KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 ― Malaysia will be able to achieve the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0) maturity status within five to ten years’ time, says an industry professional.
Epicor Software (Shanghai) Co Ltd Asia Regional Vice-President Vincent Tang said IR 4.0 would definitely happen in Malaysia, but it would take time, depending on the country’s technology adoption.
“Some countries might achieve it within five years or more. Some companies are quite advanced, big names, such as Samsung, a big information technology disruptor, has applied a quite advanced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), as they are already evolving to others (software).
“However, a lot of companies are still using manual work, and to bring them forward, SMEs (small and medium enterprises) should get the ERP foundation up and running, before exploring other components,” he told Bernama.
Tang said ERP software comprised strategic business process management tools that could be used to manage information within an organisation.
If businesses, particularly SMEs were to apply ERP as their solution for the right market, he said it would enhance businesses (and speed up IR 4.0 adoption) quite well within one to two years’ time.
As someone, who keeps tabs on the region industrial technology traits, Tang said China has set an industrial revolution roadmap to achieve its goals by 2025, a ten-year journey.
He said the government played an important role in educating the masses and allowing ERP providers like Epicor to continue to organise more seminars single handedly or jointly.
Epicor has been organising seminars jointly with an IR 4.0 consulting body to build awareness on IR 4.0 and how the industry players could prepare for it.
“ERP is only part of the solutions and we also invite consumers who can share their experience and how they overcome their challenges, which can’t be done overnight.
“This is a continuous effort, to make everybody aware of this, the more they understand, the less fear they have, to go into that IR 4.0 journey,” he said.
Tang said Hong Kong has done quite well in educating the public, as its productivity council employed 600 highly skilled consultants that provided training and certification and even vendor solutions for SMEs that did not know how to seek ERP solutions.
It also conducts field-trips to technologically advanced countries such as Germany in emulating IR 4.0, he said, adding that he efforts helped the industry understand digital transformation much better and the kind of results they could produce, as well as make it easier for industry players to embrace technology.
Tang said the Hong Kong Productivity Council also helped SME manufacturers apply for grants from the government.
“I do see other countries doing something similar, but differ in execution,” he added.
American-based Epicor, a global business software company, as well as an ERP vendor, helps SME mid-markets automate operations, and client growth through the IR 4.0 journey. ― Bernama