SMIs unaware of c-commerce benefits New Straits Times (Computimes) Thursday, August 29, 2002 SURPRISINGLY, a large number of small and medium-sized industries (SMIS) in Malaysia are still unaware of the benefits of conducting business transactions online. According to Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (Smidec), this lackaidaisical attitude will prevent them from participating in the international supply chain, which promises lucrative returns. Its chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Khatib said instead, Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) operations, which is one of the fastest growing segments of the "electronic business" market, are being increasingly utilised by multinational corporations (MNCs). "These MNCs have their own community of buyers and suppliers. Thus SMIs which are not linked and prefer to conduct business offline, will lose out," he told Computimes. 'Most SMIs are not aware of the benefits of conducting business transactions online." A recent survey undertaken by Smidee for this year revealed that only 16.6 per cent of the local SMIs have adopted e-commerce solutions in their business operations. The survey also showed that 17.1 per cent of the SMIs are using computer-aided design (CAD) technology. Mohamed Khatib said to encourage the SMIs to embrace ICT and e-commerce, Smidec has to date fully given out a total of RM13 million in e-commerce grants to about 15,000 companies. It was also reported recently that the Government plans to increase the grant to RM20 million. On Smidec's RosettaNet Standard Implementation grant, Mohamed Khatib said to date, only a total of RM500,000 in grants had been given out, leaving a balance of RM4.5 million. Each company under the RosettaNet grant is entitled to a maximum of RM100,000. Assistance is given in the form of matching grant where 50 per cent of the approved project cost is borne by the Government and the rest by the applicant. Copyright © The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Balai Berita 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia