Dr. Shardul Phadnis Moderates AMCHAM Panel on “Business Growth through Cloud”

18 Dec 18

Dr. Shardul Phadnis, MISI’s Director of Research, moderated a panel exploring the growth of small-and-medium enterprise businesses through cloud computing at the American Innovation & Business Speakers Series organized by American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), U.S. Embassy in Malaysia, and MDEC. Dr. Phadnis facilitated the 75-minute session tapping into the experience of two panelists – Ms. Francesca Chia (co-founder and CEO, GoGet Malaysia) and Mr. Ng Shern Yau (co-founder and COO, Logistics Worldwide Express) – to help the audience understand the unique strengths of cloud computing to grow their small businesses, different types of cloud-based solutions, and different approaches for investing in them.

The key takeaways from the session? One, various types of cloud-based solutions exist: application/business model (such as Go Get, Grab, etc.), marketing solution, applications for organizational functions (such as HR, accounting), etc. Two, choosing different solutions requires consideration of different timeframes and expertise: infrastructure software should be chosen for the long-term and with expert consultation, whereas software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications can be chosen based on local customer support and can be migrated from relatively easily. Three, cloud-based businesses need to be aware of data localization and sensitivity issues.