He said:

“Digitisation has made the world ‘smarter’, and chief financial officers (CFO) must be well versed in the latest technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, process automation, internet-of-things as well as bots.”

Thomas also emphasised the importance for CFOs to deal with the trends that bring a new reality in terms of financial excellence.

Thomas added:

“Take for example the rise of the millennial workforce; the younger workforce tend to prefer working from their smartphones, and even executives request to be able to approve workflows on their mobile devices ‘on the go’. Adoption of innovation needs to speed up significantly in the finance function. Millennials grew up with these gadgets and technology so, in order to attract these young talents, we need to provide them with the right environment.”

On top of smarter technologies, he also identified some of the significant trends that impact finance, such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, hyper-connectivity, and supercomputing. He pointed out that the rise of cloud computing pushed the development of innovations that led to faster adoption of technologies.

During the forum, Thomas shared some of the case studies that involved artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning which assists in CFO functions. These include predictive analytics’ creation of unbiased forecasts, chatbot analytics, and setting up intelligent Delegation of Authority (DoA).

He highlighted SAP business solutions which leverages machine learning in automating invoice clearance as a piece needed for an integrated procurement system. This clearance was implemented in 2017. SAP can auto-clear large volumes of invoices with the SAP Cash Application, their machine learning tool.

With regards to the SAP Cash Application, Thomas said:

“SAP Cash Application has freed up the accounts receivable team to concentrate on meeting other challenges, such as resolving issues with customers and speeding up payments.”

Additionally, he stated the importance of collaboration between digital transformation and people transformation and outlined the importance for companies to become “intelligent enterprises.”

Throughout the years, SAP has been introducing an intelligent suite of solutions that assist customers in automating their daily operational processes to help them interact better both internally and externally.

One of the cloud-based SAP business solutions, SAP Concur, improves the automation, analytics and integration for expense and travel processes.

Thomas said:

“End-to-end, automated data synchronisation between SAP Concur and other business applications provides management with more visibility into employee spend. This way, management can more effortlessly and accurately manage expenses to get a complete view of company spend in one place.”

The post SAP Business Solutions for Financial Excellence appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

UOB SmartBusiness helps SMEs to streamline and digitise their back office processes including accounting, payroll and business management simply, quickly, and securely, enabling both improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.

SMEs can link their UOB SmartBusiness account to their UOB current account, which enables automated bank reconciliations for improved speed and security.

UOB SmartBusiness features functionality from human resources software provider HReasily and mobile business software provider Enterpryze to enable use anywhere anytime.

Three package options are available, depending on the functionality required and the size of the organisation. Packages are Micro One, Micro One Plus, and Mobile One. Pricing ranges from free up to RM240 per month. Both paid packages allow a free 30-day trial.

UOB Malaysia executive director and country head of business banking Raymond Chui said the bank targets to sign up 4,000 customers for the new service by the end of next year.

“As SMEs progress through different growth stages, managing a larger and more complex business poses new challenges,” said Chui. “To help our SME customers improve their operational efficiency as they grow, UOB Malaysia is working with SAP to provide SMEs a scalable and affordable digital solution that will save time and money.”

SAP head of general business for Southeast Asia, Brad Gray, called SMEs the cornerstone of the Malaysian economy, accounting for more than 98 per cent of all the business establishments in the country.

“SMEs can up their game by further digitising their core business processes to help them achieve success with instant access to information and streamline everything from finance to talent management,” said Gray.

“UOB SmartBusiness can help SME business owners make the transition to digital and take away the hassle of managing complicated operational tasks manually, empowering them to focus on their core business models and drive business outcomes.”

This collaboration marks the first time SAP has offered SAP Business One, to Malaysian SMEs through a bank.

The post UOB teams up with SAP to launch SmartBusiness for SMEs appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

“Malaysia is a rapidly developing market and one of the key Southeast Asian markets for us,” said Hirofumi Miyama, senior vice president, managed services, NTT Com.

The partnership will see the companies joining forces to develop Malaysia-based solutions incorporating NTT Com’s GMOne managed services and DGB’s enterprise network and infrastructure services. DGB is part of the Diversified Gateway Solutions Berhad (DGSB) group of companies.

GMOne services assist medium and large enterprises to manage an increasingly complex and hybrid ICT environment from infrastructure through business applications to business services. GMOne employs 24×7 remote monitoring and management to help organisations to make full use of their hybrid ICT without compromising security or reliability.

DGB will provide consulting services in the areas of network design, deployment and optimisation. NTT Com will provide fully managed, end-to-end operations and management of multi-vendor environments. Services will be delivered through global delivery centres in seven countries as well as through DGB’s field operations in Malaysia.

“We are very proud to partner with NTT Com and be the first in Malaysia to offer their GMOne managed services to midsize and large enterprise customers,” said Dato’ Dr Tan Seng Chuan, executive director, DGSB. “We see the market potential and our customers are looking for such comprehensive managed services.”

As a part of the GMOne Partner Program, DGB will gain specialised certification training on GMOne managed services through the GMOne Academy, NTT Com’s educational program for program partners.

Emerio Malaysia, an NTT Communications company, will assist DGB in joining the partner program, with go-to-market and pre-sales activities, and in transitioning DGB’s customers to GMOne.

The post NTT Com names Diversified Gateway Berhad as first managed services partner in Malaysia appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

In this role, Williamson will be responsible for driving business growth and operations for Malaysia, reporting to Claus Andresen, president and managing director, SAP Southeast Asia.

Williamson has held leadership roles within SAP over the last 18 years, prior to which he was managing partner for the Nestle business, one of the biggest global accounts at SAP.

“Malaysia holds plenty of growth opportunities for the IT industry in the next few years as the government clearly outlined its plans as part of Budget 2018 to focus on boosting the Malaysia’s digital economy. With the Malaysian government forecasting that the digital economy is set to contribute 20 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2020, there needs to be concerted efforts and collaborations between the private and public sectors to help both local organisations and multi-national corporations in Malaysia to embrace digitisation,” said Andresen.

“SAP has been proudly supporting many of our Malaysian customers’ digital transformation over the past 25 years, and I am confident that under Duncan’s leadership, we will be able to support the country leapfrog into the next stage of digitisation.”

Williamson said as the Malaysian government’s Transformasi Nasional 2050 initiative takes shape, there are greater opportunities for technology vendors like SAP.

“2017 had been a landmark year for Malaysia, with the government launching a number of key initiatives and announcing several major plans to transform the country’s digital economy. I applaud the government’s vision to enhance Malaysia’s reputation as a regional digital hub,” said Williamson.

“The next few years promise to be exciting for Malaysia, and I am looking forward to collaborating with the government, our customers and partners in the country as we write the next chapter for Malaysia’s digital transformation.”

The post On the Move: New SAP Malaysia MD appointed appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

“Big data and analytics is no longer uncommon in Malaysia, and many organisations have started to accept this technology these days. By using analytic capabilities, organisations will be able to run their business operations, improve the overall customer experience, and expand its product and services offering, by increasing their competitive advantage over other existing competitors in the market,” said Ng Quan Xiong, market analyst for software, IDC Malaysia.

The analyst firm said that with an increasing amount of unstructured data gathered from various channels such as social media, company websites and contact centres, enterprises are seeking to use analytics to gain insights from this data. Visual analytics is particularly popular because it provides functionality to support the analytic workflow, provides a channel for consumption of analytics, and enables non-IT staff to analyse, visualise, share and review data.

According to IDC, software vendors and the channel ecosystem will play an important role in drive adoption of big data technology. There will also be an increase in the need for customisation, deployment options, and the incorporation of cognitive computing capabilities to guide enterprises as they adopt big data technologies.

The post Malaysian big data analytics market to reach RM595 million by 2021: IDC appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Pharmaniaga worked with ABeam Consulting on the deployment of the real-time ERP suite, which aims to increase the company’s effectiveness and efficiency in managing production orders, quality management, delivery and product costing.

Pharmaniaga hopes to become a fully-fledged integrated healthcare solutions provider by standing its operations across all manufacturing plants. The company distributes pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products to the government and private hospitals and clinics, as well as teaching hospital under the Ministry of Health.

“We began looking at several vendors in the market since 2015 to assist us in transforming our existing system and through this filterisation, we found SAP is able to cater to our requirements in providing end-to-end solutions that matches our business needs,” said Dato’ Farshila Emran, managing director, Pharmaniaga.

“Internet of Things (IoT) and system integration are the two out of the nine main pillars in the Industry 4.0. We have embraced this new revolution and set our sights on further growth as we become increasingly aware of the importance needs of digital technology in our organisation to enhance the work’s productivity and efficiency using the best practises,” he said.

The pharmaceutical market in Malaysia is set to grow from $2.3 billion in 2015 to $3.6 billion by 2020, registering a compound annual growth rate of 9.5 per cent, according to GlobalData.

Dato’ Farshila said the company’s is also keen to penetrate the European market, and said the upgrade of its capabilities will enable it to both meet its clients expectations and compete with other international pharmaceutical companies.

SAP Malaysia managing director, Terrence Yong, said, “The market opportunities in the region for pharmaceutical companies like Pharmaniaga are aplenty, and with enhanced digital tools and processes, we are confident that Pharmaniaga is empowered to achieve its goals in the digital economy landscape.

“The company is at an exciting juncture as it prepares itself for future growth and SAP is proud to be part of this journey with them, through our partner ABeam Consulting.”

The post Malaysian pharma giant implements S/4HANA for manufacturing plants appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Built on SAP Cloud for Analytics, the SAP Digital Boardroom taps into line of business data taken from SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, to present a comprehensive real-time view of business performance across a company.

At the launch, SAP Malaysia managing director Terrence Yong said disruption is becoming the norm in business.

“This trend will accelerate further for the rest of 2016 and into 2017. As business leaders we need to absorb, understand and adapt with agility and speed to constantly changing circumstances. Decision-makers need to understand the past, predict the future and drive execution while also monitoring, simulating and driving change in real-time,” Yong said.

In Southeast Asia, SAP is so far offering the Digital Boardroom solution in Singapore and Malaysia, with other countries to follow in the future.

The solution will be offered in a fully scalable, multi-tenant environment.

The SAP Digital Boardroom was first launched by SAP at its TechEd conference last October.

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