Category IT Economics

Cloud challenges for Malaysia

Leon Jackson Leave a comment

You can’t have a discussion about cloud computing in Malaysia without a heated debate on security and risk.

I have observed 2 root causes of the debate;

1. The cloud democratises large scale enterprise capability coupled with the ability to buy-as-you-need, even small businesses can now leverage on sophisticated enterprise grade IT. In the past, business could get away with low level talent enabling just basic IT services such as accounting, payroll and email. Now in this cloud enabled world of endless useful applications and networks like Facebook, sales force and google apps, even small to medium businesses are able to innovate and have IT capability on par with the global multinational titans. So a gap emerges, while the business units of a company can contract and outsource IT services equivalent to their larger counterparts, they don’t have access to the talent of these behemoths do to plan processes, policies, data governance, integration, architecture and security to manage this level of risk and exposure. The connected world is a two-edge sword, enabling unparalleled access to markets and communities while also increasing exposure to those with malicious intent. So companies can buy services on the cloud but not management. What is missing for Malaysian customers already sold on the commercial benefits of the cloud is someone they can trust and rely on to map their journey and steps to slowly migrate to this opportunity to get more with less.

2. Much of the IT leadership in the Malaysian corporate scene is dominated by technology management rather than actual information and intelligence. The former is the trusted resource to design, build and operate technology to provision assets to achieve limited information and automation goals but the later is a timely asset with an emerging demand. This new breed of CIO equipped with the latest technology and data science know-how and is ready to provide actionable insights to the business to gain a competitive advantage or address new market opportunities. Many vendors selling the cloud attempt to use language that resonates with the later but are selling components that still need to be pieced together by the former. So they end up running up against the wall of vested interest because they are asking the quarter master to reduce his/her scope.

I don’t have an all encompassing mitigation strategy at this point in time, but I suspect the solution will begin from driving more popular apps that will appeal to end users and providing more and more solutions on a Software As a Service or Business Process As a Service coupled by data integration services that will not leave users feeling siloed on your apps. Think about it, what kind of platforms and app stores can you build in your vertical industries that the current technology will enable, economically and securely.

 

Consider this before choosing a system for your hospital

Leon Jackson Leave a comment

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I once gave a talk called “How to manage your CIO” for CFOs and CEOs from the region in an event in Bangkok. My main premise was that the single biggest factor to consider when buying a system or systems for your hospital/hospitals is understanding your organisation and its IT / Informatics maturity and the vision of where you need to be in the next few years. Nothing revolutionary I know, it would even seem like it should be obvious – but you would be surprised how often healthcare providers don’t get this. So much effort and focus is spent on understanding technology, features and vendors before sufficient soul searching has been done to answer preliminary questions such as;

  1. what is going to be our business focus and differentiation over the next few years, ambulatory care?  wellness?
  2. can we ever picture ourselves as leveraging IT to unlock new capabilities and markets or is that too far fetched for now?
  3. are we looking to build a community? branches? regionally?
  4. will we build up internal IT capability or will we always be dependent on partners?
  5. do we know where we are in terms of IT maturity now? do we have a way to measure it and chart a course?
  6. will we be able to secure executive sponsorship and a competitive budget? how will we manage the BOD?

The answer to these questions have serious impact to the vendors and solutions a hospital should be choosing. The economics of Malaysia usually mean that we do not have sufficient buying power as a nation to demand customisation from mature technologies. So often buyers in Malaysia have to choose between reengineering their processes and informatics to conform to mature technology and workflows from proven overseas systems or to have something bespoked to their needs locally and risking the quality issues inherent to this option. Some vendors have strong systems but others have strong implementation skills – which is more important for your situation? Some hospitals lack the IT maturity and need a vendor who will come and tell them what to do and conform them to their image – others have such strong preferences and needs, they will be better suited to a vendor who listens and conforms. In my experience many customers do not understand themselves, thinking they are the latter when they are really the former – resulting in implementation deadlocks where they feel the vendor is not helping them to complete a task or make meaningful choices. The analogy I like to use is a golfer putting. A successful putter is one who is not only sufficiently practised but able to read the greens and choose the right stroke and approach to sink that ball.