In recognition of its transformative approach to software and technology that can lead to the creation of new approaches and prospects
Telekom Research & Development Sdn Bhd (TM R&D), the innovation arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), recently won the Innovative Tech Companies of the Year Award at the Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Awards (ACES) 2022, organised by MORS Group. The award was conferred to TM R&D in recognition of its transformative approach to software and technology, demonstrating that its tech innovations can lead to the creation of new approaches and prospects.
Dr Sharlene Thiagarajah, Chief Executive Officer, TM R&D accepted the award from Shanggari B., Chief Executive Officer of MORS Group and Luis Nieto, one of the juries for the ACES Awards 2022.
“This is a proud moment for the TM R&D team. Winning this award illustrates that we are on the right track. The transformative approach in our work will help propel Malaysia to be a nation of producers, instead of consumers. Our ability to produce will lead to greater sustainability of our country,” Dr Sharlene expressed her gratitude on receiving the award. “Our achievements are shaped by the discipline, focus and determination we have instilled, and I would like to thank our team for their commitment towards excellence.”
TM R&D is a world-class R&D company that helps businesses solve operational issues and co-create solutions for the global market. It focuses on intelligent platforms, IR4.0 technologies and connectivity to create smarter business ecosystems. The company strives to stay relevant with new innovative solutions that the market cannot do without and takes on projects that provide multifold benefits to organisations.
Among its strengths is the local in-house talents that can make, create and innovate as well as provide thought leadership on infrastructure for the future. Acknowledging that nurturing talent is crucial to the business, TM R&D also offers emerging skills learning and development programmes such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Data Science & Analytics and Data Engineering for its employees.
Because its products and solutions are developed in-house, TM R&D is able to customise its innovations based on customers’ needs, addressing their specific pain points and meeting their customers demand (B2B2C) – embracing the Group’s aspiration of becoming a human-centred TechCo. Every product and solution that is developed contains embedded security, analytics and AI hence expanding its functionalities and delivering maximum benefits to the users.
TM R&D’s main aspiration is to create and deliver the next Unicorn for TM and ultimately for Malaysia. To support this, it holds fast to the three (3) pillars of its business, which are exploratory research, co-creation with industry, and commercialisation thus making life and business easier with smarter ecosystems to enrich humanity and bring progress to nations.
The ACES awards is among the most prestigious accolades that recognise inspiring leaders and sustainability advocates cross-industry across Asia. The awards value services and achievements of businesses of any nature respected for their contributions to their communities and the world. For more info about ACES Awards, visit https://www.acesawards.com/.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Nurturing future digital leaders through YTM Future Skills Champion Schools
Enhances its adopted schools programme to be more holistic by embedding digital technology and leadership skills TM, through Yayasan TM (YTM), recognises the need to equip the next generation with the digital and technology skills required for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0). In view of this, in 2014, YTM began its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) oriented programmes, such as robotics, 3D modelling, coding, and big data analytics, to promote those subjects amongst students and education communities at schools nationwide. In 2020, the modules were conslidated into TM Future Skills (TMFS) programme, with the aim of making it more comprehensive and beneficial to the intended participants. The programme was tailored to the syllabus outlined by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and covered the nine (9) pillars of the IR4.0. It has been receiving positive feedback from the teachers and students involved and more schools have requested to be part of the programme. Supporting MOE’s aspiration for digital education transformation, YTM continues to spread the positive impact of TMFS in a more structured approach. Towards this end, the foundation has embarked on TM Future Skills Champion School (TMFS School) initiative, as a continuation of the TM School Adoption Programme with enhanced contents. TMFS Schools foster future digital skills by embracing digital technology in its classroom activities where leadership, design thinking and cognitive abilities were emphasised to prepare the students for future employment. SMK Gunung Semanggol (SMKGS) in Perak, with more than 90% of its students from B40 families, was selected as the first TMFS School, aligned with YTM’s aspiration to assist B40 students in rural areas. To further facilitate the initiative, YTM is establishing TMFS Digital Hub at TMFS Schools where the schools will be equipped with a PocketLab, robotics set, 3D printer, smart TV, desktop, and digital learning content to gain more interest from its students as well as the neighbouring schools. "SMK Gunung Semanggol was identified based on its active involvement in various STEM initiatives, including previous TMFS programmes. The school also has passionate and dedicated teachers, where they adopt integrated and innovative approach for more in-depth understanding of the modules among the students. With such exposure and capabilities, we are confident that SMK Gunung Semanggol is able to play the role as a hub to spread the digital technology knowledge to more students and teachers including at the five (5) neighbouring schools, and approximately over 20 secondary schools in the Kerian district," said Izlyn Ramli, Director of YTM, during the launching ceremony of TMFS School in November 2022. Throughout this three-year programme, YTM, together with its strategic partner, Creative Minds, will work with Multimedia University (MMU), Yayasan Universiti Multimedia (YUM), TM Perak, and other YTM's partners to design and deliver engaging programmes providing the tools and support for students in rural schools to flourish. "We are also happy to see that SMK Gunung Semanggol promotes the development of other skills, such as urban farming and entrepreneurship, to empower the local communities sustainably. So as we continue to identify more potential schools in more states of Malaysia, we hope this programme will unearth more talented students towards building a competitive and sustainable community in the future," she added. Salmah Iman, the Principal of SMK Gunung Semanggol, expressed her enthusiasm, "We feel honoured and privileged to be chosen as the first TMFS School in the Northern Zone and Malaysia. We are excited and look forward to share the positive impact of this programme with the nearby schools. As we are committed to ensuring that this programme achieves its goals, we are also confident that YTM's support and assistance will help these students be prepared for future employment and enhance their standard of living." At the event, Bakri Arsad, Chief Assistant Director of Mathematics and Science, Learning Sector, Perak State Education Department, said, "We welcome such initiatives through collaboration with the private sector, especially for rural schools that need exposure to digital technology. These programmes will inspire students to explore their potential beyond academics and increase the number of students choosing STEM-related fields." During the launch, guests had the opportunity to visit the Pusat Sumber Sekolah Pendeta Za'aba and experience content and materials created by the students based on specific themes including unique handicrafts and martial arts performances. Guests toured the school's urban farm, where they sampled delicious cuisine prepared by students from the special education class using produce from the farm. SMK Gunung Semanggol provided a wonderful ambience of positive vibes that attract students' engagement and boosted their creativity. To date, STEM-related programmes by YTM, including TMFS, have benefited over 15,000 students and teachers from over 500 schools across the country. With the support and assistance of various interested partners, we hope this initiative will spark students' interest in pursuing their tertiary studies in technology and digital fields and equip the young generation with future-proof skills relevant to the future workforce.

TM One teams up with sap to become first local hyperscaler for partner managed cloud
This collaboration is aimed at empowering enterprise digitalisation to drive and support MyDIGITAL aspirations towards a technologically advanced economy via SAP and TM One’s Cloud infrastructure TM One, the enterprise and public sector business solutions arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd (SAP), recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic collaboration to accelerate the digital transformation of Malaysian enterprises and to improve their operating efficiency through digital solutions. The event also announced the appointment of TM One as the first local hyperscaler to become the Partner Managed Cloud (PMC) provider for SAP business suite solutions in Malaysia. With this appointment, TM One's α Edge (pronounced as Alpha Edge) will provide cloud infrastructure to empower SAP's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions in meeting the business needs of TM One's enterprise customers. Commenting on the appointment, Shazurawati Abd Karim, Executive Vice President of TM One said, "The appointment by SAP Malaysia is another milestone for TM One as we continuously expand and strengthen our Cloud α offerings. This time, we are making available to our customers the largest sovereign-Cloud to empower SAP Business One solutions targeted at SME and medium-sized enterprises. With this solution, our customers will be able to enjoy secure, world-class Cloud-based enterprise business solutions, hosted on TM One's intelligent Cloud – α Edge cloud infrastructure. It provides unmatched Cloud connectivity and cybersecurity as well as full data residency in Malaysia." "SAP is a renowned global technology powerhouse that has accelerated the digitalisation of millions of businesses through its ERP solutions. We view this appointment as timely in TM One's continuous journey towards taking transformation forward for Malaysian enterprises. As we innovate and continue to empower our customers in the current digital economy, SAP is the right organisation to drive the digital transformation of businesses, thus elevating the country into Digital Malaysia. This befits TM Group's unique role as the enabler of Digital Malaysia's aspirations, committed to serving a more digital society, digital business, digital industry and digital Government," added Shazurawati. As SAP's PMC provider, TM One is able to offer its customers a full subscription-based model of SAP Business One hosted on TM One's α Edge, bundled with managed services. This arrangement enables organisations to migrate their enterprise systems to the Cloud with confidence, visibility, and predictability. Through this approach, TM One customers will also be able to enjoy ready-to-use fully managed solutions, rapid time-to-value, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and scalability and flexibility in deployment. In addition, TM One is in discussions with SAP to finalise its scope of offerings by expanding the PMC programme to SAP S/4HANA Intelligent Enterprise solutions to target large enterprise customers. As part of this tie-up, TM One and SAP will also explore a co-creation and innovation partnership that entails transformation initiatives for 5G use cases, Customer Experience, Procurement & Digital Supply Chain and Human Experience Management. Meanwhile, Hong Kok Cheong, Managing Director, SAP Malaysia said: "True digital transformation is the fundamental rethinking of the customer experience, business models, and operations to find new ways in delivering value, generating revenue and improving efficiency. This can be done by leveraging intelligent technologies such as ERP solutions, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Cloud. With SAP solutions hosted on TM ONE's α Edge, businesses can harness the power of their data and build a truly intelligent enterprise, while accelerating trusted outcome-driven innovation, real-time decision making, and thrive in the digital economy." SAP is today the world's leading enterprise applications provider. Across the globe, SAP customers include 92% of the Forbes Global 2000 companies, 98% of the 100 most valued brands, 97% of the greenest companies (according to Newsweek), while approximately 80% of SAP's customers are SMEs. For more information about TM ONE Cloud α solutions, visit www.tmone.com.my/solutions/cloud-services and for more information on SAP, visit www.sap.com/sea/index.html.

ONE-MONTH FREE TRIAL ON UNIFI TV’S LATEST STREAMING APP, DURIOO+
Unifi TV, the content and entertainment arm of Unifi, is offering a free one-month trial of its latest streaming app, Durioo+, during this Ramadan period. It will also be offering free access to all of its premium channels during the Raya festivities. Durioo+ is a streaming app that produces and licenses entertaining children’s content with Islamic values, virtues and morals. With its mission to raise children with eemaan, akhlaq and ‘ilm (belief, ethics and knowledge) Durioo+ offers programmes like Mina Mila, Little Ammar, Abibi and many more – bringing safe, fun and educational content for children ages 1 to 12 years old. Offered ad-free, the free trial of this streaming app can be redeemed at unifi.com.my/raya until 30 April 2023. Unifi TV, Malaysia’s largest single TV aggregator platform will also provide free Raya viewing of its premium channels from 21 to 27 April 2023. Filled with special programmes from channels such as Sacred Riana (DEGUP), CoCoMelon (Moonbug Kids), Running Man (ONE) and more, families will be spoilt for choice as they celebrate the festive Raya period. “We are pleased to welcome our latest streaming app partner, Durioo+, whose programmes are especially meaningful during the month of Ramadan. As families spend time together during the fast, we hope to provide safe and inspiring content for children and families, reinforcing the values and virtues that are strongly emphasised during this period”, said Anand Vijayan, TM’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President of Unifi. “At the same time, we want to spread good cheer to all Malaysians, by opening up our full range of entertainment offerings during Raya. This is one of the ways that we are celebrating the nation’s diverse cultures together, by offering something for everyone during this festive period,” he said. To offer even more value to Unifi TV’s subscribers, they can now access the Aneka Plus Pack which will offer free access to VIU and SIAR streaming apps at only RM30 per month. Subscription to the Pack during this promo period includes the Unifi Plus Box and over 50 premium channels housing programmes from Korean variety shows, Hollywood movies, global news, kids animation and more.