Sirim urges MSMEs to boost digitalisation efforts, improve on resilience

 

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country are urged to intensify digitisation efforts to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the industry in facing business challenges in the future.

Sirim Bhd president and group chief executive officer Ahmad Sabirin Arshad said the call was a follow-up to the expectation that by the year 2035, the world will be focused on the use of Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“We have to understand that every aspect of business in the future will depend on AI and every decision we make will depend on data. No longer on experience and gut feeling or instincts but on science and data.

"Science and data will also show that this is where we are heading and this is what we should do for the company… like it or not, if we do not change, we will be out of date, so we need to make sure our MSMEs develop,” he told Bernama.

Ahmad Sabirin said that in order to help MSMEs continue to remain competitive in facing the challenges, Sirim will give its focus on Frontier Technology, which is the cultivation of future technology in MSME operations and the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

"Sirim will also introduce the Centre of Excellence for Industrial Intelligence and AI, which is expected to be fully operational next year, in collaboration with our partners.

“Regarding ESG, we want MSMEs to use all good values ​​and standard operating procedures (SOP) so that the products produced can penetrate the international market. We want our MSMEs to not only sell in the country because the scope of our domestic market is limited to Malaysia’s population of about 30 million,” he said.

‘Industry players need to be more open’

Ahmad Sabirin also said that MSME industry players need to be more open to adapting to digitising their companies in the context of capital use and can no longer depend on grants from the government.

“MSMEs must have a focus that they need to be competitive without grants. As long as there is a mentality of grants, they cannot move forward if they want to develop their business.

“If they borrow from a new bank, they will be more motivated to advance their business,” he said.

Sirim is a subsidiary of the Malaysian government under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and is a leading organisation for technology and quality solutions.

It focuses on, among other things, industrial research, research training and the development of industry standards and technology-based entrepreneurship.  

- Bernama