Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Micro, small businesses urged to use IT to raise productivity
A GROUP of micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) in Cebu plan to encourage members to invest in information technology (IT) to “even the playing field” between MSMEs and large industries.
“If we will not go with the trend, we will be left behind,” said Rey Calooy, president of the Filipino Cebuano Business Club Inc. (FCBCI) last Friday during the group’s special board meeting hosted by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Co.’s SME Nation group.
As an organization, Calooy said FCBCI will act as a “bridge” to negotiate for lower rates since most MSMEs are interested but still find the investment expensive.
FCBCI will also help in educating the MSMEs on the use of IT for their businesses.
SME Nation is PLDT’s brand that caters to the MSMEs and was formed after the phone company realized the sector as the fastest growing market for them.
“Initially, we did not know where to put the MSMEs, whether they belong to the corporate or retail group of PLDT,” said Noemi Cabellon, PLDT SME Nation’s area sales head for Cebu.
Figures presented by Cabellon also showed that the MSMEs have become aggressive when it comes to investing in IT.
IT spending
Based on PLDT data, MSMEs account for 15 percent of IT spending in the first half of 2008 and make up 60 percent of the telco’s broadband Internet users.
“The (MSMEs) also continue to adopt mobile marketing and mobile payment,” Cabellon said.
However, a survey conducted by PLDT showed that there are still a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs who do not know how to take advantage of IT for their businesses.
Of the nearly one million MSMEs in the country, only 23 percent are using computers and only 11.5 percent of them are using the Internet, PLDT said. Only four percent of MSMEs are broadband subscribers while the rest have yet to go online.
Cabellon explained to the FCBCI group that PLDT’s SME Nation will bring to them customized solutions that will make MSMEs more efficient and productive. (DME)
