MALAYSIA’S push towards a digital future is picking up steam, with over a quarter of GDP projected to be accounted for by the end of 2025.
While government policies and partnerships are laying the groundwork, the real shift is happening behind closed doors. It could be on factory floors, in back offices and across shop counters, places where everyday employees are quietly changing the game with how they use technology to get work done.
One of the most talked-about trends in tech today is the rise of “vibe coding”, a term introduced by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy. At its core, vibe coding enables non-technical users to create software by simply describing what they need in plain language.
This trend is gaining global traction, and Malaysia is no exception. Bootcamps focused on vibe coding are emerging, teaching skills through platforms like Cursor AI or GitHub Copilot. The result is faster development cycles and greater creative freedom, fueling a growing demand for job-ready tech talent and entrepreneurial know-how across the region.
What sets movements like vibe coding apart is the experience it offers. While traditional tools rely on drag-and-drop interfaces and templates, vibe coding allows users to describe their needs conversationally and receive working prototypes instantly. It brings together AI-powered creativity and business functionality, offering a powerful new starting point for innovation.
Turning constraints into opportunities
This shift is especially promising for Malaysia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which make up nearly all of the country’s business ecosystem. These companies are vital to economic growth, yet many still face stubborn roadblocks on the path to digitalisation.
A critical barrier to meaningful digital progress is the ongoing shortage of skilled IT talent. Nowhere is this more evident than in Malaysia’s high-tech manufacturing sector, which continues to face mounting challenges in filling specialised roles. Although total job numbers saw a slight decline, the difficulty in recruitment persists.
Recent data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia revealed that over 5% of positions in this sector remain unfilled in Q1 2025, which was the highest vacancy rate across all manufacturing sub-sectors. This points to more than just a hiring issue. It reflects a growing mismatch between workforce readiness and the demands of an increasingly digital economy.
Many SME turn to a patchwork of third-party and standalone applications. Over time, managing these disconnected tools without adequate support can become overwhelming.
As a result, even simple upgrades or process improvements are delayed, not due to a lack of intent but because the resources and guidance needed to act are often out of reach.
Workflow inefficiency is another key hurdle. In various sectors such as construction, tourism and traditional retail, operations are still heavily manual. This means approvals are handled through spreadsheets, stock is managed on paper and teams rely on phone calls or chat groups to stay aligned. These fragmented procedures slow productivity and create gaps in communication, which ultimately affect customer experience and growth potential.
That reality is beginning to change. AI-powered tools and citizen development platforms are giving businesses practical ways to sidestep long-standing roadblocks.
With these tools, employees can build dashboards, automate routine tasks and connect data systems without writing code.
This reduces reliance on overstretched IT teams and enables faster, more adaptable solutions from within.
The momentum is also supported at the national level. The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, for example, is playing a central role in digitalisation across industries by leading projects like turning Johor into Asia’s next digital hub and focusing on improving workforce employability.
With this kind of institutional support, SME are increasingly empowered to take control of their digital journey and move towards smarter, more agile operations.
Frontline innovation in action
To be clear, citizen development is not simply a stopgap for talent shortages. It represents a strategic shift that can help organisations build long-term resilience. Non-technical staff often have the clearest view of daily operations, customer expectations, and what it takes to deliver results.
Empowering them to create their own digital solutions will put that knowledge into action. It accelerates workflows, enhances responsiveness, and avoids the delays often associated with traditional software development. Many SME are already experiencing the benefits.
With access to advanced no-code and AI-assisted tools, employees are building custom apps that streamline tasks and improve collaboration. The impact is tangible.
Teams spend less time on repetitive work, gain better visibility over previously siloed data and take stronger ownership of outcomes. When staff are equipped to adapt tools to their needs, they become more engaged and effective problem-solvers.
That said, the shift to citizen development requires thoughtful implementation. Giving more employees the power to build tools comes with responsibility. Organisations must establish clear guidelines on data privacy, user access, and version control.
Leadership plays a key role in guiding this transition. Managers should encourage experimentation while ensuring that new tools align with broader business goals. Citizen developers thrive in environments where initiative is supported and clearly directed.
This shift is also redefining what it means to be digitally skilled. As AI takes over more of the technical heavy lifting, new capabilities are becoming essential.
Employees need to understand workflows, identify areas for improvement and collaborate across departments. Skills like AI literacy, process design, and cross-functional communication are becoming just as critical as traditional technical expertise.
A technology-enabled, inclusive workforce
The future of Malaysia’s digital competitiveness will hinge on adopting advanced technologies and how widely and effectively they are put to use. The rise of vibe coding and citizen development offers a powerful way to close long-standing gaps, whether across departments, between all sorts of communities or between workers and the tools they need to succeed.
SME can break through traditional barriers and become more active players with access to intuitive and flexible platforms. Whether it is a retail assistant creating a stock-tracking app or a logistics team building a real-time delivery dashboard, these examples show that nnovation can emerge from any part of an organisation when the right tools are within reach.
This shift should not be seen as stepping on anyone’s toes, least of all IT departments or technical specialists. Instead, it should be seen as a necessary evolution, one that broadens the scope of innovation by distributing it across the organisation. Frontline teams cannot remain on the sidelines.
Giving employees the tools and autonomy to act is what turns digital ambition into meaningful, everyday progress.
Tsubasa Nakazawa is the managing director of Kintone Southeast Asia. Comments: [email protected]
