Countries in the Southeast Asian region have huge communities of small-to-medium scale enterprises (SMEs), many of whom employ thousands of workers and contribute to their GDP. In fact, most Southeast Asian countries have more SMEs as registered businesses than large enterprises. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) puts the number of SMEs at 96% of all enterprises and employing up to 85% of overall workforce. SMEs also account for up to 30% of exports and contribute around 50% of GDP.

Hassan Jamal, Country Liaison Manager, SAP Pakistan said that despite their huge numbers and contribution to their respective country’s GDP, SMEs have yet to largely tap information technology (IT) to improve their business. “Many SMEs are using a computer just to run the company's operational activities of everyday life, whereas the SME business people can use IT to forecast and even encourage the growth of their businesses forward. Therefore, old data that businesses store can be just as valuable in the future as they were in the past. This is the value that business intelligence offers.”

Meanwhile Nitin Gangla, Director, Indirect Channel Business, SAP Asia explained: “Business intelligence or BI refers to an IT-based process of collecting, analyzing and forecasting company performance based on past, raw data. This must come with the collection of all raw data and analyzing these to come up with effective and strategic planning and decision making. Companies that have sales data, for instance, can collect past reports, factor in their performance for certain seasons, and come up with strategic campaigns. The data they collect in the past should guide them in their future needs.”

BI should cater to all types of businesses, regardless of type and scale. There are still BI solutions that also cater to small operations to allow them to overcome competitive hurdles and achieve long term sustainability and perhaps even expand.