According to National Information Technology Council (NITC) secretary Azzman Shariffadeen, Malaysian companies in the industrial sector, especially small-to-medium-sized enterprizes (SMEs), are still slow in using ICT at the operational and business levels.
"The take-up rate among SMEs has not been aggressive," he said.
SMEs' sluggish pace in incorporating ICT into their businesses flies in the face of the government's strong drive to promote the use of ICT in both the economic and social spheres to enhance the country's competitiveness.
The actual extent of the situation is not known, but Azzman said the NITC's experience with ongoing initiatives to encourage ICT use among local companies in the industrial sector revealed the potential scale of the problem.
One of these initiatives is the Technology, Industry and Government for e-Revolution (Tiger) Demonstrator Application, which is funded by the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry's Demonstrator Application Grant Scheme (DAGS).
The first Tiger project is aimed at creating a national electronic supply chain for companies in the electronics and electricals (E&E) sector through the use of RosettaNet, a standard for supply chain transactions on the Internet.
Launched earlier this year with a RM5 million (US$1.32 million) grant, the Tiger project is managed by Mimos, Tradenex.com and MyBiz International. The project specifically targets the E&E sector as it is the backbone of Malaysian manufacturing, accounting for more than 80 percent of the total value of manufactured goods exports.
Azzman indicated that the project has found it tough getting companies on board, even though companies in the E&E sector were expected to be more tech-savvy, and hence more open to such initiatives.
"It is taking twice as long to get half the take-up rate that we projected," said Azzman, although he did not disclose the number of companies that have signed up for the project. The Tiger Web site lists only five participating companies.
He added that there were very few companies in the sector, notably SMEs, utilizing ICT on a comprehensive basis.
"I would say the numbers are very, very low," said Azzman, who was speaking to reporters after a working visit to Mimos by a delegation from the National Economic Action Council led by its executive director Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.
The NEAC was on a visit to get Mimos' feedback on ways to enhance Malaysia's economic competitiveness.
Azzman, who is also Mimos president and CEO, said that the country's economy was facing "interesting" challenges from low-cost countries, fast changing technologies, and global forces like the World Trade Organization and Asean Free Trade Area.
"We cannot control these forces, but can only manage them," he said.
Mustapa said the NEAC was coordinating a response towards those challenges, which would require a comprehensive strategy involving various ministries and government agencies.
"There's no reason why we can't overcome these challenges, but the pace of change has quickened and thus we should also change faster," he said.
Azzman said Mimos has proposed a purpose-built national innovation system that would link the various stages of innovation, from ideas coming out from universities and research institutions right up to the commercialization and marketing of products and services arising from those ideas. "We have not been forceful enough in linking these components together," he said. "An integrated system has to be built."
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