DagangNetPOST recently spoke to Encik Wan Ahmad Syatibi Wan Abd Manan, Chief Executive Officer of Dagang Net over tea at our GoHalal Mart & Cafe as he explained Digitalisation in Trade Facilitation, and Dagang Net's role in this.

What is the significance of digitalisation in Trade Facilitation?

Digitalisation has been a key component in Trade Facilitation to generate improvements in trade processes. Trade processes involve a lot of document exchanges and were particularly tedious in a manual environment. With the introduction of eServices in Trade Facilitation, the trading community can save time and cost, gain competitive edge, improve efficiency and productivity, which at the end simply means improved bottom line.

Based on our studies, cost of trade document process done electronically can be reduced by about 90 per cent when compared to manual processing. On a larger scale, digitalisation increases the ease of doing business and the competitiveness of an economy. Progress made in Malaysia has raised the country's ranking from 15th in 2019 to 12th place in 2020 and specifically for Trading across Borders; Malaysia sits at Number 49 according to the latest World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the digital economy comprised 18.5 per cent of the Malaysian gross domestic product in 2018 and it is expected to reach 21 per cent by 2022.

What has been Dagang Net's role in Digitalisation in Trade Facilitation?

The company has pioneered and spearheaded initiatives aimed at creating paper-less, electronic Customs-related services to ease the facilitation and streamlining of international trading processes for the import and export, trade and logistics industries.

Set up in 1989, Dagang Net is the operator of Malaysia's National Single Window for Trade Facilitation, which facilitates electronic Customs-related transactions and duty payments, and electronic document transfer between members of its trading community made up of manufacturers, importers and exporters, forwarders, shipping agents, terminal and port operators, banks, port authorities, permit issuing agencies and Customs.

Over the years, Dagang Net has served a diverse range of customers, gaining valuable expertise to fully capitalise on digitalisation, helping customers run their business faster and more accurately.

Moving forward, Dagang Net understands that in addition to economic factors, organisations are also preparing to ride changes brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution ("IR 4.0"), an industrial revolution marked by the adoption of such technologies as artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, Internet of Things, automation and cloud computing. This inevitable phase of the industrial revolution is set to change the way we live, do business, work and communicate.

For Dagang Net, the company aims to not merely survive the dynamic changes and challenges that will come with IR 4.0 but capture opportunities derived by this industrial revolution as well. And Dagang Net wants to take other organisations along this journey namely through the company's meticulously crafted Dagang Net Digital Platform ("DNDP").

What is Dagang Net Digital Platform?

Dagang Net provides end-to-end innovative services aimed to help organisations connect and collaborate with governments, businesses and consumers to optimise operations and open up commercial opportunities through innovative services.

Dagang Net Digital Platform aims to reach, engage and connect our customers and businesses through innovative products and services. Through this initiative, we aim to expand on our reach beyond the country and establish a global footprint in Trade Facilitation.

In undertaking digital transformation, ideally organisations need to first identify and prioritise business and operational needs before zooming in on the technologies to adopt. Such a strategy guides organisations to better allocate resources, mitigate risks and address key requirements thus ensuring success of the digital transformation.

Dagang Net Digital Platform is organised into three core clusters namely Trade Facilitation and Supply Chain, Financial Technology and Global Halal Services. Under the Trade Facilitation and Supply Chain cluster, we have been innovating business-to-government ("B2G") solutions with enterprise-class applications that simplify trade processes for over 30 years. Recently, we have enhanced our business-to-business ("B2B") offerings to offer Malaysia's most comprehensive cargo and trade management software.

Financial Technology, or Fintech, enhances efficiencies in financial systems and offers opportunities for differentiation, cost reduction and customer retention. As a company that consistently recognises and embraces the potential in new technologies, our Dagang Net Digital Platform offers Fintech services through hassle-free trade financing, and marine cargo insurance.

We also puts forth a holistic eco system aimed at nurturing the global Halal community worldwide encircling all businesses, explore new areas of economic markets with the idea of universal acceptance of Halal standards, certification and practices.

Backed by such key technologies as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and radio frequency identification, Dagang Net Digital Platform puts forth services that are seamless, user-friendly, resilient and intuitive through a highly secured and omnichannel ecosystem.

What's next for Dagang Net? What does Dagang Net hope to accomplish in the near future?

We will continue to grow our solutions specifically our eServices offerings from mainly Trade Facilitation and eCommerce segments to include a range of digital solutions available through the Dagang Net Digital Platform.

Through DNDP, we can help organisations undertake their journey in digital transformation to prepare for IR 4.0. The digital transformation journey can be overwhelming and this is where Dagang Net can offer digital solutions that address organisations', specific business and operational needs.

Taking the example of blockchain, the ultimate goal of this technology is to tackle the issue of trust and secure networks of communications permeating through the increase adoption of digitalisation in every aspect of our lives.

Solutions leveraging on blockchain technology can offer integrity, transparency, audit trail capability and resiliency to its business. This is due to the very nature of blockchain technology, which enables shared responsibility of multiple parties that participate in the blockchain system. Hence, blockchain-backed solutions are particularly critical in such segments as financial services, healthcare, education, regulatory, law enforcement and government.

In another example - big data analytics- all segments that require insights to make decisions either for diagnostics, proactive or predictive measure can leverage on this technology. Its adoption has largely been focused on sales and marketing, and getting business insights as well as customer relationship management. With its ability to perform cognitive functions such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with the environment, and problem solving, artificial intelligence can help organisations especially in automating routine processes and tasks.

Moving forward, you will see Dagang Net growing our services and solutions for these clusters of Dagang Net Digital Platform namely Trade Facilitation & Supply Chain, Financial Technology and Global Halal Services.

As a trade facilitation expert, we see Dagang Net Digital Platform to assist our customers accelerate and enable new capabilities for their businesses. Our goal is to ensure that by using our platform, customers will have a peace of mind knowing that they can easily converge on one unified business platform for all their eServices needs.

In addition, Dagang Net will be expanding our offerings to countries in the region such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines with some of our plans already in the works. I am excited to see where we will be taking Dagang Net next.