Malaysian economy to gain $10bn from digital transformation by 2021

A new study, undertaken in partnership by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and Microsoft, has revealed that digital transformation could contribute over $10bn to Malaysia’s GDP by 2021, increasing the economic growth rate by 0.6% annually.

The survey constitutes of 1,560 key business decision makers from mid-to-large sized organisations across 15 regional economies, with 100 of these respondents being situated in Malaysia.

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“Malaysia is clearly on the digital transformation fast track,” said K Raman, Microsoft Malaysia’s Managing Director. “Within the next four years, we expect to see nearly 45 per cent of Malaysia’s GDP to be derived from digital products and services.”

The study revealed that around 85% of organisations in Malaysia are in the midst of their digital transformation journey, whilst only 7% can be considered to be digital leaders, outlining that significant transformation investment is still to come across these organisations.

The report highlighted five key benefits of digital transformation – productivity improvements, higher profit margins, cost reduction, increased revenue, and improved customer advocacy.

Further, on average, leaders experience twice the benefits compared to those who are yet to complete their transformation, with the IDC claiming that organisations will invest heavily in order to obtain these benefits and remain competitive.

“To remain competitive, organisations must establish new metrics, realign organisation structures, and re-architect their technology platform,” said Asia/Pacific digital transformation practice lead research director Daniel-Zoe Jimenez.