Amid digital

disruption,
SMEs in the
Philippines
(https://techwireasia.com)

being driven to
10
Insights SOCIAL BUZZ Latest Popular
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tech/)
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transform
The Philippines is gaining stronger technology capabilities. Source: Shutterstock

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wire-asia)
By Tech Wire Asia (https://techwireasia.com/author/user/) | 2 January, 2020

(http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://techwireasia.com/2020/01/amid-d
transform/&title=Amid digital disruption, SMEs in the Philippines being driven to transform)
 SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) serve as

(http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?
the driving force of a country’s economic growth.
text=Amid+digital+disruption%2C+SMEs+in+the+Philippines+being+driven+to+transform&url=
This is mainly because they make up a large part
digital-disruption-smes-in-the-philippines-are-pushed-to-transform%2F)
of the business landscape in certain countries,
(http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://techwireasia.com/2020/01/a
especially in Asia.
to-transform/&title=Amid digital disruption, SMEs in the Philippines being driven to transform)
In the Philippines, there are 4,769 large
(http://www.reddit.com/submit?urlhttps://techwireasia.com/2020/01/amid-digital-disrupti
enterprises, 106,175 small enterprises, 4,895
medium enterprises
transform/&title=Amid digitaland a whopping
disruption, SMEs887,272
in the Philippines being driven to transform)
units of micro business establishments.
(http://service.weibo.com/share/share.php?url=https://techwireasia.com/2020/01/amid-di
SMEs alone havedigital
transform/&title=Amid managed to create
disruption, SMEsover 2.5 Philippines being driven to transform)
in the
million jobs
(https://www.dti.gov.ph/dti/index.php/2014-04-02-
03-40-26/news-room/179-workshop-on-market-
access-for-MSMe-set) in the country, further
signifying the vitality of these establishments to
the country’s development.
Due to the fact that they greatly influence the
country’s income rate and development, they
must be able to constantly meet the global
industrial demands, evolve alongside the new
globalization standards and catch up with the
digital world.
The wave of digital disruption has hit the
Philippines’ SMEs, so business leaders must
respond proactively by embracing technology
solutions and be more digitally-enabled.
“To be able to tap business opportunities in the
evolving digital economy, digital transformation
is key. This must be done, or else, a company will
be left behind,” said Institute of Corporate
Directors President Alfredo Pascual during a
recent conference (https://pia.gov.ph/press-
releases/releases/1032132).
As the country gains new digital capabilities and
advances its technology development, it is
imperative that SMEs go digital.
New and emerging technologies can be a threat
to businesses that fail to innovate and keep up
with the latest advancements.
Capabilities like digital payment systems are core
to SMEs
(https://techwireasia.com/2019/11/malaysia-scales-
up-strategies-to-help-smes-go-digital-by-2022/) as
they are increasingly sought after and help stay
relevant in an ever-evolving marketplace.
Pascual also said that as digital disruptions
intensify, it is highly critical for SMEs that wish to
succeed, to push forward with innovative efforts
and reinvent their identity and culture.
The transformation is necessary not only to
secure greater revenues, but also to increase
operational efficiency, boost data-reliance,
improve marketing, and enhance research and
development.
An economy expert at the conference further
supported this notion by stating, “[…] the ability
to innovate will become — more than ever — an
important element of economic development.”
Thankfully, SME leaders that are more aware,
dynamic, digitally-literate, and generally younger,
are progressively going digital.
On that note, Pascual urged those in the country
to embrace the change by enhancing digital skills
(https://techwireasia.com/2019/12/sbf-ceo-smes-
need-to-plug-the-gaps-in-digital-skills-and-it-
infrastructure/) to empower greater engagement.
At the same time, he also acknowledged the
struggle and new challenges that SMEs have to
face amid the digital disruption, citing limited
resources and business services, lack of data as
well as “constrained access to markets beyond
their immediate neighborhood”.
To counter this, Pascual called for a thorough
improvement of internet bandwidth and prices
to allow SMEs to access digital marketplaces and
online services.
Of course, the government bodies are responsible
to solve this issue which is why he insisted that
they lead by example, digitizing efficiently and
working towards bettering the means to
transform.
All in all, the
government must
heed the call to go
digital by providing
SMEs with the PHILIPPINES LAUNCHES E-
necessary aid and PAYMENT SYSTEMS EN
incentives. ROUTE TO BE CASH-LITE
Adlina AR | 26 November, 2019
Meanwhile, SMEs
must charter plans (https://techwireasia.com/2019/11/philippines-
to innovate within launches-e-payment-
their means and systems-en-route-to-be-cash-
seek viable lite/)
solutions that can
help their businesses flourish.

 INNOVATION

(https://techwireasia.com/tag/innovation/)
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

(https://techwireasia.com/tag/digital-
OPERATIONS transformation)

(https://techwireasia.com/tag/operations)

10 SOCIAL BUZZ
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gital-disruption-smes-in-the-philippines-are-pushed-to-

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