McKinsey to unlock growth with QuantumBlack AI 

• Kuala Lumpur, one of the earliest McKinsey offices in SEA
• Aspiration to accelerate sustainable, inclusive growth in M’sia

McKinsey & Company has announced the arrival of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, in Malaysia. 

In a statement, the strategy and management consulting firm said this announcement follows its 25th anniversary of its Kuala Lumpur office, which is also one of the earliest McKinsey offices to be set up in Southeast Asia. 

Acquired by McKinsey in 2015, the company said QuantumBlack helps organisations use AI to tackle complex problems.

With its heritage in Formula 1 motor racing, QuantumBlack has been an accelerating force for McKinsey’s work in analytics, it said.

QuantumBlack was introduced to Asia in 2019, with its establishment in the Singapore and Tokyo offices, it added.

Timur Umetayev (pic, left), partner at McKinsey & Company and regional leader for QuantumBlack, claimed that as Malaysia aims to achieve its fourth tndustrial revolution (4IR) vision, QuantumBlack can be a game-changer for companies. 

“While McKinsey has served clients in Malaysia on data and analytics, establishing QuantumBlack here will enable all of our analytics colleagues under one umbrella called QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, to be a valuable partner to more organisations,” he said.

It said the move to establish QuantumBlack in Malaysia is in line with McKinsey’s aspiration to accelerate sustainable, inclusive growth.

The company said the Malaysia office also serves as a hub for McKinsey’s Transformational Change Practice, Implementation Practice and McKinsey Digital across Southeast Asia.

“With our methodology of hybrid intelligence, which is combining the power of data to unearth insights that work hand in hand with the creativity, empathy, experience, and judgement of people, we can help companies make sense of complex data faster, pinpoint where the greatest value lies, drive adoption, and scale the solution,” said Umetayev.

According to McKinsey’s global survey, The State of AI in 2021, AI has matured into a core topic within the CEO’s agenda of many major organisations, but only a few organisations are maximising value. 

Paul Beaumont  (pic, seated right), senior principal data scientist at QuantumBlack, said the company previously found that 50% of work time in Malaysia is spent on repetitive activities that are highly automatable.

“As Malaysia continues to play a key contributing role in high-value manufacturing and global services, there is a great opportunity for companies to accelerate AI adoption and deliver real-world impact for their people, stakeholders, operations and the environment.

“Having served clients across financial, manufacturing, and healthcare industries, and for a range of functions, we are confident that QuantumBlack can support organisations regardless of their stage on the AI maturity curve,” said Beaumont.

For more information on QuantumBlack, click here