The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to endeavour new ways in conducting academic events and this new dawn that emerged has urged everyone to embrace a new normal that dictates drastic changes in our personal and social lives.
The enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) by many countries as a measure to contain the pandemic has taken its toll and severely impacted the community. We should view the pandemic as a ‘blessing in disguise’ and ‘a shot in the arm’ that can motivate us into rethinking new ways of doing things.
Evidently, the lingering health crisis has resulted in drastic spikes of E-commerce transactions and online activities. Apart from greater demands and the dependence on the network capacity to accommodate the demand, several other challenges have arisen that give negative repercussions such as deceptive practices and cybersecurity concerns.
This worrying development must be urgently addressed. Thus, effective measures particularly for greater security, transparency, efficiency and affordability of information and communication technology (ICT) services must be implemented. ICoEC 2020 brought forward a special theme on ‘Future Trends in Global Digital Economy: An Insight from Industries’.
The opening ceremony speech by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Prof. Dr. Ayoib Che Ahmad highlighted the aspiration of ICoEC2020 to engender significant contribution of future trends in global digital economy towards society and the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT) that has significantly brought about great impact on the growth and expansion of business today. This development has led to the advancement of a dynamic business industry, known as E-Commerce.
Dean, Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA) and as Patron International Conference on E-Commerce 2020, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rose Shamsiah Shamsudin thanked all participants for making the conference a success by exchanging views via paper presentation and productive discussions.
Taken as a whole, the key focuses of the paper presented in ICoEC2020 are on four major themes: IT innovation and entrepreneurship, Internet of Things (IoT) and Security, IT Governance and Risk Management as well as Information Management.
Director of ICoEC 2020, Dr. Marhaiza Ibrahim expressed her appreciation and thanked Pantrans Haulage Sdn Bhd, Wisdom Plus Sdn Bhd, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Kedah (PKNK), Coopbank Pertama and Kemtronik Sdn. Bhd for their generous sponsorships and their valuable collaboration and support.
Last but not least, she expressed from the bottom of her heart, her greatest appreciation to all the enthusiasm and powerful committee team for supporting this event.
The keynote address I ‘Trends, Issues and Challenges in the Digital Economy’ was delivered by Prof. Dr. Shahizan Hassan from Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business (OYAGSB) and keynote address II ‘Digital Information Management: A Supply Chain Management Perspective’ was delivered by Prof. Dr. Mamun Habib from School of Business, Independent University,Bangladesh (IUB) and Visiting Scientist of University of Texas-Arlington, USA.
The ICoEC 2020 committee would also like to express our appreciation for the interesting speeches by our guest speakers. The first speech titled ‘Global Digital Economy, Insight on Retail Industry’ was given by Chief Technical Officer from Labeyla Legacy Sdn. Bhd., Dato’ Iskandar Hussein Mohamed Hussein and the speech ‘Payments Gateways for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)’ was given by Chief Technical Officer from Raudhah Pay Sdn Bhd., Mr. Mohamad Azarul Hakim Ibrahim.