PHOTO -(from left) Dato' Hafsah Hashim, CEO, SME Corp; and Serene Sia, MD, SAP Malaysia.



Malaysia's small and medium enterprises can realise benefits such as enhanced productivity, performance and reduced costs by using enterprise solutions, according to business solutions provider SAP Malaysia.

During the recent SAP SME Summit 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, government agency SME Corp chief executive officer Dato' Hafsah Hashim encouraged Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to use these solutions to help them expand into global markets.

"To successfully compete in the global economy it is critical that Malaysian businesses adopt ICT solutions to improve operational performance, raise productivity and reduce costs," said Hafsah, adding that SMEs make up more than 98 percent of businesses in Malaysia and in 2011 SMEs contributed about 31 percent to GDP [gross domestic product], 56 percent to the workforce and account for 19 percent of Malaysia's total national exports.

"SAP's strategy to serve the SME market is to approach the market in the way that best addresses our customers' needs and buying preferences," said SAP Malaysia managing director, Serene Sia. "By working with partners and an extended ecosystem, SAP is introducing alternative business software deployment, packaging and licensing options such as software-as-a-service, cloud computing and pre-built applications. These innovations give SMEs limited in-house IT resources, to get an advanced ICT system up and running more quickly, with minimal cost, fuss and risk."

More than 80 percent of SAP's 176,000 global customers are SMEs, 90 percent of which are in the lower middle and small enterprise markets.

  Barriers to adoption

Sia said the barriers among SMEs to the adoption of business software solutions are cost and complexity. "Costs include software and services, as well as people and time. The SME faces additional hurdles, such as tighter budgets, less sophistication and organisational knowledge, technology hurdles and fewer people, meaning less time to spend on planning and analysis. The typical SME needs outside help defining critical success factors and the relevant metrics."

"Among SAP's goals is to bring mobility to the masses and one of the key objectives for SAP's mobility strategy was to enable any size company to mobilise," she said. "To effectively serve SMEs, this means delivering ready-to-use applications that address specific business needs."

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