Malaysian telco Telekom Malaysia (TM) together with volunteer technopreneur organisation TeAM will offer cloud services to Malaysian small and medium enterprises via a self-service portal hosted via TM’s outsourcing arm VADS Berhad.
Speaking on 5 November 2012, TM executive vice president, SME, Azizi A Hadi, said the collaboration, which offers cloud services developed by international and local software companies through BizApp Store, supports the Malaysian government’s initiative towards becoming a developed digital economy by 2020.
“With this agreement, TeAM members can now market and sell their cloud applications through TM’s BizApp Store; a one-stop centre software applications marketplace designed specifically for the SME [small and medium enterprise] market,” said Azizi. “Both parties will be able to leverage and participate on each other’s joint marketing and joint sales activities. Meanwhile TM is set to benefit from the trainings, demonstrations and troubleshooting provided by TeAM’s ISVs [independent software vendors] to our personnel under this agreement.”
“The TM BizApp Store is a self-service Web portal that offers a wide range of business applications developed by international software companies and local Independent ISVs,” he said. “All applications [apps] in the TM BizApp Store are industry-relevant for SMEs as they progress from a start-up phase to becoming a medium or large company.
TeAM was represented by its president, Ir. Aziz Ismail, while VADS chief executive officer Ahmad Azhar Yahya also signed a separate collaboration agreement with TeAM to provide a cloud platform for TeAM’s ISVs.
VADS’ Ahmad Azhar said that under the agreement, VADS would offer an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) platform to local ISVs to develop and test their applications. Local ISVs will also have a chance to promote their applications on TM’s BizApp Store.
“As a cloud service provider, backed by TM’s extensive network, we provide one of the most comprehensive cloud services in the country ranging from IaaS, PaaS and SaaS,” he said. “In order to promote the adoption of cloud services among the local ISVs, we have decided to enter into this partnership with TeAM, gaining access to approximately 400 local ISVs.”
Reseller model
“Our collaboration with TeAM is based on reseller model whereby TeAM will be responsible to recruit its ISV members to come on-board the BizApp Store to promote their applications,” said Ahmad Azhar. “At the same time, the ISVs can also utilise our IaaS and PaaS platform for testing and development. This is a win-win situation for both organisations as the local ISVs can have a platform to develop their applications while at the same time have an avenue to promote their products.”
“The cloud technology gives the edge where the CEOs can get access to their company information from anywhere they are at anytime they need it. The cloud provides them with advanced technology yet at very affordable cost. Their companies become more effective and their staff become more efficient and highly productive,” said TeAM’s Ir. Aziz.
“This is where the collaboration between TeAM and TM and VADS will play a big role in helping the SMEs in Malaysia,” he said. “TeAM members understand the need of the SMEs and we provide the right kind of solutions to them. The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative by the Malaysian government has created thousands of technopreneurs in Malaysia.”
Available on the market since May 2012, TM’s BizApp Store is a SaaS marketplace for Web-based applications and software. It offers Web-based business applications and solutions for SMEs.