Time is ripe to embrace digitalisation, says MPC

The time is now ripe for Malaysia to embrace and adopt digitalisation to fulfil the nation’s aspiration to become an advanced economy, said Malaysia Productivity Corp (MPC) director-general, Datuk Abdul Latif Abu Seman today.

He said, through digitalisation, Malaysia will be able to boost economic growth and ensure the people’s well-being, adding that the country needs highly-skilled and well-trained human capital that are motivated towards higher-value and knowledge-based activities.

“MPC has adopted several online platforms to assist businesses in mitigating the Movement Control Order’s (MCO) impact as well as to support productivity of industries and business growth.

“The Unified Public Consultation (UPC) portal is one of the online platforms that MPC initiated to obtain public feedback on amendments to existing regulations and the drafting of new regulations,” he said in a speech during the MPC Productivity Report 2020’s virtual launch today.

Abdul Latif said more than 10,000 users have registered on the UPC portal to provide their feedback and recommendations, and the MPC had also held more than 100 webinars which saw over 30,000 participants as of May 2020.

He added that at the same time, more than 200 companies had applied for MPC’s Business Virtual Advisory Clinics, which recorded a satisfaction level of 93 per cent.

Meanwhile, MPC chairman Tian Chua said the agency has successfully leveraged technology and digitalisation in its operations, utilising digital and online platforms for public-private engagements and collaborations in adapting to the new norm.

According to MPC’s study on COVID-19’s impact on productivity, the MCO compelled many industries to leverage technology faster to ensure business sustainability and delivery.

“Hence, MPC also took the opportunity to pursue productivity culture-building programmes with industries and other government agencies by leveraging various digital platforms, namely ‘Webinar’ and ‘GoToMeeting’,” said Tian Chua.

He added that MPC will continue to facilitate productivity initiatives that will unleash incremental gains in boosting the country’s productivity and competitiveness. - BERNAMA