当我们提到网上购物时，我们通常会想到衣服、旅行、住宿，甚至可能想到在浏览商品列表时看到的一些有趣的东西。

由于疫情，我们不像以前那样经常出门了。 许多人开始选择在线购买必需品。

结果是什么呢？ 那就是许多企业，尤其是小型企业，开始发展线上业务以适应不断变化的消费方式和消费者偏好。

Exabytes 的创始人兼首席执行官Chan Kee Siak先生与来自 BFM89.9 的 Freda Liu 就企业在发展线上业务时面临的挑战以及如何应对这些挑战进行了交谈。

Freda:
早上好，我是 Freda Liu。 您正在收听 [Open For Business]。

由于疫情，越来越多的小型企业正在采用并逐步转向发展线上业务。

电子商务发展迅速，旧的线上运营方式很快就会过时。

开拓线上业务不是什么难题。但是，如何让其给消费者带来无缝衔接式的购物体验呢？

我们邀请了 Exabytes 的创始人兼首席执行官 Chan Kee Siak 先生，我们将一起探讨新零售革命，了解什么是新零售。

早上好，Chan Kee Siak 先生。

Mr Chan:
Freda，早上好。

在疫情爆发之前和爆发期间，Exabytes 情况如何？

Freda:
在疫情爆发之前和爆发期间，Exabytes 情况如何？

我之所以用”疫情爆发之前”这个词，是因为我们以前就讨论过这个问题。不过确实是很久以前了。

所以您可以针对贵公司的重要发展节点以及疫情期间的发展状况作一个简单概述吗？

Mr Chan:
好的，无论是在疫情爆发之前还是现在，我们只做一件同样的事情，即帮助企业发展线上业务。

当然，这是一个非常广泛的范畴。

是这样的，我们基本上从一开始就为企业提供域名和网站，帮助他们开展业务。

然后慢慢地，我们已经发展到可以提供给他们真正的大量的云解决方案。

接着，我们推出数字营销。我们自己也参与到电子商务发展之中。

现在，在企业电子商务需求以及云需求方面，我们也为他们提供支持。 但所有的这些都有一个共同点。

那就是你可以看到他们是如何充分利用云电子商务或数字化来实现线上发展的。

现在来找您的小型企业都有哪些需求呢？

Freda:
好的，那现在来找您的小型企业都有哪些需求呢？

Mr Chan:
当然，我们看到越来越多的企业都对开拓线上业务很感兴趣并前来询问。

连小型企业也开始发展电子商务了。

过去，当我们听到有人想要接触电子商务时，可能会以为是个小伙子想干在线销售这一行。

但是现在，尤其是疫情期间，你会看到很多传统实体企业也想好好利用数字化电子商务来帮助其发展。

从零售杂货铺到餐馆，他们需要的不仅仅是一个网站，还需要一些订购功能。

这就是当前快速发展的一种潮流趋势。

什么是新零售？

Freda:
您刚刚谈到新零售，这一概念由马云提出。那什么是新零售呢？

Mr Chan:
没错，新零售。

你可以关注一下传统零售和实体零售企业是如何进入所谓的新一代的，用一个软件方面的术语来说，这里说的新一代就是新版本。

但是我认为，新零售指的是多年来消费者行为的演变，转化和发展，以及零售商们真正作出调整，来确保自身仍然能够与新一代零售商建立联系并保持相关性。

所以我在这里举了一些例子。我认为10年前、5年前甚至现在，很多零售商都与数字化脱节了。

零售之间也有区别对吗，一个简单的数字在零售领域就很有可能是一个销售点。

有些企业可能有电子商务部门，或者有在线商店，亦或者开始在市场上销售。

很多时候，大多数人都将这些看做是市场要素。因为所有的企业都有也必须要有一个电子商务商店。

如果你有一个网站，那你就得需要有一个电子商务商店。

就业务增长方式以及相关问题而言，管理实体零售业务和管理电子商务或在线业务的人之间是完全脱节的。

所以这会带来很多不匹配以及不好的购物体验。

举个例子，你在实体店购物获得积分，但是你不能用网上登录的账号在线使用这些积分。

所以这种购物体验是脱节的，反过来，因为由两个完全不同的团队在管理，线上业务部门和线下实体业务部门也在相互争斗。

这些就是零售业当前面临的问题，但我认为出现这些问题很正常。这是转型之旅的一部分。

因此，当事情开始发展，尤其是随着疫情封闭管理等情况加速发展时，消费者的需求和愿望就会更加强烈。他们希望获得无缝衔接式的购物体验。

除此之外，消费者也在不断发生转变，比如网购，在网上购买便宜或很酷的东西。

现在他们还想在网上寻找他们最喜欢或熟悉的品牌和零售商。这些消费者希望能够实现在线购买。

所以这一需求开始增长，然后变得越来越强烈。

就连非常传统的实体零售商也将开始研究如何连接线上和线下业务，如何将它们融合在一起。

所以，新零售就是这么开始的。

新零售为何兴起？我们的思维模式或行为是否阻碍了我们？

Freda:
所以您觉得这不是个技术性问题，是一个组织问题思维模式问题。

Mr Chan:
是行为。

Freda:
行为？需要改变人们的购物行为，是吗？当然，这种新零售在中国非常成功，今年是其蓬勃发展的一年。

那它怎么还会出现呢？这就是阻碍我们发展的原因吗？因为我们没有采用那种思维模式和行为吗？

中国也告诉了我们该怎么做，所以为什么还会出现这种情况呢？

Mr Chan:
我认为这是消费者购物演变的一部分。比如人们可能开始购买团购折扣，这就是团购时代。类似等等。

慢慢地，那些在商场、市场上买东西的人在接触了电子商务之后，便开始搜寻线上商家。

他们开始在网上寻找他们熟悉的品牌。他们希望这些传统品牌和商店能够拥有线上业务。

接着他们又希望线上业务能和线下业务联系起来。

所以我认为这就是销售者行为的演变。

新零售需要大量投资吗？

Freda:
您举了几个例子，比如智能镜子或者说是虚拟服装试穿、虚拟商店、快闪店，或者通过扫描二维码观看豪车的 3D 广告，都会方便人们立即购买。

现在，这些随处可见，轻而易举地就可以提供无缝衔接式购物体验。

但是这需要大量的投资吗？

Mr Chan:
我想说所有的这些都是新零售体验的一部分。他们都很便捷，看起来也很酷。

至于成本，在早期，这些可能会花费很多钱。因为你需要一个非常精通这些技巧或技术的特殊团队来帮助您润色和设计。

但是现在，这些东西在很多发达市场都很常见，相关技术工具进而也被广泛应用。

许多卖家或市场或平台已经将其中一些工具作为其标准产品的一部分。

这就意味着你要么不用支付额外费用，要么也是支付极少的费用，就可以使用所有这些功能。

例如，二维码就是完全免费的。你可以轻松生成二维码。

我认为，存在的挑战或问题，或者更确切地说是差距，是在于零售商尤其是传统零售商如何创新并弥合差距，以及如何整合所有构件以尽可能实现线上购物与线下购物的无缝衔接。

我认为需要注意的重要一点是，我们必须确保我们谈论的所有的这些很酷的新功能不会技术性太强或太难。

因为这样，你就不需要下载或安装其他软件就能享受该功能。如果需要你安装某些东西，那它绝对不是很酷。

Freda:
我认为这是一个与客户合作的过程。

你带领他们完成这个过程并且最终达到想要的结果，但合作的过程其实很缓慢的。

之后我想和您谈谈您对91APP的收购。各位听众，我和Exabytes 的 Chan Kee Siak在这里等您。

请继续收听【Open For Business BFM89.9】。

91APP是如何运作的？

Freda:
各位听众，早上好。我是 Freda Liu。今天我们邀请了 Exabytes 的 Chan Kee Siak，我们正在一起探讨新零售革命。

现在，Exabytes 的子公司 EasyStore 收购了 91APP，这是一家亚洲全渠道商务解决方案提供商，可以给客户提供无缝衔接的多渠道商务体验。

您可以告诉我们它是如何运作的吗？

Mr Chan:
好的，与其称其为收购，我可能会将其重新表述为非常具有战略意义的合资伙伴关系。

而与我们合资的另一方实际上是91APP，他们的马来西亚子公司。

我们可以稍微了解一下91APP的背景，它是一家成立于台湾台北的公司，专门从事所谓的全渠道或新零售电子商务，已经有十个年头了。

而创始团队在创立 91APP 之前，他们也已经接触电子商务行业近 20 多年，我认为这可以算是电子商务发展的早期阶段了。

所以我认为，总的来说，一个更发达的市场，比如中国台湾甚至美国，他们的电子商务实际上比东南亚等其他还在发展中的市场更成熟。

因此这意味着，由于他们更成熟的市场以及来自消费者和卖方方面的要求，他们已经进入到了所有电子商务相关的新领域。

所以我们的合作已经开始有一段时间了，或者说我们已经彼此了解了。我们也注意到他们在台湾非常成功地实施了这些新零售方案。

所以在我们的网站上，有我的电子商务和云解决方案，因为我和很多中小企业打过交道，他们一直想开拓线上业务并开始做电子商务。

我们也看到一些人在询问如何整合或连接线上和线下业务。 所以我们认为，91APP解决方案是一个非常好的例子。

不仅仅是因为这个概念很好，还因为他们出售 91APP 解决方案本身。正如我们在台湾证明的那样，我们的产品被台湾数以万计的零售商使用。

事实上，今天是他们在台湾正式上市的日子。这是一家实力很强的公司与企业。

因此，从我们与这家公司的业务关系之中，我们看到了很多潜在的协同效应。

这种新的零售解决方案和经验正是我们本地区所缺乏的。

我们有能力生产产品，但我们却没有在新零售商务方面5年、10年的运营经验，对吧。

所以我认为通过这种非常具有战略意义的合资伙伴关系，我们不仅可以引进他们的技术和解决方案，我们还可以利用他们的经验。

这实际上可以帮助我们所有的马来西亚同胞，尤其是那些有兴趣并敢于进入新零售业的零售商，少走一些弯路。

我们可以把他们在过去 10 年里学到的东西直接拿来，把那些相关性的东西应用到马来西亚的发展中，而不是不断试错。

是否有企业使用 91APP 的成功案例？

Freda:
是的，这很新潮。那么有没有我们在马来西亚的成功案例或者故事呢？

如果不在台湾，一个成功的企业是如何使用这个APP的呢？

Mr Chan:
当然，我可以分享一些我熟悉的在台湾成功应用他们解决方案的例子。

其中之一是一个在台湾和马来西亚都很受欢迎的零售连锁便利店。

他们是如何衔接线上和线下业务的呢？他们向所有进入门店的消费者宣传下载他们的APP。

当然，大家也可以通过移动浏览器访问他们的电子商务商店以及网站这些。

他们鼓励消费者下载APP.

下载手机APP并点击两下注册成为会员之后，消费者就可以获得新用户积分，有了这些积分，他们就可以开始在家使用 APP 购物了。

所以，你看，这样就改变了整个商业模式和消费者行为。

过去，你只有亲自去便利店才能购买到物品或零食等等。如果你不进去，那就没办法完成交易。

但是现在，手机APP成为了连接便利店和消费者的媒介和平台。

也就是说，当消费者看到他们感兴趣的产品时，在家就可以购买。这是一种24小时全天候的商业模式。

过去，只有在便利店才有24小时全天候服务。

消费者在家购物时，他们可以选择亲自去便利店提货，也可以选择将产品配送到家门口，因此这种购物体验变得更加有趣。

不仅如此，通过APP以及91APP新零售解决方案，商家还可以推出特别促销或优惠活动，刺激消费者在实体店进行回购。

比如，Freda，我给你一张免费的咖啡券。

Freda:
好的。

Mr Chan:
但你只能去实体店内才能领取咖啡券。

Freda:
好。

Mr Chan:
这就是他们的运作方式。当消费者在线下零售店购物时，商家会引导他们线上购物。当他们已经习惯了线上购物时，商家又会刺激他们来到线下购物。

Freda:
我明白了。

Mr Chan:
这就是它如何最大化零售业务范围和机会的。实际上想象力才是唯一的限制。

Freda:
好的。 我想，当我们真的去实体店时，我们从来不只是仅仅为了一杯咖啡，我们总想买点别的东西。

Mr Chan:
是的，就是这个道理。

Freda:
可能来点小食来配咖啡。

Mr Chan:
是的，可能也会点点饮料或者其他东西。

疫情教会了你什么？

Freda:
我们知道，您是一位创业多次的企业家，那疫情教会了您什么呢？

Mr Chan:
疫情也已经持续一年半了，我觉得我们从过去学到了很多有趣的东西。

我们可以看到，拥有数字化要素和能力的企业能够很好地在疫情期间存活下来，并且大部分还做的很好。

再看看那些采用传统商业模式的企业，很多都已经脱节了，他们缺乏数字化要素。

一旦开始实施封闭管理，人们没办法出门，他们的发展就会变得极其困难。

我认为，即使没有行管令，实际上有一半的人还是会提心吊胆，他们基本上还是会选择不出门，不去商场商店。因此，你可以想象那些企业受到的影响有多大。

另一方面，我也发现，拥有数字化能力和电子商务能力的企业不仅能够在疫情期间存活下来，到现在，他们的业务也还在持续增长。

我喜欢拿我家附近的杂货铺来举例。过去，他们只能为来市场购物的人服务，所以他们的消费者就仅限于Taman或附近的居民。

但现在它有自己的线上商店了，也从 WhatsApp 上接单。

基本上覆盖了整个槟城岛的消费者。 因此，这就是利用数字化或电子商务来打破物理障碍和限制。

你想知道如何在数字化世界和电子商务世界中运作吗？

这其实一点都不难，也不用花费很多钱。 很多人都是使用大量免费的工具和资源来帮助他们发展的。

对于企业来说，整合线下和线上业务的理想化组合或比例是否存在呢？

Freda:
当您和实体企业交谈时，您会告诉他们一个理想化的解决方案吗？

线上业务和线下业务的比例会是五五开吗？就是说会有一个理想化的组合吗？

Mr Chan:
没有所谓的最佳方案或组合。因为每个企业都不一样，方案也因企业而异。

但至少你要有多个销售渠道，或者说至少你要有一家线下零售店外加一个线上渠道。

这样就可以扩大企业的业务范围了。

以防万一，如果再次封闭管理，线上商店仍然可以接单，反之亦然。

作为一个经营多家企业的人来说，我认为开展线上业务真正的好处是更好地利用在线资源，我所谓的业务运营不会局限于我目前所在的地方。

我可以在槟城岛与你交谈的同时，与世界各地的消费者达成业务交易。

我认为这就是开展线上业务的魅力所在。

Freda:
是的，这样一来，在封闭管理期间您只是无法出门，但业务交易却没因此停止。

感谢您的收听。感谢 Exabytes 的创始人兼首席执行官 Chan Kee Siak。这里是 [Open For Business BFM 89.9]。

此处收听采访：

Cynthia Eng from Astro Awani Review talks to Mr Chan Kee Siak, founder and CEO of Exabytes. 

How has the pandemic affected businesses? Is going online going to help businesses sustain and even grow?

Let us find out more about Mr Chan, Exabytes and how they have and continues to help businesses in the tough times now.

How did Exabytes start?

Cynthia:
Good evening, you are tuning in to Awani Review with me, Cynthia Eng. On this show, we speak with business leaders, entrepreneurs as well as individuals shaping their future of business and society.

In this episode, we want to take a closer look at a company from Penang that for the past 20 years has provided a wide range of support to businesses, especially SMEs to grow their digital presence.

Joining me on the show today is Chan Kee Siak, founder and CEO of Exabytes.

Well, thank you Kee Siak for coming on Awani Review. I am very excited to speak with you. Just to let our audience know, you are currently in Penang, this is where Exabytes is based.

Now, let us start by talking about the Covid-19 pandemic and then the resulting MCOs.

Definitely dealt a heavy blow to many businesses. But your company, Exabytes has benefited from it. So, we’ll talk more about that later.

Let us talk about how did it start. I understand that you were just 19 years old at that time.

Mr Chan:
Yes, so I started a company when I was 19 years old. So that is exactly 20 years ago. So that time I was a year one in college, TAR college Penang.

Like many of my college peers back then, I just wanted to find some extra income or pocket money. So, I decided what I wanted to do instead of going out and looking for a part-time job because I have the skills and knowledge in terms of fixing computers.

I started my first business as a servicing and selling computer parts. Then from that journey it probably like I ran that business for like six months. From the process, I read an article about Michael Dell. I was greatly inspired back then by Michael Dell from his del.com. How he sells computers fully online. So I thought okay I need to have a website for my computer sales and service business.

From there, I started to learn about web design. Then only I realized I need a server or hosting services in order for my visitors or my customers to be able to view my website effectively. From there, I realized there were not many service providers who were offering web hosting services back then, especially in Malaysia.

I quickly saw there was an opportunity. Then, from my further research, I ended up becoming a reseller for a US company. Bear in mind that that was 20 years ago when the internet was just at the early stages. So quickly I became a reseller for a US company. Then I started to use the services for my own website. Then very soon I offered it to my customers and friends. Slowly I do a bit of marketing online then you know the rest is history.

The business has kept growing since. I stopped my computer business and I fully focus on the web hosting basis until 20 years later, today.

Tell us about the decision to quit college or university to start Exabytes.

Cynthia:
That is quite a long journey, 20 years.

Well, what is interesting is I found out that you quit college or university to start this company.

Tell us about that decision back then. 

Mr Chan:
Right, it is actually the other way around. I started a business when I was still in college. At that time, on one hand, I was a student and on the other hand, I started running two businesses.  One is selling computers and the other is the web hosting business. Both businesses were doing very well, especially the web hosting business.

So, you come to a point that because I have so many customers. I need to take care, to serve them so I start to skip my tutorials in school in my college. Then I skip my lectures, then later on I skipped my assignments. In the end, I skipped my exam.

So, it came to a point where I have to make a decision. To focus back on my studies or I told myself I need to make a decision. So back then, I make a decision as to why not give myself one year to be fully focused on the business. In case I fail on the business I can always go back to study, the college will be there still. But if I wait until three years later, I complete my studies then only go full time into the business, I think three years means a lot for the business.

The entire landscape will change, my competitor will grow even bigger and who knows what will happen then.

With that as my logical thinking back then and also by that time I already you have some base in terms of my business. So it is kind of like stable and growing. So I managed to convince myself and convince my parents to give me one year to try and then since we have been growing.

Would you advise others to do the same?

Cynthia:
So you essentially went down the path like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. Would you advise others to do the same? When they come to you and ask you for advice.

Mr Chan:
Only if they already started the business somehow and start showing traction.

You see the difference is a lot of youngsters today want to do business and they quit their studies without starting the business or even without having any clues or ideas on what they want to do. I will not recommend that because I feel that that is too risky and always in the business world you only see the glory side, you only see the successful case study. But you know, every thousand probably there will be 990 that failed but no one mentions that.

So I think I would not recommend it. I will not advise the youngsters to quit their studies and go to business. They can do that concurrently if they have confidence that they can manage it well until it comes to a point that you show traction that is fine then you decide what you want what to do best.

How has the industry changed over the years? As a business, how have you grown since then?

Cynthia:
When you first started the company, there were very few in Malaysia that was offering hosting services at that time. How has the industry changed over the years and as a business how have you grown since then?

Mr Chan:
20 years ago when you subscribe for a hosting package, you will be surprised that you get is around 10-megabytes only. So, if you get a 50-megabyte package, it will probably cost you like RM5,000 or RM10,000 a year.

But I think technology changed a lot today. You send one email, and it already is 20, 30-megabytes. You know, not a surprise so that is how fast or how far the technology itself developed and change.

Going back to the industry landscape. Back then, those offering web hosting services, the majority are just ISP or telcos and the other local telcos. Versus today, pretty much everyone also jumps into this cloud space. Microsoft has their cloud services, Amazon has cloud services, Alibaba has cloud services. Pretty much everyone is doing that so it is a lot more competitive. A lot of competitions, not just domestically but also internationally.

What has changed is also the offerings. During early days, it is very straightforward. You know, just the services to host websites and emails. But today it has already expanded to become so complicated. You have like containers, you have clouds, you have all sorts of digital needs.

What is your differentiation? Why do you cater to small businesses specifically?

Cynthia:
So, I want to talk about, you mentioned, competition, right? You are faced with a lot of big-time, I mean big names such as Alibaba and Microsoft. Tell us about your differentiation.

Because I understand from day one Exabytes have been very focused on small businesses in Malaysia. Why small businesses? Why do you cater to this specific target?

Mr Chan:
Right, I think that is also because where we started from or where we came from is surrounded by all sorts of small businesses. We ourselves are also from a small business background. Very naturally we started with the community or the audience that we are more familiar with.

Without realizing it, we have been doing that for the longest enough since day one. And also, back then a lot of companies or a lot of competitors or even those much bigger telcos and ISP, most of them they will prefer to serve much bigger corporations or enterprises. Because the revenue and the fees or money they can collect is always way bigger, versus the resources and effort they put in.

But dealing with SMEs, you are probably talking about only a few hundred ringgits a year. Not a few hundred thousand but just a few hundred ringgit a year per SME. So a lot of the businesses, a lot of service providers have felt that is actually not justifying even the effort and cost.

But for us, because we start with a very humble beginning and a very small base we keep our costs low. So we managed to survive through that initial period until we groom and grow our customer base to a much bigger base.

As of today, we are servicing throughout the world, many Southeast Asian customers about 160,000 of them, mostly SMEs with a million over users so we have accumulated kind of like our know-how, our best practices. To also really bring the cost down and maximizing efficiency, we have to find ways to automate. So that you would not require that many employees versus the client headcounts and you can run the business very efficiently.

What are you doing to help Malaysian SMEs get on board to digitalise? Are Malaysian SMEs really on board with this digitalisation?

Cynthia:
So, I want to talk about the MCO and the covid-19 pandemic. 

What has happened is the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption among businesses and SMEs here. Probably one of the positive things that came out of this pandemic. And I understand that Exabytes has been very focused on helping SMEs to get on board, to be digitized, really digitalised. 

Tell us about those things that you are doing and do you feel that Malaysian SMEs are really on board with this digitization aspect?

Mr Chan:
Yeah. So, we have businesses across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. What is interesting is we can actually compare and see what the differences across the three markets are. 

For our side, I will start sharing with our own company. We actually declared work from home probably two weeks before our prime minister announced it. That means we were already prepared well ahead.

So when the prime minister at the moment announced the first MCO and lockdown and all that, everyone is actually panicking. All the SMEs, all the businesses. Because this is unprecedented, never have before. But because we were already preparing for work from home two weeks in advance, we were already into the mode. So when everyone is panicking, we have already launched a lot of our online initiative. 

But to be honest, no one actually knows what is going to happen at that time and how long that will prolong. That one we only have one simple intention. Since everyone does not know what to do, what we can do is just share whatever information as well as the best practices that we know to help all the SMEs digitize. 

So apparently it works out quite well during the first few weeks of MCO. We organize lots of webinars, sharing sessions and all that. Bear in mind, the first few weeks there are actually not many web builders around still because everyone is still panicking. Then after we launch, more and more people also do something similar and it comes to a point where there are too many webinars. And that is it.

What we can also see the differences is that compared to, for example, Indonesia where we are also in, the business users and also the market itself is actually not that ready for full digitalisation or even to handle the initial weeks and months of that lockdown. 

One example is that a lot of the employees in Indonesia are actually not equipped with laptops. They will usually go to the office and use the desktop to work. But when their government also announced the lockdown and work from home, immediately there are problems. They do not have proper computers to work at home and most of them are probably from other villages or some other states. So in Jakarta, they are just renting a room. They do not even have proper broadband and they just rely on mobile.

So we can see that is one of the big differences in terms of like in Malaysia what we can see is that the lockdown MCO accelerate the digital growth because our infrastructure and people are ready. 

But the same thing is not happening immediately in Jakarta back then because of their infrastructure and also the equipment is not ready.

Singapore is different again because we saw Singapore companies, probably their living costs are higher and the ability to spend on digitalisation is also slightly more compared to Malaysia and Indonesia. So their adoption in terms of digitalisation, they are probably looking at something even more advanced, more high-end and more automation.

But in general, it is quite positive.

What are some of the services SMEs need and/ or require during this pandemic?

Cynthia:
I want to understand what are some of the services. When SMEs come to your company, what are some of the services that they need, they require at this time during the pandemic?

Mr Chan:
Right, so for the SME versus our much, our other bigger customers what they need are slightly different. 

Let us talk about this SME first. What we can see is that a lot of them either they do they totally do not have any digital or web presence in the past. But because of the MCO lockdown, they cannot operate at retails, they cannot do the business the usual way. Then they were forced to actually go online and they actually started with e-commerce. A number of them actually started with establishing a simple website so at least they start to get their product featured on the website.

If they are encouraged, they can actually direct their customers to their website to place orders or view at least view through their catalogues and they can do the subsequent follow-up transactions over WhatsApp or other forms. 

For other enterprises or we call the bigger customers like enterprises or corporations, they will already have some forms of web presence or digital presence in the past. They probably even have something in the pipeline where they want to do more advanced or more complex transformations. So, when that when lockdown MCO kicks in, if they were not financially affected, we can see most of our customers will actually accelerate that adoption. 

Meaning to say previously without the MCO, it probably would take six months for them to make the decisions. We can see a lot of them, immediately they want to make the call and do, they want to execute the project. Bring the project six months to the front.

Is there still hesitancy among businesses to digitalise their business?

Cynthia:
Do you still see hesitancy among businesses to be on board to digitalise their business?

Mr Chan:
During March and April, there is a lot of uncertainty. Then we come to like June, July and August, it is quite clear that everyone needs to go full force on digital. But what happened was when it moved towards October and November, I think the market is also opening up quite a bit. Then as we saw some of the businesses seems like forgotten that painful experience. So some of them who have not decided then they are probably still have not designed anything.

But I would say the majority of our customers who were already quite clear, have that digital or transformation roadmap in place. They continue to proceed and pursue. What their priority now is how can they also adopt and deploy their online to offline strategy so that they have online complement the offline and if or offline is affected, for example, another lockdown right how they can quickly bring their customers to online. So we can see a lot of big brands retailers are working towards that.

How do you help SMEs get onboard mobile tech? Should SMEs focus on mobile or desktop? 

Cynthia:
Now with the growing use of mobile internet, how do you help to get SMEs onboard mobile tech? Do they come to you and say like you know which one with a limited amount of money, what do you recommend? Then you go mobile or do you focus on desktop?

Mr Chan:
The reality is you cannot really choose either mobile or desktop because we look at the traffic. I think still about 50 over per cent 60 is on mobile but you still have 40 over per cent 50 per cent is on desktop. So, you choose just either one you are probably losing half of the opportunity. 

But today, because of the competition and technology advancement, there are many solutions out there that is actually compatible with both mobile as well as what they call on the web. So, SMEs do not really have to choose mobile or web. You can have both. 

You need to make sure you pick the right solutions.

How has the business grown for you in this past year during Covid-19 and the MCO?

Cynthia:
For your company during this past year during covid and then the MCO, how has the business grown for you? Has it been very positive?

Mr Chan:
Yes, overall there is still positive growth. What is more interesting is we saw both sides of customers. On the good side, we saw our new sales grown by more than 50 per cent year on year. 

But for our existing customers, there is some growth but it is actually a bit stagnant. The reason being is there are some existing customers where their business was really badly affected, especially on the retail side. Then unfortunately they have to like downgrade or cancel some of the services.

But at least a good thing is when we put new sales and existing sales together, the business together we still see overall there is a healthy close to 10 per cent year on year growth.

Tell us more about the Sama-Sama initiative and what it aims to do.

Cynthia:
That is great. Now, one of Exabytes’ initiatives to help SMEs during this pandemic is the Sama-Sama initiative, which I understand has now been extended. Can you tell us more about this initiative and what does it aim to do?

Mr Chan:
Right, so that was actually an initiative from our partner which is Ekuinas. They have this CSR fund which they allocated to actually helped Bumiputera, especially Bumiputera entrepreneurs. 

So they actually have the funds for many other areas including like some is supporting the front liners, some are more towards the direct end consumers. 

But for our side, because they are also one of our investors, so our program is surrounding how to help the Bumiputera entrepreneurs to go digital. So under the Sama-Sama digital program, they actually subsidize up to 5,000 ringgit per qualified company and we will also help the qualified company to further claim another five thousand through MDEC and also the Bank Simpanan Nasional. They have these SME digitalisation grants. 

Five thousand plus five thousand together, ten thousand have been subsidized. So that practically brings down the cost of going digital for any SMEs from the original price of RM12,000. 

Now the SMEs only need to invest only like as little as two thousand as the other ten thousand has been taken care of.

Can you share some of the success stories of homegrown brands especially from the Sama-Sama initiative? 

Cynthia:
Can you share some of the success stories of homegrown brands especially from the Sama-Sama initiative?

Mr Chan:
Right, so I think in the past, a lot of people have the intention and understand the importance of having a digital or e-commerce presence. But sometimes you look at the initial cost, then we are not too sure whether they will be successful or how long it takes to do a full ROI so there is a lot of hesitation here and there. So the approach is always half cooked. You do a little bit here, they do a little bit there.

But I think on one end is you have this pandemic and also lock down MCO to you know let all the businesses feel the importance of having an online presence. 

Then on the other side, with all the support or grants or whatever forms of assistance provided by the government as well as a private initiative, at least that lower down their risks significantly, right? 

So a lot of them for example, we have one customer who is selling scarves. In the past, you will probably just do it the very manual way through just social media or through friends and families. But the customer actually leveraged on the programs and set up a full-fledged e-commerce store. 

So now it has a more systematic approach to actually take orders and also allow the customers to place orders easily. Compared to the very manual way you have to message me, I message you the bank details. That is okay to start with but you cannot scale when you have like a hundred orders a day. Everything will probably mess up. So you would need some basic system to automate the ordering, the payment and invoicing etc. 

So we saw a lot of all these very energetic, very positive and very talented homegrown entrepreneurs. They have very good products. 

But without this pandemic, they are probably still hidden somewhere. But because of the pandemic, everyone with no choice but is forced to make good use of digital. They fully turned themselves on for e-commerce and now, they expanded their sales. 

One of our customers, we can see their products increased by 40 per cent because of having an online presence.

What are the future trends that you are seeing opportunities in?

Cynthia:
Now, Kee Siak, I understand that besides Exabytes, you are a founder and you invest in a few other start-ups. For instance, I know easy parcel, easy store and easy work and these are some of the businesses that help small and micro-businesses to manage their operations. To bridge the gap between technology and also the new normal, right? So, let us talk about that as an investor yourself as somebody who looks into technology, what are the future trends that you are seeing pockets of opportunities that look exciting to you?

Mr Chan:
Definitely, there is a huge opportunity in terms of logistics. When we talk about logistics it is no longer just the B2B or the traditional logistics we talk about today. 

Today, you probably see more and more people selling and buying live seafood as one example. So you need a different kind of transport services to be able to bring the livestock from one place to the other in the shortest time. Not only that it has to be really affordable because you do not want to buy 50 ringgit of seafood and end up you spending 100 ringgit for the delivery. It does not make sense, right. So that area itself, I think there is a tremendous opportunity. 

The other trend is that we can see what we are buying now online is getting bigger and bigger. In the past, you will probably buy some small gadgets or apparels things like that. But today, because you are not going to shopping malls and that will probably continue for some time, you start to shop for bigger items.

For example a big flowerpot, you are probably shopping for some furniture or even a mattress. So again, traditional logistics is not really designed to cater to that kind of bulk items so there are definitely areas where we can optimize further to lower the cost for handling large size items. 

For me, I saw the other opportunity is on the education side. Right now, it is quite clear that across all the different categories of businesses, everyone is talking about digital, talking about e-commerce, talking about cloud adoptions, all kinds of IT things. But back to reality, we still do not have enough talents in terms of those who are really I would not say like superb but at least have good knowledge of IT, digital marketing and e-commerce. Which we still do not produce enough or what we produce is probably there is a gap versus what the industry or the market really needs. 

So if there are any ways to disrupt the education a bit, bring the syllabus up to the current standard so that it is more future proof. I think there will be tremendous opportunities. 

I can imagine a lot of businesses their next hiring is no longer the traditional salesperson or traditional marketing. They probably would like to hire e-commerce specialists, they want to hire some digital marketing experts. They would like to instead of hiring a graphic designer, they want someone who can do some good video shootings and all that. So these are some of the new skill sets that are needed to empower the digital and e-commerce economy fully.

Are you looking to expand or invest in companies doing some of the trends you mentioned?

Cynthia:
So, would you be looking into expanding to some of those things that you have mentioned? Or maybe invest in the company that is doing some of the trends that you are seeing. 

Mr Chan:
Yes, so it begins with ourselves, as a technology company, we need to hire a lot of these talents and over the years we are always struggling to find the right talents. 

So through some opportunities last year, we actually invested in the start-up for education called Forward School. The idea is actually to disrupt a little bit of the education and also bridge the gaps of what the education produces versus what the industry needs. 

So, some of the things we are doing. We are aiming to shorten a typical full-fledged program from the standard four years. We want to reduce it to two years because I felt that spending four years learning computer knowledge is probably too long. 

What you learned in year one after you graduate becomes like an outdated version.

Cynthia:
Obsolete. 

Mr Chan:
Obsolete already, right? So, we have to reduce that to two years. 

On the other hand, we need to make sure what we feed the student with is exactly what the industry or the market needs. If not now, it will be what they need in the future to make sure the supply and demand are always aligned.

So, we focus on these few things and the other thing about how we do differently is we are quite flexible and creative in terms of what is called the tuition.

Because a lot of students are not from a great family so they cannot really afford the full tuition fees and so, what we do is we make it more flexible. We pair up with some private sector because all these private sectors have a shortage of good IT talents. So, there is a number of private sector companies that are willing to immediately sponsor the students. The only commitment is that after they finish their program they will have the first right to actually offer the students to work in their company. 

What is even interesting is some of the students we have already started even when they have not finished their first year. When they work towards the second semester, they already start working with some of the projects in the company so that they start to pick up the knowledge while at the same time they practice what they learnt. 

So, I think that approach will solve the gaps.

Cynthia:
Well, sounds like you are doing many exciting things. Thank you so much Kee Siak for speaking with me and hopefully one day we will be able to meet each other in person. 

Good luck and all the best with your future plans. Thank you.

Mr Chan:
Thank you. All the best and stay safe.