{"id":50963,"date":"2022-08-26T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=50963"},"modified":"2022-08-25T14:04:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T06:04:11","slug":"smes-bounce-back-stronger-with-converge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2022\/08\/26\/smes-bounce-back-stronger-with-converge\/","title":{"rendered":"SMEs bounce back stronger with Converge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the face of the economy reopening and restrictions on mobility loosening, Philippine SMEs are coming back with a vengeance, and are strengthening their online channels even more to cope with demand.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Kreations, a woman-led upcycling enterprise, the comeback of trade fairs has propelled sales in the past quarter when the country enjoyed looser restrictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe joined three trade fairs in the past two months and ang laking<\/em> help nito<\/em> for us especially after two years na puro<\/em> online lang<\/em>. Nag-start na uli mga<\/em> events and since we cater to businesses, we\u2019ve been getting a lot of orders. We\u2019re slowly getting back on our feet,\u201d shared  Akrisah D. Helig, owner of Kreations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the company seeing renewed demand for its upcycled handicrafts, home furnishings, and souvenirs, all the more it sees the need to keep a presence online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can accept more orders because 95% of our order-taking is through online. Because of the fast internet, we can respond quicker to inquiries and orders,\u201d Akrisah added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMas malakas pa kami ngayon kaysa<\/em> pre-pandemic time. We\u2019re getting thousands of orders when we opened up to the market that\u2019s why we\u2019re even thinking of expanding,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her connectivity taken care of, Akrisah can focus on helping the communities of women all over Rizal, that she taps to craft her products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a business purely running online like C\u2019est Ca Gifts, the internet has likewise served as a lifeline during the pandemic and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur transformation to an online business became complete during the pandemic because our inquiries come from social media, emails, and messaging apps. So our connectivity really kept us going, and kept us afloat,\u201d said Toons Canoy, entrepreneur and owner of the online gift shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the reopening of the market, C\u2019est Ca returned to catering to product categories that they were not able to offer during the pandemic such as bereavement and sympathy tokens. Now, the company is meeting these needs and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For C\u2019est Ca, the pandemic stood as the ultimate test of survival of the company, and they were able to weather through it due to the connectivity of Converge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say that when there is a crisis, doon lumalabas ang <\/em>true colors ng kumpanya diba <\/em>so because of those challenges, we became better. Naging <\/em>holistic talaga ang transformation namin,\u201d added Toons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Converge SME-tailored products like flexiBiz guarantees a 24\/7 help desk and a dedicated personnel, so there would be no downtime for the business. This is among the perks Toons cited with using Converge as its connectivity partner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SME segment growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Converge, the SME segment has increasingly been a strong contributor to the company’s growth. In Q2 2022,  its own revenue base grew by 98% year-on-year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is encouraging to see the SME Business increasingly grow in the first half of the year as many are starting to open their shops again.\u00a0 We expect continued growth in SME as we expand in new areas across the country,\u201d shared Jesus C. Romero, Converge Chief Operations Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the Enterprise segment (encompassing SME, Enterprise, and Wholesale) has grown by  25.5% YoY, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerated quarterly revenue growth rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SME segment\u2019s share of total revenue growth has seen gradual growth, since the launch of SME solution, flexiBiz last year. Converge further empowers SMEs by offering reliable and efficient digital solutions such as Converge Workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder Converge Workplace, we have partnered with SweldoMo to develop an automated HR and payroll system. The digital workplace is accessible through any device, anytime, anywhere, with an automated payroll and HR management system for timekeeping and payroll processes \u2013 making it easier and convenient for small business owners,\u201d added Romero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Converge SME-tailored products like flexiBiz guarantees a 24\/7 help desk and a dedicated personnel, so there would be no downtime for the business. This is among the perks Toons cited with using Converge as its connectivity partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":50964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[4837,96,2727,1656],"class_list":["post-50963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-converge-ict-solutions","tag-technology","tag-technology-adaption","tag-technology-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}