SMEs in Taiwan are facing severe challenges under the epidemic. As stated by Economic Daily News “The Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs survey", more than 80% of SMEs experienced a decline in revenue during the epidemic. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises. Besides, in PwC "Digital Transformation of SMEs in Taiwan Survey" reveals that "the top three goals the companies hope to achieve through digital transformation are ‘expanding market growth (47.3%)’, ‘reducing operating costs (40.7%)’. and ‘better customer experience (40.6%)’. "

Also, in the same survey points out "the top three digital tools expected by the retail industry in the next three years are ‘data analysis platform (57.9%)’, ‘integrated service and logistics system (55.7%)’, and ‘sales and customer relationship management system (51.7%)’. " Indicating the retail industry is more "data-centric" to optimize the customer service and company's operating model.

Aimed to improve the customer service, Dzone developed the e-commerce platforms to expand sales channels. However, they found out it was unable to immediately grasp the purchase, sales, and inventory status of its products since the inventory data and POS system could not be integrated. It could only manually conduct inventories on a regularly basis, and sometimes missed out restocking opportunities due to erroneous data. This led the company to be out of merchandise available for sales during promotional campaigns, and these situations became more apparent as it moved toward chain operations.

Over many years, the Department of Economic Development of the Taipei City Government has been committed to guiding SMEs in digital transformation. Furthermore, in 2022 it establishes the “Introducing SMEs to the Application of Digital Services Program,” which calls on WiAdvance and 25 information service providers to assist SMEs with their management problems and develop innovative business models through deploying digital service applications.

Through this program, Dzone 3C began its deployment of IT services, including Power BI and AI sales forecasts within its chain stores to solve its inventory management issues. First of all, by compiling the information from multiple systems, including purchase, sales, and inventory and POS in the stores, managers can process all messages and information from one interface rather than opening various reports to compare information or repeatedly check for the completeness of reports. Also, managers can use Microsoft’s Power BI to generate visual graphics and charts, which are conveyed in bar, line, and pie charts rather than traditional number-heavy reports. This allows managers to efficiently understand their business status.  

The second application after data compilation is to optimize the stores’ purchase, sales, and inventory management via AI sales forecast. By learning about past sales records and engaging in data analytics, possible sales figures can be calculated, allowing store managers to use AI in their decision-making to get a jump start on restocking rather than relying on intuition.

At the same time, the stores were also assisted in integrating Microsoft Power Apps tools so that store managers could perform real-time queries on the inventory data of each store from a mobile device. They can also receive restocking notices when the inventory is low and launch promotional campaigns to increase turnover when the inventory is moving slowly.

Following the customized transformational coaching of the “Introducing SMEs to the Application of Digital Services Program,” Dzone 3C successfully overcame various pain points. If SMEs want to apply for the program, click the official website link (https://www.stbear.com.tw/WiAdvance/)for more information.