(iii) Support structure in-place:
(a) Clear, practical shared values and statement of purpose.
(b) The most innovative solution can only move an organisation if the
staffs understand and accept it. The desired success and vision can
only be achieved if the employees are actively involved and utilise the
technology provided. They must be constantly introduced to the new
processes over a series of training and personnel development
measures. By this, they can mitigate the fear of digitalisation and
together on board to create long-term benefits of change. Leveraging
on collaborative learning, employees will feel included when tackling
new assignments while seeing that their colleagues are struggling with
a similar challenge.
(iv) Sustainability agenda mindset
(a) With sustainability agenda in mind, every staff will be equipped with
awareness including efforts in reducing the carbon footprint.
Figure 4: Sustainability pillars
(b) For instance, with digitalisation efforts taking place, paper printing can
be reduced. The domino effects from this are not only less electricity
consumption of the printer or the photocopier but also reduced boxes
of paper purchased, less paper waste to be recycled, while the
information can be accessible in digital format at any time of the year.
Physical storage for archiving will be less, and energy consumption in
maintaining a conducive environment for record preservation can be
gradually reduced. Additionally, this disruptive technology also
contributes to the integrity use of office facilities. By automated printing
event log monitoring via individual staff ID, less misuse of the property
is a gained advantage.
(c) Besides the paperless working environment, motion detection sensors
were installed in public space in the department. The sensor is a
device that is used for detecting movement in a certain range in front
or around the detector. Thus, will contribute to lower energy
consumption.
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(v) Internal staff empowerment with worldwide-recognised certification
(a) To strengthen the implementation, recognition to home-grown talent
must be initiated and continuous. Digital transformation in government
indicates a need for a significant shift in policy making; that delivery of
public services made possible by digital technologies. For instance, in
the current setup, only a few government posts are recognised
professionally. Some of them, though they are certified, incapable of
practicing related works due to different job scopes. In the current
approach, the government mostly relies on private-public
collaboration.
(b) Empowerment through Human Resource Policy in developing internal
champions must be combined with credit to certified government
personnel, besides providing directives. However, a professionally
certified officer with various unrelated job scope, not only de-
motivating, yet the government to lose the talent and continuously
dependent from external parties; that HAS the same professional
recognition, but practice the certification acquired.
(vi) Diverse and flexible coverage ICT supports
Users must be empowered from the basic. Entitlement for ICT equipment
such as laptop from various specification, are governed by eligibility and job
scope. Users can be equipped with the video-based guideline to assist them
at their own preferred learning pace. In this remote working and office-based
working environment, a flexible way for user support are crucial. Thus,
various means of communication such as email, phone, chat, remote-
support, video-based, how-to manuals, and related articles must be made
available.
(vii) Remote working facilities and infrastructure
In seamless working environment, internet connectivity is essential. Hence,
users must recognise the importance of steady internet connectivity. This
will create a standard of acceptance for a service provider. Simple, yet useful
information and tips on improving wi-fi signal, router essentials, quick guides
on choosing an internet connection provider are helpful for a digitalisation
start-out. Basic troubleshooting techniques are important for every staff to
know without depending to IT staff. Apart from basic information on the
facilities, best practices when working remotely and recommendations on
efficient and smooth virtual meetings must be cascaded to all users. For
instance, all the information, guideline, FAQ on errors, tips and quick guides
can be retrieved under one big, yet simplified view portal for everyone.
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C. Secondee’s Direct Working Experience
1. Under Cross Fertilization Program 2021/2022, the officer is attached to
PETRONAS, under Malaysia Petroleum Management Finance Department (MPM
Finance) for one (1) year. Although the PCF post position as PSC Audit Executive
(PSC: Production Sharing Contract) where petroleum finance-related audit (cost
recovery audit) is the main task; working as an IT officer in a government agency
provided perspective and insight in understanding and experiencing the digital
working environment, as a business user.
2. Based on the experience in this government-owned oil and gas company, some
of the crucial factors in preparing oneself for a digital working environment are:
(i) Mentally prepare to adjust to the new environment and unfamiliar new
working procedure; from paper-based comfort zone shifting and creating a
new digital comfort zone. This new comfort zone can be defined as
“a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are
at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels
of anxiety and stress.”
(ii) The ability to identify and self-learn all functionalities that supported daily
operation without formal training. This is due to the tasks given being the
real work with a short dateline. Although formal training is not provided, all
self-taught modules are available online and accessible, regardless of the
working location.
(iii) For a new work activity introduced, understanding the basic core business
operations depends heavily of hands-on work. Reference provided online
and can be used at our disposal.
(iv) The environment is challenging where everyone is striving to complete the
task within the time provided.
(v) Continuous support from management through a series of videos,
engagement, formal and informal online gatherings to strengthen the
cohesiveness among staff in achieving the company's mission and vision.
(vi) Every staff is using the same IT functionality and application, regardless of
their level and posts. This shows the stability and the maturity in the IT
infrastructure provided to the company.
(vii) In providing IT support, different teams are provisioned with a different scope
of work. The FAQs are updated regularly to provide self-troubleshoot; to
non-IT users; including videos and remote desktop support. Support team
members are located in dispersed location nationwide. Main communication
for technical support is via official chat system.
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(viii) Efforts and contributions given by the staff are evaluated and acknowledged
through an annual performance review that reflects through career
progression ladder and bonuses.
(ix) Standardise meeting platform, used by PETRONAS and the PAC
(Petroleum Arrangement Contractors).
(x) Standard documents sharing and collaboration system. Using the same
meeting platform, collaboration and file updates are done online thus,
reducing physical papers used. For instance, if working in Word, Excel, or
PowerPoint, files your colleagues can even view, edit, and collaborate on
them, right within.
D. Conclusion
Digital transformation refers to the process of integrating digital solutions in daily
operations that will modify on how the government operates and delivers value to the
citizens and stakeholders. The pros of having a digital government are process
automation that accelerates daily operation, improving public and stakeholders'
experiences, data availability that assists in faster dan better decision making with
transparent details, flexibility, easy scalability, and creating a productive digital
workplace and culture. However, the challenges for the shift such as culture change and
creating a new digital comfort zone requires efforts from different angles and level. Self-
motivating staffs will be one of the strongest pushes to accelerate the transformation
journey. This is unavoidable in order to be relevant. Optimization of internal processes
and re-skilling of the employees through digital tools, platforms, supports and continuous
self-training will build a strong and facilitative government.
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Malaysia Airports
Digitalisation Amidst the
Fourth Industrial Revolution
and the Transitional Period
to Endemicity
MAHB’S AIRPORT 4.0 DIGITALISATION
INITIATIVES
By:
MOHD FAIZAL BIN DOLAH
Manager – Sustainability
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB)
A. Introduction
1. Description of the Report
(i) This report will cover on Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB)’s
ongoing digitalisation journey since the establishment of the MAHB’s Airport
4.0 framework in the year 2018 – crossing over the transitional period to
endemicity and in the period of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0
or Airport 4.0 when mentioned in the context of airports).
(ii) The report focusses on MAHB’s Airport 4.0 initiatives – challenges that the
company must face and description for each initiative. The information
gathered and produced in the report are based on the MAHB’s annual and
sustainability report for the period of 2017-2021, with the addition from
internal sources [i.e., knowledge sharing session from the Information
Technology Department (ITD) via e-MAGE (MAHB’s e-learning platform)
and MAHB’s email updates] and general information collated from related
journals, articles, and media releases.
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2. Significance of the Report
(i) Since its incorporation in 1992, Malaysia Airports has come a long way from
its previous state-run airport operator status to be corporatised as Malaysia
Airports Berhad. The company was later incorporated as a public listed
company as Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and listed on the
Malaysian Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia), becoming the first Asian
airport operator to go public and only the sixth in the world to do so.
(ii) Globally, Malaysia Airports is one of the largest airport group operators in
the world, based on the total number of passengers handled, managing in
total 39 airports throughout Malaysia [five international airports, 17 domestic
airports and 17 STOL ports (airport designed with Short Take-Off and
Landing operations in mind)]. Malaysia Airports also owns and manage one
international airport in Istanbul, Turkey.
(iii) As the world undergoes Industry 4.0, adapted itself to the ‘new normal’ and
begin its transition to endemicity, the aviation industry, particularly in the Asia
Pacific Region is trying its best to build a sustainable business with the agility
to navigate the current changes and the resilience to withstand future shocks
and challenges. As an effort to achieve the corporate vision of becoming “A
Global Airport Group that Champions Connectivity and Sustainability”,
Malaysia Airports through the materiality assessment process has identified
“digitalisation” as an “extremely high” material matters, linking it with
strategic themes and enablers, key stakeholders and capitals affected to
demonstrate the dynamics of value creation by the Group.
(iv) Hence, for MAHB to be in a prime position to capitalise on growth
opportunities as borders reopen, continuous improvement and
transformation are vital especially in the scope of airport digitalisation.
Therefore, this report will dive into MAHB’s efforts in fulfilling the group’s
aspiration of transforming its airports with the latest technological
innovations. These efforts could become a guide or reference on how to
improve operations, efficiency, safety, and customer experience i.e., the
transportation industry through digitalisation.
3. Overview
(i) Modern society has been shaped by three industrial revolutions: (1) the age
of mechanical production, (2) the age of science and mass production, and
(3) the digital revolution. A fourth industrial revolution – the age of cyber-
physical systems – is currently underway. It is commonly referred to as
Industry 4.0 (or Airport 4.0 when mentioned in the context of airports). Airport
4.0 is being built on technologies developed during the digital revolution with
the mixture of smart systems to monitor, visualise and respond to digital
processes in real-time, and as part of a wider ecosystem that connects all
stakeholders.
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(ii) In the era where life revolves around the adaptation and application of new
digital technology and as the hype around new technology persists, the
terms ‘digitisation’, ‘digitalisation’ and ‘digital transformation’ join the mix,
increasing the level of hype and confusion towards their meaning. According
to Gartner’s IT Glossary, “Digitisation” is the process of changing from
analogue to digital form. “Digitalisation” is the use of digital technologies to
change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing
opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business. While, “Digital
transformation” can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example,
cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital
business models.
(iii) For Malaysia Airports, “digitalisation” refers to the digital framework
encompassing enhancement, capacity development and digital innovations
that aim at terminal optimisation, operational efficiency, revenue generation,
regulatory compliance, and health protection. Digitalisation is important to
Malaysia Airports in the face of Industry 4.0 to ensure up-to-date
technologies are used to improve efficiency, reduce human error and to
redirect resources to more crucial areas of operations.
(iv) Malaysia Airports have been bold in their pursuit of excellence, especially in
enhancing their role as one of the country’s gateway providers. Beginning in
2018, Malaysia Airports has aspired to provide a seamless experience
through technology and innovation and therefore has embarked in the
Airport 4.0 journey. The Malaysia Airports IT Division has simplified the
MAHB’s Airport 4.0 framework into four key themes:
(a) Terminal Operations – technologies that provide views of “what has
happened”, “what is happening” and most importantly “what is
predicted to happen” to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of
the airport’s operations.
(b) Total Airport Experience – providing end-to-end passenger experience
that is seamless and secure in line with the brand promise of “hosting
joyful connections”.
(c) Security and Safety – investing in technological devices i.e., closed
circuit television (CCTV) with video analytic and other capabilities to
unlock potential beyond normal monitoring.
(d) Staff Mobility and Productivity – leveraging on technology to improve
productivity by replicating technology implemented in the airport
environment.
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B. Challenges
1. According to the Airport Council International (ACI), it is estimated that globally,
airports have lost more than US$83.1 billion in revenues in 2021 due to the
COVID-19 crisis and its impact towards the business. COVID-19 remains an
existential crisis for airports, airlines, and their commercial partners. Even with the
massive vaccination efforts, the global travel market remains significantly below
pre-COVID-19 levels. The speed of the recovery continues to depend substantially
on several stakeholders and the level of coordination pursued by national
governments worldwide.
2. The reopening of borders nevertheless has brought renewed optimism,
momentum, and new challenges as well. As the adaptation of the “new normal”
being widely accepted, present-day ways of managing and operating the terminals
is required as business is no longer as usual for the aviation industry –
digitalisation is the key.
3. Based on interviews with over 15 major airports and the views of selected industry
experts, Blondel (2018) finds that airports are investing in technology to gain the
promise of greater cost efficiency, enhanced capacity, operational resilience, and
passenger experience.
4. Despite the potential benefits, there are also challenges that Malaysia Airports
must face to implement the MAHB’s Airport 4.0 initiatives while instilling and
restoring confidence in air travel among their vast numbers of passengers.
(i) Terminal Operations.
(a) The efficiency of overall airport operations aims to optimise resources
and improve processes related to maintenance, handling operations,
security services, thus eliminating delays or other operational risks.
(b) However, managing the influx while preventing the spread of COVID-
19 and other viruses is one of the major issues needed to be
addressed. In many cases, congestion is caused by sudden spikes in
passenger numbers. Thus, handling the movement and the traffic of
vast numbers of passengers as effective and as smooth as possible is
a main priority.
(c) Reducing physical contacts is another concern that needed to be
tackled i.e., baggage handling process – ensuring that the baggage is
properly handled and directed to the right place and preventing
mistakes or unnecessary things from happening.
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(ii) Managing the Total Airport Experience.
(a) Based on the MAHB’s materiality matrix, the “Total Airport Experience”
is considered as extremely high impact for Malaysia Airports as well
as extremely high significance to the key stakeholders. Total Airport
Experience refers to the quality of services delivered to the guests to
enhance their airport experience. The positive experience of guests at
the airport is shaped by operational excellence and exceptional
service by the employees and other members of the airport
community.
(b) As the human element plays an important role on what service
excellence is, enhancing the travel experience of airport guests to
support MAHB’s brand promise of ‘hosting joyful connections’ with less
human interactions i.e., staff engagement is not an easy challenge.
Furthermore, Malaysia Airports also participates in the Airport Service
Quality (ASQ) programme. As part of the programme, ASQ awards
recognise airports that deliver the best experience in the opinion of
their own passengers. The awards represent the highest possible
recognition for airport operators around the world.
(iii) Safety and Security
Airport safety and security is considered in the ‘extremely high’ category as
COVID-19 concerns continued to impact air travel globally. Passengers’
willingness to travel and the consideration towards the Malaysia Airports
staff and airport community who are at the frontline relies heavily on the
safety and security matter. Digitalisation initiatives towards a more seamless
and contactless journey might be the answers to cater the issue. However,
according to Dr. Ralf Gaffal, Managing Director of Munich Airport
International (MAI), the more seamless and contactless we make the
journey, the more surveillance and security measures is needed.
(iv) Human Resources
Significant changes in favour of digitalisation and automation have taken
place in the global aviation industry and Malaysia Airports is not left behind.
The digitalisation and automation of Malaysia Airports will in a way improve
the quality and efficiency of services, however, one major thing that might
be affected by it and should be considered is human resources – the
management of human talent and their development. Hence, providing the
necessary technical support, staff training and reskilling is a must.
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(v) Cost
Even though cost is not considered as a major barrier to the adoption of
digital solutions, the investment and deployment of new technologies still
come with challenges in terms of determining and fulfilling the initial cost,
running cost, cost for updating, cost of replacing to newer versions, and the
challenge of quantifying benefits and return on investment.
(vi) Uncertainty and Vulnerability
(a) The ever changing and rapid development of new technologies and
innovations will also bring uncertainty. Major technological innovations
constitute entirely new technological systems thus influencing and
causing uncertainty regarding its life span. Digitalisation could also
cause vulnerability in terms of cyber-security threats (particularly to the
customer’s data privacy) and compromised system (causing
operational disruption).
(b) Hence, the most fundamental issue is (1) to understand the different
technologies available and (2) to identify the practical applications that
can deliver tangible benefits. This will ensure better decision making
towards the adoption of new digital solutions processes.
C. MAHB’s Initiatives
1. Digitalisation brings benefit to airports if it is smoothly integrated into operations
and processes providing the guarantees at a high level of a safe, secure, efficient,
and a total airport experience. Therefore, Malaysia Airports have developed the
MAHB’s Airport 4.0 framework and allocated RM30 million for its digitalisation
journey which targets every angle of its operations, including both aero and non-
aero business. According to MAHB’s IT Division, the framework runs on a three-
stage transformation plan which are (1) Foundation (assessing existing
capabilities), (2) Accelerate (fix the basic, execute and manage change) and (3)
Differentiate (establish a fully integrated ecosystem). Malaysia Airports is currently
at its second stage – Accelerate.
2. The MAHB’s Airport 4.0 framework consist of two strategic focus areas which are
(1) enhance efficiency through digital transformation and process automation, and
(2) adopt latest technological innovations including digital services and contactless
touchpoints.
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3. The cohesive initiatives are as follows:
(i) Full connectivity.
As part of its Airports 4.0 digitisation initiatives, Malaysia Airports has
entered into strategic collaborations with major telecommunication and
technology companies (Maxis Bhd. and Huawei Technologies Malaysia) to
ensure full connectivity – towards becoming a smart airport. A smart airport
is considered as one that adopts technology into its very core through the
Internet of Things (IoT), with the goal of strategically differentiating an
airport, including via improved traveller experience, and tapping into
monetary benefits through greater efficiencies and new revenue streams.
Malaysia Airports has completed its network migration to a new core network
architecture in 2020, allowing Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) to
leverage on the latest cutting-edge technologies such as 5G and WIFI6 (for
better speed, lower latency and data analytics) and enabling and utilising
Internet of Things (IoT).
(ii) MYairports app
The MYairports app launched in 2018, is developed and designed as a user-
friendly airport travel guide that assists passengers with live updates on flight
information, time left to board your flights, dynamic way-finding around the
airport, shopping and dining promotions, and important airport
announcements. The app which is in English and Bahasa Melayu is
integrated with Big Data Analytics (BDA). The features of the MYairports
app keeps improving through the years, in 2019, Malaysia Airports
implemented technology into the app to disseminate information regarding
predicted queue times at critical waiting areas. The app was further
enhanced in 2021 to incorporate better capabilities. The MYairports app
indicates the progression of Malaysia Airports towards embracing the
Airports 4.0 digital initiative as real-time digital interaction with passengers
is critical.
(iii) Airport Collaborative Decision Making.
The focus of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) is for all airport
partners (airport operators, airlines, ground handlers and air traffic
controllers) to share information, so that each organisation has a more
complete operational picture, enabling the effective and timely resolution of
issues. The A-CDM was implemented by Malaysia Airports in 2021 enabling
airline partners and other related stakeholders to effectively share real-time
information for better efficiency.
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(iv) Airport Integrated Security and Safety System.
The Airport Integrated Security and Safety System (AIS3) is essential in
transforming KUL into high-tech airports in the world, enabling them to be
better equipped to handle more passengers in the future. The AIS3 comes
with advanced data analytics capabilities, enhancement of existing systems
and the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve overall safety,
security, and surveillance capabilities.
(v) Passenger Management Systems
(a) The Facial Recognition Project (EZPaz)
EZPaz or formerly known as Single Token Journey Initiative during its
development phase, commenced operation at KUL on 6 April 2022
with the installation of Self Boarding eGates. The utilisation of facial
recognition technology through entire airport touchpoints from check-
in to the boarding gate has help the Aviation Security (AVSEC)
personnel to clear passengers more quickly and efficiently than before.
(b) Passenger Reconciliation System
The PRS is an automated security screening system that scans and
matches information on passenger travel documents to airline’s
database in real time. It uses double layer encrypted data for added
security that will efficiently filter out fraudulent travel documents. The
initiative will benefit airlines from operational efficiency arising from
real-time data and enhanced customers experience as on ground
agents can be immediately alerted should there be a need to track
passengers during the final boarding call. Any baggage belonging to
no-show passengers can be quickly identified and offloaded from the
airplane to further strengthen security and improve the aircraft’s
turnaround time. Malaysia Airports has rolled-out the Passenger
Reconciliation System (PRS) at KUL in 2021 to provide greater
convenience and ensuring minimal queues for passengers to facilitate
safe physical distancing while travelling in the new norm.
(c) Passenger Tracking System
Passenger Tracking System (PTS) is a passenger flow management
system at the Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW)
which utilises 184 state of-the-art sensors to automatically detect
congestion at touchpoints and provide real time information to
heighten safety and operational efficiency was implemented in 2021.
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(vi) shopMYairports
The Malaysia’s first travel-retail e-commerce platform that brings the airport
shopping experience beyond the physical realm to virtual was launched in
September 2020. The shopMYairports facilitates business recovery that was
severely affected by COVID-19 as well as allowing the wider public to access
and purchase travel-exclusive and duty-absorbed products online and
having it delivered to their homes, providing a more exciting shopping
experience by the airport.
(vii) Remote Control System (RCS) for Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBB)
The Remote-Control System (RCS) for Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBB)
at SAW is the world’s first and implemented by Malaysia Airports in 2021.
The initiative improves the airport operations aspects of safety and security
by allowing the PBBs to be safely controlled from a remote position while
improving the docking and undocking processes of flights.
(viii) Response and Inspection Management System
(a) Malaysia Airports has launched the Washroom Inspection
Management System (WIMS) and Washroom Response Management
System (WRMS) in 2018. WRMS was implemented with the aim to
improve the standard of cleanliness of all washrooms at K by providing
the opportunity to the users to leave their feedback through the digital
panels that are available at the washrooms. Upon receiving a feedback
on the panel, the team will be alerted to take immediate action. While
WIMS is a 3-in-1 consolidated digitalised approach that will help all
staff involved in terminal washroom cleanliness to execute their daily
work in a more effective and productive manner. In addition, WIMS will
also keep track on the cleaning contractors’ performance and manage
their contracts in a transparent manner by using real-time data. As
WIMS is linked to WRMS, the team on the ground will have full visibility
of the cleanliness level in the washrooms in real-time through the
various dashboards made available on the system.
(b) In 2019, Malaysia Airports have taken a step further with the
implementation of Terminal Response and Inspection Management
System which has improves inspection methods of duty officers when
conducting terminal cleanliness inspections. The system enables
management to monitor overall performance, trends and to plan more
effectively.
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(ix) The UTW Smart Asset Solution Management System
Digitalisation effort can also be seen in MAHB’s subsidiary as well – Urusan
Teknologi Wawasan Sdn. Bhd. (UTW) with the implementation of UTW
Smart Asset Solution Management System since its first launched in 2020.
The UTW Smart Asset Solution Management System is a digital platform
with the main purpose of simplifying and streamlining maintenance
workflows for UTW and its clients. The system has also enhanced Customer
Real-Time Feedback Survey System (CRFSS) across all washrooms at KUL
by improving maintenance response times in 2021.
(x) Migration of manual processes to digital systems
(a) These include the digital planning and scheduling of Airport Service
Quality surveys, commercial services inspection app, and
procurement transformation. The commercial services inspection app
was launched to enable tenants to log their complaints and feedback
electronically, while the procurement transformation journey was to
simplify the procurement process through the automation and
digitalisation to boost productivity.
(b) Malaysia Airports has also developed the electronic Malaysia Airports
Gateway for Employees (e-MAGE) to cater talent management and
development. The system which is similarly to the Human Resource
Management Information System (HRMIS) used in the government,
have two extra features:
• A more comprehensive view on leave management.
e-MAGE provides a wider view of team member’s (superior or
colleagues) leave throughout the entire calendar year. This will
help managers to better plan and coordinate the availability of
team member(s) to ensure fluidity of operations or services.
• Concise and flexible e-learning courses.
Training and knowledge sharing sessions are given via a short
online video(s) with a duration of three to five minutes each. The
employees understanding on the topic(s) will later be tested via
the online quiz(s). This will provide the employees with the
flexibility to enrol course(s) according to their own preferred time.
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D. Conclusion
The MAHB’s Airport 4.0 enables a fully integrated digital ecosystem that promises a
seamless airport experience. As to date, all the main components are in place and
Malaysia Airports are rolling out its various initiatives in stages to ensure the
achievement of terminal optimisation, operational efficiency, revenue generation,
regulatory compliance, and health protection. Although Malaysia Airports are moving
ahead with the Airport 4.0 digitalisation initiatives through full connectivity, smart
solutions, real-time data sharing and big data analytics (BDA) collected across the
passenger’s journey, it does not neglect the value of human interaction. A specific team
was formed to provide strategic direction and driving customer improvement initiatives
at MAHB’s airports by shifting its focus from providing operational excellence to a more
experiential. Therefore, no matter how digitalised the ecosystem is, the human
interaction element shall always be a main priority.
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Roadmap Towards
Digital Transformation in
Public Service
By:
Nur Ain Muhammad Yusuf
Senior Associates
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
A. Introduction
Most public sectors around the world are undergoing and striving for digital
transformation to deliver government services and programs more efficiently,
transparently, and cost-effectively (Granicus, 2022). This need is escalated by the influx
of big data and disruptive robust technology which further demands transformation to
meet the expectations of modern citizens. Millennials and Generation Z themselves
represent most users; from the civil servants to the public hence efficiency and seamless
customer experience must be upped to meet the knowledge and demand of the tech-
savvy users. This would subsequently enhance the citizens’ trust and confidence in the
public service. The timing is even at greater heights as the realities of the pandemic
demands organisations to work remotely, or limitedly from the office and that extends to
government service. The digital transformation which was preconceived as a goal was
accelerated following the demands during pandemic COVID-19 to accommodate the
ever-changing world. The OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 highlights the growing
importance of digital technologies and communications infrastructures in our daily lives
and reveals that governments are increasingly putting digital strategies at the centre of
their policy agendas. Inclusive digital transformation based on coordinated and
comprehensive strategies is needed now more than ever in dealing with the impending
demands of quality, transparency, and efficiency from the public. Currently, the
Government of Malaysia through the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and
Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) has been taking an aggressive action plan to
pursue digital transformation in Malaysia, in line with the vision of establishing Malaysia
as a regional digital economic powerhouse by 2030. The recent introduction of cloud
computing service; MyGovCloud by the signing of the Cloud Framework Agreement
(CFA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Telekom
Berhad, will further thrust Malaysia's vision of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint
(MyDigital) with the targets of usage of 80% of cloud computing storage across the public
sector (Bernama, 2022). Malaysia is taking progressive steps toward digital
transformation in line with the vision of the Public Service Digitalisation Plan 2021-2025
(PSPSA), The Digital Economic Blueprint (MyDigital), 4IR, Twelfth Malaysia Plan dan
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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B. Digitisation, Digitalisation, and Digital Transformation: An Abstract
1. The term digital transformation is often coined together with digitisation and
digitalisation, when in fact the terms carry different meanings. (Bloomberg, 2018)
describes digitisation as taking analogue and encoding it so that the computers
can store, process, and transmit such information while Muro et al, 2017 defined
digitisation as the process of diffusing digital technologies and information into
every business and workplace.
2. On the other hand, digital transformation encapsulates both digitisation and
digitalisation and applies it to empower people, optimise processes, and automate
systems in the organisation to radically reorient its business performance
(Yokogawa, 2021). The process is often represented in phases, but the latter
possessed the most profound impact in driving change within the government
service delivery and across industries.
3. Digital transformation is a broad concept and required comprehensive projects
that overhaul a structure from top to bottom, from the IT department to product
development to customer contact. It involves a multidisciplinary approach to
increase efficiency and efficacy across the public service and beyond.
Governments around the world have been rapidly digitalising public services, and
citizens demand increased efficiency and transparency now more than ever.
4. The efficiency gained from digitalisation is recognised and reflected by the United
Nations E-Government Development Index (UNEGDI) where more than 84% of
countries now offer online transactional services (Economic Planning Unit, 2021).
While Malaysia is currently focusing on Phase 1 which focused on digitalisation
(2021 to 2022), this initiative is aimed to accelerate towards strengthening the
digital foundation to ensure a smooth rollout of the phase which is digital
transformation. Government as emphasised through MyDigital are focusing on
driving digital transformation and inclusions across the economy (2023-2026) in
phase 2, (Economic Planning Unit, 2021).
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5. Government plays an important role in steering the country towards digital
transformation by crafting digital compact for inclusive development, putting
people at centre for the digital future and build the digital essential and governing
technology for the future (eTrade For All, 2019). So, how can the government
strive better in the process of digitising, and digitalising and subsequently
accelerates towards digital transformation? Verhoef et. al (2021) mapped out flow
model for discussions on digital transformation as below:
6. PwC has also embarked on a digital transformation roadmap to create the
capabilities to work as ‘One PwC’ across all PwC, globally (PwC, 2019). The
objective to ensure a more effective, flexibility and easy engagement with the
counterpart across the PwC network, clients; - locally and globally. With the
implementation and introduction to integrated technical solution (across Google
Suite, Workday, Salesforce, and Oracle/SAP platforms); this aimed to increase
values and efficiency through cloud-enabled, global end-to-end process in order
to improve market engagement and increase their profitability.
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C. Discussions and Observations
This section will explore few important discussions to factor into the public service’s
digital transformation initiatives and modelled some of the best practices from key
industry player; PwC.
1. Investments in ICTs and Software Operating Solutions, and Upskilling Workers.
(i) An article by BBC News in 2021 has drawn the issue on the massive
expenditure of £2.3billion a year for keeping old computers and outdated
infrastructure that is going to costs the UK’s government (Morris, 2021).
Similarly, Information Age also presented findings on business loss and
productivity wastage due to outdated technology and software (Information
Age, 2021). Digitalisation and digitisation have a major impact on the
infrastructure, which in turns requires large-scale ICT modification.
Government need to effectively utilise and observe ICT instruments used to
implement and deliver new policies (Waller and Weerakkody, 2016). While
Malaysian Government are quite positive and technically literate on the
outlook of investing on the ICTs and hardware, investments into software
operating solutions provided a few setbacks. Most investments on software
operating solutions are poorly executed, resulting in culture of waste and
inefficiency towards the adoptions of such systems. A study from McKinsey
also notes that “by digitising information-intensive processes, costs can be
cut by up to 90% and turnaround times improved by several orders of
magnitude.” (Markovitch & Willmott, 2014)
(ii) PwC has invested millions of dollars into their Business Operations Solutions
(BOS) transformation into digitising their business. The Business Operations
Solutions (BOS) program aligns and standardises PwC’s common business
processes and technologies, across 158 territories in the PwC network
(PwC, 2019). BOS implementation is overseen by their regional/ territory
BOS team which has assisted several roll-out of Google Suite, Workday,
Salesforce, Oracle, GRACE and over the past 3 years. This is critical in their
pursuit to deliver work faster and digitally, with more efficiency to reduce
manual effort. These are some of the software that has been adopted by the
organisation over the years; -
▪ Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM)
solution that connects PwC and their client. Salesforce went live
in MYVN on 1 April 2020.
▪ Easy Engage is an application that is used to verify the
completeness of opportunity information extracted from
Salesforce to successfully create a project and contract in
Oracle.
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▪ The Oracle Engagement Management and Financial
Information (EM/FI) programme provides an end-to-end
engagement management (e.g. time and expenses, billing,
reporting, costing and accounts receivable) and financial (e.g.
supplier management, financial reporting, asset management,
cash management, tax payables, and payments) solution. It
provides real-time access to financial and engagement
management data across all business units and seventeen
countries in PwC SEAPEN region in scope.
▪ The Workday was launched in January 2019. Through
Workday, PwC Malaysia is connected to PwC’s global network
of firms with one core HR system. This allows them to work
towards aligning data and people processes across the PwC
network.
(iii) With the investments of cloud computing, SAP, government should study the
possibilities to invest into the future technological and trend such as IoT,
Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS), data analysis software, blockchain and AI,
Web3, Virtual Reality (VR), machine learning and many more.
(iv) On the other hand, this capacity needs to run in parallel with the capabilities
of the civil servant hence the Government should also look into upskilling
workers and investing in technical fluency and training. (Walller &
Weerakkody, 2016) highlights through art of the ‘Organising for Digital
Delivery Report’ the importance of commitment to “investing in developing
the technical fluency of senior civil service leadership.” This proposed
training process should be accompanied by a reflection on the advantages
of digital transformation – not only as a means of cutting costs and reducing
waste, but as a change in the culture of government which will see increased
productivity, better services for the taxpayer, and a much higher degree of
trust in the public service.
2. Operational Efficiency and Process Improvement
(i) One of the most important aspect of the project undertakings is to study the
relationship between people, process, data and tools. By identifying the
operation processes and understanding them, we can help to form
information architectures, business process models and working
procedures. It also enables us to break-down the roles and functions of the
civil servants and ultimately, optimise the process workflows by simplification
and automation. It is vital to follow closely the classic seven (7) steps of the
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and ensure that the phases are
carried out accordingly. Normalizing querying and requesting feedback,
issue tracking or adding input for change will infinitely help improving the
systems, or as what the Japanese would coined as Kaizen or the ‘continuous
improvement’. Optimization often used to describe techniques to determine
the most cost effective and efficient solution to a problem or a process. This
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would help to identify slack and eliminate redundancy and helps the
organisation to seek value in each process. In order to achieve the major
goals of business process improvement, managers need to fully understand
the cost, time, and quality of activities performed by employees throughout
an entire organisation. Although process optimization is part of Business
Process Management and has therefore received much attention in
industrial engineering and management literature, there is not much known
on how to use these concepts in the public sector (Aydinli, Brinkkemper, &
Ravesteyn, 2009).
(ii) While PwC on the other hand, often would gauge cost on the efficiency or
feasibility of a project over the outcome. PwC also has invested into an issue
and project tracking software called JIRA, an agile project management tools
to track on the request, issues logged, change request and reporting issues
that arises from Oracle or the software integration. It employs the use of
traditional agile method to help visualise work, limit work in-progress, and
maximise efficiency (or flow) through scrum or Kanban board.
(iii) Another interesting perspective from the way PwC deals with the introduction
of a systems is with how they deal with the way people accept new systems
or change. Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into
all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how people operate and
deliver value to end user. It's also involves a cultural change that requires
organisations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get
comfortable with failure (PwC, 2021). Hence it is very important to tackle the
aspects of understanding and the learning mindset as change is never easy.
One of the initiatives implemented by PwC is to introduce Change Agent
Network or Champion program. A Champion or change agent is selected
from different line of service to ensure smooth acceptance over the project/
systems/ program. It usually spans beyond the IT people, by delegating and
decentralizing the job to someone who has more hands-on use on the
systems. A global network for change agent is also active and commence
monthly as it has given the employee so many opportunities to learn,
advocate for as well as embracing the change.
3. End to End (E2E)
(i) End-to-End describes as a direct end to end process that rendered services/
systems from beginning to end and delivers a complete functional solution
and could be access everywhere without the need for face-to-face
interaction (MAMPU, 2022). This is accomplished through a creation of
workable solution to a process —be it hardware, software, and procedures.
According to MAMPU, as of December 2021, percentage of E2E contributes
about 68.18% out of 21,992 services rendered by the government and
another 31.82% denotes percentage of non-E2E with more than 6,997
services. Government’s E2E comprises of processes with the public,
business, government organisation and civil services.
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Figure 1: Percentage of services rendered according to stakeholders/ customer
(ii) However, whilst the government systems are aiming and fully recognizing
E2E, it is noted that there are certain E2E services that hasn’t span across
the back end and limited only to front desk. While the initial purpose of
building system/ software is to increase user experience and encourage
automating manual process to offload workload from the civil servant, it is
observed that manual operating process still runs in parallel with the
digitisation process beyond the front desk without a system cut-off. Taking
an example from the HRMIS systems, while a lot of the process such as
recording leaves, annual performance assessment, achievements yet the
records are manually checked though the civil servant record book. And this
doesn’t stop at HRMIS only. A lot of government systems, projects and
systems produce fragmented delivery model that causes redundancy,
manually backed, and unnecessarily complex. This denotes inefficiency in
terms of government spending towards E2E. (Summit, 2013) proposed key
drivers to systematic efficiency in government; - Innovate, scale, measure
and invent to ensure value for money in government.
(iii) At PwC, with millions are invested towards new systems and software, the
entity put forth multiple initiatives to measure the cost of the investment
against the performance. For example, rate utilization in PwC remained one
of the most important aspects to gauge value for money of a systems against
employees’ timesheet, hence ensuring the worth of the systems are being
evaluated. The capacity utilization is measured against potential output to
signifies the Rate of Return (RoR) and can identify potential slack. This could
be simply be illustrated by observing time taken for the civil servant to
complete task with and without the introduction of the new system/ process,
and to further analyse the efficiency based on the time savings. While this is
not the absolute form of calculation, especially since the government agency
should be focusing on delivering better public service, however it is timely
for us to starts evaluating the systems efficacy especially since it is public
funds that is on the stake. Digitising and digitalising the back-end process
would enable process automation and downsizing of workforce. With the
currently bloated civil service, reducing menial and routine tasks would
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inherently reduce required need to employ further workforce, thus reducing
provisions for pensions to the government, and certainly reduces papers
consumption.
(iv) Another recommendation for the government’s E2E is to improve the overall
“user experience design” (UX) and “user interface design (UI) which is vital
part in the E2E as the notion is all about putting customer’s needs first.
Having customers that are more attuned to the advancement of technology
and latest trends, the game for achieving end-to-end user experience must
be scale up. Quick loading time, bigger upload capacity, aesthetically
pleasing, interactive and easy to manoeuvre user interface, increased
functionality and less tacky design would definitely improve the customer’s
satisfaction. Prototyping, mock-ups, and simulations from multiple users and
outsiders can provide further insight into the next step in the transformation
process.
4. Data Integration, Analytics, and Big Data
(i) Approximately 90% of the digital data in the world were created within 2015
to 2017, with digital lifestyle creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily and
such rapid advancements of technologies have contributed to the rapid
growth of data. (Economic Planning Unit, 2021). Digital data–rich or “big
data” environments has provided researchers and decision makers with
unique opportunities for obtaining detailed, timely, multifaceted insights into
behaviours and opinions (Wieringa, et al., 2021). This massive, big data is a
golden opportunity for the Government specially to provides insights and
analyses. The subject of big data itself if not new. The United States
Government in 2012 has committed a total of $200 million in R&D money to
‘Big Data” (Hiner, 2012), but with the exponential growth of the multifaceted
datasets from the past few years due to the booming of social media sharing,
open source data and satellite advancement, Big Data has become one of
the pivotal instruments in analytics that has and can contribute significantly
towards decision making. Government of Malaysia is now in the phase two
of the implementation of Public Sector Data Analysis (DRSA 2.0) which
aimed to improve the delivery of government-based data analytics services
and cultivate citizen-centric data product creation. However, we must
acknowledge there are so many potentially untapped big data that is yet to
be harnessed.
(ii) This can be illustrated further by the current landscape of disaster
information management in Malaysia. As to date, there no systems that are
put in place to crosstalk between the disaster management information (real-
time and historical) between agencies in Malaysia. For example, Social
Welfare Department (JKM) has gathered information on displaced
populations through JKM infobanjir, Department of Drainage and Irrigation
(JPS) has harvested datasets from the rainfall accumulation and river basin,
MetMalaysia provides data on weather forecast and early warning systems
and not to mention other agencies such as NAHRIM, MYSA, Mineral and
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Geoscience Department (JMG). All the data remains mutually exclusive and
provides no correlation with each other. Without cross talking and integration
between the information systems, this will supress the potential machine
learning scenario and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that could be invented to
assist the Emergency Response Officer to make decisions. The information
harvested may sometimes rendered useless without proper inter-operability
between the datasets and this could be achieved via Application
Programming Interface (API). And with how the world work today; MNCs,
private entities, public and NGOs complemented a lot in analysing
government datasets. Added value for society will increasingly be achieved
through data analysis. For example, the sets of ‘big data’ of disaster
management agencies can be useful during emergency response and
gaining insights into aspects of disaster management such as locality, needs
assessment, early recovery and stockpile prepositioning. In order to promote
cross collaboration, Government of Malaysia should allow for certain
datasets to be set public. While MAMPU has put forth efforts in introducing
Open-Source Software (OSS), the participation from the federal and state
agencies remains lacklustre. Public organisations should pump in more data
to open source in order to promote innovations which would not be possible
with public investments alone. The possibilities to analyse, solutions creation
or innovation are limitless if we play the cards right. This would welcome
more participation to explore machine learning and algorithmic-based
forecasting, academic studies, risk and hazard spatial mapping and
eventually invites public participation towards creating innovative solutions
as part of disaster risk reduction strategies.
(iii) On the other hand, while PwC has been actively engaging with OSS, albeit
limited due to the nature of the business especially in audit and assurance,
the firm has taken extensive measure to ensure the system’s inter-
operability. With the usage of Easy Engage as well as the flows of the data
from multiple resources such as workday, P2P, iBudgeting, PMDM to
Oracle, PwC Malaysia has also invested into another platform as a service
that is GRACE. GRACE is a reporting mechanism using the PowerBI
platform, which provides data visualization across BOS systems (Salesforce,
PMDM, Oracle).
5. Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR)
(i) Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) should be mainstreamed as the novel
concept as the digital transformation and influx of confidential, secured
information and data privacy brings about numerous ethical concerns.
(Lobschat, et al., 2021) define CDR as the set of shared values and norms
guiding an organisation’s operation with respect to main processes related
to digital technology and data which includes the data capture, operation and
decision making, impact assessment and refinement of technology and data.
Ethical challenges arise from the data abundance as it is very important to
gatekeep this information from leaking to the wrong hands. Government as
the custodian of a lot of private information should be accountable in
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ensuring no more ethical and governance issue emerged from the
mishandling, breaches, misuse of private data by the government employee
or the third party. Based on 2022 Global Digital Trust Insights (Malaysia),
more than 50% of Asia-Pacific respondents expect a significant increase of
threat outlook with ransomware and malware topping the list, and vulnerable
server containing 50 million records could be a target by attacker (PwC,
2022). The data privacy landscape is complex, and it continues to evolve. It
presents many challenges and creates uncertainty on many levels about
whether, how, and when to process personal data.
(ii) PwC as the one of the most reputable MNCs and known as the Big4
especially in assurance, where the privacy and data security are their utmost
priority. PwC entirety of the systems were built on the ‘data privacy by design’
and proved to be an industry benchmark when it comes to data security due
to its entirety of the process revolves around data protection cultures. This
culture involves strict adherence and compliance, mandatory training on
data privacy and security, use of Global Virtual Private network, to name a
few. PWC also introduces technical technological measures controls
including awareness and risk assessments training, audit on business
continuity policies, system and physical security, robust data disposal
measures and two-factor authentication. PwC is committed to embed data
privacy into design and overall lifecycle and business process.
(iii) PwC has also introduced Data Privacy Handbook as a starter guide to data
privacy compliance. In the past, PwC had a series of high-profile data
breaches and were fined from the regulators and this set a tone for the
organisation to imposed stricter regulations when it comes to data privacy
and security. Adhering with the newly introduced - European Union (EU)’s
“General Data Protection Regulation” (GDPR), this provides stricter
standards for data privacy and protection and further increased awareness
around the importance of data protection compliance across PwC network.
Data Privacy Handbook (PwC, 2019) list ten effective steps to an effective
data privacy program which includes the following: -
(a) Appoint a data protection officer (DPO) to assists in monitoring internal
compliance with the applicable data protection laws and consultation
on the data protection obligations
(b) Maintain a Personal Data Register by maintaining log identifying all
process and documenting activities in the organisation involving
personal data. A simple data discovery exercise should be executed
to identify what personal data an organisation old and process, where
it’s located, who has access to it and how long it is retained.
(c) Transparency is the utmost central principle governing data privacy
laws. When collecting data, they have to notify purpose and seek
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consent and provide clear information on why, what and how they
intend to process such data and information
(d) Individuals also reserves the rights and entitled to raise request to
exercise their rights and the organisation are required to respond, as
per subjected data privacy laws
(e) Enforce security mechanism which includes organisation measure to
assess, develop and implement controls that secure information and
protect personal data. This effort includes and not limited to awareness
and training, risk assessment and audit, strengthening policies and
procedures such as utilizing ISO270001 and ensuring the employees
are kept up to date with the security programme and best practices.
(f) Embedded data privacy into the systems, processes, and services
such as creating corporate culture where data protection is put at
utmost priority and met the legal requirement and protect individuals’
rights.
(g) Notify data breaches. It is crucial for the organisation to have process
flow in the case of data breach and notify the authority of the nature of
the breach and the possible impact.
(h) Holding third party accountable by ensuring compliance on the
particulars within contractual agreement. This is vital to alleviate
liabilities and ensuring third partly are liable against any misuse,
incriminating or unlawful breach of the data provided.
(i) Protection of personal data to a third country. Whilst this is a trivial
concern to the government, however these concerns are legitimate
when dealing with the cross transfer across ministries, state and local
government. While the prevailing jurisdiction on the law remains,
standard contractual clauses binds still prevailed in consideration to
cross party transfers.
(j) Communicate data protection, laws, practices and processes so that
every employee is familiar and aware of the responsibilities with how
they are processing personal data.
(iv) While these are preliminary steps taken in PwC, these steps remained
relevant to be used across government sectors as this measures and control
helps to mitigate the issues concerning breach of personal data that would
undermine the competency and the trust against the public sector. With
current outlook of cyber security, this calls for an effort to set strong CDR
cultures within an entity and develop corresponding norms and guidelines
and to not relies alone on legal and regulatory guidelines given the speed of
the technological progress (Lobschat, et al., 2021).
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D. Conclusions
The business transformation era is coming, and it is disruptive especially towards
traditional government system. We have to keep up. Navigating major technological
change requires leadership, vision and collaboration – not just investments in silos and
piecemeal projects (Pathways for Prosperity Commission, 2019). The discussions
above touched on aspects of digital transformation that can add in values toward the
government investments in the process of digitising, digitalising and digital
transformation. In order to embrace digital transformation, the civil servant has to change
and upskilling the workforce is necessary order to catch up with transformation agenda.
With the revolution IR that boost the areas of data transformation such as AI, IoT, 5G,
Big Data; we have to ensure holistic and inclusive digital future are in place and ensure
seamless interconnection as to not be left behind or becoming a bottleneck to the
industry player. It would eventually benefit civil workforce the spill over effects would
spans across the public, vulnerable communities, philanthropies, NGOs as well as small
and medium enterprises. We also have to explore risk relating to these digital
transformation including data privacy concern, cyber threat, wasteful investment, work
displacement, inter-operability, legal repercussion and acceptance to change. Digital
technology is interwoven into all that we do. But the technology in itself does not deliver
impact. Rather how we develop and deploy technology that matters. Process
optimization, building framework for security in accordance to GDPR, maximizing
datasets utilization and encouraging open access, promotion of Corporate Digital
Responsibilities (CDR) and enhancing user experience are few medium to cement the
vision of establishing Malaysia as a regional digital economic powerhouse by 2030. To
conclude, this report provides an overview of how we can build an inclusive digital future
that is directly proportional to public’ interest.
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Digitalising
Public Service |
The Challenges
By:
NURUL FATIEN RUSLY
Emergency Response Specialist
Airasia Group Berhad
A. Introduction
Digitalisation is advancing rapidly all over the world. As technology evolves, people are
starting to embed into digitalisation. Public nowadays embrace digitalisation in daily life,
from performing a small task such as buying things (online shopping) to complicated
ones. Almost everything has been transformed into a digital platform. Introduction to
technology and digitalisation has challenged the government to also embedded
technology into their public services in order to offer more efficient and systematic
approaches of public service delivery.
B. Digitalisation
1. Digitalisation is the use of digital technologies and data in business processes by
enabling digital (Gupta M. S., 2020; Jason B., 2018). Digitalisation is critical for the
Government in ensuring effective public service delivery. Digitalisation may
increase productivity and reduce the processing time by eliminating and
converting human-driven processes. For example, the data validation process can
be done by the system using some logic with zero or minimal mistakes. Therefore,
public service delivery can be increased through the implementation of digital
technology. Digitalisation requires digitising data and information. Digitisation
refers to the process of creating and converting data into digital. For example,
making the information available online in the digital world instead of paper printed
and handwritten.
2. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the implementation of lockdown or
movement control order (MCO) in 2019 have accelerated digitalisation with both
public and private sector has started to enforce working from home (WFH). The
implementation of WFH has challenged the government to explore and expedite
the digitalisation process in order to ensure uninterrupted and effective public
service delivery. The change needs to start within the government by encouraging
digitalisation not only in the organisation or agency but also within the civil
servants.
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C. Digitalisation in Malaysia
1. There are 29.55 million internet users in Malaysia in January 2022 with the internet
penetration rate standing at 89.6 percent of the total population, a 0.9% increment
from 88.7% in 2018 (MCMC, 2020). During the pandemic, the average Malaysian
spend 4.8 hours on the internet and the consumption of digital services has spiking
up in 2021 with 81% usage of digital services for various activities from social
media engagement, downloading software and playing games to finding
information about the goods and services (Google, n.d.; DOSM, 2021).
2. In promoting and encouraging digitalisation, the Government through Budget 2021
has approved a total of RM50 million grant to small and medium enterprises (SME)
to adopt digitalisation in their daily operations mainly in: i) Electronic Point of Sale
System (e-POS); ii) Human Resource Payroll System / Customer Relationship
Management; ii) Digital Marketing/Sales; iv) Procurement; v) Enterprise Resource
Planning/Accounting and Taxation; vi) E-commerce; and vii) Remote Working
(Ministry of Finance, 2021). It is in line with five (5) key areas of digitalisation for
business identified by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation which are
procurement and inventory; accounting and taxes; digital marketing; e-commerce;
and Electronic Point of Sale (ePOS) and contactless payment systems (MDEC,
2020). In Budget 2022, the Government has increased the allocation to RM200
million for SMEs to further encourage the national digitalisation agenda.
Figure 1: AirAsia digital products and services.
3. Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Berhad) has always leveraged the
technology to reduce operational costs. Starting with online flight booking, Capital
A now has developed a sophisticated and robust digital infrastructure such as the
introduction to FACES, the biometric airport clearance solution that guests can
use via AirAsia Super App to check-in, baggage drops, validate their identity, and
clear security remotely (Capital A, 2021). Apart from the rapid transformation into
digital travel and lifestyle, AirAsia also leveraged into new technology revolution
through digitalisation by spreading their wing with ventures into digitalisation.
Amidst pandemic COVID-19 in 2020, Capital A has launched the digital venture
arm of AirAsia Group, AirAsia Digital which transformed the AirAsia brand into a
fully-fledged digital company focusing on platform, logistics and e-commerce, and
financial services. As per Figure 1, Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), Ground Team
Red (GTR), Teleport, Santan, and BigPay are among the products and services
under AirAsia Digital initiatives.
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D. Malaysian Government Digitalisation Initiatives
1. Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit
(MAMPU)
(i) The Government has established the Malaysian Administrative
Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) as one of the
prominent government agencies in Malaysia that is responsible for
modernising and reforming the public sector by enhancing public service
delivery transformation initiatives through organisational management,
innovative and strategic information and communications technology
through strengthening its position as the leading public service delivery
transformation. Since the establishment, MAMPU has developed five-year
ICT strategic plans 2003-2010 and 2016-2020; the Digital Transformation
Action Plan 2017-2018 and 2021-2025, and setup MyGovernment Portal to
serve as a one-stop Government information platform. The portal has been
improved from time to time with more collaboration and products/services
offered. Currently, there are 389 government services from 28 Ministries and
57 agencies available under the MyGovernment portal (MAMPU, 2021).
Figure 2: Malaysia's digital government evolution (MAMPU, 2020).
(ii) Malaysia is among the 18 countries that have been ranked by the United
Nations in 2020 as the very high E-Government Development Index (EGDI)
in the readiness and capacity of the government to use ICTs to deliver public
services (United Nations, 2020). The EGDI score is obtained from the
assessment of the telecommunication infrastructure index, human capital
index, and online service index carried out by the respective UN
organisations.
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(iii) The Government defined digitalisation as the use of digital technology to
transform the business model or service that provides opportunity for the
service adds value and new revenue (MAMPU, 2020). Digitalisation in public
service always refers to the digital government offering holistic collaborative
approaches within the organisation (intra agency) and beyond (inter
agency). Digitalisation in public services has started since 1995 with
digitisation. Figure 2 shows Malaysian digital government initiatives that
have endured three (3) generations starting with digitisation in eGov 1.0
(1995-2007), eGov 2.0 (2007-2015), and eGov 3.0 (2015-2020). Public
service digitalisation in Malaysia is a work-in-progress (MAMPU, 2021).
(iv) Among others, the Public Sector E-payment Strategic Plan 2016-2020 and
Communications & Multimedia Blueprint 2018-2025, are some strategic
plans that supplement the Malaysian government digitalisation journey.
(v) MAMPU has identified two (2) service categories offered by the government
which are the end-to-end (E2E) services and not end-to-end services. The
E2E services refer to the fully online services while non-E2E services have
been categorised into 3; partially E2E, e-counter service, and manual
service (MAMPU, 2021). There are 4 categories of e-Government services;
Government to Citizen (G2C); Government to Business (G2B); Government
to Employee (G2E); and Government to Government (G2G) (MAMPU,
2021). G2B and G2C services are the interaction platform between the
government and the public.
(vi) In 2020, the Government aimed to at least have 40% online public service
delivery by digitalising the e-Government services including application,
payment, procurement, and complaint management. As of September 2021,
there are 11,510 online services available with 4,434 Federal Government
services and 7,076 services offered by the State Governments. Among the
services offered are birth registration, license application, passport renewal,
and clinic appointment booking application.
Table 1: Public service E2E and non-E2E services as of September 2021.
Service Federal Government State Government Total
Type No of Percentage No of Percentage Services/
Services (%) Services (%) Percentage
E2E 2,937 66.2 2,449 34.6 5,386
(46.8%)
Non- 1,497 33.8 4,627 65.4 6,124
E2E (52.3%)
Total 4,434 7,076 11,510
(100%)
(MAMPU, 2021)
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2. Malaysia Government Enterprise Architecture (MyGovEA)
(i) The Government through MAMPU has initiated Malaysia Government
Enterprise Architecture (MyGovEA) as an approach for the organisation to
conduct analysis, design, plan, and implement the enterprise architecture
(EA) to allow the organisation to understand the structure, function, services,
work processes, data, application and technology that currently being used
to support the organisation service and business (MAMPU, 2020). Through
MyGovEA, the agency is able to determine who, what, why, when, where,
and how each process is conducted in achieving the agency's mission and
vision using application and technology. EA is adopted as a practice to
define and align the agency’s business strategies and ICT through
understanding, consultation and planning so that the government can focus
on having robust and responsive service solutions (MAMPU, 2020). Figure
2 shows the MyGovEA framework consisting of three (3) main components
which are architecture domains; tools and repository; and methodology.
Figure 2: MyGovEA Framework.
(ii) MyGovEA is expected to be beneficial for the public service through digital
transformation by: 1) converging business and technology strategies; 2)
strengthening cross-agency collaboration agenda; 3) re-enforcing capability
development in the public sector; and 4) realigning MyGovEA in the public
sector.
3. MyDIGITAL
(i) The Government of Malaysia has initiated MyDIGITAL or the Government
launched MyDIGITAL or the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (2021 –
2030) in September 2021 with the aspiration to transform Malaysia into a
high-income nation driven by digitalisation and to become a regional leader
in the digital economy and to accelerate the progress in the new digital era
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by setting the direction, outlining the strategies, initiatives and targets to
drive the growth of digital economy (Economic Planning Unit, 2021; National
Institute of Public Administration, n. d.). MyDIGITAL was drafted as a
complement to the national development policy, including the 12th Malaysia
Plan (12MP) and the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV 2030) as well as
streamlined with the aspirations embedded in the Sustainable Development
Goals under the United Nations (Portal Malaysia, 2021) with the hope to
enable public to embrace digitalisation to improve their quality of life and
standard of living.
(ii) MyDIGITAL outlined plans to by 2025, MyDIGITAL aims to achieve a total
(100%) digital literate civil servant, with 80% of the government E2E service
available online (Figure 3).
Figure 3: MyDIGITAL targets (Economic Planning Unit, 2021).
E. The Challenges
Digitalisation improves efficiency which leads to public satisfaction with the government
service delivery. Having an online platform will minimise the time and cost for the public.
However, the successful implementation of digitalisation of public service/delivery is not
only about transforming the current workflow and processes, but it also involves the
transformation of the workplace and people or the civil servant who manned the system.
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F. Digital Transformation
1. Digital transformations require changes, to both processes and IT systems, that
are more challenging to implement in the public sector than in the private sector
(Dilmegani et al., 2014). Therefore, too often the digitalisation transformation is not
successful. According to Forrester (2018), more than 50% of digital transformation
efforts fizzled completely. Before going into digitalisation, the Government also
needs to consider digitising the available data and information. The process of
digitising is also time-consuming and requires a big effort.
2. Government services are owned by different departments and agencies, which
have their legal framework and acts. The digitalisation of the services must ensure
that all legal aspects have been accounted for. Some of the processes are also
mentioned in the Act. Hence, digitalising the processes seems not easy.
Digitalisation in public services is carried out by the respective agencies according
to their core business including developing the new system, and upgrading and
integrating the current system into one comprehensive system to enhance public
service delivery (MAMPU, 2021).
3. To ensure a smooth transaction and avoid public frustration, the government
needs to invest in the ICT infrastructure. There is no use if the system is up and
running but the public cannot access it due to some limitations. Often, we saw the
public complaining about the government's online system. For example, in 2021,
the Royal Malaysian Police launched MyBayar Saman for individuals and
companies to check and pay for traffic summons and offer traffic summons
reduction as an introduction to the system. However, due to overwhelmed
responses and heavy access to the system, the system cannot be accessed
resulting in public outcry over the internet (The Star, 2021).
G. Workplace Transformation
1. Digital transformation is not only about process and technology. Digital
transformation also involves people and their workplace. Workplace
transformation often being left out during digital transformation. Apart from the
system's effectiveness, human performance is equally important. The use of
technology will increase employee performance with supplement suitable
workplace transformation. A study by Deloitte (2018) on the Swiss office workers
has found that the workplace also needs to be transformed upon adopting
digitalisation and the workplace transformation should focus on achieving and
improving flexibility, collaboration, and connectivity. The workplace transformation
is important to accommodate the employee and the job task using the technology.
2. Capital A always strives to create a comfortable, safe and conducive workplace to
growth productivity of the employees. In 2016, Capital A has relocated the
headquarters to RedQ with an open office concept. Apart from basic office facilities
like cafeteria and convenient store, RedQ also equipped with gymnasium, clinic
and barber shop that can be used by employees at any time. Capital A belief that
good workplace will increase the employee’s productivity and satisfaction, in
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addition to create fun and friendly working environment. In addition, Capital A also
use the available digital technology as supplement the physical facilities especially
in data management to ensure accessibility.
H. People Transformation
1. Adapting digitalisation is important for the employee, especially in the smooth
delivery of job scope using the technology. The rapid use of technology has shown
that there has been a visible shift in the employee's occupations, roles, and skills
(Deloitte, 2018). For technology-savvy personnel, adapting and familiarising the
system flow and process seems easier. However, for others, it is not as easy as
thought. The introduction to the system, the change in the work environment, and
the use of peripherals such as system tokens and handheld equipment may be
overwhelmed to some the employee especially those who have been doing the
job manually. Changing into a system will be a challenge and time-consuming as
different people have different abilities to adapt to the new environment.
2. A study by Trenary B. et. al. (2021) has identified that individuals, groups, and
organisations are other important roles in the success of the digital transformation.
Individual factors include the technology acceptance and adoption, perceptions
and attitude, workplace resilient and adaptability, and work-related stress and well-
being. Group factors involves team communication and collaboration, workplace
relationship and team identification and team resilience and adaptability, while the
organisational factors encompass of leadership, human resources and
organisational culture/climate. Each level has its contributing factors towards the
transformation along with other attributes (contextual moderators) such as gender,
culture, personality, job type, job task, work experience, skills, learning motivation,
type of training, organisational commitments, educational background, peer
management support, transformational leadership and organisational climate
(Trenerry B et. al, 2021). Figure 4 shows multi-level theoretical framework for
understanding workplace digital transformation.
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Figure 4: A multi-level theoretical framework for understanding workplace digital
transformation.
3. The Government has to be ready to reskill and upskill the employees' capability
on the technology used. A study by MAMPU (2021) shows that there is no need
for the government to reduce the number of civil servants after digitalisation
because of the need for people to man the technology and perform other tasks
that cannot be digitised. Capital A have set up an academy, RedBeat Academy
upon recognising a tangible need to train Allstars to be digital savvy. The academy
is now being commercialised and extended to non-Allstars to learn and catch up
on the robust digital revolution. The government may use the same business
model in building civil servants digital technology capacity by embarking on the
National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) to train the civil servant for the
technology proficiency.
4. In addition, among the he best practice is to involve the employees at the earlier
stage of transformation either in digitalisation as well in preparing the new
workplace. By having that, the employee may have an initial picture in mind of how
the new work environment will be and be prepared. Most of the organisation
always not include the working level into the transformation journey. Often the
engagement is only with the top and middle level management without realising
that the working level is the one that will be most impacted with the transformation.
During the inception phase of digitalisation, Capital A has organised a townhall
session so that everyone was able to ‘get involved’ taking into consideration that
the transformation will impact Allstars at all level (Nurhuda S., 2019).
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I. Conclusion
1. Digitalisation public service is full of complexity. Given the challenges, the
digitalisation of public service delivery may seem impossible. However, it should
be done and the successful of digitalisation will add value to the government
service delivery by enabling easy accessibility to the government product and
services. With the various initiatives outlined by the government, it is critical for the
government to embrace the strategies and stay focused on digitalisation journey
as digitalisation requires full commitment and alertness due to the rapid change
technology. It is important to ensure that the government will not be left behind in
digitalisation but at the same time not disrupting the current service delivery.
2. Digitalisation may increase productivity and efficiency of public service by
improving the existing business process from over-the-counter and human-driven
operations into online system-driven operations. However, digital transformation
is not as easy as it says as it involved a whole-of-government approach. The
government has already made a move-in transforming public service into the
digital world since 1995 with digitisation. The spread of the pandemic COVID-19
has made the government rapidly transform its services into digitalisation. The
adaptation of working during pandemic can be a good case study on how to embed
digitalisation into the government service delivery.
3. Each agency is currently moving to digitalisation. As a start, the agency may begin
with fast and inexpensive to no cost digitalisation by providing digital content and
offers a partial E2E service such enabling online submission for an application.
This may provide a significant boost to the public. However, digitalisation of public
service should not only focus on technology alone. Several studies have proven
that digitalisation also involves people especially the system user (public) and
employee (civil servant); and infrastructure (environment) including the workplace.
Digital transformation, workplace transformation and people transformation are
the challenges in ensuring the successful implementation of digitalisation in public
service delivery. Each element is equally important and should be addressed
accordingly.
4. In conclusion, digitalisation of public service delivery is not only a ‘whole-of-
government’ approach but also a whole-of-nation approach. The success
implementation will not only increase the public service delivery efficiency but also
increase public trust towards the government. In contrary, the failure of it may give
a bad impact to the government as a whole.
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Talent Development and Management |
Building Leadership
and Talent Competencies
As Well As
Talent Profiling
By:
MUHAMMAD HARITH BIN ABDUL RAHIM
Manager (L&D Solutions) Leaders Develop Leaders
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS)
A. Introduction
In developing and managing talent, building talent competencies is essential for
incubating and eventually developing leadership behaviours in the talent themselves.
When talents are identified, nurtured, incubated as well as upskilled with the relevant
technical, functional, and soft skills, they eventually will be able to develop their
leadership competencies and skills. This in turn, will inadvertently drive the desired
results required by the organisation. One method for building talent and leadership
competencies is through the talent profiling approach.
B. Context Setting
1. According to Hickman and Dvorak (2021), in a research conducted by Gallup
researchers which involved more than 550 job roles and 360 unique job
competencies, good leaders that focus on seven expected leadership behaviours
are able to achieve success even though they fill in diversified roles, come from
different organisations as well as industries. These seven expected roles are as
follows:
(i) Relationship building: it is important that connections are established with
others to share ideas, build trust as well as to accomplish work;
(ii) People development: When leaders help others become effective via
strengths development, clear expectations, coaching and encouragement;
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(iii) Being the leader of change: Leaders do recognise that change is
quintessential, set goals and lead meaningful efforts to adapt work that
aligns with the desired results;
(iv) Inspiring others: Leaders encourage others via clear objectives, positivity,
confidence, constructive feedback and focused recognition;
(v) Critically thinking: Leaders seek relevant information, critically evaluate the
available information, apply the knowledge gained and solve problems
faced;
(vi) Clear communication: Leaders listen, share information succinctly and with
purpose as well as be open to listening to differing opinions; and
(vii) Accountability creation: Leaders identify the ramifications of actions and
hold themselves and others responsible for the performance or outcome of
a decision.
2. When building leadership competencies through these expected behaviours, it
allows organisations and the leaders to focus on the critical expectations of the job
vis-à-vis delivering the desired results of the business and organisation.
C. Talent Development and Management
For leadership competency to be developed, it must first begin with the development
and proliferation of talent competencies. For talent to be developed and proliferated, a
robust talent development programme must be established to support an organisation’s
overall and long-term strategy at all levels. When a talent development strategy is in
place, it guarantees that the organisation has a strong and adequate resource of talents
that can eventually fulfil the objectives and desired results, ensure continuous bench
strength for succession planning as well as increase the engagement levels of
employees.
1. Building Leadership and Talent Competencies
(i) Talent is vast. Building proper talent development would in turn lead to the
development of leaders. There are many ways for organisations to manage
and identify available talent as well as hidden talents. This could be through
observations in a program or platform, interviewing superiors who assess
their subordinates, enrolling in leadership and talent competency initiatives
and through continuous upskilling and reskilling of oneself.
(ii) When we build leadership and talent competencies, it improves their overall
skillsets in life and eventually provides that return on investment to the
organisation. This in turn is expected to increase the productivity of the
organisation in the long run.
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(iii) In building leadership and talent competencies, there should be a focus on
development. Succession planning of leaders and talents should be elastic
and agile toward developmental initiatives and should not strictly look at
high-performing employees only. When we amalgamate succession
planning with leadership development, both sides are able to be further
enhanced. This is done when leaders and talents are upskilled through
educational development or soft skills development but at the same time the
organisation gives undivided attention to the skills necessary to fill top
leadership positions and emphasises that to the talents and leaders.
(iv) At the same time, measuring the progress of talents and leaders in constant
intervals when developing their competencies is equally important.
Measuring this progress is very important as an organisation is able to gauge
and assess that the right identified talent and leadership pools are
progressing in the right direction at the appropriate time in the suitable jobs
or positions. The endgame for this approach is to ensure that the talent pool
is not diluted too thin and adequate talents and leaders are developed for
succession planning at the right positions.
2. Talent Profiling and How It Helps to Identify Thought Leaders
(i) In developing and managing talent, talent profiling is a very important
component of building leadership and talent competencies. Through talent
profiling, the organisation is able to identify and discern the gems in the
organisation. At the same time, talent profiling has the potential to also
unlock hidden talents that may not have surfaced before. Developing a
proper talent profile may allow the potential excavation of talents in many
areas and specialisations in the organisation.
(ii) In the traditional sense, talent profiling may look at the areas of expertise of
identified talents and leaders who could eventually become thought leaders
and a one-stop centre for others to refer to. Understandably, talent profiling’s
main purpose is to identify these thought leaders. These thought leaders are
ready to be mobilised to share their knowledge to other learners and leaders
as and when necessary. They are considered as the pinnacle of ideas that
be turned into action and drivers of paradigm shift and thinkers. Talent
profiling helps the organisation to identify their strengths that can be
leveraged upon as well as to identify those that have yet been given the
opportunity but may have shown potential in their specific outfit and can be
further enhanced. These talents will in turn become thought leaders and train
potential future thought leaders. This in turn ensures that the organisation
has a continuous and steady supply of thinkers and drivers of ideas. That is
the power of talent profiling and its relevance to the proliferation of an
organisation.
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(iii) However, in today’s fast-paced and uncertain post-pandemic world, talent
profiling should also look beyond the normal technical and business skills or
even educational background that a person is equipped with. Soft skills are
as important as hard technical skills that a talent or leader has. Without the
appropriate soft skills, sometime the knowledge delivered by a leader does
not reach the intended audience or there are difficulties in transmitting and
digesting that information relayed. Therefore, talent profiling also helps to
look at these often times overlooked skills which are necessary for thought
leaders and talents. This is why talent profiling complements building
leadership and talent competencies.
D. The PETRONAS Experience
1. Context Setting
In PETRONAS, talent development and management are crucial to respond to the
needs of an everchanging business environment and world. Based on my
observations being in the organisation, PETRONAS seems to be at the forefront
of redefining its talents and rightfully managing them to ensure that the
organisation thrives and survives. Various entities and business units in
PETRONAS (such as Top Talent Management, Human Capital Development,
Global Human Resources Management, Top Leaders Solutions and Leaders
Develop Leaders) develop, collaborate together and implement a plethora of talent
development and management strategies and programmes to ensure that the
talents of PETRONAS are constantly ready to deliver the required outcomes and
business results. In this section, we will be looking at observations made on
PETRONAS’ capability development as well as on the importance of talent
profiling for the identification and development of thought leaders.
2. Capability Development
(i) In PETRONAS, previous engagements with relevant key stakeholders had
identified and surfaced three key guidance on capability building priorities
moving forward. The three key guidance were identified as:
(a) Equipping the talents with the capabilities to enable cultural shift
required to deliver PETRONAS’ business results;
(b) Building the foundational capabilities needed to grow PETRONAS’
businesses; and
(c) Improving PETRONAS’ ability to build new capabilities rapidly as the
businesses will evolve at a faster pace.
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(ii) To enable the cultural shift required to deliver PETRONAS’ objective
towards a sustainable future, the organisation needs to address the three
dimensions of capability building simultaneously. At the same time, it is
important that the PETRONAS Cultural Beliefs (PCB) of: (i) being customer-
focused; (ii) innovate now; (iii) be enterprising; (iv) speak up; and (v) the
courage to act are constantly adhered to ensure that the corporate agenda
is practiced.
(iii) The three dimensions of capability building have been observed as follows:
(a) Building the appropriate leadership competencies;
(b) Equipping talents and leaders with the relevant skills; and
(c) Providing the talents and leaders with a supporting ecosystem.
(iv) For this to happen, I have observed that PETRONAS would need to address
the three dimensions of capability building as follows:
(a) For the first corresponding dimension (as per above), “points” need
to be developed along the relevant leadership competencies required
to deliver the desired results for the businesses of PETRONAS
respectively.
(b) For the second corresponding dimension (as per above), there has
to be increased focus on skill development efforts on critical
foundational capability areas to the extent they are applicable across
businesses.
(c) For the third corresponding dimension (as per above), it is
important that PETRONAS provides the enabling tools, processes and
platforms to support experience shift for capability development. This
would include moving to the PLC New Campus whereby leaders and
talents are able to experience a more immersive learning environment
to develop themselves and others throughout their development
journey.
(v) For leadership development, leaders and their pipeline of successors need
to continuously learn to be effective in their roles for them to progress
whether laterally or vertically in the organisation. For this to happen,
leadership and talent competencies must be improved and upgraded
through upskilling and reskilling of talents and employees at every level
whether it be at the executive-, manager-, senior manager-, general
manager-, senior general manager-, chief executive officer or vice president-
levels.
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(vi) Continuous and constant talent and leadership competencies development
and management would eventually lead to several desired outcomes for the
organisation which would include:
(a) PETRONAS leaders have the competencies to navigate and lead the
path to realising the corporate agenda;
(b) The talents are continuously evolving their technical/functional skills at
pace with the business of the organisation;
(c) The talents can continuously innovate to deliver customer needs at
pace;
(d) The talents incorporate sustainability as much as possible in each and
every action that they undertake; and
(e) The talents are able to leverage on digitalisation and its tools to
improve productivity, decision-making quality and deliver innovative
solutions to the stakeholders, organisation as well as the customers.
(vii) Next, addressing the talents’ learning needs necessitates curation of the
right development programmes to deliver the desired talent outcomes. For
this part of the leadership and talent development to work properly, the
talents’ learning needs, and talents’ portfolio designs have to be managed
and curated appropriately.
(viii) In delivering the right leadership and talent development programmes, the
departments or entities in charge of overseeing this should look at several
pertinent elements which include:
(a) Defining the target population: to look at whether the programme
encompasses all learners or targets a specific population in the
organisation. For example, developing technical or non-technical
employees when targeting a specific population;
(b) Understanding the learning needs: to develop the programmes
based on whether it is competency-specific or role-specific. For
example, developing a competency-specific programme would
encompass system thinking while role-specific programmes would be
catered for those that are involved specifically in operations or venture
building;
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(c) Selecting the right learning partner: when developing the
programme, the relevant entity needs to look at whether it is adequate
to select internal resources such as available in-house leaders and
subject matter experts from within the PETRONAS fraternity to deliver
the learnings to the targeted audience or select external learning
partners hired by the organisation such as Bain and Company,
McKinsey and Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Amazon Web
Services or even Microsoft;
(d) Choosing the best learning approach: to look at whether the
programme is suitable enough to in a singular mode such as via face-
to-face (F2F) classrooms only or through a blended curation and
delivery approach such as F2F classrooms and virtual instructor-led
training (VILT); and
(e) Set the expected outcomes: the entity in charge of leadership and
talent competency development needs to look at what the expected
outcome is for the talent, leader, customer, stakeholder as well as the
organisation as a whole if necessary. For example, on one spectrum,
the desired outcome could be to amplify organisational capabilities
such as reinforcing digital literacy and competency or inculcating
innovative-driven ideas and solutions amongst employees. On another
spectrum of the outcome, the purpose of a programme could be to
ensure individual gaps are minimised and eventually closed. This
could be through teaching problem-solving skills or communication
skills.
(ix) The PETRONAS Leadership Centre (PLC) is considered as the epicentre of
development programmes to meet the learning needs of talents as well as
leaders. The Centre’s focus is on:
(a) Equipping senior leaders to lead and navigate the workforce and
business in achieving organisational goals;
(b) Continuously build a pipeline of emerging leaders to ensure
sustainability and continuity for succession; and
(c) Upskilling & reskilling of talents’ competencies as well as on new ways
of working.
(x) All of this is done through conversations and context-setting with the Top
Management and subject matter experts, classroom lectures, digital
learnings, coaching from sponsors and peers, case study discussions,
simulation of real business situations, action business projects and
experience sharing from leaders.
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3. Talent Profiling
(i) Developing talent profiling could be considered as another subset of building
leadership and talent competencies for talent development and
management. At Leaders Develop Leaders (LDL) in PLC, talent profiling is
an essential initiative with the purpose of identifying and focusing on
selected thought leaders in PETRONAS whose strengths and experience
based on the corporate strategic initiatives are able to address the business’
needs.
(ii) Through talent profiling, LDL is able to ascertain and develop a ready-to-
mobilise talent pool of leaders that have demonstrated the knowledge and
capability in the areas that PETRONAS is focusing on such as Integrity,
Innovation, Agile, Sustainability, Digital, Health and Wellness as well as
Business, Technical and Functional skills. The thought leaders would be
selected based on their expertise and experience to become a referral entity
when needing to deliver talks or leadership development programmes to
other talents and emerging leaders. They are considered as the go-to
individual based on their expertise.
(iii) When focused upskilling of the identified leader is undertaken to strengthen
their delivery, it is expected for that talent to enhance and accentuate their
leadership skills as well as be equipped with the right technical, functional
and soft skills to develop themselves as the crème-de-la-crème of thought
leaders in PETRONAS. This is important as some leaders may be highly
knowledgeable in their area of expertise but may lack in the ability to deliver
effectively and engagingly to the audience thus creating gaps between the
speaker and participants.
(iv) The identified though leader is expected to spawn concepts that inspire and
move others into action as well as impart and cascade their knowledge to
other emerging leaders who may be identified as future successors of the
corporate strategic areas. In an online TED Talk delivered by Karen Eber
(2021), a renowned leadership consultant, she said that it was important for
individuals to deliver strategic and compelling storytelling to ensure that the
oxytocin of the audience is released. When the oxytocin is released in the
bodies of the audience, they became engaged (termed as neuro-coupling)
with the leader and are able to make sense of the data provided. This in turn
would create ideas and inspire others to act. This is where talent profiling
and identifying the appropriate thought leaders is important in ensuring that
future generations of employees in PETRONAS are inspired and continue
to build that succession of future leaders. This creates a cascading and
multiplier effect which would develop other emerging thought leaders in the
organisation.
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(v) Besides that, the talent profiling database looks at areas of talent above and
beyond work. In today’s competitive working environment, it is evident that
the development of a talent profile should look beyond the status quo of skills
required but should also look at soft skills that may often be overlooked at
times.
(vi) These could be skillsets such as emceeing an event, facilitating a
discussion, coaching a coachee, moderating an intellectual discourse,
rallying a group into action, disarming conflict and altercations, becoming a
panellist, controlling a crowd, negotiating, diplomacy and many other soft
skills. I believe these sorts of skills are quintessential, however negligible or
unimportant they may seem to others. This is an aspect of talent profiling
that the civil service may want to consider and delve deeper to develop the
right talents and potential leaders in the Government.
(vii) Based on my observations also, the Human Resource Management
Information System (HRMIS) developed by the Government has also started
to look into identifying specialisation areas for civil servants. For example,
when I was required to fill in the necessary information on this matter in
HRMIS by the Public Service Department, I inserted Pengurusan Hubungan
Antarabangsa dan Hal Ehwal Luar Negeri (International Relations and
Foreign Affairs Management) as my field of job specialisation major while
my minor is in Pengurusan Ekonomi (Economic Management). Ergo, as the
Government has already embarked on identifying specialisation areas of
employees, I believe that there is room for the civil service to potentially
further fine-tune and enhance this sub-area via talent profiling (and the
development of thought leaders) and look into other areas beyond the
technical, business and functional skills such as emceeing, facilitating
discussions, communication skills or having experience as a liaison officer
for international events and be captured in HRMIS or an appropriate online
repository for easy access. Whenever there is an event or programme that
requires these soft skills, HRMIS or a specific online repository can be
referred to identify available talents for delivery to learners.
(viii) Other programs or initiatives that the Government has already implemented
that relate under the umbrella of talent profiling include Genovasi, fast-
tracking talents with high-potential by promoting them, TalentX, Emerging
Management Development Programme (EMDP), Advanced Leadership and
Management Programme (ALMP), enrolling in INSEAD as well as attending
leadership management courses at the Harvard Business School. Based on
my limited observations, the civil service has done an excellent job in
defining and identifying talents in the Government. Nevertheless, we can still
learn a lot from PETRONAS’ capability development strategy and approach
towards talent profiling as well as building leadership and talent
competencies for a better future of the civil service and Malaysia as a whole.
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E. Conclusion
1. In essence, building leadership and talent competencies amongst all levels of
employees through talent development and management is quintessential in
ensuring that an organisation is able to equip itself in delivering its business results
and desired outcomes. Talent profiling is also another important variable that helps
further refine and build up a pool of subject matter experts and thought leaders
that are readily available to deliver in programmes for the development of other
emerging leaders and talents. This is something that the civil service practices to
a certain extent (in terms of building leadership and talent competencies through
existing entities such as SUPREME [Special Unit For High Potential and SME] in
the Public Service Department, the Cluster for Leadership and Executive
Development in INTAN [National Institute of Public Administration] as well as
RSOG [Razak School of Government]) but could further be amplified by learning
from PETRONAS’ capability development framework as we navigate the civil
service, ministries and agencies, Government as well as Malaysia in a Brittle,
Anxious, Non-linear and Incomprehensible world (BANI).
2. When we develop and implement an appropriate, consistent, logical and
deliverable talent development and management strategy for the right talents and
leaders, inadvertently the identified talents and leaders would be able to address
and immerse themselves in the seven expected leadership behaviours as outlined
by Hickman and Dvorak (2021) in the research conducted by Gallup and achieve
success whether as a civil servant, employee, an emerging or experienced leader
or individual for the organisation, ministry or agency, Government or even
Malaysia.
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Talent Spotting |
Recruitment as The First
Step of Talent Management
By:
FAIRUL HAFIFI BIN KASIM
Airasia Grocer
Capital A Berhad
A. Introduction
1. The most important asset in any organisation is its people. A group of people with
the same mindset and attitude will propel the organisation towards its mission,
vision and objectives. Likewise, a dysfunctional team made of people who simply
can’t work well with each other can cripple the entire organisation.
2. A good talent management system is vital in order to build a solid team of excellent
people. This involves talent development at every stage of an employee’s tenure
at the organisation. However, before a talent can be developed, it needs to be
identified. This is the first step of talent management: Recruitment.
3. The first part of a candidate an organisation normally looks for in its recruitment
process is the person’s knowledge on the subject matter. This can be determined
from the candidate's resume and certificates. However, unless the vacant position
requires a high level of knowledge, this attribute is not going to be the deciding
factor in the organisation’s final decision.
4. Next comes the second part, the soft skills. An organisation will look into this area
during the interview stage – how the candidate delivers his responses, what his
body language is telling and whether the candidate stays calm under pressure or
provocation.
5. While good communication skills will take a candidate closer to the vacant position,
the third part – compatibility – will determine whether he is the candidate the
organisation is looking for. An organisation may look into the candidate’s working
style, his views on matters relevant to the organisation as well as his value and
belief systems.
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6. It is important that an organisation considers all three parts in its recruitment
process, especially the third. Knowledge and soft skills can be trained while on the
job, and they will get better over time. On the other hand, compatibility is more
complicated and an organisation will benefit if this aspect can be scrutinised before
a candidate is hired.
B. Background
1. Capital A Berhad
(i) Capital A Berhad started out as AirAsia, a Malaysian multinational low-cost
airline serving the ASEAN region. Operating out of its own low-cost carrier
terminal in Kuala Lumpur during the early days, AirAsia grew and expanded
to operations in various Asian countries and having its own long-haul arm,
Airasia X.
(ii) The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 disrupted the whole airline industry
globally. When its fleet were grounded, Airasia reacted to the market
environment. The group rebranded itself and diversified to three main pillars:
tourism, e-commerce and fintech. Among new services introduced under the
rebranding were food delivery (Airasia Food), e-hailing (Airasia Ride) and
online grocer (Airasia Grocer). Nowadays, Airasia or Capital A as it is now
known models itself as “an investment holding company with a portfolio of
synergistic travel and lifestyle businesses that leverage data and technology
to deliver the best value at the lowest cost, supported by high quality data
and one of Asia's leading brands that remains committed to serving the
underserved.”
2. Airasia Grocer
(i) Ourfarm Asia was established in June 2020 with the mission to connect
farmers who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and MCO with
buyers from out of state. The first business model of the company only dealt
with business-to-business (B2B) activities, with the buyers themselves being
commercial entities in the F&B sector.
(ii) When the first business model stabilised, Ourfarm Asia, or Airasia Farm as
it was then known, expanded to offer the farm products to the general public,
signalling the start of its business-to-consumer (B2B) activities. At this stage,
Airasia Farm was listed as a merchant in the Airasia Grocer portal at
Airasia’s mobile superapp and official website.
(iii) At the end of 2021, Airasia Farm merged with Airasia Grocer, with its B2B
and B2C functions becoming the main activity on the portal. Even though it
was Airasia Farm which absorbed the smaller Airasia Grocer into its
structure, the name Airasia Grocer was maintained to better reflect the
activities of the company.
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(iv) After the first half of 2022, Airasia Grocer again adjusted its business model.
With the resumption of business-as-usual after MCO was lifted, the B2C
segment experienced a downturn in performance. Added with the stiff
competition in the online grocery sector, Capital A management decided to
drop the B2C segment and strengthen its B2B segment, with added focus to
import and export activities.
C. Recruitment Practices at Airasia Grocer
1. When COVID-19 struck and the nation went into the Movement Control Order
(MCO) in March 2020, the food supply chain logistics was disrupted. In the early
stage, amid all the confusions, farmers who market their products out of state were
finding it hard to deliver to their clients.
2. Recognising the business opportunity arising from this crisis, as well as taking
advantage of Airasia’s existing digital ecosystem and logistical networks, the
group offered to be the logistic partner to the farmers to match them with the
demand from commercial buyers in the food and beverage (F&B) sector. For this
purpose, Airasia needed to recruit the right person to quickly establish a new
subsidiary and get it running.
3. Airasia needed someone who has had the experience of establishing a new
venture from scratch. Ms. Lalitha Sivanaser, who established Rokki Avionics as
the provider of inflight Internet for Airasia in 2013 was brought in by the group’s
management to enter the agricultural logistics sector. She founded Ourfarm Asia
in June 2020 and in turn identified her team to get the company off the ground.
4. As MCO went on and the regulations improved, food supply chain logistics was no
longer a major issue. Ourfarm Asia, then rebranded as Airasia Farm, were looking
to grow and expand their reach in order to stay relevant in the market. For this,
they needed a new recruit with experience in strategic planning on a larger scale.
Ms. Joanna Ibrahim, who previously was the Head of Investment at Airasia Digital
and before that the Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Airasia
Indonesia, was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) while Ms.
Lalitha stayed on as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), due to her expertise in
operations.
5. With these top two positions, Airasia picked two leaders with all the right attributes.
They share same beliefs, vision and even working style as Airasia’s founder and
CEO, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. All of them are highly adaptable, visionary,
fearless, adventurous, great people-managers and very resilient. Besides their
knowledge and experience, Airasia appointed people already within its structure,
as they have proven that they are compatible with the group.
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2.2 Draft Laporan Kompilasi 280922
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