KUALA LUMPUR: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must be able to leverage digital adoption to reignite export businesses during the pandemic, said Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd director Datuk Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff.
He said the development in technology has opened the avenue for export businesses and there are opportunities for small business players to be a part of it.
“Exports can be categorised in many ways now and business owners can join market platforms that are available such as Lazada and Shopee. If you are a service provider, you can reach out to customers without having physical interaction.
“By expanding your market, you could continue to grow and sustain your business, resulting in an increase in revenue, as you would also be competing with other market players that would force you to increase your standards, quality and efficiency for a more sustainable company,” he said during the chief executive officers’ plenary session at the eNational Export Day (eNED) 2021 today.
Nik Mohd Hasyudeen noted while exporting does pose challenges and involve new things to be dealt with, it also provides an opportunity for businesses to remain strong in the domestic market and appeal to a wider market to grow their business.
Meanwhile, IX Telecom Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Noor Mohd Helmi Nong Hadzmi said SMEs need to take advantage of the infrastructure that is available now as the country is moving towards a digital economy and people are living in a different era compared to 10 years ago.
“As a company, we should leverage on the platform-based model and we need to export our products and services through the use of automation and digitalisation.
“This is also a good time for companies to adapt towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in order to use a comprehensive, holistic and interlink approach for their business and to leverage the use of Internet of things (IoT), automation and data analytics as we already have the infrastructure in place,” he said.
He added that companies cannot wait for things to return to normal and need to reignite their business and export.
Meanwhile, in another panel session, SME Association Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang urged SMEs to transform themselves with the adoption of technology.
“We hope that SMEs can quickly adapt to technology to increase their sales as well as changing their mindset for bigger opportunities. SMEs need to adapt to the new normal of doing business to move internationally as a way to survive and retain business,” he said. – Bernama
