With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Chandran brings a wealth of expertise in building successful teams, nurturing partnerships, and delivering effective cloud transformations for clients. His appointment comes at a crucial time as Malaysia continues to solidify its position as a regional digital powerhouse.

As the Managing Director of SAP Malaysia, Chandran will focus on enhancing the digital transformation capabilities of organizations in the country and propelling their growth in the rapidly evolving AI economy. He will also prioritize assisting businesses in developing resilient and agile supply chains while fostering a more sustainable future.

Chandran expressed his enthusiasm for taking on this role, stating that Malaysia’s digital economy remains one of the nation’s most robust and rapidly growing sectors, contributing to more than 23 percent of its GDP in the previous year. He also highlighted the government’s commitment to further transforming the country into a regional digital hub, as evident in the latest Budget. Chandran looks forward to collaborating closely with both public and private sector organizations to navigate the dynamic landscape together.

Chandran’s Journey with SAP SEA and Vision for the Future

Vipin Chandran joined SAP in 2008 and has held various leadership positions within the company. Before his appointment as Managing Director of SAP Malaysia, he served as the Chief Partner Officer at SAP Southeast Asia. In this role, he spearheaded cloud sales for the region and was responsible for empowering the success of over 500 partner organizations. Prior to that, Chandran held various sales, services, and partner leadership roles across different regions, gaining valuable experience and insights.

Verena Siow, President and Managing Director of SAP SEA, expressed her excitement about Chandran’s appointment, describing him as the driving force behind customers and partners harnessing the transformative power of the cloud and Business AI. She believes that under his leadership, businesses will accelerate towards a sustainable, intelligent, and networked future.

SAP’s Presence and Impact in Malaysia

SAP has a strong presence in Malaysia, with notable companies such as Petronas, Johor Corporation, and BABA’s leveraging the power of SAP’s cloud solutions to drive their digital transformation journeys. These organizations have recognized the value of SAP’s innovative technologies in optimizing their operations, enhancing customer experiences, and achieving sustainable growth.

SAP’s commitment to Malaysia extends beyond providing cutting-edge solutions. The company actively engages with the local ecosystem, collaborating with partners, academia, and government agencies to foster digital literacy, nurture talent, and drive innovation. Through initiatives such as the SAP University Alliances program and the SAP Training and Development Institute, SAP aims to bridge the digital skills gap and empower the next generation of professionals.

As Malaysia continues to embrace digital transformation across various sectors, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and public services, SAP remains well-positioned to support organizations in their journey towards becoming intelligent enterprises. With Vipin Chandran at the helm of SAP Malaysia, the company is poised to strengthen its partnerships, deliver value to customers, and contribute to the nation’s digital economy growth.

The appointment of Vipin Chandran as Managing Director of SAP Malaysia reflects SAP’s commitment to the country’s digital transformation agenda. With his extensive experience, strategic vision, and deep understanding of the local market, Chandran is set to lead SAP Malaysia in empowering organizations to harness the full potential of technology and thrive in the dynamic digital landscape.

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Former SAP Malaysia Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong has previously stated that as a result of the tremendous changes brought on by digital transformation, customers’ demands are shifting to sustainable products and services. He pointed out that individuals are considering an organization’s environmental commitment when deciding where to work. Furthermore, Hong noted that it is indeed crucial to invest in new technologies and innovations that help advance the economy and society without compromising natural resources.

For example, SAP Golder Partner Synnove Systems assisted Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd in migrating their SAP landscape to SAP HANA. The electrical company was able to upgrade its ability to forecast future energy power production with greater precision thanks to its digital transformation initiative. Hong referred to the SAP customer as a great example of a “forward-thinking organization on its way to becoming a world-class utility.”

Another Malaysian company that has recently embraced digital transformation is state-owned conglomerate Johor Corporation. The partnership with SAP intends to help the business achieve its goal of becoming a sustainable digital enterprise and will speed up the company’s pursuit of its Membina & Membela mission.

Johor Corporation’s commitment to investing in technology is evident in its latest joint venture with Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd to build and co-develop a tech-enabled logistics park in Sedenak Technology Valley. Leasing and facility management, logistics 4.0 system integration, transportation services, and last-mile operations are all crucial components of the project. The two companies’ statement said that warehouses and factories may be customized to meet the needs of tenants in the large-scale sustainable development.

According to YBhg Datuk Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim, President and Chief Executive of Johor Corporation, the company’s dedication to long-term wealth creation and its efforts to have an effect on youth development and empowerment. In addition, he said that the corporation sees technology and digitalization as an enabler that helps it build on its “JCorp 3.0 Reinvention” strategy. With this, Johor Corporation strives to create additional cloud-based business models and revenue streams by harnessing the power of cloud.

“With RISE with SAP, we can empower our employees to operate with increased visibility, focus and agility. By integrating data and analytics, we are able to scale our ecosystem, increase revenue and accelerate growth while future-proofing our business strategy which includes diversification of new verticals, embracing disruptive technologies while also nurturing a controlled ecosystem based on data, analytics, IoT (Internet of Things), and partnerships,” JCorp’s CEO explained.

JCorp Rises with SAP Business Process Transformation Cloud Offering

The State of Johor relies on Johor Corporation as its primary development institution and a key economic facilitator. With offices in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore, the company serves a wide region. As part of Johor Corporation’s new partnership with SAP, the German tech giant will oversee all aspects of its digital transformation.

The companies’ collaboration will cover service level agreements and business operations to the design and implementation of a real-time system powered by SAP S/4HANA Cloud — a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that incorporates intelligent technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and a host of others. Significant cost savings can be achieved through automation and optimization of systems, productivity and efficiency can both increase, and the user experience can be streamlined thanks to the connected platform.

Moreover, Johor Corporation plans to further its collaboration with SAP in the future by expanding the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy, which is now a part of every investment process and Group decision. Ahmad Yusri Mohamed, Chief Digital Officer at Johor Corporation, affirmed that they are always searching for new ways to improve their processes as part of their effort to become a value-driven organization. He added:

“RISE with SAP further enhances the digitalisation of the Finance functions using Analytics and AI in its analysis and reporting of planning, budgeting and forecasting. Ultimately, we can make quick, informed and accurate decisions, initiate strategic changes if required as well as better allocate our resources within JCorp’s lean organization.”

SAP Malaysia Interim Managing Director Cynthia Quah maintained that the latest partnership will allow JCorp to use SAP’s technology to its full potential, bolstering the company’s ability to weather economic storms and redefining Malaysia’s green economy for the better.

“This is very much in line with SAP’s aspiration to create positive economic, environmental, and social impact by harnessing technology to drive sustainability at scale,” she concluded.

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TEG’s status as a premier institution for education from pre-K through graduate school in Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam was earned throughout the course of its 60-year history. The Malaysia-based education holdings company is always striving to deliver educational excellence at every stage of its students’ journeys by leveraging the resources of Taylor’s University, the British University of Vietnam, Taylor’s College, and a network of highly successful international schools.

In November last year, global investment firm KKR and TEG announced the signing of agreements that will result in KKR acquiring a minority ownership in Taylor’s Schools. Taylor’s Schools is the owner and operator of six international schools, all of which have won prestigious accolades. These are Taylor’s International School Puchong, Taylor’s International School Kuala Lumpur, Australian International School Malaysia, Nexus International School Malaysia, Nexus International School Singapore, and Garden International School. The investment made by KKR sets the stage for Taylor’s Schools to experience accelerated growth and regional expansion.

According to Puven Nalatambi, Vice President of Group Human Resources at TEG, the company made the decision to redesign its human resources (HR) systems and processes in order to strengthen its track record as one of the leading education providers in Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. The goal of the transformation project was to enable the team to deliver meaningful and engaging experiences that would assist employees in learning, growing, and becoming even more productive.

TEG’s goal in updating its HR information systems (HRIS) to a centralized platform was to allow its HR professionals more time to focus on the employee experience rather of mundane administrative responsibilities. Furthermore, the company will be better prepared for the next 50 years of business by creating a dynamic, engaging workplace through the implementation of an HR Shared Services Centre that centralizes HR activities and gives employees access to self-service features.

Leveraging SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur Solutions

TEG teamed up with NTT DATA, an SAP Partner with more than three decades of experience with SAP technologies, to help design and build its new centralized HR platform and the resulting experiences. It can be noted that NTT DATA made a major impact by introducing best practices from industry leaders in the field of human resources, which aided TEG in keeping abreast of the latest developments and pinpointing spots in its own HR infrastructure and procedures that needed attention.

“Working with the SAP SuccessFactors team and NTT Data, TEG was also able to localize the solutions for different markets to fulfill legal mandates and gain peace of mind. With the SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur solutions in place, TEG now has a powerful platform to help transform the employee experience,” Nalatambi explained.

Furthermore, Nalatambi stated that SAP solutions are assisting TEG in its ongoing digital transformation journey, which aims to streamline HR procedures, increase employee satisfaction, and solidify TEG’s status as an employer of choice in the education industry. She added:

“Using SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite in offering a one-stop solution for all our employees’ HR needs is a transformative step. It shows our people that we are putting their experience at the centre of everything we do.”

Meanwhile, SAP SEA Vice President and the company’s current Head of Cloud SAP’s Cynthia Quah shared that the tech giant is dedicated to helping businesses become sustainable, intelligent enterprises. She noted that the market-leading cloud solution SAP SuccessFactors is a human experience management (HXM) product that is well-known for its ability to streamline procedures, succeed in the recruitment and retention process, and educate and re-skill employees.

“SAP brings together the solutions, technology and best practices needed to run integrated, digital business processes in the cloud,” Quah concluded.

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According to Asian Development Bank (ADB) data, there are at least 71 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) formally operating in Southeast Asia, accounting for 97% of all businesses in the region and employing 67% of the working population in 2020. With MSME’s 40.5% contribution to each country’s average gross domestic product and 19.2% of total export value, the sector’s development and digitalization have become front and center of many nation’s growth strategies. Specifically, Southeast Asian businesses are rapidly adopting digital technologies and platforms to streamline business processing, widen their market reach, and strengthen local logistics networks.

In Malaysia, one of the innovative SMEs that have embarked on a digital transformation to make headway for post-pandemic operations is PXL Marketing Sdn Bhd, one of the country’s fastest-growing companies in the food packaging distribution industry. The disposable food packaging supplier selected SAP Business One– a software solution designed for SMEs to give them total control to scale growth leveraging a complete set of tools to help them efficiently manage processes, from accounting and financials to purchasing and inventory management.

“SAP Business One was our technology of choice in preparation for PXL’s Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) readiness along with the transition to intelligent technologies on the cloud to realize our business aspirations,” stated PXL Marketing Managing Director Keith Tan. “It has been instrumental in helping PXL connect and streamline processes, while also serving as a catalyst of growth.”

Leveraging SAP Business One ERP to Become a Sustainable, Intelligent Enterprise 

Keith emphasized that sustainability is at the core of the company’s operations as a manufacturer of disposable food packaging. Demonstrating PXL’s corporate culture, which is to always ‘do the right thing’, the company’s products are eco-friendly to ensure a minimal negative impact on the environment. Along with its sustainability initiatives, PXL is forging ahead in the post-pandemic era with robust business growth and enhanced customer experience as top priorities.

The PXL CEO shared that the company had a fair share of pandemic challenges like many others, from which they learned the significant role of technology. Keith detailed that the company was impacted by the global supply chain problem brought by the Suez Canal blockage in March 2021and the closure of several of China’s main ports due to Covid-19 outbreaks. These two major incidents affected the availability of raw materials, further disrupting the supply chain industry.

“From the observation and learnings, we gathered since the early days of the pandemic, PXL has taken pre-emptive measures to increase stock capacity,” he explained. “We started the process in Q4 2021 to relocate into a bigger warehouse facility in Malaysia’s Bukit Jalil Integrated Business Park.”

“Thanks to SAP Business One which provided better alignment between the sales and supply chain teams, PXL benefited from better inventory monitoring and stock projection to ensure better stock management for PXL’s consumers,” Keith added.

Realising Digital Transformation

Leveraging SAP B1, PXL witnessed:

• 30% increase in productivity brought by an improved inventory and warehouse management system

• Enabled integration between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with the PXL integrated portal, providing enhanced data insights for delivery while also improving versatility and access

• Supported remote collaboration, including internal sales training and customer consultations, in compliance with Movement Control Order (MCO), the Malaysian Government’s initiative in response to Covid-19.

Highlighting how SAP Business One ERP has streamlined management and connectivity across PXL’s different departments, Keith commented:

“SAP’s CRM and Opportunity Module was timely implemented for us to digitize our processes and maximize our work-from-home resources. The data extraction and integration capabilities have helped empower our Supply Chain Department to conduct forecasts for our exclusive customers to accomplish the company’s achievement beyond the industry standard.”

Kenneth dela Cerna, SAP Business One Business Leader said:

“SAP Business One is SAP’s solution for small and midsize businesses, such as PXL, to grow in its digital transformation. It offers an affordable way to manage an entire business by helping companies streamline processes, act on timely information, and drive profitable growth.”

PXL was awarded The Small but Mighty – Emerging Enterprise Award for Small and Midsize Enterprises (SMEs) in the inaugural SAP Best Run Awards 2021.

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During the virtual event titled Transform Tomorrow, Today 2022, SAP customers, industry professionals, and specialists in the South East Asian region shared the same platform and joined together to offer key insights on transitioning from a state of crisis to an enterprise driven by growth and sustainability. In a discussion called In Conversation with SAP Customers​: Progressing in a State of Hyper-Change​, Dialog Malaysia Director of Corporate Strategy Ngau Wu Wei explained how the company overcame disruption, gained operation efficiencies, and lowered costs to enable innovation by utilizing SAP solutions.

Dialog Group Bhd provides its services to a wide variety of clients all over the world, including international energy giants, national energy businesses, and multinational engineering and service providers. In addition to its headquarters in Malaysia, the company maintains branch offices and locations in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Dialog Group Bhd Chief Financial Officer Zainab Mohd Salleh recently delivered a speech at a signing ceremony where other attendees included the SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong and representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which is Dialog Group Bhd’s chosen strategic systems implementation partner. According to him, one of the six primary long-term goals that the company is focusing on is the creation of proprietary technologies.

The CFO added that the business needs to undergo a digital transformation if it wants to improve the operational efficiencies and overall productivity of its many different subsidiaries and linked organizations. On partnering with SAP for its digital transformation project, John Thornton, Managing Director of Business Excellence at Dialog Group Bhd, stated:

“At Dialog, we view SAP as a key digital enabler, and the powerful technologies implemented are set to further enhance value creation for the business and stakeholders.”

Becoming a Data-Driven Organization with the Latest Technologies from SAP

The intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform SAP S4/HANA is one of the solutions that Dialog Group Bhd has implemented. Other solutions include SAP Concur and SAP’s cloud-based procurement platform SAP Ariba. SAP Malaysia MD Hong believes SAP Concur has a solid track record and is one of the largest players in integrated travel and expense (T&E) and invoice management solutions.

Hong added that SAP has a solid reputation for delivering intelligent, integrated solutions that allow those in the oil and gas industries to optimize their day-to-day business operations and better deal with clients, suppliers, and their own staff. After completing the implementation of the abovementioned SAP solutions, Dialog Group Bhd aims to realize enhanced operational efficiencies, as well as standardized and streamlined business processes.

Moreover, the company also hopes to have increased data visibility and insights, which would allow them to make better strategic decisions. Hong said that as a result of the new technologies made available through the RISE with SAP agreement, Dialog Group Bhd would be provided with a platform that could be scaled to accommodate future expansion as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) endeavors.

This month, Dialog Systems (Asia) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dialog Group Bhd based in Singapore, entered into a conditional agreement with Pan Orient Energy Corp to buy the latter company’s whole ownership investment. The Malaysian business stated that the proposed acquisition would be its first upstream investment outside the country for established upstream oil-producing assets. This would clear the way for the organization to advance further up the value chain in the upstream sector.

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In February last year, SAP Malaysia Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong voiced his support for the MyDIGITAL initiative which is a core component of the National Digital Economy Blueprint. He referred to it as a significant “breakthrough yet realistic” digital vision for transforming the economy of the Southeast Asian economy into a technologically superior one. The SAP MD also believed that this strategy can serve as a form of motivation for local businesses, particularly SMEs, to establish resilient IT infrastructure, and utilize cloud solutions in order to increase efficiency and productivity levels.

To bolster the support given to SMEs in the country, partners of both SAP and Microsoft Malaysia recently offered to work closely with local businesses to handle the entirety of their business transformation process. This would include service-level agreements, operations, and the resolution of any problems that may inevitably arise during migration. According to Hong, SAP’s collaboration with Microsoft for the SAP Business One (SBO) RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure program is driven by the Malaysian Government’s call for local enterprises to shift to cloud computing.

Moreover, SAP and Microsoft’s joint solution was released after the National Tech Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) encouraged local companies to accelerate their digital transformation efforts in order to maintain a competitive advantage in the Asian region. Malik Murad Ali, the Chairman of the PIKOM CIO Chapter (PCC), stated that digital transformation is essential for building strategies while addressing prospects and difficulties in an environment that has been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“Local businesses should not be intimidated by digital transformation but view it as an enabler for growth. The SME landscape is especially crucial as many still lag in technology adoption within their business operations,” he added.

SAP and Microsoft Support SMEs Through Joint Offering

SAP Business One aims to help customers fuel profitable growth by gaining greater control over their businesses or subsidiaries, simplifying core processes, and improving decision-making based on real-time data. Additionally, the SME solution can be deployed both on-premise and in the cloud, can be integrated with the SAP HANA platform, and has business intelligence capabilities.

“Local SMEs’ readiness for the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the transition to intelligent technologies on the cloud is a critical thrust to realize this aspiration. SBO is known for connecting and streamlining processes, serving as a catalyst of growth for numerous SMEs in Malaysia and throughout the world,” the SAP MD shared in a statement.

On the other hand, Azure — Microsoft’s global cloud platform optimized for SAP S/4HANA — allows integration with SAP applications and data with Microsoft Teams and Office to increase employee collaboration and improve the user experience (UX). K Raman, Managing Director at Microsoft Malaysia, said the company hopes to provide SMEs a point of entry into a digital transformation that is both accessible and economical through its partnership with SAP Malaysia and the launch of SBO RISE on Azure.

The SBO RISE on Azure intends to help SMEs reduce costs and complexity, as well as provide a secure cloud framework that would keep them protected against cyberattacks, by leveraging both artificial intelligence (AI) and automation capabilities. SAP MD Hong also added that the arrangement using the company’s Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering ensures that SMEs have all they need to streamline their transformation journeys without having to make significant upfront investments.

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Technology enterprise SAP has been enabling many organisations of all sizes across industries to cushion the impact of COVID-19 with intelligent solutions and help them survive, thrive, and accelerate digital transformation. Internally, SAP has committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of its people and helping their lives run better together, especially during these uncertain times. 

Since the launch of SAP’s completely flexible and trust-based workplace approach in June last year, several offices in Asia Pacific have already embraced Pledge to Flex and the hybrid workplace design including SAP Thailand, SAP Southeast Asia (SAP SEA) in Singapore, and SAP Labs India. Most recently, SAP Malaysia has also announced that the company will be implementing the tech giant’s modern workplace framework.

“At SAP Malaysia, as with elsewhere in the world where SAP is represented, we are constantly thinking of ways to continuously position ourselves as an employer of choice, and this includes an employee-centred human resources (HR) work model focused on flexibility,” stated Hong Kok Cheong, SAP Malaysia Managing Director.

Championing Flexibility at Workplace 

As one of the long-standing key players in Malaysia’s IT sector as well as within the APAC region, SAP Malaysia has been at the forefront of modern workplace transformation and has been known to be one of the country’s employers of choice even before COVID-19. Pre-pandemic, the company received the “Best Employee Brand Award” from the Malaysian Institute of Human resources Management, the country’s first professional body promoting the practice of Human Resource Management. This recognition echoes SAP’s commendation as one of Asia’s Best Multinational Workplaces in 2018 by the Great Place to Work (GPTW) Institute.

Today, SAP Malaysia continues accelerating HR innovations anchored on safeguarding the workforce’s wellbeing, health, and safety. Embracing the Pledge to Flex initiative, the tech company’s new MidValley Kuala Lumpur office design covered considerations for a hybrid, flexible workplace to further enhance the employee experience. 

Hong explained that SAP is pursuing optimal talent recruitment and retention, leveraging a data-driven approach in its HR strategy. He emphasised that key factors in adopting modern HR practices are listening to employee feedback and valuing trust, flexibility, and inclusivity to enable the company to become resilient amidst the ever-changing business environment. 

The Pledge to Flex framework in Malaysia is underpinned by technology support from Qualtrics for appreciating employee feedback and SAP SuccessFactors for improving the employee experience. In addition, cloud platforms are also utilised to drive cost-efficient and delivery of quality services across HR operations. Implementing flexibility at workplace supported by the use of intelligent technology and rolling out of policies foresee a collaborative, focused, and inclusive and diverse Malaysian workforce.

“By investing in digital solutions to transform work environments across the company where people can thrive, we hope to create the blueprint for how agile teams can work seamlessly and efficiently in ways that will result in sustainable growth,” Hong commented.

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Last January, Sindhu Gangadharan, Senior Vice President, SAP User Enablement and Managing Director at SAP Labs India, outlined five tech trends to watch out for this year. In the article, she asserted that technology serves as both a crucial driver and a key multiplier in the pursuit of sustainable development at a faster rate than would otherwise be possible. In addition to the top and bottom lines, Gangadharan stated that forward-thinking companies are including sustainability as a third dimension to driving corporate success through the Green Line initiative.

The German enterprise software giant has been leading the way for businesses of all sizes and across sectors to transition into sustainable, intelligent enterprises by leveraging its broad portfolio of cloud-based solutions around the world. With this, SAP has introduced several industry-specific solutions to partners and customers, including SAP data management solutions, designed to drive sustainability at scale and support the circular economy.

In Malaysia, sustainable technology is a particularly rising topic, made even more significant by the fact that it is a major theme under the 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP) — the country’s follow-through program for the development plan called Vision 2020, as well as the 11th Malaysia Plan. SAP continues to build on the momentum of its business strategy in Malaysia, which is aligned with the country’s most recent national initiative. Concentrating on shared prosperity, the program addresses three important aspects, including economic empowerment, environmental sustainability, and social re-engineering, amongst other things.

Accelerating Malaysia’s Sustainability with SAP Technology and Solutions

Given the unprecedented changes in digital transformation, Kok Cheong Hong, Managing Director at SAP Malaysia, noted that customers are now shifting their preferences toward more environmentally friendly products and services. He said that individuals are also making career decisions depending on their employer’s commitment to environmental responsibility. As a result, Hong believes it is critical to invest in innovation that takes into consideration natural resources while also promoting economic and social progress.

“As an enabler, we aim to provide products and services to our customers to reduce their carbon emissions, while also paving the way toward a low-carbon future together,” he remarked.

For instance, SAP customer Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, an electrical corporation that creates, transmits, and distributes power in Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan, migrated its SAP landscape to SAP HANA with the help of Synnove Systems which provides SAP consulting services in the region. Hong dubbed Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd as “a good example of a forward-thinking organisation on its way to becoming a world-class utility.”

Sharing more about how sustainable technology remains one of the most important trends that are expected to scale up for organisations’ wider and more synchronous technological adoption, Hong further explained:

“What could have quickly taken another decade or so was made possible overnight in a lot of industries. This digital mandate isn’t new; it’s simply been brought into sharp focus during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, a paradigm shift towards digitisation and servitisation of the economy was already underway.”

“The chaos induced by the pandemic has simply accelerated this drive, as is evident by the marked shift in organisational spending towards digital businesses,” he concluded.

The post How SAP Technology and Solutions Support Sustainability in Malaysia appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

In recent years, Malaysia has accelerated its digitalisation efforts for both the public and private sectors to keep pace with the fast-evolving digital economy. Correspondingly, German software multinational SAP has also reinforced its growth strategy in the country following the appointment of Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong in 2019.

Under Hong’s leadership, SAP has continued to be at the forefront of Malaysia’s massive digital adoption supporting government initiatives and creating solutions for businesses and the workforce of the country. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, SAP Malaysia has already recognised the need to support SMEs and the future workforce in line with the nation’s economic recovery and digital transformation plans. The tech giant has expressed support to the MyDIGITAL initiative launched in 2021 to propel Malaysia’s digital vision by 2030 underpinned by the “Cloud-First Strategy” among others.

This year, SAP forges ahead on the momentum of the company’s business strategy in Malaysia attuned with the country’s latest national development agenda Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP). Focused on shared prosperity, the initiative covers three key dimensions such as economic empowerment, environmental sustainability, and social re-engineering. 

SAP Backing Twelfth Malaysia Plan  

Globally, SAP has been paving the way for organisations of all sizes across industries to transform into sustainable, intelligent enterprises leveraging the software company’s comprehensive portfolio of cloud-based solutions. SAP has introduced several industry-specific solutions– such as SAP S/4HANA for Waste and Recycling, SAP Intelligent Returns Management, and SAP Responsible Design and Production– to partners and customers to drive sustainability at scale and support a circular economy. 

In Malaysia, SAP MD Hong expressed the company’s sustainability measures that align with 12MP. He highlighted that the initiative’s three pillars–social, environmental, and economic activities and performance– are interconnected and have an impact on each. He stated:

“Our efforts focus on helping to create a sustainable future for Malaysia, our customers, and society at large. For us, it is crucial to be a responsible business that holistically manages our performance and steers our business in an integrated way – connecting financial and non-financial performance.”

One of the goals of the prosperity initiative is to make Malaysia carbon neutral by 2050 by introducing carbon pricing and carbon tax. Similarly, SAP has earlier announced that the company is raising its ambition of achieving net-zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2030, 20 years earlier than its original 2050 timeline. 

Hong explained that enterprises can embed end-to-end sustainability across their operations through digital solutions–from product designing to tracking materials’ lifecycle– that support the principles of the circular economy such as eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and regenerating nature.

“SAP’s data-driven approach lets businesses embed sustainability comprehensively to gain actionable insights across the value chain to enable companies to transition to low-carbon business processes,” Hong added. “We enable businesses to proactively identify the carbon impact at the beginning of the product lifecycle instead of reactively after a product has been produced.

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Founded in 2011, Tune Protect Group provides a variety of specialised non-life insurance coverage options that are tailored to the demands of customers today. The company has built its global footprint in over 60 countries through its general insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries in Malaysia, as well as an associate business in Thailand and a joint venture in the United Arab Emirates.

During last year’s virtual launch of Home Easy and Home Shield — a house owner and householder insurance — Tune Protect Malaysia Chief Executive Officer William Foo stated that the 5.8 million residential properties in the country represent a large portion of the existing market and potential for its products. In response to this optimistic view of the business, Foo referred to the EY 2020 Asia-Pacific Insurance Outlook study, which noted that 94{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of millennials in Malaysia plan to buy a house within the next five years. He said that this reflects a significant opportunity for Tune Protect Malaysia to grow its customer base.

Aiming to expand revenue through affinity and digital partnerships, Tune Protect Group CEO Rohit Chandrasekharan Nambiar shared that the Group currently focuses on three key corporate pillars: health, lifestyle, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In order to achieve maximum productivity and cost savings, Nambiar said that technology is a critical enabler to realise automation that would expedite their operational processes.

With the help of Serole Technologies, an SAP preferred partner in the insurance space, Tune Protect Group implemented SAP S/4HANA Insurance system to provide a platform that will help accommodate client demands. The project is aimed at minimising downtime and delivering faster turnaround time through the following solutions:

• SAP Single Sign-On to centralise and simplify the way users log on to applications and systems.
• SAP Access Control to help streamline the management and validation of user access to on-prem apps and data.
• SAP Process Orchestration, a tool for service-oriented processes integration.
• SAP Analytics Cloud which combines business intelligence (BI), augmented and predictive analytics, and planning capabilities into a unified platform in the cloud.
• and SAP Application Studio.

Tune Protect Drives Business Growth with SAP Insurance on S/4HANA

According to Prasanta Roy, Chief Technology Officer at Tune Protect Group, all parties agreed to deliver the project remotely and that they considered the aspect of risk mitigation due to travel constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He further explained:

“During the selection process, SAP, and their System Integrator partner, Serole, demonstrated the commitment which is in line with our vision, timelines, as well as the knowledge and experience that they have had with other insurers sharing similar business model as ours.”

Tune Protect Group plans to integrate an end-to-end ERP system with built-in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced analytics in order to benefit from its data. According to the company, the centralised and comprehensive insurance core system is also intended to support all of Tune Protect Group’s businesses, including its 17 offices across Malaysia, which employ more than 300 people.

“With this new SAP system in place, our goal is to have an integrated centralised platform that helps us attain better cohesion on products, sales, operations, financials and reporting,” CEO Nambiar added.

Meanwhile, SAP Malaysia Managing Director Kok Cheong Hong, who has consistently emphasised the need for digitalisation and cloud adoption, believes Tune Protect Group is already an ‘intelligent enterprise’ with a solid foundation to reimagine the business, as well as create new market and revenue means. Following its implementation of SAP S/4HANA Insurance system, Hong added that the company will be able to maximise the value of its data assets, converting them into meaningful insights that will help its workforce operate more efficiently. 

“SAP is humbled to be part of Tune Protect’s ambitious digital transformation program and heartened that the Group continues to ‘innovate with purpose’,” Hong expressed.

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