DIGITALISATION: THE WAY FORWARD FOR DAILY CONVENIENCES

Like it or not, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to re-look at what it could do better to manage this virulent situation. Be it working-from-home, a concept that most businesses still balk at just a month ago; to moving all shopping needs onto online platforms; conducting school and lectures via digital classrooms; or digital services experiencing a huge spike in engagement and consumption – everything is now anchored wholly onto the digital economy.

All these digitally powered activities are now front and centre, with some declaring it the new norm.

How can the unprepared make the best of this challenging scenario that the ongoing Movement Control Order (MCO) brought about to combat the infectious COVID-19 virus?

While access to skill development and business transformation services may vary for all organisations, there is no doubt that this is the most opportune time for companies, and the general public, to learn and discover new ways to keep their businesses and livelihood going. That is where service and solutions providers like Getme Trading – a Facebook Live Management +1 (Hotsnet) system training platform – helps small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs) to use Facebook Live as a marketing tool.

Immediate Switch

“One of the biggest challenges that we faced in the first few years, and even now, is how we must travel to our client sites as some prefer to meet up face-to-face for system demonstrations and discussions. With the MCO, this has become a non-issue as most of them are ‘forced’ to adapt and use technology to ‘meet’ and watch the system demo. As for our existing clientele, they can only request for ‘live troubleshoots’ via TeamViewer. This, in many ways, created the opportunity for us to showcase the wonders of virtual conferencing and prove the effectiveness and efficiency of these digital platforms,” said Gary Yeo, Founder of GetMe Trading.

While the changes that Getme Trading did was nearly seamless, it isn’t the same for many of Yeo’s clients. Before MCO came into force, the team had around Malaysia to meet clients and carry out demonstrations at these offsite meetings.

Even so, Getme Trading was already on the path of digitalisation for some time now and had already moved 90% of its processes onto digital platforms.

“We have already gone paperless, from signing up our clients to issuing invoices. Even our training modules, like showing our clients how to get online, what they can do to attract a following, and keeping them engaged so they can be positively perceptive to future product marketing and services – all of that are now done online,” he revealed.

Literally and figuratively, Getme Trading is now walking the talk. The next step: to help businesses make the same transition easily and quickly prove to its clients how going digital can positively change not just workflows, but also enhance all day-to-day activities.

Encouraging Changes

In a time when business process optimisation is now an imperative, Getme Trading had already implemented flexibility for working hours and office attendance policies. “Before MCO, all our employees can work anywhere and at any time, as long as they get their work done. To ensure we’re always connected, we have adopted technologies that help digitalise our work processes, like Google G Suite, Alibaba DingTalk, and Microsoft Skype,” Yeo shared.

The changes that Getme Trading put in place have helped encouraged its staff and clients to be more digitally savvy and consider the various advantages that come with it. Yeo revealed one of the key benefits is how his team no longer travels all day to meet our customers. “Beyond the cost-savings for these long distance commutes, our staff also experienced increased productivity and have become more efficient. This can be seen in how we are now able to reach out to clients quickly and engage them with shorter turnaround times,” he added.

With this transformation, cross border engagement is not an issue for Yeo’s team. In fact, it directly works with partners and ecosystem affiliates that have joined its system. This includes regional users who operate across Asia, like Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong.

Even if these changes were beneficial for Yeo and his team, how can businesses make that move now? There are so many variables to consider – will it be worth the risk to change? For Yeo, it’s a matter of time before all of them must digitalise.

“Personally, that moment is now. We’re in an era where technology is so advanced that there is really no reason not to digitalise. In fact, going digital doesn't only tear down the borders between countries, it also makes daily life activities easier and more convenient. As innovation is now, literally, at your fingertips, everything – from work to play and even family time – has gone digital,” Yeo said.

In setting up GetMe to be more digitally driven, Yeo believes businesses can do the same and get their digitally-powered operations running in short order. “Our operations alone saw a 200% increase in positive productivity. This was measured based on our KPIs and our growing revenue stream. It’s not really hard to accept and believe that work processes and running a business is easier when everything is digitalised,” he concluded.