How Celcom is helping retail outlets transform their business digitally
By Tan Jee Yee March 30, 2020
- Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail a carefully curated service to boost efficiency
- Research shows SMEs that utilize right tools increase productivity up to 60%
Digital transformation can transform businesses for the better. It’s something a majority of Malaysian companies have already understood. According to a research jointly conducted by SME Corp and Huawei Malaysia in 2018, 79.7% of Malaysian business have realised the importance of ICT adoption and its role in improving business productivity and efficiency.
What more, SMEs that utilise services that help organise, store, and display business operation and sales data were able to increase their productivity by up to 60% — a figure some companies wish on falling stars for.
At any rate, digital transformation is merely good business. A study by enterprise technology provider Workday found that 58% of Malaysian C-level executives believe their digital transformation initiatives are seeing measurable returns.
Digital transformation is vital in order to stay competitive, yet it’s often hard to determine where a business ought to start, or how to go about it effectively. Thankfully, there exist services that can help organisations digitally transform their businesses in a comprehensive manner. One of them would be the Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail.
Flexibility in connectivity
The Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail is an all-in-one suite of services built for enterprises running any form of retail business, be it the F&B industry, groceries, chain outlets, online businesses or the service industry.
These suite of services are catered to assist business owners transition into the digital age by smoothing the flow of operations as well as communications. Most importantly, they help businesses achieve the two most important aspects of a business: reducing costs and optimising profits.
The Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail does so by first ensuring that your business is well-connected, and stays connected. The suite includes Celcom Business AllshareTM, a connectivity plan that provides unlimited calls and SMS on top of large data pools – up to 1,700GB of data and 50 phone lines for the Platinum plan.
Celcom Business AllshareTM isn’t just about the calls and connectivity, but flexibility – an aspect most businesses would appreciate. Imagine having a vast data pool but unable to properly allocate it to those who need it, or efficiently manage communications across the organisation. Celcom Business AllshareTM, however, is a scalable and straightforward mobile plan. You can seamlessly share the Internet connection across the team, enjoy unlimited calls and much more, all on a single platform.
But what about the business establishment? There’s a need to ensure that a business location — the office, the store, the restaurant; is just as well-connected to ensure smooth operation. Often bringing the Internet to a physical location can be a pain. You might need to hack walls and drill holes for the fibre cable, which entails hours of verbal ballet with contractors.
The Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail alleviates that with the inclusion of Celcom Business Wireless, letting businesses set up an Internet connection with no hassle. Business Wireless is plug and play, requiring no wall tampering of any sort. It connects up to 64 devices and offers up to 1000GB of Video and Music Walla, for establishments that stream content for their customers.
Up to date with tech
Digital transformation also means transitioning to digital means of doing business, which includes embracing cashless transactions. Malaysia is fast becoming a cashless society. According to the Visa Payments Attitudes Study 2018, 70% of Malaysian consumers prefer merchants that accept digital payments compared to those that only accept cash. In fact, the total value of consumer spending on Visa and number of transactions have increased double-digit percent year on year.
The challenge is in implementing cashless transactions smoothly, as different payment methods and vendors can sometimes lead to a Frankenstein monster of systems made out of different solutions.
Celcom SafePay mPOS, which is part of the suite, is a secure electronic payment system functioning as a more elegant answer. The key thing with Celcom SafePay mPOS is convenience. For one, it accepts major payment services like Visa, Mastercard and MyDebit. But more importantly it allows businesses to accept payments anywhere, therefore allowing transactions to take place not just within rigid confines of a counter, but where the customer needs it.
SafePay is, of course, safe — it accepts chip and PIN credit card payments on top of contactless or payWave transactions, with direct secured payment and also digital receipts. It also takes payments via mobile apps, which will prove vital with the proliferation of e-wallets. There’s also no monthly rental nor does it need dedicated Internet lines, thus saving costs.
Staying in touch
Part of the suite is Celcom VirtuEXTTM — a system that helps businesses stay more connected to their customers or clients regardless of where they are.
Celcom VirtuEXTTM essentially allows you to receive calls regardless of where you’re working. It requires no CAPEX investment nor does it require maintenance. The system is completely scalable depending on the business and has low ownership cost.
What Celcom VirtuEXTTM does is allow businesses to operate uninterrupted in an increasingly mobile dependent environment. Businesses are no longer tied to being run in the office as you’re likely working remotely more than ever. With Celcom VirtuEXTTM, you can maintain your office channels without worrying that important calls won’t reach you. And being able to do so without increasing your overhead is a bonus.
Reach out across multiple channels with the powerful OMNI Messaging Platform
The Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail provides an OMNI Messaging Platform, which allows businesses to engage with customers through different channels — SMS, voice, emails, web portals, chat apps; on a single platform. Condensing these channels into a single place allows for more effective management, which means increased productivity.
Speaking of channels, there is now a growing need to engage with customers across multiple platforms, from good ol’ SMS to email and even chat apps within social networks. Managing multiple channels at once can be a headache. Those who monitor Facebook and Twitter on two different browser tabs can already testify to how chaotic it can get.
The Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail provides an OMNI Messaging Platform, which allows businesses to engage with customers through different channels — SMS, voice, emails, web portals, chat apps; on a single platform. Condensing these channels into a single place allows for more effective management, which means increased productivity.
Businesses can now get up to 1,700GB from only RM655 per month with the Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail plan.
Ultimately, the Celcom Business SuiteTM Retail plan helps organisations digitally transform in a manner that saves time and cost. The inclusion of Celcom Business AllshareTM ensures that connectivity is flexible and cost-effective, while SafePay mPOS helps facilitate secure cashless transactions without the additional cost of equipment rental and dedicated Internet lines. Celcom VirtuEXTTM and OMNI Messaging Platform lets businesses manage communications with customers more effectively, hence saving more time.
There are certainly other business suites abound, but not many can claim to be as feature-packed and precisely relevant to every aspect of a business.
Digital transformation starts somewhere — now, at the very least, there’s a good place to start with.