“The Pioneer of Smarter Ecosystems”

Dr. Sharlene Thiagarajah believes that behind every great company are its people. For TM Research & Development (TM R&D) to achieve this success, she made sure to take in employees with a purpose – a will to try new things, a will to learn new things, someone who comes to work with a sparkle in their eye, and spring to their every step.

Dr. Sharlene’s journey at TM R&D started in 1995, as a fresh graduate filled with a passion for research and development. For more than two decades, she has served in different roles in Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM). “Today, we are offering R&D as a service – which means ’problem-solving’ as a business. For TM R&D, our goal is to make life and business easier with smarter ecosystems to enrich humanity and bring progress to nations,” she says. “We strive to stay relevant with our new innovative solutions that the market cannot do without and take on projects that provide multifold benefits to businesses and the global market.”

She holds a PhD in Computer Systems Engineering, a Master's Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Universiti Putra Malaysia, and a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering (1st Class Hons) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Her educational qualifications and career journey add to her immense experience, in which she guides and mentors her team members and those around her. She spearheaded numerous programmes that have helped younger employees reach greater heights. “I believe that my role is to create a conducive environment to spark creativity and innovation. Making TM R&D a place where people can dream big and see how their ideas can be turned into reality,” adds Dr. Sharlene. “Aside from that, I do enjoy throwing challenges to my team and working on solving them together. Building a culture of ‘individual contributors and no passengers is important’ as this would shape them into becoming a great leader someday.”

Armed with this brilliant mindset, Dr. Sharlene has been taking TM R&D to the next level. Since she took up the role as CEO in 2016, TM R&D has been credited with successfully transforming the culture and mindset of the organisation from a traditional research facility to an innovation powerhouse that focuses on creation and commercialisation. To date, the company has commercialised 18 products with a 29% CAGR revenue growth since 2019. Seven products have been deployed within TM’s operations, and four have been exported to at least six countries, the farthest being South Africa.

TM R&D started as a division in the early ’80s and was later incorporated as a company in 2000. They are a Malaysian government-approved R&D company; and an innovation hub for TM Group. Today, they are positioned as a critical enabler to drive TM’s digital aspiration with innovations that move beyond connectivity to create new value-added digital and smart services, covering customer experience, process optimisation, as well as new business opportunities.

TM R&D owns more than 2,800 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) with 100 percent adoption of all their products since 2018. They have also received many local and international awards, which include the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards, World Communication Awards, TM Forum Excellence Awards, and WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards, among others, all thanks to the dedicated team under Dr. Sharlene’s leadership, who has been a significant influence on not only the company but also the employees. The last two awards received by the company were the technology equivalent of the Grammy Awards received in the music industry.

For the days to come, Dr. Sharlene aims to establish the next Unicorn for Malaysia. “We see a very bright future for TM R&D as every Fortune 500 company in the world has its roots in R&D, because if you do not innovate, you cannot stay ahead of the competition,” she says. “. One of our main aspirations is to create and deliver the next Unicorn for TM, and ultimately for Malaysia. I am very proud of my team – our work will help propel Malaysia to be a nation of producers, instead of consumers. The ability to produce will lead to greater sustainability of our beloved country.” WL