As a sneak preview of the upcoming 9th Digital Transformation Asia 2022, we sat down with Izzat Aziz, Director of Technology, Risk, and Cybersecurity at KPMG. He will be joining us at the event as a moderator leading the deep dive discussion on, “Digitally driven nation and leader in the digital economy”.
He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer with pragmatic technology and cybersecurity-related experiences. Track record includes driving maturity in IT and OT (Industrial Control Systems) across various industries such as BFSI, Telco, High-Tech, ENR, and O&G.
Izzat is one of the technology leaders who have led the digital transformation revolution in Malaysia and have proven what it takes to lead businesses through digital transformation. He is an innovative, strategic thinker who understands the importance of technology in today’s world. Hopefully, his interview will inspire other leaders to pursue Digital Transformation!
What made you accept the role and what is your vision for Digital Transformation?
In the early 2000s, most businesses focused on evolving themselves to fit into the Y2K digital vison. And now that most are fully digitized and digitalized, things are only going to get more interesting moving forward – both for the customers, as well as for the business itself.
We are at a point where the big fundamental question we must ask ourselves is, “How can we innovate further in this digital world?” It is this very question that sparks my interest, motivating me to accept the role and contribute.
If I may provide an example, the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) industry especially has seen many novel innovations spring up recent years. A decade ago, we were introduced to digital banking, and more recently, this process off carrying out a transaction was made easier with the adoption of QR payments seamlessly across various platforms.
Specific to the BFSI industry, my vision for Digital Transformation is to see more innovations be introduced to uplift the lives of the unbanked and under banked segments. On a broader scale however, my vision is to see digital make life a whole lot easier, simpler, and convenient – without compromising on privacy and security.
According to research, Malaysia is still in the early stages of the digital transformation journey, in your point of view, is it an advantage or disadvantage?
Us as a nation, being in the early stages of digital transformation still, it can be an advantage if we want it to be. We may be behind a few other countries when it comes to this, but this just presents us with an opportunity to learn from them – what works and what doesn’t work, which in turn allows us to find the best possible critical path for Malaysia to hit the ground running faster.
This is not to say that Malaysia lacks the technical abilities to bring in the newest available technologies, the reality is far from that. Rather, it’s the readiness of the people – from being open to embrace lifestyle changes the new tech brings about, to having proper policies in place to ensure the safety and security of all stakeholders involved.
How can you transform and inspire tech leaders in your Digital Transformation journey?
For me, I contribute and work to inspire through sparking conversations about what technologies, new and old, are available in the market for us to make use of. In my position as a thought leader, I focus on illustrating to others how the world can advance and what it can be with the proper use of technology.
What are the core values that you can share with your audience why do you have that burning passion for transformation?
It is all about efficiency and effectiveness – be it in the daily running of a country, a corporation, or even one’s personal life. If there is a better means of doing something through the employment of technology, then I say, let’s do it.
