KUALA LUMPUR, 18 NOVEMBER 2008 - The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM) has launched the country’s inaugural Outsourcing Malaysia Conference 2008 to galvanise and promote the sector internationally.
Malaysian deputy minister of science, technology and innovation, Tuan Haji Fadillah Yusof launched the three-day event—organised by PIKOM’s Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) chapter—at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Outsourcing Malaysia chairman David Wong said: “Outsourcing Malaysia, as the voice and leader for the outsourcing industry in the country, is looking at ways to assist our members in providing outsourcing and shared services. Currently, we feel there is still a lack of depth in the understanding and knowledge of the outsourcing industry in this country, which is what we hope to address by organising this conference.”
Around 200 participants from local corporations, multinational companies, potential investors, investors, government and government-linked corporations are expected to attend the event.
Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) is an initiative of the outsourcing industry and a chapter of PIKOM. With the support from its institutional partners i.e. the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV), and senior leaders from the global services industry, this outsourcing consortium aims to promote the capabilities and competencies of the Malaysian outsourcing industry.
Increased demand in tough times
“The event’s timing is perfect, as it capitalises on the outsourcing boom,” said Wong. “Many might not be aware that there is actually increased demand in outsourcing services during tough economic times and even in a recession, as companies look at outsourcing as a way to bring down overall costs without sacrificing productivity and quality, as well as to allow them to focus on their core competencies.”
He said the conference programme included keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, networking sessions and exhibition by participating companies and sponsors, such as MDeC, IBM, MSC Cyberport Johor, Kelly Outsourcing & Consulting Group, Mavcap, T-Systems, PIKOM, Basis Bay, VADS, Kompakar, Vantage Point Consulting, Cuscapi, and others.
Exchange of documents
The deputy minister also witnessed the exchange of documents between Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) with India-based ValueNotes on market intelligence and locally-grown multinational educational institution Asia eUniversity on human resource development, as part of the association’s initiatives to grow the Outsourcing and Shared Services industry in the country.
According to Outsourcing Malaysia’s Wong, “Valuenotes and Asia eUniversity cooperation are expected to strengthen the industry’s market intelligence and sustainable human resource requirements.”
“There is still a lot of untapped potential in the outsourcing industry in the country,” said Wong. “Our shared services and outsourcing sector is growing at twice the global rate of 15 per cent and we have every potential to hit our target of US$2 billion (RM7 billion) by the year 2012.”
