Participants of the Globe myBusiness workshop for Boracay SMEs
Globe myBusiness has brought its valuable expertise and tried-and-tested products and solutions to the country’s favorite tourist destination, Boracay, to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become future-proof.
The workshop, dubbed as Globe myBusiness Digital Tools to Future-Proof Your Business, centered on the most prominent industries currently flourishing in Boracay such as tourism, hotels and accommodations, restaurants and food establishments, and retail.
In the four-day event, entrepreneurs, managers and various other staff members from all over the island were able to pick up a wealth of knowledge that allowed them to better understand technology and what it can do for them.
Derrick Heng, Senior Advisor for Globe myBusiness said: “Employing technology in business isn’t instantaneous. Rather, it’s a step-by-step process. It may take years for a business to fully maximize its digital potential, but the results are definitely worth the challenge. Globe myBusiness is here to assist entrepreneurs every step of the way.”
As a first takeaway from the workshop, the participants learned about the importance of social media which is the simplest way to use technology for business. Through social media, entrepreneurs can spread word about their business, get feedback, and contact their clients or customers in the blink of an eye.
“Digital marketing was the most important lesson for me, that you really need to make the most out of it through social media,” said Lourdes A. Ramirez of Secret Garden Boracay.
June Myrrh Dueñas and Dane Aldeguer of Isla Chicas Travel Consultancy added: “We understand that everything’s online, and everything’s on mobile phones, and we need to be a part of everything that’s happening. We have to grow with the changes, with technology.”
At the same time, Globe myBusiness educated the participants about different business solutions that can help them sell online such as Shopify; boost efficiency through the Gsuite online suite of productivity tools that can be used anywhere and on any device; and advertise their business like the Adblast targeted texts to consumers, among others.
“The workshop was very helpful for me. The things discussed were added nutrients for what I need for my business, like customer advocacy, offline tools, online tools … they’re very helpful because I discovered what else I need in order to improve the business,” said Jeyna Azugi of Team Sir George Salon.
Digital technology, however, has to be embraced not only by the decision-makers but the whole team for it to make a bigger impact.
“We learned a lot that could help us with our future plans for the business. We are most interested in the concept of GCash. Our consideration now is how we’ll train our employees, because they’re already doing things a certain way, so it’ll be a [challenge] helping them adapt to technology,” said Flory Jhen and Flory Vhel Alvarez of Shinyou.
However, technology only emphasizes what business owners already know and live by, that it is quality that still gets the customer. Thus, technology has to work side by side with current sales, service and marketing strategies in order for it to work.
