Cities across the globe are leveraging technology to enhance the way their citizens live. Being a smart city is not just about having state-of-the-art technology but also establishing connectivity across systems. This connectivity concept ranges from smart streetlights that go off automatically when the streets are empty to having a connected network of hospitals that can communicate with each other in real time.
Cities and states that are powered by such capabilities can do amazing things. One such state on this path is Selangor!
The Digital Journey of the State of Selangor
The digital transformation journey of Selangor, the largest economy in Malaysia, began long back, but the most significant breakthrough was the 2016 blueprint of the “Smart Selangor Initiative.” It was built on the idea of leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to improve the quality of living in the state.
This dynamic development approach was enabled by smart infrastructure, good governance, and multi-stakeholder collaboration, directing the efforts towards 12 primary domains. These domains served to guide Selangor’s digital journey towards becoming a Smart State.
Smart Selangor Action Plan 2025 (SSAP) updated the Smart Selangor Smart State program with new program domains, initiatives, targets, and a clear roadmap for 2020 until 2025. These initiatives are also presented together with success indicators linked to globally recognized smart city indices for progress measurement until 2025.
The SSAP is structured following the Smart City Strategy Index used by Roland Berger (an independent, German-based global consulting firm) to evaluate the right implementation strategies. Roland Berger had analyzed smart city strategy around the world. Out of 153 cities, only 15 cities had demonstrated a comprehensive strategic approach, and out of these cities, only 8 cities are at an advanced stage of implementation and have executed these successfully. This approach is essential as it will ensure that the Smart Selangor Action Plan will be implemented most practically and effectively within a 5-year time frame to 2025.
Today, about a quarter of the initiatives identified in 2016 are completed. And the common part in harnessing the true potential of all of these domains is data!
What are the Challenges that Selangor Face in Becoming a Smart State?
For cities to become smart, they require technology. For technology to evolve, it requires insights and analytics. And for insights to be generated, it requires data.
Smart states like Selangor rely heavily on the data collected from multiple sources such as traffic, air and water quality, communication channels, and whatnot. This information is required to move from one step of digital transformation to another. Now the question is, “If data is the key, why not utilize it?”
And the answer is simple. It is a valuable resource. To use this data, companies and partners involved in the process face multiple challenges, including:
- Technical: The data collected is from disparate sources and in multiple formats. Making sense out of this chaos is a difficult job.
- Regulatory: This data might contain sensitive information. Government has strict laws and guidelines to use it, which most companies cannot adhere to.
- Implementational: High-quality data requires high-quality tools to get deciphered and generate insights.
And the list goes on!
Harnessing the Power of this Data
State governments need to have a long-term vision and a set of principles to guide them in building cost-effective, adaptable, secure, and low-risk solutions during a time of rapid technological change. This highlights the importance of data, which can help the government build the right solutions for the long and short term.
A smart state is made up of inputs, processes, and outputs. This is where MMSC Ventures, a digital transformation expert, comes in — assisting the government in making the most of the state’s data — to collect, utilize, and produce a vast array of information and data, as well as getting the right technology to realize the state’s vision.
Will MMSC Ventures be doing all of this alone? No.
What Makes MMSC Ventures Different?
MMSC Ventures, in the very early stages, realized the potential of cloud technology in making the most out of data. To boost the Smart Selangor Initiative, the company designed an entire suite of solutions that leverage cloud benefits by using a cloud-native application framework.
These applications are built using the tools provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), an industry-leading cloud computing platform. Some of these tools and services include Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, Amazon ELB, Amazon SES, Amazon Cognito, and Amazon Route 53.
How is MMSC Ventures Supporting the Smart Selangor Initiative?
Powered by AWS, MMSC Ventures created solutions not just to solve the long-ridden data challenges but to help the government accelerate the race to the 2025 vision:
- Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU) Dashboards
The solution allows the state administrative staff to access state applications data on a single screen, delivering actionable insights and enhanced user experience.- It is built to monitor public buses’ activities, provide details about potholes as reported by citizens, and display Air Quality Index (AQI) — all onto a single map.
- This dashboard can provide real-time reports to assist in decision-making and administration.
- Citizen E-Payment (CEPat)
CEPat is the digital platform to facilitate faster time-to-market for existing legacy applications and make them accessible to mobile devices. It serves as an alternative single online platform to enable all Local Authorities in Selangor to collaborate and integrate standard services to citizens- It was launched in 2019 with 3 Local Authorities onboarded, offering 7 services. Citizens can make payment of assessment tax, compound, and business license, as well as apply for the business license via CEPat.
- SSDU was relaunched in November 2020, leading to an increase in the number of payment transactions.
- The app is integrated with online payment systems and e-wallets to facilitate citizens in making payments.
- Smart Selangor SME Platform
The platform aims to promote digital adoption among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Selangor while facilitating access to create a significant presence in the digital economy.- This digital transformation’s prominent feature is creating a digital footprint that empowers businesses under one integrated platform.
The Road to Next Milestone
The Selangor government is on the right track for the smart state vision. Leveraging its intelligent technology and innovations, Selangor now aspires to be Southeast Asia’s premier smart state by 2025. MMSC Ventures is committed to continuously support the state in building and achieving the long-term vision of Smart Selangor with AWS.