PETALING JAYA: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are urged to continue with their digital transformation journey even after the conclusion of imposed movement restrictions.
With an expected return to business as usual as the pandemic continues to show signs of easing in the country, SMEs may find no urgency to implement digital transformation.
In a statement, Genaxis Group managing director and IA Consulting Sdn Bhd CEO Nuraslina Zainal Abidin said SMEs need to view digitalisation as a critical step to increase business and operational resiliency as well as enhance productivity.
“It is possible that SMEs do not fully understand the importance of digital transformation, and the small first steps they need to take.
“We observe that in large organisations, there is no deferment in digital trans-formation efforts. After the conclusion of imposed restricted mobility, it is actually the opposite. Most large companies are accelerating their digitalisation initiatives. A typical five-year digital transformation journey, is now being accelerated to three years or less.,” she added.
According to Nuraslina, companies who continue to pursue digital transformation need to focus on enhancing customer experience at every touchpoint with their customers on the digital platform, to take advantage of the new norm where clients turn to mobile or internet platform to make purchases.
She also pointed out that SMEs need to understand that through digitalisation they will have access to valuable data, which can serve as valuable input in production planning, product or service design and even channel of marketing for SME product and services.
SMEs also need to relook at processes within their organisation that contribute to the highest costs, but she stressed that digital trans-formation does not need to come at a huge cost.
““SMEs should not perceive digital transformation move as capital intensive. There are many options provided by many cloud service providers who offer digitalisation of business as a service. They can choose the subscription model to jumpstart their digitalisation.
“It is a journey. Set a timeframe for the journey, define what we want to achieve within the timeframe and once you achieve it, start all over again.
“Staying agile is the new sustainable business model,” Nuraslina said.
