‘Digital transformation must’

LAHORE: Businessmen and industrialists have said digital transformation, especially for business operations of Pakistan’s small and medium-sized enterprises, was necessary for sustainable economic growth with the persistent danger of a second wave of COVID-19.

Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Zarak Khan said China was now 40-50 percent fully digitalised and Pakistan could also achieve this goal for the country's economic recovery and development. He was speaking during a panel discussion “Development strategies to sustain growth” on Monday at the PCJCCI premises.

“We all are aware that traditional offline businesses are stagnant, and online business activities are flourishing in the pandemic era. We should speed up the digital transformation of our SMEs to adapt to the ‘new normal’,” he added.

PCJCCI Senior Vice President Moazzam Ghurki said that the chamber was making efforts to promote research and development in the field of digitalisation. For instance, traditional business models in the apparel industry have customers buy clothes that were produced.

“If we use digital tools to help us with R&D, we can change that model and produce clothes based on the needs and preferences of customers. This way, the problem of excess inventory can be eased.”

He further added that we should adopt contemporary techniques and ideas for the sustainable growth of the economy. “Chinese companies were able to generate 70 percent of the revenue of a year; about 300 million yuan ($43.8 million) in a month during the 1st wave of the pandemic. We, too, should learn from their ideas,” Ghurki said.