI may miss operational advantages. AI tools can generate content, conduct research, as well as compile, analyse, and summarise data when given the proper prompts. Effective use can lead to increased productivity and faster turnarounds.
“This can help with hiring and retention – a common problem for SMEs. Training teams on AI could help them achieve more with fewer staff, potentially enabling higher pay and attracting better talent.”
According to Chan, industries like retail are ripe for AI-driven transformation. For example, AI can use data such as historical daily transactions and weather forecasts to help businesses predict inventory needs.
In eCommerce, generative AI can create online content quickly and optimise marketing efficiently.
“Traditionally, you needed a web designer or a website builder tool with stock images and a copywriter. With Exabytes AI-powered web hosting, customers get built-in features to generate layouts, content, images, and website design easily and affordably.”
The company is also set to launch its AI-driven domain search which will help businesses generate and suggest more accurate and relevant domain names.
Chan reveals that more AI products are in the pipeline, and Exabytes is now on its own internal AI transformation.
“We aim to shift 25% of our workload to AI operations by December,” he says. “To achieve this, we will align
priorities, investments, training and initiatives around this goal to make 2025 Exabytes’ year of AI.”
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