By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
July 1, 2010

In order to allay fears of most SMBs—who, Microsoft described, are naturally averse to technology due to a perception that IT is costly—the software giant recently launched a campaign that revolves around making IT easier and cheaper for small and medium businesses.

Dubbed “I.T. Works,” the 360-degree campaign will present real-life solutions to SMBs by sharing successes of fellow small-time businesses with the help of IT.

The announcement was held in conjunction with a two-day event called the “SME Tech Series,” the first in a planned succession of several technology fairs where small- and medium-sized businesses can sit down with their peers and gain insights from speakers, which include industry experts, Microsoft customers, partners, and ISVs.

“Having successful SMBs in the country is aligned with Microsoft’s goals in the Philippines,” remarked Jerry Bongco, small and medium businesses & distribution lead, Microsoft Philippines. “We want to help them understand the best practices of our customers.”

Aside from the technology fair, the four-pronged campaign will also feature a Website, which will present real-life solutions for Filipino SMBs through video testimonials of successful customers. “SMBs want to see if IT really works as an investment,” Bongco said. “The website will add confidence to SMBs, to see that IT can really work.”

The other two components of the campaign include a monthly newsletter containing updates about the economy, technology, and policies, among others. The last part is a relationship program, which will enable Microsoft officials to have frequent engagements with their customers.

Evidence
For Sanitary Care, a local medium-sized company that manufactures personal hygiene products, implementing IT is a major driving force towards growth.

“If you want to take [growing] seriously, you have no choice but to find the infrastructure that reflects where you want to go,” boldly declared Lea Sio, the firm’s marketing communications manager.

Sio shared that it was at the peak of their expansion that they decided to take a risk and put their faith on technology. “On our fifth year [as a company], we branched out to Davao, Cebu, Cagayan, Iloilo, [among others]. Our back office could not keep up. Our IT solution then was not scalable,” she related.

Not being able to scale was the ultimate straw that broke the camel’s back. Sio shared that their expansion plans were good but that “it meant more work for our accounting department.” “While the rest of the company sees expansion as a good thing, all they see is that there will be more paperwork for them,” she admitted.

This is one of the reasons why in 2007, the company migrated to Microsoft Dynamics GP to link all their branches nationwide. This includes the credit and collection aspects of the operations, as well as their financials.

“It’s been very hard for us to control information and manage data,” Sio stressed. “We couldn’t process purchase orders and account receivables in real-time because it takes two to three weeks for all our branches and satellite offices to send [data] to Manila. You can [just] imagine how stale and irrelevant the reports were when we finally get them.”

But aside from managing their financial data, the solution likewise helped their marketing efforts. “We were able to track down to our SKUs, and were able to be more responsive with our market,” Sio explained, adding that gaining insight on which products are being received well by the market enable them to adjust their marketing plans accordingly.

By installing the solution, Sio said they were able to collect an accrued amount of P3 million from their clients, which were not being tracked before. “There’s that peace of mind [with the system] that you can track all your clients,” she added.

Because of this, Sio maintained that IT remains to be a vital pillar of growth and success, especially for SMBs. “If you don’t organize yourself, you won’t grow because you are not managing your business properly,” she said. “Can you grow if you don’t invest [on IT] now?”

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