In the B2B ecosystem, SAP reigns supreme. So it was a great advantage to get K.C. Hong’s take on things in this space. As the managing director of SAP Malaysia, he has a unique perspective on things. This is our fourth installment in our exclusive interview series.

Apparently, SAP has also opened access to SAP Ariba Discovery through June 2020 and since the Ariba Network is also the largest B2B network in the world, representing more than 4.8 million suppliers in over 190 countries, this has to be a truly momentous move. Could you give us the thinking behind such a bold decision?

“Until June 30 2020, SAP has opened access to SAP Ariba Discovery so that any buyer in the B2B space can post their immediate sourcing needs and any supplier can respond to show they can deliver…access to SAP Ariba Discovery will help buyers and suppliers connect more quickly and effectively, and minimize disruption caused by shipment delays, capacity issues and increased consumer demand in times of crisis,” he stated.

“The Ariba Network is the largest business to business network in the world, and you’re right – it represents more than 4.8 million suppliers in over 190 countries…we can help make the connections to keep supply chains intact, which ultimately has an impact on the everyday consumer,” he added. In Malaysia, more than 97,000 buyers and suppliers are connected to Ariba Network. In the past 12 months, these companies have exchanged nearly 270K purchase orders worth over $6.3B USD and more than 315K invoices valued at over $1.5B USD.

On another note, there has also been reports on the recent collaboration between MDEC and SAP Malaysia on accelerating data technology adoption among business enterprises as part of the MDEC’s #DigitalVsCovid initiative. Could you tell us more about this?

The collaboration with MDEC aims to further accelerate data-driven enterprises and develop digital talent. The main objective of this programme is to accelerate data technology adoption among business enterprises and to empower them to take data-driven decisions in their daily operations, as well as to facilitate industry-academia collaboration for digital talent development to meet the growing demand for data scientists and analysts.

“As we are in unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our ultimate objective of this collaboration is to drive data analytics demand in all sectors that will build a robust data-driven industry in Malaysia,” he stressed. The program will also support the facilitation of talent development and industry-academia collaboration. 

This #DigitalVsCovid initiative complement MDEC’s Data Technology Adoption Initiative to develop a data technology-driven ecosystem by driving the data technology adoption journey of business enterprises, while providing them access to data technology solutions; data and analytics expert advisory; talent/training development; and use-case sharing efforts.

On the talent and education front, SAP has been in collaboration with MDEC to continue its mission to develop human capital for Malaysia and to build the “future workforce”. Under the SAP University Alliances initiative, SAP has previously collaborated with MDEC on the MyUniAlliance program. The MyUniAlliance programme  provides training for some three thousand students per year. These initiatives bring SAP’s technology and ‘best practices’ to students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Besides collaborating with MDEC in nurturing talent and growing the local digital ecosystem, SAP has also established a service delivery centre in Kuala Lumpur for the SEA region. It’s part of their nation-building objective to Malaysia.

Be sure to tune in to our 5th part of this interview series next week with K.C. Hong, Managing Director of SAP Malaysia.

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About the author

Anil Prabha

Editor In Chief

Anil started his career in journalism all the way back in 2003. After traversing the sphere of editorial, corporate communications and advertising, he has now come full circle and is back in the world of journalism. He believes in the power of the written word, and its ability to enthrall, delight and inform the reader.