Datuk Seri Abdul Al Halim Mohd. Al Fadzil, the CEO and Founder of Alha Alfa accorded his appreciation to the teams that he said had exceeded his expectations, “The value that the members of the Impact Lab have added to our collaboration has helped us reach new levels of productivity and ingenuity.”
The SME project beneficiaries were particularly impressed at how the students overcame the initial challenges of incomplete datasets, data redundancy, outlier data, and the tedium associated with data pre-processing. The student teams also had to educate client staff and management unfamiliar with data analytics and learn new things like data augmentation.
DISS IL Director Dr. Afizan Azman said, “We are encouraged by the success of this pilot and hope to extend these services to more SMEs from different industries. Moving forward, we would also like to include key accounting information and points about marketing strategy in the reports. We have approached more industries to join this project and await their final confirmation. More schools at Taylor’s University like the School of Accounting and Finance (SoAF) and the School of Management and Marketing (SoMM) will be involved in the next round of this project.”
Tay Wei Shen, an SCS project participant, shared, “It is a very interesting and fulfilling assignment because we can have direct experience and impact on the industry rather than just doing case studies where all the datasets are curated and are less flexible.”
Another project participant, Gan Ming Feng, noted, “This initiative to collaborate with external companies has been a transformative experience for us as students. Firstly, the opportunity to work with real-world datasets provided by actual companies was very valuable. This aspect of the project bridged the gap between theoretical learning and practical application. It enabled us to understand and analyse data in a more meaningful context. It has allowed us to apply machine learning and data analytics techniques to genuine business problems, thus providing us with hands-on experience that is rarely available. I strongly believe this project is a valuable component of our curriculum, and I hope it will continue for future cohorts. It enriches the learning experience and better prepares students for their future careers in this field.”
This meaningful project is closely aligned with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 9 of Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. The Taylor’s University Digital Innovation and Smart Society Impact Lab continues to seek synergies with like-minded industry partners and external experts who can work together with motivated students and dedicated academic staff at Taylor’s University to develop better solutions for improving business outcomes for Malaysian SMEs. Contact us to explore how you and your organisation can work with us on similar initiatives.