MDeC – IDC Partnership Launches Second Volume of the CIO Survival Guide Series

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 April 2014 – The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) today announced the second volume of the CIO Survival Guide educational workshop series in partnership with technology market intelligence firm, International Data Corporation (IDC). This continuous effort is aimed at helping Malaysian CIOs to cope with the rapidly changing technological landscape and to better equip them to be more efficient in addressing challenges associated with surviving and thriving in a rapidly changing and competitive marketplace.

Themed "Survival of the Cloud Fittest", the second workshop will examine different stages of cloud development among Malaysian IT organizations and provides solutions to improving the assimilation rate of new services into leading companies. Selected Malaysian CIOs will work with both MDeC and IDC to participate at the workshop which is set to take place on 22 May 2014, Thursday at Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur.

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, MDeC Chief Executive Officer said “The cloud continues to radically modify technology engagement and uptake among enterprises through a highly accessible and flexible internet-based technology. Malaysian SMEs are also starting to embrace the idea of subscription-based business solutions delivered over the Internet. While cloud adoption in Malaysia is on the upward trend, countries such as Singapore and South Korea are still ahead of us. Thus, it is important for us to step up our efforts. This is the fundamental goal of the second volume of the CIO Survival Guide. MDeC, via MSC Malaysia, and Digital Malaysia, will continue to provide avenues for both enterprises and local SMEs to seek the right type of cloud services that are suited to their needs as we migrate into a digital economy.

According to IDC, the rapid acceptance of the four key technologies (Cloud, Big Data, Mobility and Social Media) that change the delivery, control, management and security of the IT environment is one of the challenges face by most CIOs. The key for enterprises to effectively overcome the challenge is the need to use these new technologies effectively and to adopt a new delivery model that is flexible, scalable and cost effective rapid deployment. Cloud models fulfill the underlying needs of enterprises; however, many CIOs are ill-prepared for the new challenges that come with cloud.

“For Malaysian enterprises, a rapidly expanding range of cloud services are readily available – from those that replace basic infrastructure through to advanced mobile apps. However, IDC has observed a gap between the often extensive potential of the available cloud services and the legacy app-focused capabilities of Malaysian IT groups,” said Chris Morris, Associate Vice President, Services Asia Pacific, Lead Analyst, Cloud Services & Technologies, IDC Australia.

Morris further elaborated, “The gap is apparent as a lack of experience and skills to implement and manage cloud environments effectively. To overcome this capability gap, it is necessary to invest not just in technology, but in people and processes too. With Line-of-Business (LoB) managers now frequently funding 50% of a cloud project, their different expectations must be met; they're indifferent to the technology and only seek improvement in their business results. Cloud services must be managed and optimized for the target business environment to deliver full value.”

The first CIO Survival Guide workshop, "The Information Enabled Enterprise Summit" was held in June last year and participated by 59 senior ICT decision-makers. The summit focused on the improvement of organizations’ ability to be more strategic with IT investments and ensured the IT strategies aligned to business strategies and goals.