On 7th May 2009, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) organised a very interesting Forum with 5 leading panelists on the topic “Bust2Boom: Are you ready for the recovery”. The premise of the Forum was that the recession is coming to an end and that companies now have to prepare for the recovery that always follows a recession. In economic terms, there is always a cycle of boom-bust-boom and its only a matter of timing when a boom will follow a bust.
We had an eminent set of panelists for the session comprising leading Technopreneurs, the CEO of the largest technology project financing company in Malaysia (Debt Ventures) and the VP of industry development at MDeC and I had the pleasure of moderating the session:
Panelists:
Mr.Chris Chan, CEO, The Media Shoppe Bhd (TMS)
Mr. Michael Lai, CEO, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd
Mr. Low Huoi Seong, CEO, Vision New Media Sdn Bhd
Mr. Zubir Ansori Yahaya, CEO, Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd
Mr. Saifol Bahri Shamlan, VP, MDeC
Moderator:
Dr. V.Sivapalan
See below for the slides that I presented at the session to explain the premise of the Forum.
The Panelists concluded that we will definitely see a recovery in 2010 if not by end 2009, so companies should start preparing for the recovery. The Panel also gave several concrete recommendations for companies:
• 1) Get yourself benchmarked. A slowdown is a good time to get yourself benchmarked and to prove to customers that you have high standards in place. For example software companies can get themselves benchmarked to CMMI standards.
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• 2) Do more R&D. When business is good, you will be busy serving clients but a slowdown is a good time to analyze your business and improve what you have to offer by spending the time on R&D.
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• 3) Take advantage of the many grants on offer, not just R&D grants but also marketing grants. They can help you build up the business for the coming recovery
•4) Build more partnerships, locally, regionally and globally. When times are slow everyone will be more willing to look at new partnerships so this is a good time to do this.
• 5) Build credibility and a good track record, both for the business and personally.
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• 6) Spend time exploring the needs of your customers and fulfilling those needs.
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• 7) Broadband and convergence is a powerful medium that will disrupt the way business is done globally. It is no longer only about the Internet but convergence will happen with other devices and the most powerful of these will be mobile. Study how this will affect your business and your customers and use it to build new disruptive businesses.
I totally agree with these panelists. So start preparing for the coming recovery and then the boom that will certainly follow in 2010 – 2012.
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