2013: The year that was

By Gabey Goh December 31, 2013

2013 proved to be a milestone year for Malaysia’s digital ecosystem
DNA celebrates the year that was with a series of podcasts on BFM

COME mid-December, it is tradition for any news organisation to mark the end of every year with at least one or a series of retrospective articles to sum up the year that was.

And what a year it was for the digital ecosystem!

Security came to the forefront of discussion within individual, private and public spheres, with public disclosures about clandestine surveillance by nation-states now a new driver toward seriously addressing digital security issues.

For enterprise players, this year was a reckoning for those tasked with spearheading a transition to a more proactive, cost-effective and secure on-demand IT infrastructure.

As cloud-based mobile computing continues to mature, new scenarios and investments were made to both enable and protect businesses.

Within the startup realm, a sense of rejuvenation could be felt with initiatives such as the Angel Tax Incentive kicking off and major events such as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit shining the spotlight on the successes and failures of founders.

Deserved focus was also cast on the continued need to bridge the divide between industry and academia to further accelerate the proliferation of high-tech startups in the country.

For the telecommunications space, it was a significant year with the rollout and availability of Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, powered by a slew of deals with Over The Top (OTT) players to entice general consumers to increase their data consumption levels and make the Internet an even bigger part of their lives.

For netizens, 2013 was a milestone year for online commentary and participation, with the 13^th General Election sparking action and debate across party lines, both online and off.

The e-commerce space in the country also heated up with the continued proliferation of multiple online websites offering interested online shoppers a plethora of goods and services. With the payment industry moving fast to cater to the demands of online consumers, this year also marked the further maturing of online shopping with lowered concerns and hesitations.

Frankly, too much has happened over the past 12 months to highlight all of it in a single article and do justice to the developments that will continue to have an impact in new year ahead.

So this year, Digital News Asia (DNA) has conducted our own year-end retrospective a little differently – via a series of segments on business radio station BFM that featured each member of the team talking about their Top 5 stories of 2013.

Click on the podcast links below to listen in on what the DNA team thought of the year that was:

Week One Karamjit Singh, CEO / Founder
Week Two Edwin Yapp, Senior Editor / Co-founder
Week Three A. Asohan, Executive Editor / Co-Founder
Week Four Gabey Goh, Editor