After the harsh beating suffered by businesses in the first few months of the community lockdown, industry players believe that the economy began to show recovery because of the increasing confidence of small businesses to open-up and get down to “business-as-usual”.
In the recent episode of Cisco’s executive live series “Navigating the Shift”, business leader noticed that as the global and domestic challenges plateaued, global as well as local micro, small and medium enterprises learned to adapt to changes in the business environment.
“It’s about understanding the critical business processes and identifying which can be automated and digitized. We see the need to divest from, so that one can invest,” said Cisco Philippines managing director Karrie Ilagan.
Ilagan said technology is the most important tool an MSME can invest on, especially on how to be omnipresent in all business channels, how to digitize and how to adopt simple technology that can bring them to a borderless platform.
“That’s where you out the technology investments in—invest in digital channels and skills because technology is nothing unless you do not make conscious decisions and become very intentional in digital talents and skills,” she explained.
Department of Trade and Industry bureau director for MSME development Jerry Clavesillas admitted that MSMES found themselves in a dire situation during the lockdown period.
“As we started to ease up the situation or the restrictions, most of the MSMEs are already going back to their normal operation,” said Clavesillas.
“We’ve gone from our first survey in March where about 35 percent of the MSMEs are in a true stop operation, 51 percent are partially operating and 14 percent are fully operating. In our recent survey, fully-closed businesses are only 6 percent while 47 percent are partially operating and 47≠ percent are in full operation,” he said.
He said the digital acceleration played a pivotal role in the survival of MSMEs.
“This is evident mostly among the food processing sector because most of them were not allowed to open up their establishments. They resorted to online marketing and delivery and used digital platforms to give them the ability to reach their customers despite the closure of physical stores,” said Clavesillas.
Comprising 99.6 percent of businesses and accounting for 70 percent of employment in the country, the MSME industry is crucial to the survival of the Philippine economy, he said.
“However, the pandemic has crippled their access to financing, resources and even technical capacity,” he said.
Ilagan said it was the first time where everyone in the world got to experience the same thing altogether, at once, and have common learnings, “so that we can also take the right collective action.”
“Cisco has been looking at the common pain points of MSMEs around the world and in response we have launched programs specifically designed to help MSMEs not just to survive but to thrive in this situation,” Ilagan said.
At the early stages of the pandemic, Cisco launched Cisco Designed—a suite of simple IT solutions to solve complex problems, addressing essential needs for remote work, cybersecurity and connectivity.
Earlier this year, Cisco launched 0 percent financing program that allows small businesses to acquire crucial technology software and hardware without large upfront costs. Together, both programs allow MSMEs to use enterprise-grade technology and level with larger businesses in the industry.
“While many things have become a given today, our advice mainly is to first understand what kind of business processes have to go digital because you don’t necessarily have to do that all in one go. Second, it’s about security. It’s not just about transactions but even in how we communicate with our customers. Lastly, not everybody is a digital native. There is a need for greater investment to learn and to acquire digital skills. Part of the adaptation is that we need to change our mindset and to really learn technology so that MSMEs can continue to operate successfully,” said Ilagan.
Partnerships have also created new solutions for MSMEs to thrive, such as Beyond Fiber, a partnership between Cisco and PLDT.
“Beyond Fiber gives MSMEs access to enterprise-grade technology with superior fiber connectivity that comes with an enhanced service promise fit for business,” said PLDT Enterprise first vice president and revenue head Mitch Locsin.
What the partnership offers includes Cisco Meraki when one can proactively manage connectivity for office work or for customers’ use, monitor usage of network, and have the cybersecurity solutions in place.
“Through Beyond Fiber’s curated solutions approach, businesses can also stack up on requisite digital tools and add-ons such as Cisco Webex and Paymaya e-payment solutions,” Locsin said.
