TRADEGECKO | 5 minute read
On Wednesday 13th December 2017, Xero & TradeGecko, in partnership with DBS BusinessClass and IMDA, hosted the 2nd instalment of our SME Success Series events on the Connected Business. SMEs were shown how easily they can move and connect their business management tools in the cloud, to enjoy business efficiencies and insights.
Imagine if all of your business management tools could talk to each other; your bank talking to your accounting software and your accounting software talking to your inventory management system?
By automating the transfer of information through integrating cloud-based systems, small businesses don't have to waste hours of precious time, money and resource manually transferring data and information between different platforms stored on desktop software.
Shaun Burke from Xero welcomed the audience to The Connected Business event and took them through an overview of Xero's accounting platform for SMEs. He discussed how connectivity helps businesses access high-integrity, real-time data so they can better manage their finances. Data integrity means that data which feeds directly from banks, software applications and financial institutions is untouched by human hand, and therefore free from errors, as it enters Xero.
Xero has recently been focused on connecting with banks like DBS, to provide accurate financial data, setting the foundation for payments and lending solutions. When you set up direct bank feeds from your bank accounts, your transactions are imported securely into Xero each business day, so you can easily keep track of the money coming in and going out of your business.
Lastly, Shaun discussed how the way a small businesses function today has dramatically changed in recent years. Xero has established an ecosystem of more than 500 add-on integrations, including TradeGecko's inventory and order management software, as they believe connecting powerful tools makes us all run better businesses.
Bradley Priest introduced the audience to TradeGecko - cloud based inventory and order management software for brands and their distributors to run their entire business operations. Typically your sales, operations and warehousing team manage inventory, orders and warehousing, whereas your accounts and finance teams manage: accounting, finance, cashflow, and payroll processes.
Brad discussed how we’re seeing a market shift… SMEs are moving towards using a stack of connected, specialised apps vs the one size fits all model, as businesses want more control and customisation options.
There are many reasons why businesses fail in their digital cloud journey:
How can SMEs successfully move their business into the cloud?
Before you start:
Once you’ve done that…
Chloe Huang from DBS educated the audience on the 5 steps to digital transformation by sharing DBS's journey as the World’s Best Digital Bank.
1. Embrace Macrotrends - understand what they mean for your business, present & future
DBS have focused their strategy to capitalise on the surging megatrends in the region e.g. Banking is also being disrupted.
2. Define your digital vision and take that to the core of your business
In the future, people will not need the constant of a bank but they will need banking. My vision is to make DBS invisible and embedded in people’s lives in a way that is efficient and fun.”
Piyush Gupta
DBS Business Class:
A program for SMEs designed to help you grow your business and network by providing the latest market trends and exclusive access to a knowledgeable community of Asia’s business masterminds.
3. Embed yourself in the customers journey
4. Partner ecosystem players - the only way to survive
Such partnerships are the only way for traditional banks to survive. DBS SME Banking partnerships include:
5. Build an innovative / startup culture - foster an innovative mind-set in your employees
Our goal is to shape DBS, a 49 year old company with operations in over 50 cities into a 22,000 man start-up.
The IMDA are building digital ready companies and opportunities for SMEs in Singapore to:
The IMDA is helping SMEs thrive in the digital economy through their iSPRINT program which helps SMEs use ICT to increase productivity. Since 2010, over 8000 SMEs in Singapore have benefitted from the iSPRINT program.
More SMEs are looking at digitalisation to raise productivity and create higher value jobs. Building upon the foundation of iSPRINT, SMEs are using productivity tools and digital capabilities to create synergy across different ITMs.
The IMDA also provides SMEs with step-by-step advice on the digital technologies to use at each stage of their growth by sectors through the following resources:
Be sure to follow the SME Success event series group on Peatix, so you’ll be updated once the next event is up and open for registrations.
