These are the trending keywords that come together with the rushing lifestyle of the current era that we are currently resides in. The lives of the break neck speed, where efficiency and effectiveness are keys for the survival of the fittest.

We can argue of their importance. We can even dishearten by the thoughts of the pressure and struggle to keep up with the technology. Worse still, we can opt to get caught with the never-ending arguments of the machine versus human, the devaluating of human’s self-worth by replacement of tech-centric innovation. But one thing we can never question is that these changes will always be there, and will stay, no matter in whatever ways we wish to welcome them. Those embracing these technologies and utilize them to their advantages will come out the winner. But, for those who take too much time in sulking away from them will remain stagnant, losing out in the background, and leave out bitter never endlessly, not knowing what is actually going on in the end.

Now, let us be among those who embrace this wave of change, but without losing touch of our humanity, of course. This is the best time to equip ourselves with sufficient knowledge of this trending. The infrastructure for the technology is being aggressively developed by the government, where the infrastructure of 5G connectivity and technology is currently underway, with RM4.9 billion worth of spending will be allocated for this initiative in the span of a decade growth. Once the infrastructure is in place and achieved its stability, the growth of technology supported by this connectivity will charter new water in terms of innovation and growth of the country. The direct affect will be on businesses and financial services, where the manufacturing sector, for example will now be able to become reliant to a full-force of robotic and minimal human intervention in working environment. Human errors will be reduced to almost zero, there will be no more unnecessary wastage, and the productivity will be further improved.

Even now, without the full embodied power of this technology, we have seen the glimpse of the future in the banking and finance sector. We no longer need physical banking account, and the line-up in the bank is almost in the history. The efficient platforms provided by some e-wallet friendly company enable finances to be more efficient, and stress free. The reduce in petty crime such as thief pockets can be reduced significantly, in particular if the rest of the society are willingly adopting to this cashless new way of life. The way we invest is also changing. We will be less reliant to emotional investing, or more dangerously, investing through non-educated individual, such as our siblings, neighbors, of which we are in fact clueless on their current financial health. The emerging of robo-advisor platforms reduces these threats. Imagine what will be the future of banking and finances once the adoption of 5G connectivity in the country is completed. 

So, should we neglect human-brain when computer-brain seems conquering our life nowadays? Some could fear that robots may replace human in many things as what was portrayed in Wall-E, a Pixar animation movie back in 2008. It is deniable that business nowadays is much complex and literally, everything gets connected and integrated. In running a business for instance, it requires departments and people at different levels to collaborate. Any transformation in the business should be dictated by people through a well-defined goals and ways to achieve them. Here, digitalization or intelligence elements offer great support to assist such collaboration so that every single entity involved in the business environment is working on the same direction and concerted rhythm. Digitalization often looks accelerating communication and processes while intelligence often providing valuable information to people by summarizing enormous amount of otherwise idle data. The importance to have digitalization of business process and human element comes together, but definitely not in silo.

Government’s realization of this importance era to be utilized is mostly welcome. The launching of the MyDigital, Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint on the 19^th February 2021 in the midst of the third wave of deadly Covid-19, and in the glimpse of hope as the arrival of the first vaccine in Malaysia in the following few days marked the  commitment for this initiative. It is also good to know that among the layout ambitious plans in this blueprint, the security of the data and cyber activity are also in the limelight. This initiative may slow down and eliminate (though not to its entirety) the threats in this digital environment.