The global economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was largely driven by a fall in demand and the loss of jobs, meaning fewer consumers were willing to purchase any goods and services that are now considered extra and unnecessary. This dynamic can be seen all over the world including Malaysia.
With the closure of over 32,000 SMEs reported in November 2020 due to halted operations during the MCO, it is with certainty that the number has only risen since. SMEs internationally is known as the “Backbone of the Economy”. Contributing to over 38% of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), they employ 66.2% of the workforce while making up 99% of all business establishments meaning that it is more than just the economy’s backbone.
Amongst the SMEs that progressed positively by development & expansion, there was a common factor that facilitated the sustainability of their business operations. SME digitization is the key to sustainability in this Digital Era and was brought to fruition during the pandemic.Although SMEs struggled with digitization when compared to Enterprises, that was due to an issue of its use case and definition. Many individuals perceive digitization as being costly, complex, and unnecessary.
All of those are due to a lack of understanding as SMEs stand to immensely benefit from the adoption of technologies on the digital scale. “Digital Technologies improve SME productivity” as reported by the University Consortium of Malaysia. An example of this productivity improvement is that a 26% increase in productivity was reported by SMEs that utilized simple technologies such as Social Media. When observing slightly more complex models of technologies such as E-Commerce, a productivity increase of 27% was reported. Advanced digital technologies have a reported increase of 60% in productivity.
With a measly 1 in 3 businesses in Malaysia implementing digital technology while an even lower 1 in 4 businesses having a digital strategy team, there is immense potential for improvement in SME productivity and the nation’s economy in totality.
Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Telecommunication tools, Social Media Management, Chatbot, Digital Ad Optimization tools, etcetera. These are all tools that are used to obtain an improvement in SME’s productivity and may open doors to avenues for new possibilities in this new digital society Companies with digital technologies were better adapted to allow their employee to work from home with a short learning curb while maintaining their business revenue without any major hitches in everyday operations.
The overall adaption of digital technologies by businesses in Malaysia is lacking compared to the general population and government institutions. With internet marketing tools such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC), these are simple tools that ViSight Marketing as a Service (VMaaS) offers in our packages to ensure an efficient method to market a business. These tools are used to “buy” visits to a site rather than to earn visits organically by ensuring that ad placement will be at the top of a search engine’s sponsored links based on keywords that an individual may be searching online. This will assure the most relevant visitors to a website increasing the chances of getting customers.
A lot goes into building a successful marketing campaign online and with the prevalence of life online, businesses must adapt to becoming more literate. By signing up for VMaaS, you can have the whole world as potential customers by assuring your company is always on top of an internet search with the possibilities for an influx in revenue for your business.
Learn more how ViSight Marketing as a Service can help your business to generate sales and revenue. Act today reach us at 1-800-22-2020 or visit us at maas.cyngus.com.my