Moving Ahead with Digitalisation
“COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of digital readiness, which allows business and life to continue as usual – as much as possible – during pandemics. Building the necessary infrastructure to support a digitised world and stay current in the latest technology will be essential for any business or country to remain competitive in a post-COVID-19 world” – World Economic Forum.
This global pandemic has evinced that the world is not ready for a crisis of this calibre. However, Malaysia is ranked 32nd out of 121 economies globally based on the Network Readiness Index 2019, which entails that Malaysia is proactive methodologically. From the get go (even before the global crises), the Group was already focused on future-proofing our businesses. This is why our various business units are constantly transforming, innovating and adapting in order to stay ahead of the game.
Gamuda is no novice when it comes to innovative tunnelling with its most significant award to date – Technical Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year award, which was awarded at the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) Tunnelling Awards event in Miami, Florida, USA. Through Artificial Intelligence (AI) control algorithms created in-house from scratch, we managed to automate the world’s first Autonomous Tunnel Boring Machine (A-TBM) system and enabled an unprecedented level of tunnelling automation.
With the Group’s expertise in sustainable construction, Gamuda IBS has leveraged on digital innovation to address the future of housing in Malaysia in collaboration with Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM). We have organised Malaysia’s first open architecture design ideas competition, Housing 4.0 and digital innovation lab that intended to reinvent the future of Malaysian housing. The competition challenged conventional housing designs and schemes through the use of Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) and Building Information Modelling (BIM).
Gamuda has also successfully digitised the construction of the MRT SSP line through BIM tools (Viewpoint for Projects and Fieldview) for Common Data Environment (CDE) efforts. These BIM tools integrate into the Geospatial Information System (GIS) that allows unified data in terms of access to information. This data is presented on an interactive dashboard enabling decision making and construction progress updates to be more efficient. Beyond construction, the Group also adopted digital procurement by using SAP Ariba to source goods and services. By digitising and streamlining our procurement process, it enables the Group to strengthen our supply chain and support for future growth.
Technology has also been a key enabler for the Group’s efforts in developing smart sustainable cities in Gamuda Land townships. In 2019, Gamuda Land and Maxis formed a strategic partnership to create Malaysia’s first Maxis-delivered fifth-generation (5G) township for Gamuda Cove. The partnership will also allow the Group to explore smart city and smart retailing solutions across all Gamuda Land townships in Malaysia.
Although this pandemic has put the entire world on an indefinite standstill, Gamuda doesn’t shy away from innovation and advancement, yet encourages it by adopting new innovative and digital-driven solutions for business continuity across the Group.
The Group has been able to maintain its productivity and perform business-critical operations through secure platforms like FieldView, Viewpoint for Projects, Sharepoint, and other video conferencing tools and remote working practices.
We have also prioritised our employees’ health and safety with the help of Tableau software that enables data capture and monitoring of the employees’ health throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) imposed by the Malaysian government, in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.
As for the Group’s property arm, Gamuda Land has also been pushing forward the business model to reach broader potential customers by partnering up with Shopee, an e-commerce shopping platform. This partnership aims to move sales, promote the property online, increase online engagements, and assist in arrangements of a private viewing.
In the coming months, Gamuda has more to offer in stores with our constructions, properties, and improvement of technology. We aim to build the nation and advance the region, and no global crisis will ever deter this vision.