KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in ASEAN have set their sights on leveraging external tech providers as a way of accelerating their digital ambitions, according to TDCX latest report.
In a statement, TDCX said SMEs are looking to tech providers such as cloud providers, system integrators, cybersecurity specialists, as well as digital platforms for the expertise they require as they grow their businesses.
Across the five ASEAN countries surveyed, more than 84 per cent of SMEs see value in working with an external tech provider.
Titled ASEAN SMEs: Small Business, Big Opportunity for Tech Providers, the report aims to help tech providers globally understand the approach that ASEAN SMEs are taking to grow their business in the digital economy and their expectations of tech providers.
TDCX Chief Executive Officer, Laurent Junique said: “What was once a nice-to-have is now a must-have and SMEs are making up for lost time by tapping the expertise of digital solution providers. Hence, the time is also ripe for digital solution providers to engage with SMEs to support their digital transformation.”
There are more than 70 million SMEs across ASEAN which make up about 97 per cent of all businesses in the region. ASEAN SMEs have signalled their strong commitment to digitalising through their investments.
Over the last three years, they have invested more than US$78 billion on such initiatives and do not plan to slow down, with a further US$130 billion planned for investment over the next three years. (US$1=RM4.46)
The study revealed that close to half (49 per cent) have only digitalised a few functions across their business. On average, ASEAN SMEs are currently using three tech solutions to support their business needs, with digital marketing being the top area of focus.
While the pandemic has expedited the speed of digitalisation among ASEAN SMEs, the rate of advancement is uneven across the region. One-fifth (20 per cent) of the region’s SMEs only took the plunge to digitalise in the last two years and those in the Consumer Goods, Retail and Food and Beverage (F&B) sectors lag behind their peers in their digitalisation journey.
The study found that SMEs top priority over the next two years is to enhance their data analytics and innovation capabilities. To support their digitalisation push, SMEs are looking to work with tech providers that have strong technical skills (76 per cent), industry knowledge (69 per cent), and speedy response times (65 per cent).
The report was conducted by Intuit Research from Sept to Dec 2022, to understand SMEs' mindset toward digitalisation. A total of 750 SMEs were interviewed in five countries, namely, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, with an equal number of participants from each country.
-- BERNAMA
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