Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) enables SMEs to jumpstart their digital journey after investing and partnership with IBM Power Systems. Since 2011, TARUC and IBM have collaborated with the set up of a software technology Centre of Excellence and entrepreneurial support as well as the setting up of a Big Data Analytics (BDA) lab in 2018.

The BDA lab is aimed as a platform for SMEs to test out proof of concepts and modelling AI Model of their respective applications. TAR UC academics and post graduate students work on project basis with these SMEs in coming up with solutions as well to their digital transformation problems.

According to Professor Dr Lee Sze Wei, President of TAR UC, since August 2017, there are more than 12 SMEs that have signed MOAs on Industry 4.0 Proof-of-Concepts projects with the university college and some of these SMEs have entered into their piloting stage.

“Many companies especially SMEs and SMIs are not clear on what IR4.0 means. TAR UC guides them in their journey. We have derived assessment tools for companies to assess their readiness in tech to see their cloud capability. We also offer workshop and training from top level to the tech staff on digital transformation. Through project implementation, we also help them with sharing tech and hardware,” he said.

IBM Systems General Manager Chee Eng Wei said, “Through this collaboration with TAR UC, we can really bring up useful examples and use cases where SMEs can easily collaborate and adopt and also to do a proof of concept. We are also able to help them understand that this is not an expensive journey to get into. There are local expertise that can take them to where they need to go. Big Data is the foundation for this SMEs before moving to AI and Machine Learning.”

TAR UC also has a few AI applications they are working on like sentiment analytics. The university college has expertise and researchers in these areas and is looking forward to help companies with the problems they face.

TAR UC and IBM hope more startups and SMEs will approach them in the future as they are ever ready to deal with the challenges. For the university college, it also provides an opportunity for both academicians and students to get to know the industry and real-world scenarios.

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