GUIDE TO

BIG DATA
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GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

PART 1 - CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION P3
SOFTWARE FRAMEWORKS
THE CORE OF BIG DATA

P4

RECOMMENDATION ENGINES

P5

 HOOSING THE RIGHT BUSINESS

C
INTELLIGENCE TOOL

P6

REAL-TIME DATA CAPTURE FOR BIG DATA P7

BIG DATA FOR SMB RETAIL

P8

BIG DATA IN TRAVEL

P9

 UTSOURCING YOUR BIG DATA

O
REQUIREMENTS P10

SUPPORTED BY

COMPANY PROFILES

P11

NOTE FROM MDEC

P12

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

INTRODUCTION
FROM THE EDITOR
We were really excited to
collaborate with the Multimedia
Development Corporation (MDeC)
to write and publish this Data &
Storage Aseans Guide to Big Data.
Having the chance to work with
multiple smaller technology
companies from Malaysia has been a
real education and has enabled us to
produce a guide that is more unique
and varied in content.
Big Data is an evolving discipline with
many emerging technologies. Its a
time of technical evolution. Typically at

NOTE FROM

MDEC CEO DATO

YASMIN MAHMOOD
It is indeed a pleasure for me to pen a few
words in the 2nd edition of the Data &
Storage ASEANs Guide to Big Data in
collaboration with Data & Storage ASEAN. I
am sure this extended guide will serve as a
good reference to industry players as it
contains comprehensive information on Big
Data Analytics.

such a stage in the IT cycle, the really

exciting innovation happens in smaller
independent technical companies.
Smaller companies sometimes get
consumed by larger MNCs and if they
produce something hot they may
become MNCs themselves.
By working with specialist local
companies, we have been able to
explore and explain the key areas of
Big Data, and do so with expert
guidance and input from technologists
developing cutting edge technologies
that push the boundaries of areas like

Neuronal Network Databases,

ecommendation Engines and Data
Capture.
Our thanks go to MDeC for upporting
this guide and linking us with MSC
Malaysia status companies to create a
truly collaborative and informative
guide.
Yours in Data & Storage Allan Guiam
- Editor Data&StorageASEAN
Yours in Data & Storage
Allan Guiam - Editor
Data&StorageASEAN

strategies. The Big Data Analytics (BDA)

segment presents diverse opportunities
that require immediate attention. Malaysia
has already started on its BDA journey and
the potential revenue from it is estimated to
be about RM0.72 billion by year 2020.

The participation of the government and

private sectors will not only reduce costs
and raise productivity but also provide a
comprehensive and holistic approach that
is needed to grow the Big Data ecosystem
in Malaysia.

The Multimedia Development Corporation

(MDeC) has taken steps to accelerate the
adoption of Big Data Analytics (BDA)
among Malaysian companies by
establishing a network of BDA Innovation
Centres of Excellence. The initiative
involves bringing together private and
public entities which would act as conduits
to build critical mass in BDA adoption and
innovation. It is also part of MDeCs aim to
turn Malaysia into a BDA hub in ASEAN.

Big Data Analytics is more than putting

timely and quality information in the hands
of decisions makers at the moment when
they need it. For Malaysian businesses, Big
Data is about creating competitive
advantage; it is also about delivering
enhanced public services for our citizens
as well as improved healthcare,
transportation, security, etc for all.

In this extended Guide, we took the

opportunity to revisit Malaysias Big Data
Beyond driving the BDA capacity and
pioneers and conducted interviews with
adoption among Malaysian businesses and the Managing Directors and CEOs of each
organisations, this initiative will also allow
company to get deeper insight on how they
us to develop our nations talents into a
are helping to move the Big Data agenda
strong pool of data scientists. This will
forward in Malaysia.
The Big Data sector is booming. IT analysts ultimately result in the creation of
worldwide have predicted that more
Malaysian talents who are highly-proficient Once again, I would like to thank Data &
Storage ASEAN for this opportunity and
companies and organisations will seek to
knowledge workers in various economic
wish them the very best in their
leverage on insights and power of big data sectors and industries with IT
endeavours. Thank you.
analytics to chart their vision and
competencies at the core.

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GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

SOFTWARE FRAMEWORKS - THE CORE OF BIG DATA BY ROBERT HERCUS

If you have been researching Big Data, you
will no doubt have heard of Hadoop - the
popular software framework for storing and
processing Big Data.
But what is Hadoop? Is it the only emerging platform for processing Big Data? Are
there other alternative technologies that
may be better suited to Big Data tasks?
Hadoop or more formally referred to as
Apache Hadoop was originally developed
out of papers published by Google that
described its distributed file system and a
process called MapReduce. Without
getting too deep into the technology,
MapReduce solves the problem of indexing
millions or billions of data items.
Hadoop is built on a clustered computing
environment where data is stored against
multiple nodes running commodity
hardware linked through a network.
Because processing is shared, as more
processors and storage are added into the
cluster, MapReduce is able to perform fast
analysis on huge data sets.

continue to grow in number.

Our company, Neuramatix, developed a
patented technology called NeuraBASE
which creates a datastore that emulates
the way, we believe, the human brain
works. Taking this neuronal networking
approach allows us to process enormous
amounts of data at high speed without the
need for distributed clustered computing.
The NeuraBASE datastore is built based on
a parent-child dependency architecture. As
a simplified example, the parent data or
node might be the letters C, A and T. The
child data or node created from this may
be the words CAT, ACT and AT. These
words will not be stored as separate
entities, they are created from pointers and
dependencies to the parent node.

Whilst Hadoop is arguably the most

famous framework, there are other
technologies, which are viable alternatives
to Hadoop such as Disco (originally
developed by Nokia) also based on
MapReduce, and NoSQL databases, such
as MongoDB, NoSQL and Oracle NoSQL.

This approach has two major unique

factors that are perfect for Big Data. Firstly,
the more data we ingest, the smaller the
rate of growth will be in NeuraBASE. This
keeps the data processes manageable
without having to move to distributed
computing models. Secondly, as we ingest
more data, more dependencies are
learned, meaning, allowing the data model
to perform tasks learned by recalling
relevant dependencies at high speed. For
example, the more bilingual text we input
into our machine translation system, the
more it improves its translation accuracy
- with no further programming required.

The challenge of Big Data is not only in its

scale, but also in how we might want to
analyse it. We need to be able to capture
the data and store it in a way that allows
flexibility in how we can access and utilise
it. Consequently, the software frameworks
used to handle Big Data will be varied and

The one source of Big Data that exceeds

all others is genomics. In genomics
research, the NeuraBASE approach we
take allows us to search across entire
human genome significantly faster than any
other methods that employ clustered
computing approaches to Big Data.

ROBERT HERCUS

Robert is the co-founder of the Neuramatix Group

of Companies and the inventor of NeuraBASE,

Robert has over 40 years

experience in Information
Science, specialising in largescale computing infrastructure
and computationally intensive
projects. This includes
hardware and software development, military
systems development, overseeing implementation
of the IT infrastructure and development of the
Touch n Go prepaid card in Malaysia.

SUPPORTED BY

a patented concept for the construction of

neuronal networks using temporal or spatial
association of neurons. He is also the Managing
Director and co-founder of Malaysian Genomics
Resource Centre Berhad (MGRC), one of Asias
leading providers of genome sequencing and
analysis, and genetic screening services.

A detailed description of the Neuronal

Networking Approach to Big Data is
available here - http://www.neuramatix.
com/ANeuronalnetworkapproachofexpressingnetworkmotifs.pdf
The NeuraBASE approach to Big Data
allows us to push the boundaries of
artificial intelligence by using a neuronal
model that learns and adapts as opposed
to rigidly following pre-determined programming logic and decisions trees. For
example, NeuraBASE can be used to
enable a robot to learn to self-balance and
walk on different terrains. Minimal programming rules are required as the robot
learns from both its successes and failures.
Two robots using NeuraBASE in different
environments may learn at different rates
and in different ways. As they continue to
learn and adapt to each of their environment, the eventual style and length of their
strides may end up being different, much
like how we humans are able learn and
adapt to our environments.
We are only scratching the surface of what
can be achieved with Big Data. Innovation
is happening everywhere. Big Data should
not only be about standardised platforms
and architecture for problems we face
today. Its about creating technologies that
will solve problems we will face tomorrow.
Whilst technologies like Hadoop may be
grabbing the headlines today, companies
and organisations looking to achieve
extraordinary things should look beyond
the large global players. If anything, Big
Data teaches us about openness to
possibilities.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

RECOMMENDATION ENGINES BY ST CHUA

If you are an Amazon customer its more
than likely that you have been the
beneficiary of one of the most successful
and advanced recommendation engines
around today. When you buy books on
Amazon you will have noticed the
recommendation that people who
purchased this book also purchased that
book. Reportedly 35 percent of Amazons business is generated from recommendations.
Increasingly more business is conducted
online. Consumers online behaviour and
footprints are getting bigger and more
detailed. With Big Data technology this
behaviour can be collected and analysed
in order to make customised and individual predictive recommendations for
complementary purchases.
In the early days of online retailing a
one-size fits all approach largely based on
tags or hard linking product dependencies was considered effective. To this
day these simplistic types of recommendations engines still have a part to play for
ecommerce sites selling a simple array of
goods.
However today we are seeing more
businesses including ecommerce sites
like Amazon employ more advanced ways
to customise the consumer recommendation experience an approach that is
increasingly not just important but vital.
Today, building a recommendation engine
is a true exercise in Big Data collection

ST CHUA, PREDICTRY CEO

ST enjoys turning ideas to
reality. His experience includes
being the Global Business
Developer of Rebate Networks,
a German-based Venture
Capital with interest in the
daily-deal space spanning across 30 countries
globally. Before that, he was an integral part of
Maxis CEO office where he was heavily involved
in new business and overseas expansion, including

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and predictive analytics. Significant

real-time analysis needs to occur without
impacting website performance.
For each person that visits a site, every
action they perform on that site needs to
collected including personal (if available),
geographic and product information.
Other factors such as seasonal variations
and special opening hours also need to
be included in the data collection process.
Following which all data collected needs
to be matched and analysed.
As recommendation engines evolve to
pull in and assess all of this data, two
main models have stood out from the rest:

which we term social sentiment. This pulls

data from social media, specifically data
which expresses a sentiment such as
comments or likes. We combine this
with content and collaborative analysis to
create very highly targeted, customised
and individualised recommendations.
Typically this technology is being used for
upselling and cross-selling as part of the
ecommerce process. However the uses
could extend far beyond that, potentially
giving you a totally individualised web
experience no matter what you are
searching for.

Collaborative filtering is based on

analysing large amounts of user behaviour, actions, responses and preferences
in order to make predictions about their
likes based on matching to similar users.

In conclusion, Big Data and the technologies that support it are enabling us to
create recommendation engines which
truly filter the noise on the internet and
bring you directly to the items and content
that you want to see. At Predictry we
believe we are at the forefront of individualising customisation. However, traditional
and established methods may still be
appropriate for some applications.

More recently, we have also seen the

development of Hybrid Recommender
Engines, where both content and collaborative filtering are deployed in a single
solution. Research shows that for more
complex buying processes a hybrid
approach can result in more accurate and
effective recommendations.

When looking at adding recommendation

to your e-business or e-service, the most
important thing is to understand the
complexity of your offering as well as the
profile of your user base. Once you have a
strong understanding of those factors,
only then can you make the right choice
of recommendation engine and provider.

Content filtering which is based on

linking keywords and values in user
profiles and product descriptions; and

At Predictry my team is working on

developing recommendations even
further. We are incorporating a third area
into our hybrid recommendation engine

M&A deals worth USD1.3 billion. His role was

expanded to become the retail project manager
for Maxis, managing 29 retail outlets nationwide
in Malaysia. Besides being a Director in Verve
Technologies Sdn Bhd, he is also a co-founder
of a health spa, a FMCG distribution company, a
women fashion e-commerce site, a professional
photo studio and a market entry consultant. In his
free time, he also mentors European and Russian
based start-ups. ST holds an MBA from INSEAD,
France.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

CHOOSING THE RIGHT BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOL BY THOMAS HOW

Business Intelligence (BI) has been around
for many years even before the buzz
started around the term Big Data. BI is
Data Analytics, and for years, BI tools
have served the purpose of enabling
businesses to pull data from various
sources into one analytical engine.
Permitting data to be sliced and diced in
ways previously not possible with
traditional Relational Databases.
In essence this is a large part of what Big
Data is all about taking huge amounts of
raw data and turning that into something
useful for business. The challenges of
doing this have evolved with massive data
sets needing to be collected from
increasingly varied sources. Whilst BI is a
mature market with established players,
the technology around Big Data Analytics
is still evolving.
As with all new and evolving technologies,
we caution customers not to get caught
up in the hype when selecting their BI
tool. The most important thing is that you
choose a solution and a provider that
solves YOUR problems.
Before choosing your BI tool, it is important to think about the data you need to
ingest and how easy or difficult that task
will be with different tools. You also need
to consider how regimented or flexible
you plan will be based on the variety and
type of data you expect to analyse. These
factors will affect the technology you use.
Today there are a number of preferred
models for BI engines.
One of the most mature models is based
on Relational Online Analytical Processing
(ROLAP). ROLAP uses data already
pre-indexed data from the RDBMS from

THOMAS HOW
Thomas How, is the founder
of Speedminer Sdn. Bhd. He
has more than 20 years of
IT experience especially in
consultation, development
and implementation of Data
Warehouse and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions.
He has in-depth experience utilising efficient,
scalable techniques dealing with large-scale data

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which it is pulling data. This usually

means that load times can be fast. But as
it relies on pre-indexed data, ROLAP is
not always as flexible in how it can
analyse data. If you have tightly defined
analysis for whch SQL type queries are
well suited, then ROLAP can be the
correct choice. ROLAP is best for
analysing non-aggregatable data such as
textual strings. However when it comes to
Big Data, ROLAP based BI tools may
often be too reliant on RDBMS indexing
to easily and effectively deal with unstructured data. Also, because ROLAP is
based on SQL type querying it can suffer
from relatively slow query performance.
Another often used model is Multidimensional Online Analytical Processing
(MOLAP). MOLAP tends to be built on a
proprietary engine and uses a concept
called pre-aggregation, which means the
calculations are pre-generated as the
datastore is created. The advantage is
that highly complex queries can be run
very quickly. The flexibility and speed
makes it excellent for dealing with many
of the demands of unstructured Big Data.
However there are limitations. Mainly due
to the pre-aggregation process, loading
data can be complex and may also need
extra investment in skilled resources. In
addition, this method of building the
datastore can place limitations on
scalability. MOLAP is more suited for
analysing summary data from larger data
sets.
Big Data puts new demands on BI and
Data Analytics. Raw data now comes
from so many sources and there is an
increasing need to perform BI in real-time,
so we have to advance BI methodology to

warehouses across a variety of industries including

customers such as the Department of Statistics
Malaysia (DOSM), MATRADE and Celcom (M)
Berhad. His experience with different customers
requirements, architectures, and methodologies
has enabled him to evolve a unique approach
to data warehousing utilising best of breed
components and methods. He actively works on
data warehouse implementation and consults
internationally.

keep pace with evolving demands. We are

seeing Agile Business Intelligence in
response to the ever evolving questions
we may want to ask based on expanding
data sources.
At Speedminer we have developed what
we call a columnar approach to BI. We
use an underlying object orientated
database to import data from nearly any
source whether structured or unstructured. This approach enables us to break
the data down into a format that is both
scalable and flexible, in many cases
giving us the benefit of both MOLAP and
ROLAP. Our approach also means that
applications can be implemented on our
database enabling data to be available to
our BI engine the instant it is created. We
believe this is unique and enables true
real-time BI analytics. Our Columnar
approach is highly flexible and adding
new data sources into the BI engine is
simple and fast.
BI tools deployed correctly will save time
on existing business analytical tasks. For
instance, our Columnar approach has
enabled a government department to
significantly reduce a monthly number
crunching exercise from 13 days to 1
days.
To be clear, there is no obvious right
choice. You need to understand your
data, set your criteria and make decisions
based on your objectives. Is it speed of
load, ease of load, speed of query, or
flexibility of query? Once you know your
priority you can start to review your
options based on an understanding of
which methods are best suited to your
needs.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

REAL-TIME DATA CAPTURE FOR BIG DATA BY KYM WONG

There was a time decades ago when
starting a new business, all you needed
was good products and friendly
neighbourhood customer service.
These days the hyper competitiveness
of local business environments requires more than a great product or
superb customer service. It requires
business intelligence that is dynamic
and real-time reflective of the target
market. Companies that have access to
the right information and are able to
act upon these have the upper hand.

in terms of demographics, the ability to

collect the data at the point of engagement as it happens, and the ability to
provide instantaneous data analysis,
which in turn, allows organisations to
make business decisions faster and in
real-time. Many of our clients find the
ability to close a market intelligence
project faster as a strategic enabler
allowing them to execute targeted
campaigns faster, more efficiently.

persona for the organisation. One thing is

certain you cannot establish a position in
your target market sitting in a desk.
Market research is as much a discipline
as it is a practice. We suggest organisations to pick a reliable data collection
company to partner with for field work.
Ask for credentials and used cases. Take
time to ask the service provider making
sure they understand your business and
your industry.
The Future

Market intelligence has been around for

years and while the fundamentals have
remained unchanged, the demand for
greater scale and the ability to amalgamate the data, and act on the information
has certainly challenged marketers
abilities to deliver.

Most of our clients are from overseas

markets like Singapore and other markets
around the region. By partnering with
local telco carriers, we are able to
conduct location-based surveys using the
users mobile device to really hone in on
specific users for example, travellers at
the Changi Airport in Singapore or
perhaps shoppers on Orchard Road.

Core capabilities and differentiator

Learning Experience

Raydar Research is a marketing information services and research agency. Our

core competency is around data collection. We developed software and mobile
solutions to allow for large scale data
collection, the results of which can be
used to help an organisation bridge the
gap between consumer expectations and
businesses deliverables resulting in
performance improvement, satisfaction
and loyalty. We have partnered with local
carriers to identify the target demographics and use their mobile devices to
engage the audience and develop
real-time market intelligence.

Having worked with so many organisations over the years, providing advice as
well as developing innovative processes
and technologies, it is interesting to
discover the differences and similarities of
our engagements over the years. Businesses looking to harness market
research for the first time must take a
moment to understand their customers
profile, particularly for startups or organisations strapped for resources. The
advice of starting small will allow the
business to focus its energy and resources, and hopefully help establish a beachhead market that it can build from. Use
highly targeted research, identifying the
addressable market, and develop a

Our key differentiators include the ability

to identify or define a very targeted group

KYM WONG
Kym Wong is the founder of Raydar Research, the creator of multiple mobile
platforms to collect Big Data. He has a knack for translating real business
needs into mobile applications that deliver value to customers and businesses
such as banking, healthcare, manufacturing and consumer goods.
www.raydarresearch.com

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Market research as a business practice is

beginning to draw interest among
Malaysian businesses. Unfortunately,
many do not understand or know how to
use market research can help them build
strategy. Coupled with digital and social
media, there is an opportunity for local
companies to draw upon the success and
experience of businesses in other
countries to hone and harness the
potential.
What is also needed is for industry
associations and relevant government
bodies to rally around these innovations
and educate members and the general
public. Together relevant bodies need to
dig deeper into how the technology can
serve the interest of their members so that
the industry, as a whole, is able to benefit
from the potential of market research.
With overseas businesses coming into
Asia and regional players expanding into
Malaysia, there is ample drive and
opportunity for harness the potential of
market research.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

BIG DATA FOR SMB RETAIL BY BOON-SHENG OOI

Ranked 13 in the 2013 Global Retail
Development Index report by management
consultant A.T. Kearney, Malaysia is
forecasted to experience solid retail growth
over the coming years. Retail sales are
expected to pick up following government
initiative to improve the retail despite
concerns over higher operating costs.
We believe these challenges can easily be
overcome by better understanding
customer buying behavior. Web Bytes is
one of the early pioneers of online retail
management solutions essentially hybrid
point of sales (POS) systems that combine
advance technology, proprietary software
and cloud computing to capture and
analyse customer buying patterns.
Retailers have a micro view of their
business, i.e., they know what products sell
well in a specific store or mall. But beyond
this, they do not understand why certain
products sell at specific periods in the year.
What we do at Web Bytes is aggregate the
retail sales data to draw a picture of
customer buying behaviors over any period
of time at any area in Greater Kuala
Lumpur.
Analytics is still at its very nascent stage
within Malaysias retail sector. Many SMB
retailers make decision using only their gut
feeling. For more than three years, weve
been serving SMB retailers most of whom
are not very analytics savvy. We give them
the tools to analyse their business data in
much the same way larger retail chains
perform business intelligence to discover

OOI BOON SHENG

Ooi Boon Sheng, Founder of
Web Bytes Sdn. Bhd., From
age 18 Boon Sheng has show
entrepreneurship starting
as a freelance programmer.
Later he obtained his Bachelor
Degree of Computer Science from Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM) and achieved the USM
Gold Medal Award by Harvard Foundation for
academic excellence. Whilst at University Boon
Sheng designed an engineered and Resources
Management Tools (RMT), which won several

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what products sell and the margins they

make selling goods.
What is missing here is the ability to see
the whole industry. For example what
products sell well in Suria KLCC in January
versus Bukit Bintang. Or why people flock
to Bangsar district. Imagine if a retailer has
access to data that shows what products
move during January in MidValley this
information would alter the way retailers
stock products.
Like other SMBs, retailers are very conservative when it comes to investing in
technology. One of the best things about
our solution is that we are fully on the
cloud. We fully support a pay per use
model. Many of our SMB customers often
start with simple offline POS systems. Over
time as the business grows, we can scale
our backend to support their business.
We do so by ensuring that we support and
connect with standards-compliant POS
infrastructure. You only need to install a
client program to handle the peripheral. We
developed an in-house application that is
installed at retailer POS.
Today our customers include fruit stalls,
apparel, footwear and grocery stores.
Come 2015 when the government introduces a goods and services tax (GST), our
customers will be comforted to know that
our systems will comply with the new tax
system on day one. That cannot be said of
many of todays current systems.
Does having a business analytics or
business intelligence (BI) constitute having

a Big Data strategy?

That is a misconception. People think that
just because they have deployed a BI
solution they now have Big Data. In our
view, true Big Data is having access to
information beyond your business. A single
retailer can only see what is happening at
their store. If we are able to extend that
knowledge to encompass the entire
industry that is Big Data!
Today we process a billion Ringgit of
business annually. Does that give us Big
Data? Absolutely not! We are working to
rebuild our systems to accommodate the
Big Data. As a vendor and an industry, we
face a number of challenges including
adopting standards for how data is
created, collected, analyzed, managed and
destroyed. We are not yet there but
certainly we are getting there.
As with all young technologies, another key
challenge is educating our retail customers
about data security and privacy. Two years
ago we achieved ISO certification and this
has helped customers understand that the
service we provide is secure that we do
not access the details of the data, merely
aggregate the data to allow create a picture
of the industry. This gives our customers
the confidence that their data remains
private and secure. But for Big Data to
become widely accepted and used, we
need industry and government support to
qualify and certify technologies and
standards.

awards including the Gold Medal award at ITEX07

and Gold Medal at the British Innovation and
Technology Show, UK 2007.
More recently Boon Sheng formed Web Bytes,
a software technology company that deliver
cloud-based solution for the retail industry in
the region. Web Bytess anchor product, Xilnex,
currently powers thousands of retail users in over
a thousand outlets. The solution, powered by
Microsoft Azure, processes over RM 1 billion live
retail transactions annually for retail businesses
across Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and
Cambodia.

Simplifying Growth

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

BIG DATA FOR TRAVEL BY ISAAC JACOB

According to the 2013/2014 ITB World
Travel Report over 5.3 million Malaysians
travelled overseas spending US$7.2billion
in 2012. In the same year Malaysia
welcomed 25 million tourists contributing
RM60.6 billion to the economy according
to the UNWTO. The Travel & Tourism industry generated US$50.3 billion to the local
economy (over 16 percent of total GDP)
and is forecasted to reach US$54 billion in
2014.
The challenge for everyone in the industry
is to figure out which parts of the country
locals and foreign tourists will want to visit,
and the goods and services they are willing
to spend on. For many businesses,
speculations are ripe that Big Data may
hold the key to unlocking the puzzle within
the industry.
The operative word is speculation for
indeed whilst many businesses have heard
of Big Data and are interested to use Big
Data, many dont know how to deploy and
use Big Data to their advantage. For most
the knowledge of Big Data is limited to
reading materials and snippets of information shared behind seminar walls. Indeed
when meeting interested parties, the most
common approach we encounter is I read
about it. My company has strong direction
to harness Big Data but we dont know to
do it.
As an early proponent of Big Data, we help
them explore the potential of the technology and at the same time help them
recognize that Big Data is a transformative
journey that requires making big, sometimes, disruptive decisions of they are to
achieve their Big Data objectives.
The reality of Big Data is that it forces you
to wrestle with three key strategic and
operational challenges: information
strategy, data analytics and enterprise

ISAAC JACOB
As Vice President of
Business Consulting, Isaac
Jacob has more than a
decades experience in
functional consultancy and
enterprise software project
implementations.
Specialising in process re-engineering and change
management, he has implemented Business
Intelligence and analytics projects in various

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information management. Information

strategy revolves around how you harness
the information at your fingertips. Data analytics is about garnering insights from your
data so you can predict future customer
behaviour, trends and outcomes. Finally,
because of the volume, variety and velocity
of data coming into your systems, you
need an enterprise information management to drive innovation.
Experienced data analytics people will tell
you that Big Data is complex technology
that requires complex solutions. It is
complex because in one single system you
have congregations of large volumes of
different types of data coming in very rapid
sequence, and changing just as quickly. To
handle this complexity therefore requires
complex but powerful and highly scalable
platforms like Hadoop.
At Fusionex, we live by the principles of
simplicity. The many failed ERP and CRM
systems have taught us that users will shy
away from using tools too difficult to use.
Conversely we saw from the success of the
Apple iOS platform that users will flock
towards technology that is easy to use. We
recognised the capability of Hadoop to
allow us to work with Big Data with minimal
programming. We developed GIANT a
Big Data analytics software to shield
end-users from the complexities surrounding Big Data, low-level plumbing, hard-core
Apache Hadoop and MapReduce programming.
We are able to do this because we work
with some of the largest retailers, hypermarkets and malls to connect their transactional data and provide them insight on
customer behaviour. We also work with
some of the largest hotels to help them
identify customers who are buying or not
buying their promotions and developing

industries, involving large volumes of data,

different data sources to provide in depth analysis
of data and trends.
Jacobs technical background coupled with his
strong accumulated domain knowledge across
manufacturing, market research, financial and
asset management has led him to successfully
execute and spearhead enterprise projects globally
spanning across countries such as the U.S,
Singapore, Malaysia, Holland, France, Hong Kong
and U.K.

insights to drive future campaigns by

clustering customer behaviour patterns.
Many large enterprises are unfased by
complex technologies. For instance in the
travel industry, organizations already have
structured data culled from CRM systems.
They also have unstructured data captured
from customer engagements within their
call centre. The challenge is how to
combine all these data to develop a 360
degree view of the customer. Many within
the travel industry continue to struggle to
fully understand customers proactively.
They often operate in reactive mode
waiting for customers to approach
them.Most marketing campaigns are
broadcast mode designed to cast a wide
net hoping to make a few catches. They
dont have clear view of customers or even
an adequate cluster of customers.
The reality is that because Big Data is still
in its infancy, many businesses lack the
skillset, exposure and technical expertise
to deploy Big Data. Many are also turned
off by the upfront costs that come with
building and deploying an in-house Big
Data systems.
Marketers of Big Data principles of speak
of the three Vs of Big Data: volume,
velocity and variety. We believe that for
businesses to truly reap the benefits of Big
Data, they need to aim for a fourth V value.
For decades companies have been
building repositories of data that let them
see what happened in the past. But looking
at historical data does not allow them to
predict the future. What they want is to be
able to predict what the customer will buy
in the future. That for them is a powerful
value. Big Data promises to make that
happen.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

OUTSOURCING BIG DATA BY BOB CHUA

The hype around Big Data has got many
businesses believing that Big Data is the
holy grail in their pursuits of things such
higher revenues, improved customer
loyalty and business expansion. Most
businesses want to get on the
bandwagon and see what Big Data can
do for them.
The problem is that Big Data is more than
buying a Business Intelligence (BI) tool
and running some reports. In truth the
investment required to do Big Data
properly is significant. In the same way
the thought process and planning
required for any Big Data initiative are also
significant.
Outsourcing Big Data is a very viable
option that almost any company
considering working in this area should
consider. There are some specific
situations where outsourcing is not
possible, usually this revolves around
privacy and confidential information, but
beyond this using an Outsource Partner
may very well be the best option for
deriving value from Big Data.
The main benefit of outsourcing to a Big
Data specialist is expertise. As an
example at Pulse Group, in our Big Data
practice Pulsate we have a combined
10 years of experience in this field which
becomes an immediate head start for
companies new to Big Data that employ
our services.

MR. BOB CHUA

As CEO and Executive Chairman,
Pulse Group PLC, Bob Chua
is a Malaysian entrepreneur
running Asias premier Marketing
Analytics and Big Data Solutions
Provider. He is the proud winner
of many entrepreneurial awards,

SUPPORTED BY

The starting point with an outsource

partner is also beneficial in its own right.
Before we can start we need a tightly
defined OBJECTIVE of what you want to
achieve from your Big Data project. We
have seen in-house Big Data projects fail
simply because the aims and objectives
were too loose from the outset. A
reputable outsource partner will help you
set those objectives. Just as important
they should be able to help you assess
whether those objectives are achievable.
Big Data promises so much, it takes
experience to know in advance if it can
deliver.
A major criterion to getting into Big Data
is the investment required. Big Data
needs to be done properly or not all and
its not just about hiring an analyst to
crunch some numbers. There is
investment in new hardware and software,
middleware, networking and bandwidth.
In addition the technology that you need
to invest in may be new to your IT people
as an example Hadoop or object based
databases. So in addition to capital
expenditure there may also be additional
human resources required. Companies
like Pulse that have years of Big Data
experience already have the skills and the
technology in place, so our customers
benefit from the economies of scale that
we already enjoy. For a short term
temporary Big Data project outsourcing
may be the only viable way to achieve

including the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur

Award in 2008.
Bob advises companies on various public and private
boards, and enjoys mentoring budding entrepreneurs
in his spare time.
bob.chua@pulse-group.com
Skype ID: bobchua

ROI. When establishing a permanent Big

Data practice, this significant investment
needs to be factored in and when it is,
outsourcing may still be the best option.
At Pulse we see one other huge value that
we bring to the success of Big Data
initiatives, and in our view it is a major
factor in deciding whether to insource or
outsource. This is filtering noise. Big
Data is not just big as data can come
from multiple sources and much of the
content can be a distraction rather than
helpful. Cleaning and selecting the right
data to analyse is a crucial but non-trivial
task. Getting it wrong is almost certainly
setting you up to fail. So in some respects
it is ironic that to work with Big Data you
need to know Big Data to start with. In our
experience you either need to buy in the
experience and expertise or outsource it.
Outsourcing Big Data initiatives is not for
everyone! Outsource companies will
generally have broad experience.
However focused vertical experience of a
fully resourced in-house team is likely to
be more attuned to very specific needs of
a particular vertical.
The point to note is that to undertake a
Big Data project is a serious undertaking
that will present difficult challenges, steep
learning curves and investment of time
and money. Outsourcing these initiatives
should always be on the table as an
option for any new Big Data project.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

Simplifying Growth

COMPANY PROFILES

The NeuraBASE Toolbox is a commercial software library for developing

intelligent systems and devices based on a neuronal network model.
The NeuraBASE Toolbox functions enable users to create intelligent
applications by understanding the sequences and frequency of events
that occur within a dataset. Once NeuraBASE has been trained using a set
of data, systems developers can perform analysis and make predictions
by detecting similar patterns in other sets of data. A dataset that has been

trained using NeuraBASE can be searched and recalled to better

understand the conditions or sequences of events which led to the
successful achievement of a task. This can help developers to easily
recreate these conditions in their environment.
http://www.neuramatix.com
Tel +603 2283 3860

Predictry is the big data arm of Verve Technologies Sdn Bhd that is
focussed in the research and development of Predictive Analytics
solutions. Its core product is a robust and customisable recommendation
engine to meet the latest business needs of e-commerce, marketplace,
web-listing or content sites. By having Data Scientist and Business
Intelligence experts in the team, Predictry is able to provide customised
solutions with the goal of assisting clients to increase relevancy, user

engagement and click-through-rates. Predictry is supported by MDeC and

a recipient of the Product Development and Commercialisation Fund (PCF)
for Big Data. Verve Technologies Sdn Bhd is a recipient MSC Malaysias
PCF (Product Development & Commercialisation) Grant.
http://www.predictry.com
hello@predictry.com

Speedminer Sdn. Bhd. (Speedminer) is an MSC (Multimedia Super

Corridor) Company. Its flagship product - Speedminer System has been
successfully implemented at various sites throughout the world.
Speedminer works with various Sales Channel/OEM Partners who
distribute our software in selected geographies and help our customers
tailor and deploy solutions. At the moment, Speedminers clientele
includes organizations from Asia, Europe, America, Australasia, Middle

East and Africa. Speedminer System has received many awards include
MSC-APICTA Award 2006-Best of Applications And Infrastructure Tool,
PIKOM Awards 2006/2007- Emerging Company of The Year and the Best
Product of the Year. Speedminer Sdn Bhd is a recipient of MSC Malayias
Innovation Voucher.
http://www.speedminer.com
info@speedminer.com

We help companies increase their profitability by providing them with data

driven insights to create innovative customer experience solutions that
truly delivers value to their customers and results in lasting loyalty.
We achieve this by providing our clients with technologies and systems
that capture in-the-moment experience and streaming those data in

support of our clients efforts to build lasting relationships with their

customers.
http://www.raydarresearch.com
info@raydarresearch.com

Web Bytess anchor product, Xilnex is a new-age Cloud-Based Retail

Management Solution which helps retailer to grow without having to deal
with the complexity and price of a conventional solution. Xilnex is one of
the few retail management solutions in the world that is EAL1 (Common
Criteria/ISO 15408) certified which promises world class security
framework in place so that retailers can operate without worrying on its

data security and reliability. Xilnex currently power thousands of live

Point-Of-Sales terminals which process over RM 1 billion of sales
transactions a year.Web Bytes Sdn Bhd is a recipient of MSC Malaysias
Innovation Voucher.
http://www.xilnex.com
sales@xilnex.com

Travel & Hospitality is a core focus for Fusionex, where we have built
various solid platforms to assist industry players for the purposes of
improving sales revenue, reduce operating costs and raising the bar for
customer satisfaction. For early adopters of IT for their businesses, we
have created an online presence through services like online booking of
products and services, as well as integration with social media channels
for an optimised consumer experience.The following are just a few of our

key solution offerings are Online reservation systems and Travel agent
booking management systems. Fusionex is a recipient of MGS (MSC
Malaysia R&D Grant Scheme) Grant and MSC Malaysias PCF (Product
Development & Commercialisation) Grant.
http://www.adv-fusionex.com
my1.info@adv-fusionex.com

Pulse Group Plc, is a research process outsourcing group, providing a range of

online and offline solutions to the market research industry.
We provide a range of services, including online market research panels, call
centre solutions, translation services, and qualitative online and offline solutions.
Our complete research solutions integrate seamlessly with your internal systems
and processes, allowing you to stay focused in delivering value to your clients.
As a virtual extension to your business, our services provide you with the
confidence that allows your business to focus on:

SUPPORTED BY

Delivering value to your clients

Transfer fixed costs into an on-demand cost model
Facilitate your business expansion with minimal risk
With an experienced global team, we are able to provide our clients with timely,
high quality data and importantly value for money. With leading technology in
call-centre support, Pulse Group Plc. offers a one-stop solution.
http://www.pulse-group.com
info@pulse-group.com

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

NOTE FROM MDeC

Big Data is a key transformative technology that is being
pushed for adoption under the Digital Malaysia Plan, the
national initiative to advance the country towards a
vibrant digital economy by 2020.
Digital Malaysia will achieve this by creating an ecosystem
that promotes the pervasive use of Digital Technology in all
aspects of the economy. This will include connecting
communities globally and in real-time, in order to increase
the nations Gross National Income (GNI), enhance
productivity and improve standards of living.
Collectively, Digital Malaysia aims to achieve the following:
the creation of 160,000 high value jobs, increase Malaysias
ICT contribution from 9.8% to 17%, provide an additional
1% SME contribution to Gross Domestic Product and create
an additional RM7,000 of digital income per annum for
350,000 Citizens.

SUPPORTED BY

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

PART 2 - CONTENTS:
MALAYSIAS ENTREPRENEURIAL ADRENALIN JUNKIE
CARVING A COMPETITIVE FUTURE WITH BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
FUSIONEX THE ANALYTICS JOURNEY START SMALL THINK BIG SCALE FAST
HOW BIG DATA IS RESHAPING THE FUTURE OF RETAIL
SENSIBLY PREDICTING THE RETAIL BUSINESS OF TOMORROW
SPEEDMINER PREPS MALAYSIANS FOR BIG DATA
TAKING THE PULSE OF A MOBILIZED CUSTOMER
THE CONNECTED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IOT AND RFID
THE MANY REAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES OF BIG DATA
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ECEOS STRATEGY

SUPPORTED BY

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

MALAYSIAS ENTREPRENEURIAL ADRENALIN JUNKIE WITH BOB CHUA

DSA caught up with Pulse Group CEO
Bob Chua just after he had returned from
a trip to Nepal. Not a business mission,
but a thrill seeking ride on old time Royal
Enfield Motorbikes across the Himalayas
with a couple of adrenalin junkie
friends.You can view a video of Bobs
journey here.
Perhaps the most famous entrepreneur
adventurer is Richard Branson but there
are many others and perhaps we should
not be surprised that a thrill-seeking
streak runs through these people. Every
entrepreneur is a risk taker at heart and
their business journeys can be just as
hairy as their physical adventures.
A look at the history of Chua shows him
to be a real old school entrepreneur.
After cutting his teeth in senior positions
at companies like Neilsen and TNS, Bob
felt he had built enough experience in
digital research to go it alone, eventually
he started Pulse Group, which now lays
claim to being one of Asias premier
Digital research agencies.
Bobs Pulse Group journey like his Nepal
adventure has not been typical. In very
short time after founding the company, he
successfully took Pulse public in 2008
raising approximately RM2,500,000 on the
Plus Stock Exchange in London. By
October 2012 Bob and his major
shareholders decided that that the
shackles of being a PLC were thwarting
the development of the company and they
made the decision to voluntarily delist.
Doing so has enabled the company to be
far more agile and respond to new

MR. BOB CHUA

As CEO and Executive Chairman,
Pulse Group PLC, Bob Chua
is a Malaysian entrepreneur
running Asias premier Marketing
Analytics and Big Data Solutions
Provider. He is the proud winner
of many entrepreneurial awards,

SUPPORTED BY

opportunities as they come up. Not many

Malaysians have the drive to list on a
London based Exchange and very few,
Malaysian or otherwise have the courage
to delist. These two facts alone show the
extent of Bobs tenacity.
As one of Malaysias early IT
entrepreneurs we were interested to see if
Bob felt the Malaysian Government does
enough to help the new batch of budding
start-ups. His view was quite fascinating
and very telling. He points out that the
Malaysian Government is doing a lot
these days to support tech start-ups. A lot
more than when he first started out and
he sees this as a positive step. However
Bob adds a word of caution, he is proud
that Pulse has never taken any grants
from the Government and points out that
too much government spoon feeding is
actually a bad thing for an entrepreneur.
This is where his old school heritage
comes through. For Bob the struggle to
get started is an important part of learning
how to survive and excel in the real world.
A helping hand from government is OK,
but too much and the danger is we create
molly-coddled entrepreneurs that dont
have the battle scars to succeed in the
commercial rat race.
Bobs new Big Data Practice Pulsate is
further evidence of a tuned-in and
experienced businessman who knows
how to jump on opportunity when it
arises.
In truth Big Data is a natural progression
for a company like Pulse Group. The
business of pulse has always been to
extract knowledge from Data.

including the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur

Award in 2008.
Bob advises companies on various public and private
boards, and enjoys mentoring budding entrepreneurs
in his spare time.
bob.chua@pulse-group.com
Skype ID: bobchua

When Bob started in this business

working for companies like Neilson, even
though the data collection techniques
were different (data was collected by
clipboard carrying students being paid to
conduct questionnaires in the street) the
driving force has always remained
constant extracting value from data.
For a company like Pulse Group, the rise
of Big Data can be both a threat and an
opportunity, but like all successful
entrepreneurs, Bob only sees it as an
opportunity. Pulsate his Big Data division
is only at the start of its journey, but we
wouldnt be surprised if it drives Pulse
Group to greater success than ever
before.
It is clear Bob sees the opportunities.
Providing outsourced Big Data services is
a natural progression of what Pulse Group
already does, but we can hear Bobs brain
whirring with the other possibilities he is
exploring such as a Big Data training
academy to capitalise on the huge
forecasted big data skills gap the world is
already experiencing.
We are sure that Pulse Group will have a
part to play in the Malaysian Big Data
Scene and beyond, but we are even surer
that just as Bob is already planning his
next Motorbiking Adventure, his
entrepreneurial ride is also far from
complete.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

CARVING A COMPETITIVE FUTURE WITH BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

AN INTERVIEW WITH JIMMY TING HENG TOON, CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DATAMICRON
Business intelligence (BI) adoption in
Malaysia continues to move forward with
Gartner estimating spend on BI to have
reached http://www.ftms.edu.my/journals/
IJISE/Journal/An%20Empirical%20
Analysis%20on%20Business%20
Intelligence%20Maturity%20in%20
Malaysian%20Organizations.pdf. As with
their counterparts in other countries,
Malaysian businesses view BI tools are
helping them improve decision making by
putting information to better use.
One such company at the forefront of
helping local and regional companies
adopt and utilize BI tool to their potential
is Datamicron Systems Sdn Bhd.
Data&StorageAsean spoke with Mr.
Jimmy Ting Heng Toon, co-founder and
managing director of Datamicron on the
history of the company and its role in the
development of BI and big data in
Malaysia.
DSA: Datamicron is now 12 years old,
how have things changed for the
company since its founding in 2002?
Back when we started Datamicron
business intelligence and data
warehousing were not commonly
understood outside of large enterprises
and multinational companies. Big Data, as
a concept didnt exist at the time. It was
very challenging trying to convince of the
benefits of business intelligence. Over the
last 15 years, its been an interesting
journey.
DSA: Has Big Data always a goal for
the company?
Not really! At the time when we started
there was no Big Data and social media
wasnt really prominent at the time until
about 10 years ago. Big Data itself has
only risen to prominence in the last five
years. So during those times, big data
wasnt really a goal for us. But over the
years as we saw the interest and

SUPPORTED BY

opportunities pick up around big data, we

decided to join the foray.
DSA: Do you find your customers
confused between business
intelligence and big data?
It is very true that today there is a lot of
confusion and misconception about what
big data is about. Some equate big data
primarily to large volumes of structured
data. The interpretation is not so clear.
Whilst the definition of big data in terms of
volume, velocity, variety of type and
source is consistent, how this is
interpreted by the business, and in some
cases, the individual is inconsistent. Some
people dont know what to do with big
data. Some are using it only for sentiment
analysis for example. Some verticals have
started collecting machine data but much
of this is for future references with little or
no action being undertaken today.
In Malaysia, not many organizations are
aware of what big data technology is but
in many cases they are not actively rolling
out big data solutions. I dont there are
many Hadoop installations locally. Many
are likely in the initial stages of business
intelligence or data warehouse. We are a
long way from seeing big data
implementations in a meaning full way.
DSA: What are the real world
challenges business people have with
regards to understanding big data,
separating reality from hype, and
discerning what big data means for
their business?
Business users are keen on big data but
they prefer to use packaged solutions that
are vertically aligned to their business
easy and fast to deploy.
DSA: In Malaysia who are the current
users of business intelligence
solutions? And will these same users
implement Big Data?

Within our customer base, BI usage spans

across verticals including banks,
government, and retailers among others.
While some have aspirations to implement
big data in the future, the reality is that
today, many are still learning to use
Business Intelligence and Business
Analytics tools. We believe that once they
are familiar with the business benefits of
BI and BA, we might start to see serious
queries for big data. Before that they
dont want to do too many things.
DSA: How far are we from big data
becoming mainstream in Malaysia?
And which industries will likely steer
the development of big data locally?
I would imagine at least 2 to 3 years away.
Certainly the private sector will be keen to
implement big data to cut operating
costs. Within the government, big data
will likely be used to gauge public
sentiment analysis prior to implementing
new policies.
DSA: Can you share some actual big
data implementations Datamicron is
currently involved in?
We have a lot of Proof of Concept
implementations on Big Data. We are
working on mining unstructured data
derived from social media platforms, for
example, using existing tools. Some of
these POCs revolve around being able to
predict outcomes.
DSA: What is your suggestion to
businesses trying to get a grip on big
data for their business?
Any organization consideration needs to
understand what outcomes they want to
achieve with big data. Avoid big bang
approach towards implementation. Take
measured small steps learning from small
implementations and fine tuning as the
organization learns from each small step.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

FUSIONEX THE ANALYTICS JOURNEY START SMALL THINK BIG SCALE FAST
WITH IVAN TEH MANAGING DIRECTOR AT FUSIONEX
Fusionex is a Malaysian success story
and a key player in the big data scene in
the region. DSA caught up with Fusionex
Managing Director Ivan Teh to find out
more about why and how Fusionex has
managed to ride the big data wave so
well.
Ivan and his team discovered the big data
opportunity very early on. In fact before it
became the buzzword it is today, they
were already doing big data. Fusionex
came into being back in around 2007.
Ivan and his colleagues (who come with
data warehousing background) saw a few
things on the horizon. They felt that
analytics and business intelligence
needed to be made easier and more
elegant.
They also had the foresight to see that
ingesting data from a multitude of sources
was going to become critical.
Ivan explained that at the time they were
already seeing the explosion of data from
social media and Internet of Things (IoT).
They knew that analytics was needed to
make sense of it all.
Fusionex Giant was developed with this
forethought in mind and from the
beginning it was designed to be data
source agnostic with connections to
unstructured data sources from day one,
he proudly beamed.
Ivan explained that having the
connections to frameworks like Hadoop
was important but for Fusionex.
Simplifying the whole process of
connecting to different data sources was
also key.
In line with making analytics easy and
accessible he explained that embracing
other emerging technologies, perhaps not
obviously linked to analytics and BI was
also important. Citing BYOD as an
example he elaborated that mobility is
now critical for all analytics players. Ivan
and his team were ahead of the curve in
understanding that in todays business
world powerful analytic tools need to be
available any place and any time and on

SUPPORTED BY

numerous formats.
BYOD has driven analytics to new
heights in this respect. Fusionex
understand that most business people
carry and access data from multiple
devices including tablets, phones, laptops
and desktops. Ivan explained how they
designed Fusionex Giant to be device
agnostic so that reports are delivered
looking beautiful and elegant no matter
where you might be and what device you
may be using.
He cautions, however, that whilst BYOD
elevates analytics consumption it is not
without risks including that of increased
security threats. He points out that
aesthetics and platform support should
not be implemented at the cost of
compromised security.
There is no doubt that analytics reports
need to be visually stunning particularly
on mobile devices and there is a lot of talk
with Big Data applications about
Visualisation. DSA posed the question on
whether Visualisation is just a gimmick.
Ivan offered a candid assessment of the
situation. In his view Visualisation is not a
gimmick; it is a key part of analytics. In
our media rich world, people expect and
want to see business data presented
looking beautiful. In addition good
visualisation can summarise complex data
in ways that make it much quicker to
digest and understand, he adds.
Ivan also stressed that great visualisation
can mask underlying gaps in a product.
Ultimately the fundamentals of an
analytics product are the most important
thing. To drive the point he notes that
there is no point having great visualisation
if the data you are analysing is dirty.
Ivan is seeing the interest in data analytics
growing significantly, as people from all
lines of business including the CFOs
office, operations, and executive
management to name a few are coming to
realise that to stay ahead of the curve
requires instant answers at their fingertips.

He sees some companies embracing this,

but warns that there are real challenges.
Within some organisation not everyone
gets it and a mindset change is required
to truly embrace how todays analytics
can transform decision-making. Beyond
that Ivan also notes tangible challenges.
If we use the dirty data analogy,
implementing Big Data analytics requires
a lot of thought and planning otherwise
the risk that it will not deliver the promise
is real, he cautioned.
He points out that companies like
Fusionex have built invaluable man-years
of experience in navigating the journey.
Much of this experience is built into the
technology they develop. As an example
Fusionex Giant can clean dirty data using
algorithms that glean from these years of
experience.
Having the opportunity to speak briefly
with Ivan we got a glimpse into why
Fusionex has been able to excel in their
field. Their foresight to predict the big
data boom has been key. But just
predicting the boom would not have been
enough. More important, Ivan and his
team had the vision to understand how to
capitalise on it. They have pioneered to
deliver products and technology that
people need, perhaps before those same
people even realised they needed it.
Ivan is keen to make sure that whether
your requirement or your data is big or
small, when it comes to business
intelligence and analytics, people should
not be reticent or intimidated. He believes
that analytics truly is a journey to
actionable insights. Think of the journey
as a quest to achieve more in less time
and perhaps leave the office earlier each
day having achieved more, he noted.
His advice is to start small, think big and
scale fast, and he believes Fusionex can
help any company of any size with that.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

HOW BIG DATA IS RESHAPING THE FUTURE OF RETAIL

AN INTERVIEW WITH OOI BOON SHENG (OBS) IS FOUNDER OF WEB BYTES SDN BHD
The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited
report Global Powers of Retailing 2014
paints a positive outlook for the global
retail sector driven by improving positions
in developed economies and a growing
affluent middle-class in developing/
emerging markets. It also notes that the
industry as a whole is facing a period of
unprecedented disruption and change. It
cites the impact of mobile network access
on customers, markets and businesses as
one dramatic example. It calls into
question how retailers can fully anticipate
the ways in which business models and
markets might be affected by a broad set
of technologies interacting with social and
economic trends to share the future of
retail.
One key challenge presented by all these
technologies coming together in retail is
the overwhelming amount of unstructured
data to be managed and organized for
use.
The South East Asian economies are
projected to grow by 4 percent to 7
percent per annum over the 2012-2016
period. This is a significantly faster pace
of growth than is expected in advanced
economies. Rising consumer spending on
the back of growing disposable income
coupled with a healthy tourism industry
bodes well for the retail sector.
Malaysian retailers face similar challenges
as the rest of the world what
technologies will power sustainable
growth. One man has been at the
foreground of helping Malaysian small and
medium-sized retailers take on the
challenge of harnessing technology to do
just that.
Ooi Boon Sheng (OBS) is founder of Web
Bytes Sdn Bhd. Data&Storage Asean
(DSA) spoke to Ooi to understand the
opportunities available to Malaysian

SUPPORTED BY

retailers around cloud computing and Big

Data.
DSA: How did you get started with Web
Bytes?
OBS: We started six years ago with four
people to develop an online business
solution. Around the time, there was no
cloud computing; no software-as-aservice (SaaS). At the time we thought of
developing software that would be
available online and delivered via the
Internet. But around the time, we also
recognized that many retailers are not
prepared for the cloud so we had to
consider a hybrid model where part of the
software resided on the client and other
part delivered via the cloud. We needed to
make sure that the combination was
responsive and reliable. In a way, we
made the cloud a practical solution for the
retail industry.
Today, we are still a very small company
with about 30 people half of whom are
software engineers.
DSA: How did you decide which
industry to focus on?
OBS: Early on we wanted to develop
online software because it would allow us
to scale. We studied the various industries
and identified that nobody was offering
online solutions in the retail sector. We
noted that many of the IT solutions
targeting retails were based on 1970
technologies. We saw our opportunity.
DSA: In the retail sector, price is a
major factor for success. But knowing
when to reduce prices is a challenge
for everyone big and small. How does
Big Data solve this problem?
OBS: It really depends on the industry
subsector. Within the apparel market,
knowing when to reduce prices is not as
important as understanding your

customers buying pattern. For example,

we know that there is an increased in the
number of people coming to shop from 8
to 10 in the evening during weekdays. We
also understand that non casual buyers
have objective for shopping. There is a lot
of traffic from casual buyers; many come
to malls to window stop and buy without
objective. By understanding the why and
when people buy, we are able to offer
insight and strategy.
DSA: In an industry where margins can
plunge in the face of competition, how
can retailers afford expensive Big Data
Analytics solutions?
OBS: It is true that business intelligence
can be very expensive. Likewise some of
the existing on-premise retail
management solutions can also be steep.
We took a different approach
subscription-based to software
acquisition allowing our customers to pay
a monthly fee to gain access to analytical
tools designed specifically for their
market. What we discovered with this
approach is that we are able to collect
more data.
DSA: Where does one begin following a
decision to implement Big Data?
OBS: I cant speak for others but our
approach begins with education. Our
customers need to understand our
approach/framework to big data and
analytics. Sure, they can and should
approach local retail industry associations
to hear from their peers on how
technology is reshaping the industry.
Unfortunately these days, many of the
members of these associations tend to
focus on industry challenges and
practices very little around new
technologies and how these are reshaping
the industry.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

HOW BIG DATA IS RESHAPING THE FUTURE OF RETAIL

AN INTERVIEW WITH OOI BOON SHENG (OBS) IS FOUNDER OF WEB BYTES SDN BHD
DSA: What are the issues retailers must
always bear in mind when deploying
Big Data?

DSA: How does a retailer know when to

give up on Big Data? Or even when Big
Data is not the answer?

OBS: A lot of retailers dont know what

big data can do for them. So when we
discuss the technology, we share with
them the relevancy of the information they
can gain and big data can impact them.

OBS: I think it is very difficult to answer

that question at this stage.

DSA: Many predict the cloud to

become the great equalizer as smaller
companies can now afford technology
comparable to those large systems
deployed by big companies. Is that
always the case?
OBS: The cloud does present an
interesting opportunity for many
companies. Once we explain to them that
through the cloud, it is possible for
smaller companies to now afford
technology comparable to those used by
big companies.
However I think small retailers need to be
committed to invest in utilization. Today
our hybrid solution is used by big chains
as well as small shops. While cloud-based
solutions may offer the same capabilities
to all, what we noticed is that it is the
large organizations that are actually
benefiting from the platform because they
are willing to invest not just dollars to pay
for the usage of the technology but
people who can be empowered and
trained to use the technology. Smaller
retailers simply dont have the ability and
know-how to use the technology (and
unable to commit people to use it).
DSA: What conditions make it
unrealistic to deploy a SaaS-based Big
Data for a small company?
OBS: You are right, even SaaS is not for
everyone. If a small retailer is not aiming
to grow, it doesnt make an impact
deploying big data.

DSA: Do you see Xilnex as a big data

company?
OBS: Not yet but we are heading towards
that direction. We are still learning. We are
handling a lot of data today; analysing
that huge data is a learning process. We
are still improving as we understand more
about the data.
DSA: Do you see big data opening new
opportunities for you?
OBS: Yes. Put it another way, we make
our difference because we are in the
cloud.
DSA: How difficult is it developing a
product in Malaysia? Are the skills
readily available?
OBS: The good thing is that skill is readily
available. Universities are churning out the
skills we need. And because labour in
Malaysia is cheap, it means that we
compete with large MNCs that want the
same people.
DSA: Do you sell outside of Malaysia
and what are the different approaches
to different counties and markets?
OBS: A unique differentiator for our
solution is that it is designed from the
ground up to be easy to deploy and use.
We serve the same retail markets and
because our solution is partly delivered
via the cloud, we have customers in
Singapore, Australia and Cambodia.
Brands entering new emerging markets
where local skills and infrastructure may
not be up to par with international
standards will find our offering as very
cost effective.

Simplifying Growth

SUPPORTED BY

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

SENSIBLY PREDICTING THE RETAIL BUSINESS OF TOMORROW

WITH SENG TEONG CHUA, FOUNDER OF PREDICTRY
The challenge for any business,
particularly retail in whatever shape or
form i.e., brick and mortar, online or
hybrid, is discovering what customers
want, what price they are willing to pay for
a product, and when they are most likely
be willing to buy. According to the
PricewaterhouseCooper report https://
www.pwc.com/es_CL/cl/publicaciones/
assets/retailing2015.pdf the value
proposition that guides consumer product
purchases is changing. Today consumers
will put heightened emphasis on
personalization. They are increasingly
proactive in their purchase decisions and
selective about with whom they want to
do business.
This means that retailers can no longer
depend on second guessing consumers.
Technology is no longer just about
improving operational efficiency; retailers
need to understand and anticipate
consumer needs. In this new paradigm,
we are seeing a need to integrated
real-time data that comes from a
multitude of sources into demand
management solutions. In this
environment customer data and
relationships will become a key asset for
retailers.
Amazon and Nordtsrom are two examples
of retailers that have successfully
harnessed technology to enable them to
anticipate what customers will likely buy
based on their browsing behaviour online.
They are also using data culled from
social media to identify consumer
interests; match these interests to
products in their store; and are using
technologies like recommendation
engines to push new products to
unsuspecting consumers.
But these organizations are not the typical
Malaysian retailer. In fact whilst Malaysia

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has its fair share or successful large retail

businesses like 99 Speedmart, Econsave
Cash & Carry, GCH Retail, Mydin, and
Parkson, a sizeable number are actually
SMEs. According to the http://www.
acccim.org.my/file/2012%20SME_EN.pdf
SMEs Survey, nearly 25 percent of
580,985 SMEs in the services sector are
wholesalers and retailers. Many of these
do not have the resources to invest in the
kinds of technologies Amazon and
Nordstrom are throwing at to solve the
consumer puzzle what the customer
wants.
Seng Teong Chua, founder of Predictry,
says this is the market that his
organization wants to serve. Through
cloud computing, he believes that
Predictry can offer Malaysias SME
retailers and wholesalers with the right
technology to compete against the big
boys. With funding from the Malaysian
Development Corporation (MDEC),
Predictry essentially provides relevant
recommendations to shoppers through an
in-house built algorithm that the company
tweaks for each customer and site.
Chua explained his company today
benefits from the success of Amazon.
Many businesses that have used Amazon
to reach customers recognize the value of
a recommendation engine. Thus
approaching these businesses to try
Predictrys solution is straightforward.
Whilst Predictry is based in Malaysia, our
customers are global. Our business,
which is essentially a Recommendationas-a-Service is hosted in the US and we
serve customers all around the world, he
adds.
Chua says that retailers and marketers are
fixated on conversion. But conversion is
an on-going challenge for everyone. He
reckons that conversion can best be

achieved through relevancy. To provide

relevant product recommendations, our
recommendation engine tracks which
pages shoppers go to. We are able to
map out viewing and purchasing
behaviour. We also use information mined
from their connected social networks to
gleam valuable insight about consumer
behaviour, he explained.
Chua says that Predictry is able to provide
relevant recommendations to shoppers
because the company tweaks its
algorithm for each site. The company
targets SMEs and ecommerce sites that
do not have the resources to build their
own recommendation engines.
Maturing cloud technologies, more
localized systems designed for smaller
retailers, will enable for a more level
playing field even as retailing becomes
more personal. In this future, customer
data and relationships will become a key
asset for retailers. In this future, the secret
to sustained sales will be in knowing what
the consumer wants even before they
know it.
The AT Kearney 2014 Global Retail
Development Index reports that Malaysia
has a high income per capita and a
vibrant young population (nearly half of
Malaysians are younger than 25) making it
a strong and stable market. The countrys
online retail market is projected to reach
US$3 billion by 2017. In that future
market, access to affordable predictive
technology may spell success for local
retailers. Predictry is banking on this
future.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

SPEEDMINER PREPS MALAYSIANS FOR BIG DATA

AN INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS HOW, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SPEEDMINER
Before Big Data became fashionable there
was business intelligence and before
business intelligence became an everyday
phrase among business users, there was
data warehouse. Therefore to truly
understand Big Data and BI, one must go
back to where it all began. Heres a recap:
One of the benefits of relational databases
was the ability to manipulate data to
perform basic analysis and reporting.
However, these required the assistance of
IT to produce reports needed for analysis.
Excel spreadsheets and Access
databases replicated this capability for
the everyday user. But both solutions did
not offer the capability to perform what if
scenarios needed for predicting future
outcomes. Data warehousing was created
for this purpose but its complexity proved
to be its biggest limitation as it required
expertise beyond the business users
meant to benefit from it. Business
Intelligence systems were created to
bridge the gap between the Excel and
Access duopoly on the one hand and
data warehouse solutions on the other.
But even as user interfaces have been
dumbed down to make it easier for you
and me to begin to use the systems,
ecommerce created the need to capture,
store and manipulate large amounts of
data and data types. Cloud computing
and self-service accelerated this data
explosion. Welcome to big data.
IDC expects the Big Data market in
Malaysia to reach US$24.2 million in 2014
and sys that for big data to move into the
next stage of maturity in the country
(repeatable stage), organizations need to
adopt a strategic approach to Big Data
adoption as opposed to being siloed as is
currently commonly seen.Liew Siew
Choon, Market Analyst of Software
Research at IDC Malaysia says The Big
Data market will grow bigger and enter
into the next stage only when the issue of
skillsets and resources are resolved. This
in turn will lead to a complete ecosystem
whereby channel partners with the right
skills will have the capability to deliver
end-to-end Big Data solutions, including

SUPPORTED BY

consultancy and other services.

data&storageasean (DSA) spoke with
Thomas How, managing director of
Speedminer, on the state of business
intelligence, business analytics, data
warehousing and big data in Malaysia.
DSA: Do you agree that there is a
persistent misconception that BI and
BA are the same and that data
warehouse is just an extension of this?
THOMAS HOW: In my discussions with
executives and IT professionals from
different companies, it is interesting to
observe that people have different
understanding of what business
intelligence, business analytics and data
warehouse are. For us at Speedminer,
data warehouse is a way to combine data
from different sources into a single
repository so you can perform some
business intelligence and report on it.
Business Analytics, for us, is about being
able to perform predictive analysis. In a
way BA is like data mining - you are trying
to make sense of the data, potentially
predict an outcome, and so be able to
make better business decisions.
Today, people think that by having BI
tools, businesses can perform predictive
analysis.
DSA: What is the problem with many of
todays data warehouse applications,
including BI and BA? Where does big
data sit in all this?
THOMAS HOW: Most companies collect
a lot of data about their operations. This
could be from the production floor, from
the warehouse, from sales and finance.
Sure they can do very quick search,
identify areas perhaps in the production
process or billing or inventory. They are
able to identify peaks and troughs in sales
and factory outputs. But this is just one
piece of the puzzle.
The reality is that a business relies on
partners like suppliers who are outside the
system. Customers are usually external to
them as well. So to get a whole picture
requires collecting data from outside and

mixing with the internal data to have a

more balance picture of the business
overall.
For example, if the Tourism Malaysia
wants to understand what campaigns are
well received among the thousands of
visitors to the country, the might want to
look at comments posted on its Facebook
page or other popular community forums
like Tripadvisor. They need to go to the
internet, collect the data, and perhaps
perform sentiment analysis, which they
cannot do by relying solely on their own
data.
It is possible that the enormity of the data
and the variety of sources may mean that
their current IT infrastructure cannot
support the analysis. So they, again, may
need to turn to an external party to help
them undertake the analysis.
DSA: Comparing your customers in
Malaysia versus those in more
developed countries, where do you see
are the differences in terms of (1)
technology adoption; (2) business
strategy; and (3) intent to use cuttingedge technologies to further the
business?
THOMAS HOW: In Malaysia, only the
government has the resources to make
the necessary investments in data
warehousing. Most private sector
organizations sadly do not spend as
much. And this may be partly due to old
practices and beliefs that continue to this
day. Let me explain. In many developed
markets, companies recognize that to
maximize the use of technology, you need
to invest in professional services rather
than just hardware and software.
In Malaysia, the prevailing practice is that
companies are happy to invest in the
tangible assets of hardware and software
but not on the services. Sometimes
during evaluations of IT solutions, there is
lack of clarity on what is needed to get
the best ROI. As such, many are unable to
realize the full potential of their
investments.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

SPEEDMINER PREPS MALAYSIANS FOR BIG DATA

AN INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS HOW, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SPEEDMINER
DSA: Today, where is your core
development team located? Do you
find talent acquisition and retention an
issue?
THOMAS HOW: Speedminer is a wholly
owned Malaysian company. That said, we
have nationals from China and India, for
example, because finding local talent
remains a big challenge for local ICT firms
such as us.
As a MSC, we may have nationals from
India and China but we are all based in
Malaysia. Currently one of our bigger
operational challenge is finding local
talent so we bring in the skills we need
from the region but the reality is that the
number of people we want to hire is not
enough.
DSA: As cloud computing take roots,
are you seeing demand among
customers shifting away from on
premise to cloud base?
THOMAS HOW: The Malaysian
government is probably the single biggest
big data customer at this time. They have
the resources, including a cloud
datacenter in Putrajaya, to make start the
big data revolution in Malaysia. Quite a lot
of government departments are moving
their servers to the datacenter.
Within the private sector, infrastructure
cost is a key inhibitor towards building
systems in-house. Cloud computing may
be just what the private sector needs
unlimited infrastructure on a pay as you
go model.
DSA: In Malaysia, what needs to be
done to accelerate adoption of big data
solutions? Who should spearhead this
adoption?
THOMAS HOW: I see customers in
Malaysia that want to do analytics. The
lack of in-house expertise is a problem.
When we do analytics, it is not the normal
BI people to do this. Sometimes they
need statisticians to take full use of the

SUPPORTED BY

system especially in data mining. This

expertise is what is lacking in the private
sector. I believe that the impetus is on
Government to spearhead the
development on local experts to help
accelerate adoption.
DSA: What should the Government do
to accelerate adoption of big data in
Malaysia?
THOMAS HOW: Local skills are clearly the
missing ingredient. The Government
could consider partnering with
educational institutions to encourage
students to take up the computing
courses geared towards business
intelligence and big data. I believe that
when these graduates out to join the labor
force, they will tell their employers the
types of tools needed to get the job done.
DSA: Tell us a little bit about
speedminer.
THOMAS HOW: We started in 1997 with
about 10 people. Currently we have about
40-plus technical staff mainly around
development. We originally focused on
the healthcare industry; back in 1997
business intelligence and data warehouse
were not common in Malaysia.
At the time the solutions were not mature;
there were no significant products in the
market. We saw the need and the
opportunity; we were fortunate to have
customers willing to explore the future
with us. Armed with our experience and
success in healthcare, we slowly move to
other industries with solutions specific to
the industry requirements.
From business intelligence, we have
branched to Big Data. Many of our
customers have huge amount of data.
They recognize that information is
valuable. Together with our customers, we
are progressing towards big data. We are
building a development platform in
support of that strategic direction. We
firmly believe in that future.

DSA: Any last thoughts to share with

our readers?
THOMAS HOW: Today there is a
disconnect between senior management
(Board) and operations. Top management
recognise the potential of the technology.
Middle management and IT however see
the operational challenges of in-house
skills and processes that are not aligned
to what the technology has to offer.
We believe that to truly reap the benefits
of any technology, the organization needs
to identify the problem, determine what
they want to achieve, and from there to
look for the solution and expertise to
harness the potential.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

TAKING THE PULSE OF A MOBILIZED CUSTOMER

AN INTERVIEW WITH KYM WONG , FOUNDER OF RAYDAR RESEARCH
We are living in the age of the omnichannel retailing when retailers recognize
that they need to connect their customers
across multiple channels and touch points
at the same time and even
interchangeably. More and more retailers
are giving customers the ability to
connect, interact and complete
transactions on their own terms. The end
result is that a customer may view an item
online, buy it using their mobile phone,
and return it by dropping at the store. And
they can do so in a smooth and seamless
way.
Why are retailers doing this? Because
customers today have choice and as such
loyalty is at an all-time low. Industry
studies reveal that annual churn in the
wireless industry has risen from 17
percent 5 years ago to 32 percent last
year. Banking customers increased the
average number of financial institutions
they frequent to 3.4 in 2000 up from 2.3 in
1996. Even in core retail categories like
department stores, primary providers
share of wallet declined more than 10
percent during a similar period.
A2013 LivePerson study revealed that
online shoppers will give brands no more
than 76 seconds of their time if their
needs arent met. Other studies suggest
that the cost of keeping an existing
customer is 10 percent of acquiring a new
one.
And whilst retailers continue to invest in
retention strategies including customer
surveys, one company in Malaysia is
recognizing that organizations must shift
gears in order to better capture the
customer experience/engagement
process in real-time.
Data&StorageAsean (DSA) recently spoke
to Kym Wong (KW), founder of Raydar
Research, to understand where the
engagement process is moving towards in
the coming years.
DSA: How did you get started at Raydar
Research?
KW: Back in 2005, we started Raydar
Research we started providing online

SUPPORTED BY

research selling online panels for data to

be collected. In 2010, we saw an
opportunity to move the data collection
process from online to mobile. At the
time, mobile adoption was still very
nascent and there were no tools available
that track customer engagements via
mobile phones. The proliferation of a wide
variety of mobile devices and platforms
complicated matters. And this is the
challenge to come up with a software
that was device agnostic.
DSA: Who are your customers and
what is the typical profile of a Raydar
Research customer?
KW: From the beginning I knew that
market research companies were not our
target customers. At the time everyone
was talking about mobile. We talked to
companies like Nielsen and Milward
Brown. But our key focus was companies
that companies do customer service
in-house. Banks have their own CRM
systems. But these CRM systems come
with basic survey modules. For example,
how do you manage call down? We
pitched to banks and we managed to get
one of the largest retail groups in the
world. The second group is healthcare.
Because the core engine is a survey tool,
we went to healthcare to convert their
paper collection process into a mobile.
For example, to audit hand hygiene, it
used to be done manually. Today, weve
converted this to a mobile device to help
nurses collect as they move about their
duties, with data collection done in the
backend on the fly. This is now running in
20 hospitals in Malaysia.
DSA: What is the value proposition of
Raydar Research?
KW: We have a core engine that can do
quite a lot of things. Where we add value
is increasing the customers productivity.
For example, in the hospital data
collection used to take months. Today
with our technology, nurses are able to
spend more time to tend to their patients
even as we increase data integrity and
accuracy. We focus on business
outcomes. For the banks, we try to

understand the goals of the customer. We

modify our system to track all relationship
managers, for example, how they handle
customer engagements in real time. This
helps their managers better assess areas
of improvement. We increase overall
productivity by partnering with our
customers and understanding what they
really need.
DSA: As a business, how do you get
heard above the noise?
KW: We are very industry focused. We
dont advertise. We go in to see the
customer (for now, we focus on
healthcare and banking sectors). The
process is longer process, yes, but
whatever is built after that is very long
term not likely to change quickly
because the whole thing is custom-built.
We see many opportunities, especially in
mobile, to help businesses to move some
of their process more aligned to the
changing dynamics of the customers.
DSA: There are high expectations
about mobile data being able to
generate a lot of intelligence about the
customer. What is your view on this?
KW: Yes, a lot of data is being collected
and, because of this, more intelligence
about the customer particularly through
their mobiles (of course provided we get
their permission). This allows us to
understand consumer behaviour. When
we start aggregating data on how people
use their phone, we are able to gleam
intelligence and find out what services are
really meeting their needs. Big Data is the
ability to predict behaviour but there are
two sides to the coin: you need a data
scientist with domain expertise; you also
need to have a lot of data to give to the
data scientist and perhaps psychologist.
Without these you only have big data.
DSA: How do you ensure that partner /
customer data is protected?
KW: In Malaysia, we comply with the
Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
Internally we have developed processes
where data is on a need to know basis.
Weve put a lot of controls on our

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

TAKING THE PULSE OF A MOBILIZED CUSTOMER

AN INTERVIEW WITH KYM WONG , FOUNDER OF RAYDAR RESEARCH
database, which today sits in the cloud.
We monitor all the logs on a weekly basis
for any irregular activities. This is all done
in-house.
DSA: Do you think there is still a big
untapped market for Raydar Research?
KW: Yes! We are still very focus on
healthcare and banking. One bank we
work used to conduct customer
satisfaction surveys once or twice yearly.
With the system we put for them, they can
now do this customer survey every day.
As a leader in global retail banking, this
capability helps them monitor their
reputation. We see the opportunity for
other banks to do the same.
We are also going into property and
manufacturing. A lot of training takes
place in manufacturing. To track training,
weve done Good Manufacturing Process
(GMP) audits using our tools to effectively
collect data and churn out reports
instantaneously.
DSA: Do you see areas for
improvement within your organization?
KW: The two key areas is user experience
(generally) and user interface. We have a
team of programmers but we dont have
people skilled in user interface. We need
to re-work the flow to give excellent user
experience. We are getting outside help
for this. Next is business intelligence. We
collect a lot of data for customers. There
are other reports/data that we can
generate that can help customers to make
intelligence out of the data. We probably
need to take in our own data scientist to
help understand this data (to give value to
our customers).
DSA: How do you achieve scale?
KW: Finding good programmers is a
challenge. Our head of IT has been with
us since the beginning. To achieve scale,
we outsource part of the development
process to different providers. We then
bring everything together in-house. This

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helps us achieve speed and scale. Our

sales team also needs to be built in order
to target new markets. We are not hiring
door-to-door sales. We are moving to sell
our services online and through social
networks.
I think that infrastructure is the least of our
concerns. Malaysian infrastructure is very
good. The infrastructure at MSC is very
good. With cloud, this is even better. We
can build redundant systems.
People are our main concern. We look for
people who are passionate about our
customers. Our programmers go out to
our customers to see how they create
data. Where are the pain points? How do
we improve the process? Our goal is to
empower them to better understand their
customers.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

THE CONNECTED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IOT AND RFID

AN INTERVIEW WITH SIM HON WAI GENERAL MANAGER AT MDTI
Wikipedia defines the Internet of Things or
IoT refers to the interconnection of
uniquely identifiable embedded
computing-like devices within the existing
Internet infrastructure. IoT is characterized
expected to offer advanced connectivity
of devices, systems, and services going
beyond machine-to-machine
communications (M2M) and covering a
variety of protocols, domains, and
applications. The interconnection of these
embedded devices (including smart
objects), is expected to usher in
automation in nearly all fields, while also
enabling advanced applications such as
Smart Grid or the Smart Homes.
Early adoption of IoT are industry specific
including heart monitoring implants in
healthcare, biochip transponders on farm
animals, automobiles with built-in
sensors, or field operation devices that
assist firefighters in search and rescue.
Other examples include smart thermostat
systems and washer/dryers that utilize
WiFi for remote monitoring.
Arguably, one of the earliest
implementations of IoT is in the use of
sensing technologies like RFID, the initial
usage of which are around inventory
control and tracking, asset management,
and monitoring job sites and work
assignments to improve worker safety.
RFID however, promises to do more as
ecosystem technologies improve.
In Malaysia, one of the early proponents
of RFID deployment and usage is MDT
Innovations (MDTi), a majority owned
subsidiary of Multimedia Display
Technologies (MDT). MDTis core business
includes component engineering, systems
design, software development, and
application solutions in: RFID; advanced
display devices; and mobile information
technologies.
The companys core RFID activities are in
research, design, development,
implementation, and maintenance of RFID

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key components and systems integration

with customers in Japan, China, India,
Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Data&StorageAsean recently spoke to
MDTis general manager Sim Hon Wai to
discuss the companys role in the
emerging IoT industry in Malaysia and
Asia.
MDTis engineering competencies in RFID
are attributed to its earlier involvement in
design and development of advanced
display products and RF components.
Emphasizing on LCD-, PDP- (plasma),
and OLED-based displays, the
development of analog-digital boards,
OSD (on-screen display) firmware, display
drivers, video scalers, RF circuit design
and HDMI modules had brought
technology advancements to the
company knowledge base not only in
RFID products, but also in display
products such as LCD & PDP televisions,
LCD and CRT display monitors, DVB
(-S,-T,-C) set top boxes, HDMI modules,
mobile computing based displays and
wireless AV (audio-video) transmissions.
DSA: Please tell us how you got started
into RFID?
Sim: MDTi started out as a supplier of
paneldisplay monitors and LCDs. By
2002, we identified that the display
monitor business was extremely
competitive and unprofitable so we
ventured into analogue digital conversion.
DSA: Which industries are at the
forefront of RFID adoption?
Sim: Walmart is one of the first to
popularize the use of RFID in retail and
the supporting supply chain. From then
on, the technology has been adopted by
the largest retailers that saw the benefit of
using RFID to tract inventory from
warehouse to store floor. Other
applications include freight tracking,
warehouse management and track-andtrace.

DSA: How is the RFID adoption in

Malaysia?
Sim: The Malaysian market is too small.
For the moment, the Government is
spearheading awareness and adoption.
We have seen manufacturing adopting
RFID as part of automation goals to
enable systems to talk to each other with
minimal human intervention. But again,
the local market opportunity is small. For
MDTi, 94 percent of our business is
overseas with bulk of our business
coming from India, China, Indonesia and
Australia.
DSA: What and where do you see are
the major hurdles for its continued/
faster adoption?
Sim: Its really about awareness and
understanding of the potential of the
technology to keep track of inventory,
reduce wastage and lower cost. These are
the early messages of the technology and
its tied to the accepted benefits of
tagging. However, we believe that longer
term, the focus should shift on the
business benefits of RFID including
operational efficiencies and better
intelligence through analytics.
DSA: Recently there have been talks
about the connection between Big Data
and Internet of Things. Please share
your thoughts on this? How are they
connected?
Sim: It really depends on the level of
connectivity that the user wants. If the
goal of adopting Internet of Things is to
give the user tools to help in decisionmaking then yes, IoT will benefit with Big
Data. Today, IoT is already with us thanks
to the efficiencies that RFID brings to the
operation. However, I personally think that
Big Data is still several years into the
future. Maybe by 2020, technology and
business processes will have sufficiently
matured to see the intersection of the
two.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

THE CONNECTED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IOT AND RFID

AN INTERVIEW WITH SIM HON WAI GENERAL MANAGER AT MDTI
DSA: MDT is primarily a RFID solution
vendor. What is the role your company
will play in the IoT story for Malaysia?
Sim: In the early 2000s we were known as
pioneer in RFID. The term IoT has only
begun to appear in technology vocabulary
in the last two years. For our part, MDTi is
rebranding ourselves as a IoT enabler
through embedded innovation and
development. The interconnect between
RFID and IoT is very clear and because of
this, you could say that MDTi is a pioneer
of making IoT a reality for businesses and
consumers.
DSA: Gartner predicts that by 2015, the
focus will no longer be in the
technologies that support or bring
about IoT but in the applications
themselves. What is your take on this?
Sim: I agree 100 percent. It is not for the
sake of tagging things. It is about what
you get after tagging these things. We see
great potential beyond tagging and we
plan to play in the market for a long time
to come.
DSA: What is your advice to Malaysian
businesses in the industry sectors you
serve in terms of how they can ride this
trend?
Sim: Users have to realize that eventually
automation and analytics will be key to
driving business forward. Malaysia is no
longer cheap as labour is rising. Therefore
Malaysian businesses have to look at ICT
as a way to grow further forward. To
adopt ICT they have to look at Big Data,
perhaps IoT, to increase business
efficiency, reduce labour cost and
empower businesses with valuable
insight.

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DSA: What is role of government in

this?
Sim: I think the Malaysian government is
doing a great job to promote embedded
technology to qualified research
companies. It has identified IoT as the
next wave and is actively working to
position Malaysia to not only benefit from
the technology as a user but to drive the
development forward. Indeed the real
challenge in Malaysia is for local market
adoption.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

THE MANY REAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES OF BIG DATA

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT HERCUS CEO AT NEURAMATIC SDN BHD
With over forty years of experience in
Information Science, specializing in large
scale computing infrastructure and
computationally intensive projects, Robert
Hercus (RH) is arguably a man of interest.
In 1977 he set up a software house
specializing in application development
for government agencies and private
companies in areas such as finance,
insurance, accounting and land
registration systems, to name a few. He
was also responsible for the
implementation of the IT infrastructure
and applications for Projek Lebuhraya
Utara Selatan Sdn Bhd (PLUS) owner
and operator of toll expressways in
Malaysia. He was further involved in
setting up two pioneering Malaysian
companies under PLUS for the
development of automatic toll collection
and the Touch n Go systems.
In 2001, he founded Synamatix Sdn Bhd,
which specializes in bioinformatics and a
year later, Neuramatix Sdn Bhd, focusing
on the creation of intelligent applications
and devices in various domains including
machine translation, robotic movement,
robotic speech and semantic technology,
among others. Robert is also the founder
and Managing Director of Malaysian
Genomics Resource Centre Berhad
(MGRC), which specializes in genome
sequencing and analysis, in addition to
genetic screening. Founded in 2004,
MGRC was listed on Malaysias ACE
Market in 2010.
Data & Storage Asean (DSA) recently
spoke to Mr Hercus on Big Data and how
it impacts his work across several
disciplines including life sciences,
software development and personnel
management
DSA: What is your definition of Big
Data?
RH: Some would say that Big Data is data
that is beyond the current computing
systems ability to compute easily.
Computers have been increasing in power
every year so the focus on Big Data today
is probably not just the petabytes of data

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but the extraction and analysis of

complex patterns as opposed to data
processing per se. Much of the analysis
today looks for information such as, the
kind of products people buy, who relates
to who, games people play, what do
friends like in terms of music or video, etc.
It is looking at relationships between
people and objects or actions.

RH: We embarked on a collaborative

effort with Sime Darby Technology Centre
to analyse the gene expression data of oil
palm a few years ago. The project
involved the complete sequencing,
assembly and annotation of the oil palm
genome with 30 times coverage (repeated
sequencing over 30 times) and with
93.8% completeness.

In the past, interest on data was centered

on transactions, stock markets,
accounting or payroll. The focus was on
the data itself. Today, the interest revolves
around the relationship between pieces of
information

For machine translation, we have opened

up a world of information to those who
may not be fluent in English, specifically
Malaysians and Indonesians. A human
translator translates an average of 5-8
pages per day. In a world where an
estimated 1.8 million articles published
each year through an estimated 28,000
journals, there are much more information
generated each day than human
translators can cope. Much of this
information changes rapidly. Our
translation portal translates up to 200,000
words per minute. It takes seconds for us
to translate entire websites. Our top users
are mainly Malaysian public universities
and corporate organisations. In 2013, we
received 3.5 million visits from 104 cities
worldwide. These include Malaysians who
are either studying or working abroad.

DSA: How does Big Data get applied to

Neuramatixs business?
RH: Our core technology NeuraBASE, is
an ultra high-speed artificial intelligence
technology that finds patterns within
voluminous data sets and data streams.
In general, we offer software and services
to help analyse patterns and associations
within voluminous data.
For genome analysis projects, NeuraBASE
is used to detect and identify known and
novel genetic mutations, which is
important for understanding the
development of diseases. In machine
translation, NeuraBASE is used to build
words and phrases from a source
language, which are then linked to
translated words and phrases of another
language. We are also developing an
interactive speech system, in which
NeuraBASE is used to build sequences of
phonemes, fundamental units of human
speech that make words and phrases. To
perform recognition, an algorithm is used
to find a matching sequence of
phonemes.
In each of these examples, we find
application of Big Data,and there are
other applications of Big Data. At any
given moment, Bots are traversing the
Internet looking for opportunities.
DSA: In Malaysia and specific to your
business, are you involved in any Big
Data projects?

One of our most interesting projects was

a collaborative effort with the International
Mesothelioma Program, Brigham and
Womens Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
While this may not be strictly be a Big
Data project which was initiated in
Malaysia, we are proud to say that the
bioinformatic analysis was completed
here in Malaysia. In 2009, the paradigm
for revealing the molecular cause of
cancers relied on the interrogation of
small numbers of genes, which limited the
scope of investigation. The emerging
second-generation massively parallel DNA
sequencing technologies enabled more
precise definition of the cancer genome
on a large scale.
In this project, scientists from the
International Mesothelioma Program,
Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

THE MANY REAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES OF BIG DATA

worked with us to examine the genome of
a highly aggressive tumour associated
with asbestos exposure. The project
successfully uncovered thirty tumourspecific fusions/translocations which were
independently validated. These
discoveries help scientists understand
how tumours develop and grow at the
molecular level. Today, other scientists
use genomic research to develop cancer
drugs that can disrupt cellular signals for
tumour growth. In some cases, tumours
stop growing. In other cases, the size of
the tumours were reduced.
In addition to the above, we are also
involved in robotics and the autonomous
navigation of unmanned aerial vehicles.
DSA: Do companies need a data
scientist in order to benefit from Big
Data?
RH: If a company currently has an
application that does what they want it to
do, they probably dont need a data
scientist. However, if you are developing
something new that has not been done
before, you will definitely need a data
scientist to work out the best ways to
extract the relationships in your data. For
example, if you look at Facebook and
consider a person might have a hundred
friends; and each of those friends have a
hundred other friends; and that one
person buys a particular item on Amazon.
Is there a way for a business to identify
from your friends friends who might be
interested in buying the same thing? Is
there a way to link up those potential
customers? This kind of complexity
requires a data scientist or computational
algorithms to help extract insightful
associations in real-time.

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DSA: Is it easy to find a data scientist?

RH: Its actually teamwork. You need a
statistician trained in dealing with
complex large data sets. You also need
people who can translate that into
computer jargon and program it. You then
need system architects who can optimize
the hardware for high performance.
DSA: Where do you see Big Data going
in Malaysia?
RH: There is a lot of potential in the
government sector for Big Data analysis,
even simple things like processing car
registrations licenses or petrol
consumption subsidy management are
the right people getting the subsidies?
Every country needs systems for tracking
criminal activities, foreign workers, illegal
immigrants and also smuggling activities
the UK government for example has
done an excellent job at predicting the
movements of criminal activities.

GUIDE TO
BIG DATA

THE SCIENCE AND ART OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ECEOS STRATEGY

AN INTERVIEW WITH JAILANI MUSTAFA CEO AND FOUNDER AT ECEOS
Founded in 2007 Bumiputera MSC-status
company eCEOs specialises in project
management consulting and business
intelligence, with presence in Indonesia,
Mauritius, Iraq, Sudan, Australia, Italy and
the Netherlands. Founder and CEO,
Jailani Mustafa drew his inspiration for the
company name eCEOs around the
concept of virtualizing business process
and project management. Over the years
the company has developed a strong
reputation within the oil and gas,
telecommunications, government and the
public sectors.
The companys 120 employees come
from eight nationalities and are grouped
into three different departments: business
development and strategic alliance,
project management and software
engineering. Change management is
popular among organizations going
through restructuring. He also observed a
strong demand for change management
in the region.
According to Mustafa business
intelligence remains a growth market
particularly in the public sector where
managers and heads of departments are
looking to make better cost-effective
decision-making through technology and
process innovation. At the same time, he
feels a sense of disappointment that
progress towards use of BI tools as a tool
for solving complex business problems
has remained slow.
DSA: What is hindering the wider
adoption of business intelligence in
Malaysia today?
Personally I feel that Malaysia is 10 years
behind others in adopting these
technologies and this is due to a general
lack of appreciation and conviction at the
leadership level; both in the government
and private sector. The leaders are at
these industries at these technologies as
optional technology toys rather than as

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mandatory tools to help them make better

decision making. The word solution is
not generally equated to it because they
just dont see the true value of BI tools
outside of report generation.
DSA: In terms of adoption and usage
locally, how has business intelligence
change in three past five years?
We dont see that much change. I would
say that at this stage it hasnt reached the
level of sophistication I would expect.
Senior management, in general, are still
relying on excel-based reports very
traditional type of reports usually
delivered to them by others within the
organization. This lack of hands-on
experience, for example initiating your
own data queries, means you dont
develop direct appreciation for what BI
can do outside of generating reports.
DSA: Are local businesses receptive
towards BI tools?
I would say its yes and no. Some
customers have gone through various
implementations of BI and there is a
sense of scepticism in terms of the
benefits of the technology. You have to
understand that many are business
executives of limited technology
background. Some may have developed a
high degree of expectations (perhaps
brought about by media, analysts and
vendors hyping technology) as to what BI
tools can deliver particularly with access
to real time data analysis. Many do not
understand that for true real-time data
analysis to be possible a lot of integration
with various data sources needs to
happen first. And unfortunately, this is not
always the case.
This has resulted in a backlash of unmet
expectations creating unnecessary
resistance towards the further adoption of
BI across a wider cross-section of
businesses.

DSA: Business intelligence is predicted

as a driver for Big Data adoption. Do
you agree with this assessment, and
why do you think this is so?
Yes. By definition big data is a natural
extension of BI. What we have observed
is that organizations that are successfully
using BI tools generally desire to gain
access to greater volumes of data, at high
speed, various types of data as well as
from different sources. At that stage they
become receptive to consider new forms
of processing information to enable better
and faster decision-making, insight
discovery and process optimization.
Are Big Data and Business Intelligence
mutually exclusive? According to some
definitions (e.g., Gartner) yes. But we
consider them as the same technology
domain. In our company, Big Data is
managed by our BI service line.
DSA: Malaysia remains behind in terms
of business intelligence and big data
adoption compared to its more mature
neighbours. What needs to happen for
this to change? Who should spear head
it?
Big Data needs to be appreciated beyond
CIO fraternity. The CEO, the CFO,
business and organizational leaders need
to take ownership of Big Data initiatives.
They must say Big Data is our baby.
DSA: What is eCEOs key differentiator
when it comes to business
intelligence? Likewise what is the
companys differentiator when it comes
to big data?
We see BI as a marriage of arts and
science. The science part is to how to
extract and process data efficiently. The
arts part is how to give the WOW effect.
We believe we can put the two together
better than our competitors. We are new
in Big Data, yes, but I am confident we
will be good at it very soon.

PUBLISHED BY ASIA
ONLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
DATASTORAGEASEAN.COM

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