Building A Resilient Business in an Endemic

The COVID-19 epidemic acted as a catalyst, forcing SMEs around the world to adapt to new business climates or risk becoming yet another statistic.

In this post, we pay attention to the issues that these same business owners confront in this fast-paced future of an endemic.

Resources for SMEs in Southeast Asia

For one, the advantage possessed by smaller SMEs is that they have access to grants and incentives extended by their country’s government.

Let’s take Singapore for instance, who first introduced the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) in 2018 to support the adoption of IT solutions, equipment and consultancy services in the country. Singapore's Budget 2022 continues to expand the range of solutions offered in this scheme, into possibly 100,000 productivity projects for SMEs over the next 4 years.

This is all intended to boost the competitiveness of Singaporean SMEs in the global market as they make data-driven business decisions.

As of 2022, Malaysia has also brought forward assistance such as the
Keluarga Malaysia Semarak Niaga and the Jana Ekonomi – both of which falls under the Budget 2022 plan to regenerate the country’s economy.

Singapore has also introduced plans such as the Enterprise
Development Grant (EDG) and the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) in 2022 to help Singaporean SMEs expand their products overseas and build internal capabilities from within the team.

Extending future-ready tools to SMEs

According to a survey, small businesses are still lagging when it comes to digital transformations. According to a survey of 782 Singaporean
small enterprises, the following are the most regularly cited reasons for the delay:

• Exorbitant prices. SMEs continue to believe that digitization will be too costly for them to bear.
• Concerns about cybersecurity. SMEs are concerned that their infrastructure may be vulnerable to malevolent parties due to a lack of good implementation, knowledge, and labour.
• Employees lack digital abilities. Although there is a desire to digitise, several SMEs are concerned about what this implies for their staff who lack the skills to integrate modern technology into their daily operations.

However, adopting cutting-edge technology does not automatically imply large budgets or a steep learning curve for everyone in your business.

For example, SaaS solutions, which were once solely available to large multinational organisations, are now available to every SME for inexpensive monthly subscriptions.

Solutions like UOB BizSmart also pioneer the SME-friendly movement towards digitally savvy business management as it partners with digital solution providers that offer technologies ranging from simplified payroll to powerful ERP software aimed at small businesses who want to get ahead of their industry.

Because of the rapid use of digital technology, a workforce that is more technologically knowledgeable, or at least capable of swiftly learning new skills, has emerged.

Take cloud accounting software, for instance.

It significantly reduces costs for small businesses and startups - and already includes accurate sales tracking, faster reconciliation of figures, and secure storage of data. This is particularly useful for startups, who might not have an in-house dedicated team to maintain their accounting software.

The cost of running a business is ultimately what your customers pay, which means it makes sense to make the best use of the tools available to help you run your business more efficiently.

This means if you’re a small business owner growing at a casual pace, then there’s an increased likelihood that you need a simple yet intuitive sales dashboard and straightforward business banking integrations.

If it’s your mission to scale and expand to more warehouse locations for example, then you can opt for full-stack servicing tools, real-time inventory tracking, order scheduling and more.

Both examples are businesses in different stages of growth and any good cloud solutions provider will give you multiple preferences to choose from.

Growing your business to new markets

Businesses who want to grow across borders export their products to new countries will have to shift their focus on new trends and needs of the market.

For example, it’s clear that the Southeast Asian market is ripe for digital payments, and the UK is not far behind.

The usage of cash in the UK has significantly reduced – and cash transactions could account for only 7% of in-store purchases by the year 2024.

To be truly competitive in a modern market where consumers come to rely on digital payments, businesses should have proper cloud accounting to support sales tracking from such sources and also plan to counter supply chain distributions.

There also needs to be a plan of attack to deal with supply chain disruptions.

Procurement, storage, and fulfilment consume a significant portion of any SME's budget, prompting many owners and managers to investigate how this process might be simplified and made more economical.

On the other hand, SMEs in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are also no strangers to supply interruptions in the form of fulfilment delays and deliveries.

These types of interruptions have a negative influence on your overall revenue and client satisfaction, which can ultimately jeopardise your business.

You can still mitigate the damage by communicating with your vendors or manufacturers to determine the extent of the disruptions.

As the economy bounces back from the effects of COVID-19 and moves into an endemic stage; successful SMEs will move forward with confidence and calculated strategies for a new world.

Navigating an uncertain landscape can only be done with the help of future-ready technologies such as data analytics, automation, and a strong supply chain on all fronts for SMEs to thrive in a new world.

Futureproof strategies are needed here – ones that involve you leveraging all your existing resources, refreshing tired systems and software, and taking a closer look at your business’ priorities and plans for growth.

To learn more Enterpryze, click here. For more information, please contact us at bizsmart@uobgroup.com.