For Axxis Consulting CEO Harald Weinbrecht, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) today need a new breed of solutions to stay competitive with the ability to respond to market needs faster (above pic for concept illustration purpose only).
“Essentially, SMEs today are looking for improved productivity and operational efficiencies, coupled with improved profits and margins,” said Weinbrecht. “However, SMEs find it hard to get the information needed in real time, gain efficiency due to broken processes while struggling to keep multiple systems working together.”
He then quoted a small business owner who had shared his challenges: “All this business owner wanted was to have the time and the ability to focus on his business. Instead. He spent most of his day ‘babysitting’ operations instead of driving the business.”
Weinbrecht (pic) shared that what many small businesses have are manual processes with many point solutions: “As a result, there is limited functionality as they are hard to work together and difficult to get information. Owners then become frustrated as they are not able to grow the business.”
What business owners should look for are solutions that serve as an integrated source for online, real-time information, stated Weinbrecht.
“There will then be a ‘single version of truth’, which makes such solutions intuitive and easy to use,” he added.
“And there are such flexible and inexpensive solutions in the market which empower owners to grow the business.”
Enter CloudOne: Designed specifically for SMEs
For SMEs, Weinbrecht is recommending CloudOne which is built on the SAP Business One (B1) business management software and which “connects and streamlines processes, serving as catalyst of growth for numerous SMEs here in Malaysia and throughout the world.” Axxis Consulting is a platinum partner of SAP.
“CloudOne is a complete end-to-end SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution which empowers SMEs with mobility to access their ERP solution anywhere, at any time,” he said.
“What’s more, with CloudOne, SMEs would have the complete freedom on deployment options: may that be cloud hosted or on premise.”
Weinbrecht was speaking to members of SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp) and the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (or “NAWEM” which stands for Persatuan Kebangsaan Usahawan Wanita Malaysia) at an event held in Kuala Lumpur, recently. The event was co-organised by SAP Malaysia (pic).
SME Corp is the central coordinating agency under the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development Malaysia that coordinates the implementation of development programmes for SMEs across all related ministries and agencies.
It acts as the central point of reference for research and data dissemination on SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as provides business advisory services for SMEs and entrepreneurs throughout the country. SME Corp also assumes the role of the Secretariat to the National Entrepreneur SME Development Council (NESDC) which is chaired by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
NAWEM, meanwhile, serves as a platform for women entrepreneurs, with a vision of uniting women entrepreneurs through the process of nurturing their skills and in assisting them in realising their aspirations.
This non-governmental organisation’s goal is that, by the year 2020, NAWEM members will be acknowledged as catalysts to the growth, development and enhancement of women in business as well as a motivating force, providing leadership and support to all Malaysians in the realisation of their full potential whilst upholding the values of mutual respect and care.
Weinbrecht concluded by emphasising that CloudOne had been designed specifically for SMEs and provides a single, affordable solution for managing the entire company.
“These include financials, sales, customer relationships, and operations. By automating and integrating all business processes, CloudOne helps SMEs get a clearer picture of how all aspects of the business are functioning, while empowering them to make decisions based on real-time information,” concluded Weinbrecht.