IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Prof. Nick Wreden, UTM nickwreden(at)gmail.com (media only) info@socialbizsummit.com +6 019-243-5856

Editors note: Social Business refers to enterprise collaboration & innovation that use social technologies to boost corporate, customer and social value. Social Business does NOT refer to social marketing (PR) or social entrepreneurship (helping rural businesses).

WHAT WILL INNOVATION AND COLLABORATION LOOK LIKE IN 2013 AND BEYOND?
IBM expert to outline major trends impacting social-powered innovation and collaboration at ASEAN Social Business Summit 2013 in Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA Innovation and collaboration are the lifeblood of competitiveness in the emerging world Social Economy. But how can companies best enhance their innovative and collaborative skills to generate profitable new products, unify the organization with streamlined processes and engage in closer relationship with their customers? Brian Cheng, IBM Collaboration Solutions Business Unit Executive, ASEAN, will examine these and other business issues at the ASEAN Social Business Summit 2013, set for May 22 in Kuala Lumpur. Other speakers at the premier event include leading business experts from Gartner, MOSTI and Strathclyde (UK) Business School. ECS, an IBM Business Partner, is a Gold Sponsor of the event. Cheng will address the driving forces behind business today, as well as the key enablers of collaboration and innovation. These driving forces include cloudbased computing, Big Data (ability to collect and analyze massive amounts of data) and social technologies. Enterprise-centric social technologies enhance collaboration and innovation by better alignment between employee talents and business issues, improved real-time communications and dynamic decisionmaking. While many companies have embraced social technologies, they have limited their use primarily to the marketing department. Substantially greater benefits can be achieved by extending social technologies throughout the organization, especially to operations, HR and strategic planning, notes Cheng. Any company looking to strengthen innovation and collaboration must look closely at Social Business today. At the Summit, Cheng will also discuss how businesses can extend social capabilities throughout the enterprise by first developing a comprehensive Social

Business roadmap based on alignment between business objectives, technical capabilities and employee and customer requirements. A key part of any implementation is education and training. The ASEAN Social Business Summit 2013 features an outstanding agenda filled with strategic insights, case studies from organizations like Accenture, MDeC and a UK transport provider, and hands-on tips & techniques from experts who have guided implementation in Malaysian and other organizations. Special attention is paid to Open Innovation, which seeks to involve customers and partners in advancing innovation and the ability to satisfy customer requirements for economic, emotional and experiential value. Details about the Summit can be found at www.socialbizsummit.com. Highlights include: Gartner: How will social technologies affect your business model? NewsGator: How are Coca-Cola Amati and Accenture taking advantage of Social Business? Strathclyde (UK) Business School: How can you plan for Social Business using a Balanced Scorecard approach? Alpha Catalyst Consulting: How can you generate innovation that drives profits and competitive leadership from suppliers and partners? And more.. International business and government leaders such as GE, Australian Bureau of Statistics, CEMEX, China Telecom, Asian Paints, HP, DHL, Shell, NBCUniversal and many more have turned to Social Business to streamline organizational processes, enhance customer collaboration, speed information flow, fast-track innovation and improve access to expertise. Organizations within Malaysia have also benefited from Social Business. Most recently, the Pahang State Government is analyzing a Social Business roadmap provided by IBM. Executives who will benefit from the Summit include anyone who is involved in your organizations efforts to improve innovation and collaboration, especially those in management, operations or partner relationships. A limited number of sponsorships for this high-profile, high-value event remain available. For more information, contact marcus(at)fusionbrand.com. The event fee is RM1,500. Early-bird and other discounts from 20-35% are available. For more details and registration, visit: www.socialbizsummit.com The event is organized by the UTM (University Technology Malaysia) Perdana School of Science, Technology & Information Policy (www.perdanaschool.utm.my) and the Initiative for Social Business Innovation

(ISBI) (www.socialbusinessasia.com). FusionBrand is the event organizer. For more information, contact: info@socialbizsummit.com With a nationwide network of more than 3,000 resellers, Gold Sponsor ECS (www.ecsm.com.my) distributes a comprehensive range of ICT products comprising of notebooks, personal computers, printers, software, network and communication infrastructure, servers, and enterprise software from more than 30 leading principals such as HP, IBM, Cisco, Asus, Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Oracle, Epson, Samsung, Buffalo, Adobe, Juniper, Blue Coat, VMware and Lenovo. ECS also provides value-added product support and technical services. Contact ECS at enquiry@ecsm.com.my