The Star Outstanding Business Award (SOBA) – Bolstering the Digitalisation of SMEs

MRCA Update/News

The Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) – Bolstering The Digitalisation of SMEs

SOBA Lab Webinar presented thought-leadership on leveraging the innovative strategies and technologies, as well as using the right digital reinvention to transform the way SMEs bring customers, data and processes together to achieve mutually beneficial synergy.

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he SOBA Lab webinar presented five distinguished speakers who shared their thoughts on Malaysia’s digitalisation journey and the technologies behind it. The session, moderated by Stan Singh, Councillor of PIKOM, featured Rahim Raduan, Chief Corporate Officer, Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC); Kevin Lee, Head of SME, Maxis Business; Kuan Eu Jin, Chief Marketing Officer, PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd; Dev Raaj, Chief Digital Officer, RHB Bank Berhad; and George Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Innov8tif Solutions Sdn Bhd.

Organised by The Star Media Group, SOBA has made a mark of distinction among Malaysia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for its recognition of outstanding business achievements. “A business award, a networking platform and an innovative community – for the past 11 years, SOBA has recognised

more than 350 SMEs. Many are now leaders in their industry and some have even grown to become public listed companies,” says Alex Yeow Wai Siaw, Group CEO, Star Media Group in his welcome message.

In setting the tone for the session, Stan said, “IDC and Microsoft said that in the next 3 years, the economies of Singapore and Malaysia are expected to grow by USD10billion each, thanks to digital transformation. With digital capabilities like IoT, AI and cloud computing, business is going to be thriving.” He added that these companies looking at IR4.0 and other business developments across the region. However, with the pandemic hitting the world, there has been disruptions to growth. Stan shares that despite these challenges, digitalisation still holds tremendous potential.

The panel of speakers shared salient business insights on how SMEs can future-proof their businesses with digitalisation, among other key thoughts.

RAHIM RADUAN

Explaining the involvement of mindset change of business owners amidst digitalisation, Rahim pointed out that close to 50% of CEOs of SMEs are millennials, therefore, they are very familiar with digital tools. The main focus among these CEOs would be understanding the needs of the business and the potential for growth that can be achieved through digitalisation. Rahim explains that at CGC, the key to driving change is how to reach out to more SMEs to help them; and the answer was to adopt digital transformation. Rahim notes that digitalisation is just an enabler and SMEs need to consider how to use digitalisation to expand the business.

KEVIN LEE

On key elements that are preventing SMEs from taking the leap into digitalisation, Kevin explains that cost of implementation and lack of expertise in driving digitalisation are main concerns among SMEs. Kevin adds that driving digitalisation requires the full commitment and support of top management. He explains that when people within the organisation are able to see digitalisation as a solution to existing problems, it is easier to obtain buy-ins. Kevin points out that SMEs need to first identify key aspirations and goals, and then implement a solution that will bring about the desired outcomes.

KUAN EU JIN

Kuan shares that digitalisation can prevent duplication of tasks, reduce manpower, improve accuracy, hence he advises SMEs to identify areas or tasks that can be streamlined through digitalisation. He adds that business owners or leaders have to be actively involved in creating synergy between digitalisation, business processes and strategies. Talking about concerns on job losses as a result of automation, Kuan points out that conscientious business owners will focus on re-skilling employees instead of reducing headcount. He encourages SMEs to consider simple solutions first before embarking on more complex digital transformation.

DEV RAAJ

On kick-starting digitalisation, Dev Raaj shared that his recommendation to SMEs would be to first look at the entire business operations, and the end-life cycle of it, and then identify friction points or challenges – and, subsequently choose the right solution. He adds that with regards to getting internal buy-in when driving change, it is important to identify key stakeholders and solutions to address existing problems. Key to this is that customers must experience the positive impact of change. Dev explains that executing digitalisation can be a challenge, and organisations need the right team, the right partner and the right solution to achieve the ROI for the investment and positive business outcomes.

GEORGE LEE

On sharing his experiences on digitalisation, George explained there is a need to find new ways in carrying out business processes. He adds that considering various tool to achieve digitalisation is important. The main challenges faced by SMEs is that there is a lack of expertise to drive digitalisation, hence there is a need to understand employees in order to work better with them. He added that in his company, his people needed to develop a sense of ownership. Therefore, the most effective approach was to embark on simple first steps that can positively impact the business. Key to this is to get people involved and pick their thoughts and ideas. When things work out, they are also very proud of it. Thinking about the future and the changes that come with it is crucial. He advised to think internally and externally, get the people involved, and consider how it affects customers.

MANAGING DISRUPTIONS SUCCESSFULLY

In concluding the session, Stan shared about Coca Cola and Kodak which were top brands in the past. He pointed out that when Kodak started the business, they were market leaders, however they encountered competition in Fuji Film. Not long after, both companies were disrupted by another company who offered completely new and innovative offerings. Hence, Stan urges that when an organisation takes on disruption, it is important to ensure that they have the right tools, solutions and strategies in place to manage the disruption successfully.