WORKING FOR THE BEST OF LOCAL ICT INDUSTRY (from left): Stan Singh, Organising Chairman of Software and Services (PS³) Showcase; Wei Chuan Beng, Organising Chair of National ICT Month (NIM) 2009; David Wong, PIKOM's Chairman; and C.J. Ang, President of PIKOM, at the recent Impact Briefing highlighting events of the upcoming National ICT Month.
KUALA LUMPUR, 3 JULY 2009 – Key issues plaguing the Malaysian ICT industry are to be addressed during National ICT Month (NIM) 2009, according to the National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM), which is organising the government-backed initiative.
“NIM 2009, which is scheduled from 20 July to 20 August, has the key objective of further creating awareness, generating demand, and addressing issues and opportunities represented by its theme of ‘ICT - The Enabler of New Success’,” said PIKOM chairman David Wong Nan Fay.
“NIM has various programmes that will benefit businesses, government, academia and society across Malaysia,” said Wong. “I am confident that this initiative will do its fair share of good, benefitting and serving the business ecosystem and communities in the bigger and smaller towns and cities throughout Malaysia. These, in return, will definitely increase the ICT interest among Malaysians from all walks of life.”
“PIKOM will release its first research publication, ICT Strategic Review 2009/10: Innovation, The Way Forward,” said PIKOM president C.J. Ang. “The objective of this inaugural publication is to share the Malaysian ICT sectoral outlook with members, industry leaders, government agencies, media and the public. Recognising the diversity and complexities as well as emerging ICT trends, the inaugural publication will provide coverage on grants, policies, and market and industry information.”
The programme is co-organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and supported by the government agency Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). The platinum sponsors include government agencies Malaysia Debt Ventures and MIMOS. Gold sponsors include Accenture Malaysia, Acer Sales and Services, BriteSoft Solutions, Cisco Systems, MOL Access Portal, REDtone International and SNT Global.
First integrated approach
“For the very first time, we will be witnessing month-long ICT activities that encompass a leadership summit, exhibitions across the nation, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, buy online campaign, regional chapter seminars and introducing for the very first time, an ICT strategic review,” said Wong.
“Malaysians will also experience an online shopping month through the Buy Online Campaign,” he said. “Consumers will be able to experience discounts from more than 200 merchants and special daily and weekly promotions via www.mybeli.com. The objective is to drive business to commerce (B2C) e-commerce activities.”
He said PIKOM software and services showcase (PS3) 2009 would also be held for the third time since last year’s WCIT (World Congress on IT). The two-day exhibition will run in parallel with the leadership summit at the KL Convention Centre. “PS3 will bring together business potential for sellers and buyers of enterprise software and services. This year will see 64 exhibition booths offering solutions from the whole spectrum of the software and services value chain.”
Decline in spending
“Late last year, PIKOM forecasted Malaysia’s ICT growth in 2009 at five per cent compared to its earlier forecast of seven per cent in 2008 which is in negative contrast to the double-digit growths achieved in 2007 and prior,” he said. “However, at the end of the first quarter this year, PIKOM is seriously contemplating revising this downwards as we foresee organisations (especially small and medium enterprises) may revaluate their ICT spending and budgets and decide on a more conservative path for the immediate future.”
“Meanwhile, on the consumer’s side, we anticipate a decline in spending in the near term as experienced in our first edition of PC Fair 2009 that was organised across 13 cities and towns throughout the nation recently,” said Wong. “Although the numbers of visitors have gone up by six per cent, actual buying power among consumers was down by about 10 per cent. We believe this downtrend will continue throughout the year in line with the government’s outlook of a negative GDP growth of negative four per cent in 2009.”
“During these times of uncertainty, organisations will want to re-evaluate their ICT spending and budgets and therefore, embark on a more conservative path going forward,” he said. “However, we strongly believe ICT will continue to be the key enabler that offers businesses the strategic tools to lower operational costs and improve efficiency and productivity.”
