This is where the Taylor’s University Digital Innovation and Smart Society Impact Lab (“DISS IL”) can assist. Comprising a core team of students and teaching staff from the Taylor’s School of Computer Science (“SCS”), this Impact Lab has the capacity to collaborate with local SMEs to draw out their critical business data for meaningful analyses. The DISS IL has an Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Big Data Hub where machine learning is taught and applied through a module for Year 2 SCS students called Data Analytics and Machine Learning.

The DISS IL Team was recently tasked to help a local SME, Alha Alfa Cosmetics Sdn. Bhd. (“Alha Alfa”) to make more informed business decisions and improve their market performance. In September 2023, Alha Alfa presented their company profile in person to the students. The students discovered that while the company had basic sales and income information, their business data was largely incomplete, with no details on their customers, customer demographics, product inventory, and marketing strategy for selling their products.

_{Alha Alfa management presenting their company profile to Taylor’s DISS IL students}

Led by the Lab Director Dr. Afizan Azman, the students from the DISS IL visited the Alha Alfa warehouse in November 2023 for data collection, focusing on the data required for Customer Behaviour Analysis, Market Segmentation, and Market Strategy Analysis. They also discussed the company's data visualisation needs. Data visualisation relates to the graphical representation of information and data. It uses visual elements like tables, diagrams, charts, graphs, and maps to provide an accessible way for business owners to see and understand business trends, outliers, and key data patterns and to compare their current situations to related predictions.

_{DISS IL students visiting Alha Alfa’s premises}

On 24 November 2023, the students presented their Analytics Report findings to Dato' Mohd Fakhruddin Md Noor, Business Development Director at Alha Alfa.

_{A Data Analytics Report presented by a DISS IL Team to Alha Alfa}

On 18 December, the top three teams (consisting of 14 students) selected from a pool of 17 teams (with a total of 86 students) were invited to the Alha Alfa Headquarters for a final project presentation. The Alha Alfa management team was so impressed by the students’ efforts during the 14-week project period and the high quality of their presentations and overall recommendations that they awarded a cash prize totalling RM5,000 to these top three teams. RM1,000 was awarded to each member of the best team (consisting of 4 students), and RM500 was awarded to each of the remaining two teams.

_{Alha Alfa awarded student teams with a total cash prize of RM5,000}

_{in appreciation of their valuable work for the company}

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.