Covid-19 prompting major focus on online presence

“I think the Covid-19 pandemic will be a push factor, especially for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that can initially be more resistant to change on the adoption of technologies into their operations, ” Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie told StarBiz.

PETALING JAYA: The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will alter the way businesses think about risk management, moving forward, and spur the adoption rate of online systems or presence.

“I think the Covid-19 pandemic will be a push factor, especially for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that can initially be more resistant to change on the adoption of technologies into their operations, ” Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie told StarBiz.

“All these technologies have already been available for adoption even prior to the outbreak and with the Covid-19 happening, it has exposed some of these risks not only among the SMEs but also in the government sector, ” he said.

Lee said these sorts of changes would likely be permanent as businesses would see the importance of technology in the face of such a major disruptive event in history.

“Some businesses will be more affected when compared to others, especially those without an online presence, while a retailer which has a presence in the shopping mall and online is agile and will likely not be so affected by this outbreak, ” he said.

Lee also said that other areas where there may be a change, moving forward, would be the risk management in terms of handling employees.

“I believe that employers would be open to the idea of allowing their employees to work remotely as much as possible. Unnecessary face-to-face meetings will also be minimised, moving forward, and discussing over chat apps such as WhatsApp or video conferencing may be the way to go.

“Businesses have to think and ask themselves, what if there is another big one coming ahead and they will then have to prepare themselves for it, ” he added.

Similarly, a survey among businesses in China suggests that the same is happening in the North Asian country as well.

The survey among chief executives of companies, conducted February 13-21 by the Hupan School of Entrepreneurship that was founded by Alibaba’s Jack Ma, analysed the effect of Covid-19 on businesses.

The press release which highlighted the findings of the survey noted that companies with an online business presence are less affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

These companies are also more confident about their first quarter and full-year earnings results, it added.

“The Covid-19 outbreak saw many businesses in China forced to evaluate their risk management and business continuity plans while operating under strict lockdown order.

“In just a few weeks, many companies in China took the lead in digitising their business, not only for internal management like accounting but also for operations, switching from traditional offline to accepting digital online orders, ” it said.