A new leader to take the helm of SAP Malaysia has been announced today by German software multinational SAP. Saqib Sabah, former Chief Operating Officer of SAP Pakistan, is taking the Managing Director role in SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd to further drive digital transformation in line with the accelerating cloud adoption and digital economy in the country.

Sabah’s new role follows after SAP’s consecutive leadership announcements in the past weeks anchored on helping the organization, its partners, and customers thrive in the new era– from the nomination of Punit Renjen as a new member of the Supervisory Board and as the designated successor to the current Chairman, Professor Dr. Hasso Plattner, to the appointment of Ryan Poggi as Managing Director of SAP UK & Ireland. In the latter part of 2022, several SAP leaders were also given new roles including the appointment of Dr. Carl Jones as SAP Concur South East Asia (SEA) Managing Director, Rudy Abrahams as Managing Director of SAP Philippines, Dominik Asam as the new SAP Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and SAP Executive Board Member, replacing Luka Mucic, and Lloyd Adams as SAP North America President. 

New MD to Continue on the Commitment of SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd 

In July 2022, a national strategic initiative to accelerate the growth of the country’s digital economy for the benefit of Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) was launched by Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob. Dubbed Malaysia Digital, the initiative is driven by the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM) through Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The latest initiative aims to attract and encourage companies, talents, and investment to boost local businesses and bring the Rakyat (citizens) as a key player in the global digital economy.

Through the years, SAP Malaysia has been one of the technology companies supporting the nation’s digital transformation efforts, especially for the SMEs. Most recently, the enterprise software company forged a strategic alliance with leading digital transformation solutions firm UST and another global tech corporation Intel to launch a Customer Experience hub leveraging a local UST Innovation Lab to develop custom-built, innovative solutions for Malaysian enterprises in the Industry 4.0 era. Currently, SAP Malaysia caters to about 1500 customers from across 25 industries, including Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Johor Corporation, and PXL Marketing Sdn Bhd which have adopted the RISE with SAP offering

Now, under the new MD Sabah, SAP Malaysia is determined to continue its support to the country’s advancing digital economy and national transformation objectives according to Verena Siow, President and Managing Director, SAP South East Asia. She said:

“As one of the market leaders in enterprise application software, SAP is committed to help empower our customers and partners to become sustainable, intelligent, and networked enterprises to run at their best. We are proud to have Saqib join us in SAP Malaysia to contribute to driving sustainable success in the cloud, meaningful change, and digital inclusivity to aid in spurring the goal for national competitiveness for all Malaysians.”

Commenting on the country’s progress, Sabah shared:

“I am extremely passionate about Malaysia’s growth and am a firm believer that technology is one of the keys for Malaysia to realize its aspirations of becoming a high-income nation.”

“During and post-pandemic, it has been demonstrated how critical digital technologies are, such as cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), for business continuity and to thrive amid uncertain times. In Malaysia, we have seen more businesses adopting cloud technologies to remain competitive and ensure that they adhere to the demands of their end-user customers,” he added.

Sabah also expressed appreciation of the government’s national strategy, Malaysia Digital.

As the new MD of SAP Malaysia, Sabah will lead the company in enabling Malaysian organizations and communities to embark on today’s pressing challenges, including business transformation in the cloud, creating a resilient supply chain network, and driving a sustainable future. 

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As 2020 nears to a close, many organisations are already looking into a more hopeful 2021 regardless of the coronavirus situation. For SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the aspiration is that the upcoming 2021 Budget will be directed towards supporting small-medium enterprises’ (SMEs) readiness for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4) along with the transition to intelligent technologies on the cloud as well as upskilling and youth employment. 

SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd Managing Director Hong Kok Cheong shared the company’s initiatives and plans that are geared towards economic recovery, supporting SMEs, and empowering the workforce of the future.

A Sustainable Future for SMEs

Earlier this year, Hong has already stressed that technology is the silver lining at these challenging times for SMEs. He encouraged SMEs to consider technology as an investment more than a cost to be able to, first, thrive, and then eventually sustain growth in these uncertain times.

Recently, the SAP Malaysia MD also emphasised that SMEs must equip for IR4 and embrace cutting-edge digital technologies to realise productivity and efficiency gains. He said: 

“The SME landscape is especially crucial as many still lag in technology adoption within their business operations. SAP Malaysia hopes that there will be more SME awareness, before increasing uptake on digital platforms.”

Recognising the pandemic’s impact on Malaysia’s economy, which is currently going through a period of ‘reset’ before the ‘rebound’, Hong explained that now is the time for SMEs to innovate and transform to remain competitive and become intelligent enterprises.

“For SMEs that are complacent with a ‘wait and see’ attitude, they could be left behind – and may even become irrelevant.

In the ‘new norm’, intelligent enterprises can ‘do more with less’, deliver best-in-class customer experience, build resilient supply chains, while inventing new business models and revenue streams,” Hong further said.

Hong previously said that ‘SAP is for everyone’, highlighting SAP Business One (SAP B1) as one of the German company’s ERP software solutions designed for SMEs. Another affordable solution for local SMEs is currently available in the SAP Business One Starter Pack offering developed by a local solutions provider priced from RM1,488.

Upskilling the Workforce

Before COVID-19, the ICT industry in Malaysia has been significantly contributing to the country’s journey towards becoming a high-income knowledge-based economy. With the pandemic happening, SAP Malaysia has focused on ‘people first’ policies and initiatives for economic recovery and the wellbeing and sustainability of livelihoods. 

The SAP Malaysia MD stated the need for upskilling of present employees to become the ‘workforce of the future’ and address the shortage of qualified talents in emerging roles. He stressed that every member of the workforce including the C-suite should upskill to survive and thrive in the new world of work. He said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for companies to move towards a ‘digital first’ workforce.” 

He shared that the company’s training and technology-enabled learning initiatives will be announced within Budget 2021.

Prioritising the Youth

Referring to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) study stating that 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of core skills would change by 2025 with some 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of all employees needing re-skilling by that time, Hong foresees further increase due to the rising demand for digital tools and processes.

“We support the government’s lead to continuously promote access to digital technologies coupled with digital literacy and transferable skills. Youth employment should be prioritised coupled with initiatives to improve online learning experiences,” Hong stated.

For the young learners, aside from partnering with ASEAN Foundation in hosting ASEAN Data Science Explorers at both national and regional levels, SAP also collaborates with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on the MyUniAlliance programme. The programme provides training for some three thousand students annually. These initiatives aim to encourage youths to embrace analytics skills through various projects that would benefit communities and countries.

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Many businesses, both global enterprises and SMEs, have been caught off-guard with the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in their operations. Organisations are compelled to rethink their business strategies in congruence with consistently evolving government protocols surrounding the crisis. In Malaysia, Movement Control Order (MCO), the country’s preventive measure to COVID-19 enforcing non-essential businesses to close, has been in effect since March.

 For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong has found technology as its silver lining at these challenging times. Specifically, the MD highlighted the opportunity for SMEs to leverage SAP Business One software for business continuity amidst the pandemic and after MCO is lifted.

“The MCO has demonstrated how technology continues to play an ever-increasing important role in supporting business continuity while increasing the accuracy and accessibility of data, information management, and reporting analysis,” Hong said in a recent statement.

“The MCO also demonstrated the importance of digitisation and moving away from human-managed interfaces and toward machine learning and automated processes,” he added.

The MD stressed that the need for technology advancement will be of high importance even post-MCO. He clarified though that, above all, human connection and expertise play a significant role in the decision-making and communications process to protect and enhance the brand, operations, customers, and various stakeholders.

SMEs’ Silver Lining

Though some SMEs are technology-ready to seamlessly continue business operations in the COVID-19 environment, there are still some that haven’t explored the opportunities of digitalisation. Hong explained and encouraged SMEs to consider technology as an investment more than a cost to be able to, first, thrive, and then eventually sustain growth in these uncertain times. Many software solutions are now made available, scalable, and competitively priced for SMEs to take advantage of.

SAP Malaysia Managing Director explained:

“Technology serves as a business enabler that paves the way for greater productivity, operational efficiencies, and cost-savings.”

“This is a crucial point of a digital transformation journey which SMEs should recognise to overcome the fear that such a process might incur unexpectedly high cost,” he further said.

According to Hong, ‘SAP is for everyone’. SMEs can also evolve into an intelligent enterprise with the right technology. He highlighted SAP Business One (SAP B1) as one of the German company’s ERP software solutions designed for SMEs. Hong said:

“What SAP B1 does is automate key business functions in financials, operations, and human resources so that SMEs can derive greater efficiencies within their operations.”

“SAP is at the forefront of 25 various industries, and we can help SMEs learn from larger enterprises such as making their supply chain process shorter and more effective,” he stressed.

Designed for small and midsize businesses, SAP Business One offers an affordable way to several key business areas. It is a single, integrated solution that captures all critical business information for immediate access and company-wide use. The SAP ERP solution boasts of its modularity and flexibility having more than 500 add-on solutions, custom-made to industries, or special functions.

Hong said that intelligent enterprises leverage technology-enabled capabilities to collect and connect data that was previously unrecognized in resolving challenges. In a changing market, technology enables organisations to respond accordingly in no time. 

Encouraging SMEs to become intelligent enterprises, the SAP Malaysia Head further explained: 

“What’s more, intelligent enterprises are able to better collect insights from customers, employees, products, and brands at every touch point, use powerful technology to sense opportunities, risks, and trends and turn this intelligence into action across every part of the business.”

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