A growing number of MSC Malaysia status companies has been making inroads into the national and global markets with their quality software and services. Dispelling the notion that homegrown software and services cannot compete on the global stage, data from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) shows that in 2007, RM5.57 billion in sales were registered from overseas markets. This was an increase of over 30% from the 2006 data.It is no surprise then that MDeC itself is handily powered by MSC Malaysia innovation and solutions.The challenge is to get more Malaysian companies to recognise the powerful solutions at hand and for them to take advantage of them, to sharpen their competitiveness in a tough economic climate. Saiful Bahri Mohd Shamlan, vice-president for MDeC’s Industry Development, shares how MSC companies are doing and talks about some of the companies that have been making global inroads. The Edge: There is a huge number of MSC Malaysia status companies offering a range of software and hardware that can enhance the business potential of Malaysian companies. However, it is still unclear to many customers what the difference is between a solution offered by a MSC Malaysia status company and one that is not. Can you shed some light here?Saiful: Actually, in terms of quality, there should not be any difference. In fact, in terms of value for money, MSC Malaysia solutions are as competitive as offshore counterparts. And being Malaysian, it represents world-class products produced by locals and suitable for local consumption. However, that does not mean MSC Malaysia solutions are only good in Malaysia. Some have been proven as competitive and world-class to overseas solutions. This is reflected in the export numbers. The 2007 export sales contributed was 33%, or RM5.57billion of the entire MSC Malaysia revenue of RM17.06 billion, an increase of over 30% from 2006.There is still a lot more MDeC can do to promote MSC Malaysia solutions. We already know that there are truly world-class products that have been made by MSC Malaysia companies. We have been taking MSC Malaysia companies and their products for internationally recognised benchmarks. Once we have positively identified a truly world-class solution, MDeC will be in a better position to apply for more incentives and assistance to help acquire better market share and mindshare for these companies and their solutions in targeted countries.Today, there are 1,810 active MSC Malaysia status companies out of 2,264 companies granted MSC Malaysia status. Out of 1,810, 1,383 are in the Software & eSolutions (SeS) sector, 186 are in Creative Multimedia, 155 are in Shared Services & Outsourcing (SSO). and 86 are IHLs and Incubators (Source EagleEye). The public and private sectors in Malaysia and overseas have the opportunity to choose some of these world-class solutions and technologies. Obviously, you must be powered by some MSC Malaysia status company solutions too. What has your experience been?Yes, we are already using solutions by MSC Malaysia companies. For example, we are using CRM solution BizPoint by AccelTeam Sdn Bhd; Media Shoppe Bhd is a supplier of our enterprise portal system called TMS; our security solutions are from Extol MSC Bhd and Scan Associates Bhd; KISL Technology Centre Sdn Bhd has installed a customised online customer registration system called Wizard, and our internal performance reporting system called EagleEye, Cybercity Management System by Cyber Solution, and we have engaged iPerintis Sdn Bhd for data centre and IT outsourcing. The solutions and services provided by these MSC Malaysia companies are both excellent and exemplary in terms of innovation. The quality and performance provided by these companies is also very good. Larger companies tend to buy their software, hardware and services from MNCs, owing to their confidence in them and the belief that they offer world-class services. What are the MSC Malaysia status companies doing to compete?It’s true that MNC’s main value propositions are world-class products and services. However, that doesn’t mean the products of all MSC Malaysia companies are not world-class. We have witnessed their efforts in making inroads into the local market, as well as foreign markets as indicated by the growth rates that I mentioned previously. In brief, many MSC Malaysia status companies are already competitive but MDeC’s aim is to provide a further boost to these companies, beginning with the planned global benchmarking exercise. This will further reinforce our competitiveness by gaining mindshare from the buyer’s perspective. This is also part of the end-to-end partnership in support of MSC Malaysia companies. Have MSC Malaysia status software companies successfully competed for business overseas?Yes. We believe MSC Malaysia status companies will continue to see a significant growth in revenue, despite the current economic situation, as indicated in recent projections by Gartner, Dataquest, Digital Planet and Pikom. In the last few years, nine local companies have made inroads into the Middle Eastern markets. Among them are Green Packet, GCI, Scan Associates, N2N and Itopia, which have set up operations in the Middle East, and that is something to be proud of.MSC Malaysia companies have also been active in China since 2004, when MDeC opened our office in Dalian ,and recently we set up a new office in Shanghai. To date, a total of US$333 million (RM1.2 billion) in export value has been generated from various past MSC Malaysia missions in China.There are also well-known victories such as MSC Malaysia status companies like XYBase being the main supplier of information systems at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Another example would be Synamatix making inroads into US universities with its super-fast DNA-matching software engine. In addition, the growth in business and reputation of the London–listed Pulse Group is also impressive from a global perspective. Some large Malaysian companies are looking at outsourcing in a more serious way now as they seek to focus on the core business to sharpen their competitiveness. Are there MSC Malaysia status companies that can offer their services in this space?The SSO cluster was the biggest recent contributor to MSC Malaysia revenue. Besides revenue, the SSO industry accounted for the biggest per employer contribution to employment, amounting to a total of 32,500 jobs. Our Malaysian SSO industry is mostly made up of innovative, perceptive and visionary companies with growth rates that challenge global players. Even as they grow in size, MSC Malaysia SSO companies also reinvent themselves in their pursuit of further enhancing their quality, capabilities and cost-efficiency.In the local scene, those large Malaysian companies that are considering engaging SSO service providers can rest assured that Malaysian counterparts are already providing world-class services which are being enjoyed by foreign clients. Sterling examples of such companies are Kompakar, Ea Consulting Asia Pacific, Scicom (MSC) Bhd and Vantage Point Consulting which are among the 100 best global service provider companies in the Global Services 100 list in 2008. There are also SSO companies already making a majority of the business from Malaysian customers such as Symphony BPO, SnT, VADS and Atos Origin. Which areas of ICT do you think will do well in this current economic situation and are MSC Malaysia status companies well positioned to take advantage?The Creative Multimedia and the SSO clusters are expected to continue doing good business. However, most experts are indicating that hardware purchases will be on a decline. Software and related services may still see a slight growth this year. During this current economic situation, we are positioning MSC Malaysia as a cost-competitive investment market rather than a low-cost destination.For example, the global pie chart for animation, which Pricewaterhouse estimates at US$650 billion (RM2.4 trillion) in 2011, should be enough motivation for businesses or investors to take content creation seriously. At events such as the recent MIPCO