KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd said it is confident of the group’s prospects on the back of increased digitalisation in its operations and management (O&M) segment which will bring about effective cost savings.

O&M contributes about 86% to Serba Dinamik’s revenue as at end of financial year 2017.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah said the group will be spending about RM2 million in this next quarter on a proof of concept exercise to pilot digital services on a plant turnaround and routine maintenance management of the group’s PT Serba Dinamik Indonesia plant.

Serba Dinamik had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft APAC Digital Advisory Services to collaborate on this initiative that is expected to last 16 business weeks.

Microsoft will contribute by working together with the group on a digital transformation plan and digital innovation framework.

Abdul Karim said that by the first quarter of next year, the group expects to roll out the services as a commercial package to customers.

“We will do the educational drive from now till year end. We need to educate our current and potential customers that there are digital platforms available which can help reduce their costs,” he said at a press conference after the MoU signing.

When asked how much savings it would bring to customers, Abdul Karim said it varies.

“[In terms of savings], it varies from customer to customer. But they are sizeable enough to motivate the asset owner to engage this kind of capabilities,” he said.

Abdul Karim said it is important the company quickly embraces the technology of industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4) as other countries have already moved on to IR5.

“All of these international oil companies are moving towards digitalisation. Petronas is doing it, Shell is, Exxon Mobile is. Everyone is moving towards that because that is the future of technology. If people don’t move towards that (embracing technology) then at the end of the day they will not be an international player any more.

“For service providers like us, we have to keep ourselves updated and move fast enough so that the system and solutions that we provide [are compatible] with the digital initiatives out there. We’re not operating in Malaysia only but other countries too. We will be doing an aggressive sales and marketing, and see how it can bring financial value to Serba Dinamik in 2019.

“I think the O&G industry is returning to be bullish. All that has happened, such as the sanctions in Iran, which would affect the production level in the global market. That’s why you can see that the oil price has moving around US$65 per barrel which is a good price and can bring good returns to the asset owner."

Abdul Karim said while he is optimistic on the O&G industry moving forward, he also notes that Serba Dinamik intends to position itself strongly in other sectors such as power generation and water & utilities too.

“All in all, we are confident that the company headed towards 2019 will be able to give good returns,” he said.

Serba Dinamik's shares closed up eight sen or 2.08% to RM3.92 with 4.97 million shares traded, for a market capitalisation of RM5.76 billion.