Oracle opens first Southeast Asia digital hub in Malaysia

Oracle is opening its first digital hub in Southeast Asia to allow small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, and 21 other countries in Asia Pacific, to receive access and support to the cloud solutions and resources they need to power digital transformation.According to a release, the new facility in Kuala Lumpur aims to better serve the SME market in the new cloud economy and to working with them in a way that matches their needs and how their businesses operate. The new digital hub in Malaysia is set to help SMEs leverage Oracle Cloud solutions to streamline operations, boost innovation and build a platform for growth.The digital hub houses a newly hired digital team focused on helping midsize organisations transition to the cloud quickly and easily. The latest collaboration tools, techniques and technologies can be used to transform the buying experience for the customers.François Lançon, senior vice president, Oracle Japan and Asia Pacific, said: “The cloud is democratising IT; you just need a web browser or a mobile phone app to take advantage of it. What’s more, it has incredible transformation potential for small businesses, enabling them to do things they have never been able to do before, at an affordable price, such as use technology to streamline business processes, gain access to an easy-to-use platform for innovation, and digitise their customer experience.”Pranabesh Nath, research director, IDC Malaysia, said SME digital enablement is one of the most important aspects of increasing the digital economy contribution to Malaysia’s GDP. IDC research indicates adoption of some of the third platform technologies such as cloud and mobility has been increasing in the last two years. “Based on our research most large enterprises in Malaysia have some sort of cloud adoption plan, while almost 50% are using cloud services beyond one or 2 simple applications. The situation for SMEs is not so bright though, and needs to be urgently rectified. SMEs have needs that differ from larger enterprises in this respect, so it is good to see Oracle targeting this segment specifically,” he said.Fitri Abdullah, managing director for Malaysia, Oracle, added that more than 67% of the world’s total micro and SME market is located in the Asia Pacific region, accounting for more than 266 million businesses that can benefit from cloud technology (Worldbank.org, 2015).“Using cloud and digital technologies in tandem, Malaysian SMEs can now be more competitive as they build a larger presence in the digital economy. This investment reiterates Oracle’s strong commitment to Malaysia,” he said.Ir. Siva Ramanathan, chief strategy officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) added that the MDEC believes that Malaysia’s digital future has the potential to unlock significant economic, environmental, and social value within the nation.“We applaud Oracle’s efforts in reaching out to our SMEs with access to the latest cloud technologies that are vital to their growth, and help them transform digitally. What Oracle is doing today contributes to our own national initiative, that aims to encourage digital adoption and future proof our SMEs and economy,” he said.Datuk Zainal Amanshah, CEO of InvestKL, added that it the move is very much in line with the government’s focus on the digital economy. Its arrival will help generate a positive impact on the local eco-system in terms of talent identification and development, benefits to the SMEs and collaboration with our local Universities.