The Ministry of Communications and Digital announced the official launching of Boston Consulting Group (BCG)’s tech build and design unit – BCG X – in Malaysia. BCG also unveiled a new joint report developed in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) during the launch, themed ‘Harnessing the Power of Technology: Building a Strong Digital Economy for Malaysia’s Future’.
With digital growth having significant potential to generate value for Malaysia’s economy, this report by BCG and MDEC deep dives into Malaysia’s digital ecosystem, examining factors like where local companies currently stand in terms of digital transformation, key drivers of change, and challenges to overcome.
The joint report is anchored by two proprietary frameworks: MDEC’s Business Digital Adoption Index (BDAI) and BCG’s ‘Build for the Future’ (BFF) framework.
MDEC’s recently piloted BDAI evaluates the rate of digital adoption in Malaysia across 1,000 Malaysian businesses nationwide and aims to serve as a national barometer of the state of digital transformation of businesses of all sizes.
BDAI identified Malaysia’s BDAI index score as “Progressing”, indicating that while Malaysian companies have made positive steps in developing our digital economy,
there is clear room for improvement. This is true across the three key categories – Digital investments, Enablers, and Technology, with Technology identified as a key area of focus.
BCG’s BFF provides perspectives beyond digital adoption, evaluating how companies continuously innovate and digitally transform. The BFF framework was developed over three years of detailed research, assessing over 2,500 companies globally. The report incorporates insights from over 18 Malaysian companies, at various scales and different stages of their respective digital journey, including
incumbents and digital natives.
BFF found that Malaysian companies lag behind global and Southeast Asia (SEA) companies across the digital transformation journey, with a relatively higher mix of Malaysian companies in the Emerging and Stagnating segment (39%) vs. global (13%) and regional (17%). This indicates that Malaysian companies face difficulty in laying the foundation for digital transformation, or are challenged to drive digital
solutions across the organisation.
Hanno Stegmann, Managing Director and Partner, BCG X said, “We’re living in times of uncertainty, and that calls for agility, resilience, and foresight. The way forward, for Malaysian companies to triumph over disruption is to accelerate transformation to keep pace with the rapid digital developments we’re seeing
globally. To build for the future, our research and experience tells us that you need to adopt technology, but that also needs to be supported by an innovation-driven culture and operating models that prioritise sustainable growth. Strong tone-fromthe-top will be the difference between success and obsolescence.”
YB Teo Nie Ching, Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital, officiated the report launch, presenting a speech at the event.
Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of MDEC, who also participated in a panel discussion at the event emphasised MDEC’s dedication to advancing Malaysia’s digital economy. He said “The presence of BCG X in Malaysia signifies the unwavering confidence of a globally established brand like BCG in Malaysia’s digital economy, further validating our nation’s potential as the digital hub of ASEAN. We are thrilled to have collaborated with BCG on a groundbreaking joint research report, which has unveiled valuable insights. We look forward to BCG’s illuminating perspectives on our nation’s digital landscape, as well as exciting opportunities for collaboration with other key stakeholders in the dynamic digital ecosystem.
