Leveraging on new technology TheEdge, NetValue, Tuesday, May 18, 2004 The importance of technology cannot be denied. It helps us to communicate and speed up productivity and is an excellent tool to drive the bottom line when properly utilised. However, not all organisations, especially "old economy" firms and statutory bodies recognise technology's full potential and, worse still, many are unwilling to leverage on it. One local statutory body, however, seems pretty enlightened where technology is concerned. Not only did it recognise the role and importance of technology, it invested more than half a million ringgit in it to ensure that its operations are managed more efficiently while expanding its reach in the industry. That organisation is Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Accountants, as we all know are extremely cost-conscious. Yet, MIA realises that technology cannot be ignored. As such, two years ago, MIA decided to harness itself firmly to the technological train to further the organisation's objectives. MIA incidentally is a statutory body incorporated under The Accountants Act 1967 and is tasked with regulating and developing the accountancy profession in Malaysia. Its registrar, Mohammad Abdullah, who turns out to be quite PC-savvy himself, says the move to embrace technology was prompted by a decision to move towards an integrated membership-based system. An MIA council meeting in 2002 came to the conclusion that a re-think of the organisation's future strategies and direction was badly needed. "We needed to address where we were going and not sit still and go on as we were," he continues. Complacency therefore, wasn't allowed to take root in MIA, the council determined. But how should they go about it? MIA's first step was to engage a consultant — he was from an MIA member firm which Mohammad declines to name — whose job was to interview the MIA secretariat, senior management and all stakeholders to obtain their input on how the organisation could best leverage on technology. Mohammad does reveal, however, that MIA spent around RM100,000 getting the lowdown on MIA areas of concern and improvements from the consultant concerned. MIA's existing IT system was rather basic — covering mostly membership registrations and accounting systems, both of which had not even been integrated. It was decided that to better serve its 20,000-odd members, MIA must first have an integrated membership system. Following this, the organisation invited 10 vendors to bid for the project, says Mohammad. Based on the feedback gained from the consultant's survey, it was decided that what was needed was a web-based system where members could have online access to their membership details and information as well as communicate with each other with just a click of the mouse. By the end of 2002, MIA had short-listed six companies out of the 10. Says Mohammad: "We were not necessarily looking for the cheapest solution but a vendor that would give us the solution we wanted." MIA finally decided to commission local IT solutions provider KarenSoft Technology Berhad to develop a membership-based enterprise resource planning system called e-MIA total management system (TMS). MIA awarded KarenSoft the RM500,000 contract during the second quarter of last year, with the official signing in late March this year. So, why was KarenSoft chosen? Mohammad says it was due to the company's deep understanding of the statutory body's needs — KarenSoft founder and chief executive officer Chee Chong Hwa comes from an accounting background and was thus able to create customised solutions that took into consideration all of MIA's needs and aspirations. The e-MIA TMS comprises a web-portal front-end which is linked to a back-end system running on Windows. It enables online registration of new members and allows registered members to access their particulars via a secure login account. With regards to security, Mohammad explains that only designated people will be allowed to amend or change membership information, a feature that will be in place before the system goes live in June. The system will be implemented first in MIA's head office in Kuala Lumpur, followed by its nine branches nationwide, all of which are equipped with computers and Internet access. Apart from the online registration and membership account features, MIA members will also be provided e-mail accounts via the portal. Once the e-MIA TMS goes live, it will be maintained by MIA's in house IT staff, says Mohammad, along with technical support provided by KarenSoft. Yearly maintenance of the system is expected to cost between 10% and 15% of the software costs. Despite the high costs involved in upkeeping of the new system, MIA is confident of covering the cost of its IT investments, with its steady revenue flow. The organisation's main income generator is its Continuing Professional Education (CPE) courses, along with the RM250 new member registration fees and RM500 annual membership fees it charges. In fact, with the new system in place, MIA hopes that its membership base will increase at a rate of 10% a year. Ho Foong Moi, an executive director with MIA, adds that an e-mail alert feature will eventually be included in the portal to remind members to renew their annual membership fees, as well as an online payment and enquiry functions. "We also hope to eventually enable both members and non-members to take their accounting certification exams online as well but this will not be in the near future." Other features being planned for the portal are the availability of papers and publications pertinent to the accounting profession. She adds that MIA hopes to collaborate and eventually link up in the National Digital Library initiative, or Perdana, which will see all the libraries of the country electronically linked and made accessible to researchers for a price. She adds that nothing has been finalised yet. For now, the challenge that MIA faces is educating its members, many of whom only know how to use basic e-mail, on the e-MIA TMS, where IT sawiness is concerned. Ho says MIA is keeping its members informed of the new portal's features via journals and its in-house publications. She adds that MIA will hold regular dialogues with members and encourages e-mail feedback to ensure that the system is tailored to address their needs. By Sharmila Ganapathy