Sixty-seven per cent of Malayan Banking Bhd’s SME customers have leveraged digital technology into their sales platform during the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0. Maybank said this was among the findings of a survey involving its SME customers.

The bank said the 67% respondents made up 84% of the bank’s borrowing SME customers. Maybank community financial service group chief executive officer Datuk John Chong said the group initiated the survey to analyse and resolve the pressure points faced by them.

Despite opportunities offered by digital technologies, the survey showed found the remaining 33% of SMEs were unable to adopt digital technology due to various factors.

This includes the nature of their businesses not being suitable for online platforms, lack of technical knowledge, high cost of implementation and unsuccessful attempts in using digital platforms.

The survey also revealed that during MCO 3.0, SMEs experienced diverse business challenges as a result of the large-scale economic disruptions.

The challenges ranked by order include a drop in demand (34%), a delay in receivables (31%), a shortage or delay in obtaining supplies (18%), adapting to new operations and processes (11%) and insufficient workforce (6%).

In terms of impact to sales during MCO 3.0, 61% of respondents experienced a decrease in sales, 25% saw sales remain unchanged while 14% reported better sales due to their agility in business strategy and quick response to market needs.

The Maybank survey was undertaken in September and October, and was part of a broader exercise undertaken for non-retail and corporate customers in Malaysia. It was to fully understand how MCO 3.0 had impacted SME customers in five categories – financial, technology, business, supply chain and people.

New Straits Times