AS businesses across Malaysia fight to maintain market growth in an economy stunted by the Covid-19 pandemic, we must ensure that our small and medium sized companies (SMEs) are not left behind. As we look ahead to an economic rebound, we must support small businesses in addressing business infrastructure issues that threaten their resilience and competitiveness in a reset economic landscape.
SMEs fuel Malaysia’s economy. With 98.5% of our country’s businesses being SMEs, their contribution is key to our recovery as a nation. These numbers not only demonstrate the importance of SMEs to the economy, but they also provide a window into the fierce competition between SMEs for market share in increasingly crowded online and traditional marketplaces.
Energy management is one critical area where the stakes are high, and an area of business that SMEs must optimise in order to not just stay ahead of the game but survive.
In an era of tighter margins and increased competitiveness, developing an energy management plan allows SMEs to cut operational costs, increase efficiency and ensure business continuity in a changing energy landscape. An energy management plan is necessary for SMEs to meet the evolving expectations, and sometimes, standards of governments and consumers around sustainability.
The relationship between a business and energy supply is changing. At Schneider Electric, our experience shows that reducing resource consumption by implementing some of the scalable technologies now available to SMEs – technologies that were once only available to large enterprises – can have a major impact on profitability and competitiveness.
A reset economy will encourage SMEs to interrogate their bottom lines more closely. An energy management plan can be the key differentiator for a business profitability, enabling SMEs to shave up to 50% off their energy costs.
At the same time, shareholders, customers, and employees are asking companies to operate with a lighter environmental touch. This pressure will encourage SMEs to act quickly or risk becoming uncompetitive and unattractive to customers who increasingly value environmental credentials. SMEs in Malaysia looking to grow faster than their competitors can not only decrease their overhead costs but can also proactively look to meet the ever more stringent energy and evolving expectations and standards.
As the urgency to meet climate targets increases, governments across the region are implementing policies and plans to ensure that companies take the steps necessary to decrease their energy usage and emissions.
Smart SMEs can stay in front of changing policies by meeting these standards before they are enforced. Those that do will be in a prime position to meet global export standard demands, reduce energy consumption and emissions, and remain attractive to global and knowledgeable customer-bases with increasing environmental responsibility demands.
Digitisation technologies can deliver low-cost, data-driven energy management plans for SMEs. Data-driven decisions will allow SMEs to become less reactive and more proactive about their energy choices. By being able to predict and prevent problems, improve forecasting and purchasing decisions and reduce downtime, SMEs will be able to meet their profitability and environmental targets.
The time is right – and critical – for those SMEs looking to cement their competitive advantage, increase their profitability, meet the changing expectations of governments and customers, and ensure their business continuity, to establish a digitally-driven energy management plan that helps Malaysia reignite growth.
This article was contributed by Francis Heng – business VP, home & distribution for Schneider Electric Malaysia & Singapore.
