With companies acknowledging lack of digital skills and talent within their organisation, fresh grads should hop on this opportunity.

According to the ‘APAC SMB Digital Maturity Index’ (Index) released by Cisco today, around 46% of Malaysian SMBs are aware of government programmes that could support them in digital transformation but have not taken the initiative to take part in them, whereas 49% are aware and have benefited from them. The study also found that Malaysian SMBs are leading other ASEAN countries (after Singapore) in their digital transformation efforts.

The Index, developed by research firm IDC based on an independent survey of 1,340 respondents, looked at the digital maturity of SMBs across four business dimensions; technology adoption and application, digital transformation strategy and organisation, processes and governance, and the capability to source, manage and retain the right talent to enable their digital transformation.

As it turns out, SMBs in ASEAN, including Malaysia (with the exception of Singapore), are in the ‘Digital Indifferent’ stage of digital maturity; where companies’ digital efforts are often reactive to market changes, rather than driven by a proactive tactical approach. However, it also notes that Malaysian SMBs are very close to reaching the next level of digital maturity, ‘Digital Observer’ that will place them in the same league as developed countries across the Asia Pacific.

SMBs in Malaysia are making initial technology investments in Cloud (13.1%), Cybersecurity (12.9%) and IT Hardware (11.7%) upgrades. This is in line with the regional average of 13%, 13% and 10% for all three respective categories.

This is important as it shows that Malaysian SMBs are starting to realise how cloud will enable them to scale rapidly as and when required, without significant upfront capital investment in IT infrastructure. The increase in cybersecurity investment demonstrates how cybersecurity is finally now being placed front and centre in SMBs’ digitisation journey, whereas having the right IT infrastructure in place is critical to meet the evolving needs of Malaysian SMBs and ensure long term success.

Speaking about the report, Albert Chai, Managing Director for Cisco in Malaysia said, “It is encouraging to note that Malaysia has made digital transformation a national priority with over RM5 billion allocated in the recent budget to support SMB migration to Industry 4.0. Yet, less than half of Malaysian SMBs are taking advantage of such government opportunities. This needs to be addressed as SMBs represent over 95% of businesses in Malaysia and are key drivers of Malaysia’s digital economy transformation. Beyond that, at Cisco, we are committed to playing our part in building end-to-end digital solutions to meet the digital needs of Malaysian SMBs.”

The study also notes that SMBs in Malaysia are facing clear hurdles to digital transformation. For example, 19.5% of respondents said they are being held back by the lack of digital skills and talent within their organisation, 15.2% claimed that they lack budget and commitment from management and 14.0% said their organisation lack robust IT platforms that could enable successful digital transformation.

To all you fresh grads out there looking for a job, it’s best you equip yourself a certain degree of digital know how. If companies can come out and say that they’re lacking the talent, it must be quite bad and with Malaysia on the cusp of industry 4.0, digital skills will soon be a priceless asset.