KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) said the RM200 million allocation in Budget 2022 for digitalisation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can help accelerate the economic recovery, which took a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic especially in the SME segment.

DNeX said digitalising manual processes and documents helps increase accuracy, reduce error and save time thus increasing productivity.

For businesses, especially SMEs, this can translate into lower costs and an increase in revenue.

"For example, in trade facilitation, electronic exchange of data can significantly improve trade processes, which leads to improvements on the overall sector.

"We believe that adoption of digital solutions may not be a challenge for the bigger companies but could be lagging among SMEs. This is where digital system providers can play their role in providing solutions that are suited for SME markets such as cost-effective packages, modular solutions where SMEs can pick and choose the right systems they need, and subscription-based systems," said DNeX group managing director Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir in a statement on Friday.

The government will increase allocation under the SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme to RM200 million with RM50 million earmarked for bumiputera micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas, according to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz in his Budget 2022 speech.

DNeX also noted the government's announcement to allocate RM423 million under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Ministry of Higher Education in a move to increase research and development activities towards innovation in line with the development of science and technology as well as encourage collaboration with industry partners.

"As a leading industry player in semiconductor foundry services, we will be looking for opportunities to promote such collaboration to produce innovation that can be commercialised, create more skilled workforce, and further drive economic growth," added Syed Zainal Abidin.

See more Budget 2022 highlights here.