OrangeFIN was selected by UOB Finlab as a technology solution provider for the Jom Transform Programme, a business transformation programme in Malaysia to help local SME digitalise their operations to drive productivity and revenue growth, which led Alien Logistics Sdn Bhd to meet OrangeWorkforce. Alien Logistics is an international logistics and freight forwarding company based in Malaysia, serving more than 200 cities in over 60 countries worldwide. The company is looking to improve its overall business efficiency and build stronger brand awareness. OrangeWorkforce has automated their Bill of Lading process, track booking confirmations, manage shipping instructions from customers, and reconciliate required information. The reduced manual process allows employees to focus on strategy planning work.
United Overseas Bank Malaysia and The FinLab have announced that the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have completed the Jom Transform Programme1 are expected to see productivity rise by up to 30% through digitalisation.
The Jom Transform Programme is the first business transformation programme in Malaysia to help local businesses digitalise their operations, driving productivity and revenue growth.
During the three-month programme, the 16 participating SMEs gained digital transformation skills and knowhow such as business re-engineering and digital marketing. As part of their skills development, they learnt from experts and were matched with technology partners to pilot relevant solutions and to assess the effectiveness of these solutions.
Out of the 16 participating SMEs, 12 piloted solutions to enhance their core business processes such as payroll, human resources and accounting. The automation of these processes is expected to help employees reduce the time they spend on manual, administrative processes by as much as 30%2. The SMEs also piloted solutions in digital marketing, lead generation, content creation and e-commerce solutions. These solutions are expected to boost the SMEs’ sales and customer acquisition by up to 10%3.
Wong Kim Choong, CEO, UOB Malaysia, said the Jom Transform Programme affirms the bank’s commitment to help Malaysian SMEs digitalise their business for continued growth and productivity.
He said, “The Jom Transform Programme is designed to help Malaysian SMEs digitally transform their operations and we are pleased to announce that it has met this objective.
“Having completed the three-month programme, our 16 selected SMEs are now able to apply digital solutions to optimise their workflow processes, to improve sales, to increase customer loyalty and to raise brand awareness. To help these businesses grow further, we will support them in their expansion both at home and across the region through UOB’s established regional network.”
Pauline Sim, Co-Head, The FinLab, said, “The Jom Transform Programme has successfully brought together the technology ecosystem and members of the SME community that are looking to digitalise and to uplift businesses together. We are thankful to all our partners who have supported the programme. As we continue the momentum into 2020, we will collaborate with the business and technology communities and networks we have brought together to support even more businesses who desire to transform.”
Serai Group, a Malaysian family-owned food and beverage (F&B) group with nine outlets across Kuala Lumpur, successfully completed the Jom Transform Programme. Under the programme, Serai Group piloted a digital solution provided by AImazing, a Singapore-based technology firm, to help the business digitalise its receipt and point-of-sale data.
Najib Hamid, MD and Group Chef, Serai Group, said “The Jom Transform Programme has helped us to evaluate our operations and to identify new technology solutions for our business. The F&B sector is competitive, and it is important to ensure our operations run smoothly at every level, from procurement and production through to customer experience. We are now implementing the solution from Singapore-based technology firm, AImazing, to reduce the manual workflow of collating sales data from across our nine outlets, releasing our staff to do higher-value work.”
Syarikat Letrik Chen Guan, an electrical contractor that provides end-to-end project management, electrical and mechanical services, is adopting UOB SmartBusiness4 to help drive efficiencies in its procurement and back-office processes.
Choong Pin Hoong, Director, Syarikat Letrik Chen Guan, said, “With projects running at different sites, our business requires many varieties of supplies and inputs. We are keen to implement technology solutions that will make the site planning, supply and management more automated and easier for our site managers to make and to track orders and deliveries.
“Through the Jom Transform Programme, we have come across new technology solutions such as UOB SmartBusiness, which enables us to digitalise our core processes and sales channels. This will help us build a strong foundation for our expansion plans.”
The transformation journeys include:
Asahi Suspension Parts
Asahi Suspension Parts is a manufacturer and supplier of automotive parts. It has been in operation for more than 30 years and exports its products to more than 15 countries. The company strives to build stronger brand awareness and drive more sales through digital marketing. It is also looking to adopt a materials requirement planning system and a human resource management system to better track and control production, inventory and resources.
Asahi Quality Parts, a subsidiary of Asahi Suspension Parts Corporation, will use UOB SmartBusiness to better manage its accounting and back-end processes, so that it can scale for growth.
Alien Logistics
Alien Logistics is an international, full-service freight forwarder which serves clients across 200 cities in over 60 countries. The company wants to improve its overall business efficiency and build stronger brand awareness.
Alien Logistics is working on a robotic process automation (RPA) solution with OrangeFin to reduce repetitive tasks. This will enrich the work experience and improve the overall business efficiency.
Big Onion Food Caterer
With over 15 years of experience, Big Onion Food Caterer is well known in Malaysia for providing quality catering services. Big Onion Food Caterer aspires to build an international culinary community through digital marketing. The company also wants to optimise raw material purchase and minimise waste by implementing a dynamic food waste management system in the long term.
Big Onion Food Caterer is in discussions with Edgeworks, which specialises in point-of-sales (POS) systems, to implement its recipe and inventory management solution in Big Onion Food Caterer’s central kitchen. In doing so, Big Onion Food Caterer hopes to better track the usage and wastage of their food and develop more streamlined inventory processes.
Holistic Pharmacy
Holistic Pharmacy, a 20-year old business, is a familiar name in Kuala Lumpur. It provides health-related products and pharmacy services. The company strives to grow online sales through an e-commerce store. It also plans to develop strong channel management with a centralised sales management system that integrates both online and retail transactions.
Holistic Pharmacy is working with Site Giant to enhance its e-store so that it can reach existing and new customers more effectively. It is also exploring solutions in payments and digital marketing.
Home Kitchen
Home Kitchen has been running the café chain Noodle Shack for a decade. The company aims to improve its day-to-day operations with a more robust point-of-sale system and a dynamic, cloud-based human resource management software. It also wants to build stronger brand awareness through digital and social media channels.
Home Kitchen is using Offeo to create videos that better showcase its dishes to new and existing customers. Home Kitchen is also working with Jumper.ai to promote and sell its products on its social media pages. Customers will be able to buy its products directly on its social media pages by leaving a hashtag comment, triggering Jumper.ai’s automated bot to process the order and collect payment.
Home Kitchen is further looking at using StoreHub’s point-of-sales (POS) solution to better manage their inventory, payments collection and core processes. It will also leverage on StoreHub’s analytics function to extract insights from its POS terminals, and better understand its customers.
Jaya Nets
Established in 1985, Jaya Nets is the largest synthetic fishing net, rope and twine manufacturer and supplier in Malaysia. It aims to further strengthen its leading position at home and in regional markets with technology.
The management wants to smoothen existing business processes by strengthening its warehouse and management systems to increase work efficiency, and by leveraging data to run accurate sales forecasts.
Jaya Nets is in discussions with BoostOrder to deploy their solutions to automate their sales processes and management. With BoostOrder’s solutions, Jaya Nets will be able to achieve data-driven sales management with real-time actionable insights. Customers will also be able to order from Jaya Nets more efficiently than ever before, with its self-service ordering system.
Kum Wah
Kum Wah started as a sundry shop 70 years ago and is now one of the major beer and stout distributors in Malaysia. The third-generation owners want to increase business efficiency by automating its inventory and warehouse management system and revamping its e-commerce website to drive stronger branding and higher online sales.
Kum Wah is currently implementing BoostOrder to help its distributors sell effectively online and improve order-to-cash efficiencies.
L & T Machinery Enterprise
Established in 1990, L & T Machinery Enterprise specialises in supplying and renting machinery to commercial and industrial customers across East and West Malaysia. The company strives to improve overall efficiency with business process and inventory management automation. It also aspires to develop a robust customer relationship management system to better manage its current and potential customers.
L&T Machinery Enterprise is using Novocall to better capture online leads and turn them into sales conversions. L&T Machinery Enterprise is also piloting Zanroo’s solution to capture search and social conversations on power disruption and events, so that it can better serve and understand its customers. The company is additionally using Magisto to produce videos of its products, at reduced production time and cost. L&T Machinery Enterprise has also installed UOB SmartBusiness to manage its accounting, human resource, sales and customer relationships.
MOEM Holdings
MOEM Holdings is well-known in Malaysia for its full-scale manufacturing capabilities in office furniture, kiosk systems, mobile compactors, retail display shelving, safes and vaults. It aims to enhance efficiency by implementing a robust enterprise resource planning system to record and track clients’ requirements. It also aspires to grow its reach in the retail consumer space by developing dealership channels and leveraging digital marketing.
MOEM Holdings is working with Firm Motion, a creative agency based in Malaysia, to build its website and strengthen content and brand identity.The company is also working with Singapore web and e-commerce hosting provider Exabytes to develop a business email solution for the company and improve communication with clients.
Nicsmann 1940s by Lewre
Nicsmann Group started its first Friendscino restaurant and bar in 2010 and has since expanded its portfolio to six brands and segments. Currently, it has 12 restaurants nationwide in prime locations in Malaysia, such as SkyAvenue Mall in Genting, and Starling Mall in Damansara.
It aims to better measure, manage and analyse marketing performance through data analytics to help it build a stronger corporate brand and grow its outlets to reach 20 by 2020.
Nicsmann 1940s by Lewre is implementing EzyProcure’s solution to streamline its procurement processes and has also adopted AImazing’s solutions to extract insights from its POS terminals, so that it can better understand its customers and detect fraudulent transactions.
Nicsmann 1940s by Lewre is using Offeo to create videos of its dishes targeted at new and existing customers.
Seasoning Specialities
Established in 1997, Seasoning Specialities wants to introduce an enterprise resource planning system to help it customise and modify its recipes and to better track and expand its product range.
Tapping on e-commerce, it seeks to expand its reach by supplying directly to small businesses.
Seasoning Specialities is looking to implement Ezysource for increased outreach of their products, and ultimately business expansion.
Serai Group
Serai Group is a family-owned multibrand, multi-cuisine food & beverage business established in 1990.
With more robust data collection and analytics, the group would like to drive a more comprehensive digital marketing and loyalty programmes to attract more return visits and provide better customer experiences.
Serai Group is implementing AImazing’s solutions to smoothen the process of extracting information from its POS terminals, and inputting the data directly into its accounting system. It is also evaluating a loyalty management technology solution.
Stratos Consulting Group
Stratos Consulting Group is a multidisciplinary market insights, research and consultancy firm. It aims to collect more holistic data by tapping on digital marketing and driving more online surveys. Stratos Consulting Group also wants to obtain and analyse market data in a more efficient and robust manner.
Stratos Consulting Group is rolling out marketing initiatives to launch its new survey community platform, Voice Out! With Voice Out!, Stratos Consulting Group will be able to reach more consumers digitally. This will allow them to offer a more agile, multichannel approach for conducting research.
Stratos Consulting Group is using Offeo to create videos of Voice Out! and promoting itself to the community.
Syarikat Letrik Chen Guan
Established in 1982, Syarikat Letrik Chen Guan has grown into an electrical contracting company providing end-to-end project management for electrical and mechanical services to commercial and industrial buildings in Malaysia.
The company plans to digitalise its internal processes and increase the efficiency of its project management process and purchasing system.
Syarikat Letrik Chen Guan is currently deploying UOB SmartBusiness to digitalise its backend and procurement processes.
The Dustbox
The Dustbox provides air-conditioning servicing using its proprietary JetBox Technology. It is looking to diversify into working and living space sanitation with its Sanitaaz nano coating.
Through digital marketing, the company aims to raise awareness about the importance of pre-emptive servicing of air-conditioners. It also aims to adopt a customer relationship management system which will allow the company to effectively track client bookings and access client diagnostic reports.
The Dustbox is implementing UOB SmartBusiness to better track sales, invoicing processes and accounts, as well as deploy data analytics. In doing so, it aims to streamline core processes, improve customer service and better understand its business operations. The Dustbox is also using Offeo to create videos of its products for its social media pages.
Solution providers include:
AImazing, which provides solutions that forwards offline transaction data from existing point-Of-sales (POS) terminals to teams and workflows in real-time.
BoostOrder offers a business-to-business (B2B) commerce and omnichannel e-commerce software-as-a-service (SaaS) for brands and distributors to accelerate sales online.
EzyProcure is a Singapore-based e-procurement platform that simplifies the purchasing process for buyers and suppliers.
Ezysource enables food suppliers to outreach their products globally and increase sourcing options for buyers. It is a product of Singapore EBusiness (SGeBiz), which provides business solutions for businesses to drive productivity and profitability.
Jumper.ai is an e-commerce enabler that allows businesses to use Facebook and Instagram to reach their customers and turn their social media pages into instant points of sale.
Magisto is an online video editor that employs artificial intelligence technology to make video editing fast and simple for users.
Novocall is a click-to-call-back solution that proactively increases the conversion of web visitors into sales calls and customers.
Offeo allows users to easily add animation and effects to videos with designer templates and a library of photos, videos and audio.
OrangeFin is a provider of software solutions for the financial services industry.
Based in Malaysia, Site Giant is an e-commerce enabler that allows merchants to sell on multiple channels such as online marketplaces, Facebook and their own branded online store.
Headquartered in Malaysia, StoreHub is an omnichannel operating system for retail and food and beverage (F&B) businesses across Southeast Asia.
Based in Thailand, Zanroo is a web-based social intelligence solution that integrates social listening, monitoring, engagement and customer service.
UOB SmartBusiness is an interoperable suite of business management solutions integrated with UOB business accounts for SMEs to manage functions like human resources (HR), accounting, e-invoicing, inventory management and more while on the go. It is powered by SAP Business One, in collaboration with Enterpryze and HReasily.
Jom Transform is jointly organised by UOB Malaysia and The FinLab, an innovation accelerator under United Overseas Bank. The programme is supported by five strategic partners including the Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Maxis, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and SME Corporation Malaysia.
Source : https://techtouchasia.blogspot.com/2019/12/smes-see-productivity-jump-with-uob.html
