Google Cloud, AwanBiru to power M'sian digital citizen services

• To support MyDigital blueprint, grow M’sia’s digital economy
• M’sian public sector, departments connected to Google Cloud

Google Cloud and its local partner AwanBiru Technology Berhad (Awantec) have inked a new Cloud Framework Agreement (CFA) with the Malaysian government to accelerate public sector innovation and the delivery of digital citizen-centric services.

In a statement, the company said the CFA reinforces its commitment to supporting the Malaysian government’s MyDigital blueprint, bridge the digital divide and grow the country’s digital economy. 

It added that through the CFA, Malaysia’s public sector agencies and departments now have streamlined and cost-efficient access to Google Cloud services in any of Google Cloud’s 88 availability zones in 29 geographic regions across the world, as well as its 146 network edge locations.

Sherie Ng, country director, Singapore and Malaysia, Google Cloud, said more than eight in ten online consumers in Malaysia are now using digital services, due to a permanent shift that’s been brought about by the pandemic. 

“The The Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning (MAMPU) unit, through its strategic and forward-looking cloud-first policy, is marshaling the advanced cloud technology infrastructure, tools, applications and talent to significantly accelerate the development of next-generation citizen-centric services.

“This is to meet the expectations of the citizens for digitalised public sector interactions and experiences matching that of the digital native businesses they frequently interact with,” said Ng.

She said having signed this CFA with the Malaysian government, Google Cloud looks forward to playing an active role in bringing the next phase of its MyDigital blueprint to life.

“By offering government agencies easier access to flexible, scalable, secure and sustainable cloud infrastructure and services, we aim to help them realise new possibilities in public service delivery to serve the rakyat and contribute to the vision of establishing Malaysia as a regional digital economic powerhouse by 2030,” she said.

Google Cloud services available to public sector agencies and departments include:

• Global-scale and secure-by-design cloud infrastructure;
• Data warehouse, data security, artificial intelligence and machine learning and application modernisation capabilities;
• Third-party validated privacy and compliance controls for organisations in regulated industries;
• Cloud-native productivity and collaboration tools used by more than three billion global users; and
• The Carbon Sense Suite to help organisations accurately report and reduce their carbon emissions.

The CFA also enables Awantec, as a managed service provider, to offer technology consulting and digital skilling programs to public sector agencies, the company said.

These could include conducting user research, supporting rapid prototyping using Google Cloud tools, and driving best practices for cloud implementations at scale, it said.

Rezal Rahman, chief executive officer of Awantec said, “With two decades of experience delivering technology solutions and skilling programs to the government, our joint business relationship is also positively reflected in recent project wins.”

Following an agreement with Malaysia’s ministry of education in July 2021, Google Cloud and Awantec have been providing Google Workspace to public schools to boost staff productivity and elevate students’ learning experience, while keeping their work, identities, and privacy safe through proactive security controls.

Google Cloud has also served local organisations of all sizes, from public sector agencies and large enterprises to SMBs (for instance, through its partnership with Celcom) and startups (like BungkusIT and through the Google for Startups Cloud Program).