By Sustainability, Digital Economy and Reporting Team
The DTAA Winners in Action series returns with great enthusiasm to showcase the second recipient of the prestigious ‘Top Excellence Award’.
To drive MIA’s vision for digitalisation in Malaysia’s accountancy profession, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) launched the Digital Technology Adoption Awards (DTAA) in March 2023. This groundbreaking initiative carves out a new niche in the Malaysian awards landscape as it specifically recognises remarkable achievements in technology adoption by the accountancy profession in commerce and industry, public practice, and public sector.
In this second instalment of the series, we celebrate YYC GST Consultants Sdn Bhd for their outstanding accomplishments in tax process innovation, emerging triumphant within the Public Practice category for firms with 50 to 99 employees of the DTAA. Discover their inspiring digital transformation journey in this exclusive interview with Zen Chow, Executive Director and Tax Practice Leader, YYC Group. Join us as we delve into the strategies that propelled them to this well-deserved recognition!
1. Why did you adopt technology?
Our journey into digital technology was largely sparked by the Movement Control Order (MCO) during the pandemic. Before MCO, we relied heavily on in-person training and seminars to educate clients on tax matters. This approach limited the number of clients we could serve at a time and it also restricted us geographically. When the pandemic hit, the face-to-face training sessions became impossible, and we quickly realised how dependent we were on physical training.
The need for a digital solution became urgent, especially as clients were seeking continuous learning and updates on tax changes during the uncertain period. To address this, we pivoted towards virtual training and education, launching online courses, webinars, and self-paced learning modules. The shift to digital learning allows us to break free from geographical constraints, ensuring that clients could access tax education and training from anywhere. This keeps our clients informed and it also allows us to expand our reach, delivering vital tax knowledge to a much wider audience.
2. What technologies have you adopted?
In response to these challenges, we developed taxPOD, a comprehensive digital education platform designed to deliver tax knowledge and training online. Through taxPOD, clients can access pre-recorded webinars, attend live virtual training sessions, and participate in self-paced learning modules on various tax topics. We integrated tools like Vimeo for video hosting, Zoom for interactive sessions, and Stripe for seamless payment processing. To enhance the learning experience, we also introduced the “Ask An Expert” feature, which allows users to submit questions and receive personalised answers from our tax experts.
With this platform, we moved beyond face-to-face interactions and embraced virtual learning, ensuring that our clients have seamless access to the knowledge and training that they need regardless of circumstances.
3. How was your digital technology implementation journey?
The shift to digital training through taxPOD was a significant transformation for us. Initially, we focused on building the platform from scratch rather than using an existing learning management system (LMS), as we wanted to tailor it specifically to the needs of our clients. The first milestone was launching core features like online video streaming. Next, we created a library of pre-recorded tax webinars, ensuring that clients could access content on-demand, even if they missed the live sessions.
A major milestone was the launch of our “Ask An Expert” feature, which gave users an additional layer of interaction by allowing them to ask specific tax-related questions and receive responses from our experts within a set timeframe. Throughout the journey, the client’s feedback played a crucial role in shaping and improving the platform to ensure it delivered the best possible learning experience.
4. What is the impact of your technology adoption?
The impact has been remarkable. Since launching taxPOD, our subscriber base has grown to over 6,800 users as of October 2024. More importantly, taxPOD has allowed us to maintain our educational efforts during the pandemic and beyond. Clients can now access tax training at their convenience, which has increased engagement and satisfaction.
Moving to virtual training has also expanded our reach across Malaysia and internationally, allowing us to connect with clients who previously could not attend our physical sessions. This shift has not only kept our clients informed but has also opened new avenues for scaling our training programs, bringing us closer to our company’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) of “positively impacting 100 million lives”. By empowering businesses and individuals with essential tax knowledge, we are contributing to their financial growth and success, reinforcing our broader mission.
5. What is your future digital technology plan?
Building on the success of taxPOD, we are now developing taxPOD Intelligence, an AI-powered tool that automates routine tax queries and assists with research, enabling users to focus on more complex, high-value tasks. With features such as AI-driven insights for expert-level advice, smart learning that adapts to feedback, conversational interactions simulating advisor-like communication, and tailored guidance based on individual tax profiles, taxPOD Intelligence streamlines the process while ensuring personalised and reliable tax solutions. Additionally, with proactive reminders, users can stay on top of critical deadlines, and most importantly, it offers 24/7 availability.
taxPOD will continue to evolve where we are incorporating gamification elements such as quizzes, leaderboards, and rewards to create interactive and engaging learning experience. These additions will boost motivation, improve knowledge retention, and enhance overall satisfaction, making tax education not only effective but also enjoyable.
We are also working on adding a personalised video recommendation feature to taxPOD. Similar to how Netflix recommends content based on user preferences, this feature will suggest the most relevant tax training videos tailored to each user’s interests and learning history. By leveraging data on user behaviours and preferences, taxPOD will provide a more personalised and engaging learning experience, ensuring users receive content that best suits their needs.
6. Do you have any tips to share with the readers?
Our first piece of advice is to embrace the power of digital learning and training. Start by identifying the core areas where digital tools can have the most immediate impact and build from there. We did not try to do everything at once with taxPOD. Instead, we rolled out features gradually and improved it based on user feedback.
Another key factor is ensuring that your team is fully on board with the transition. Digital transformation is not just about technology. It is about changing how people work and learn. Offer training to your staff so that they are comfortable with the new tools and enable them to support the digital shift. Lastly, prioritise security, especially when handling sensitive data. Robust cybersecurity measures are essential when expanding digital platforms.
7. Why did you participate in the DTAA?
We decided to participate in DTAA because we would like to share our journey and inspire other organisations facing similar challenges. The process of participating allows us to reflect on how much we have achieved in a short period of time and helped us recognise the importance of continuous innovation.
8. What is your advice to aspiring participants of the DTAA in future?
For aspiring participants, I would recommend focusing on the broader impact of digital adoption. It is not just about implementing new technology—it is about transforming how you deliver value to your clients. Be bold in your approach and think about how you can use technology to solve real-world problems, just as we did with taxPOD and our ongoing development of taxPOD Intelligence!
