By Farah
KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has signed a collaboration agreement with Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia Corp Sdn Bhd (TeAM) that will make it easier for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to pick out cloud services applications on its BizApp store.
The collaboration agreement allows the BizApp store, which is maintained by TM subsidiary VADS Bhd, to use the TeAM’s Go-to-Market initiative.
TM executive vice-president for SME, Azizi A Hadi, said the new initiative would allow SMEs to easily set up a cloud computing environment to suit their needs.
Azizi said by using TM’s cloud services for some of their business operations, SMEs do not have to worry about maintaining an onsite infrastructure, leaving them free to focus on doing business.
TeAM president Aziz Ismail said SMEs not only have to apply new technology to increase efficiency, but it was also crucial to remain competitive.
“SMEs should also embrace technology or risk being left behind. They need to use information and communications technology in order to compete on an international level,” Aziz said at the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The TM BizApp store is a self-service web portal offering SME-relevant business applications developed by software companies and independent vendors.
Under the agreement, TeAM members can market and sell cloud applications on the BizApp store, which has been in operation since May this year. In exchange, TM will benefit from training, product demonstration and troubleshooting provided by TeAM’s vendors.
About 11%, or 495,000 out of TM’s 4.5 million broadband Internet subscribers are SMEs. Using BizApp store, SMEs will be charged on an as-and-when basis, depending on their usage of the applications.
In a separate agreement signed yesterday, VADS will provide TeAM a cloud platform for its member independent software vendors.