Creating low-cost digitization and higher rewards for MSMEs
It’s a race to quickly digitize or get left behind as businesses of all sizes and industries scramble to establish an online and digital-first presence. Filipino consumers are not just digital-first, but also mobile-first. People nowadays turn to their smartphones to find information and do business—and these small yet critical moments on their phones are crucial for any business who wants to capture and retain market and wallet share.
In a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) mentorship program last year, Secretary Ramon Lopez underscored the urgency for MSMEs to digitize their businesses, stressing that digital technology equalizes the playing field as it provides greater access to product and business model ideas, innovative products and processes, and market access among other benefits.
In the Philippines, MSMEs account for 99.6 percent of the total number of businesses in the country. They also employ 62.8 percent of the total workforce, but only account for 36.5% of GDP according to the DTI. But digitization comes at a cost and existing solutions on the market don’t often quite match the particular needs of SMEs.
Answering the digitization challenge
To stay top of mind and retain customers in an increasingly fickle digital space, SMEs need to digitize their business and enable hassle-free cashless payments alongside engaging retention programs that boost customer lifetime value.
GoDigital provides cost-effective digital solutions via its customizable products and modular feature sets, helping SMEs digitize while optimizing efficiency and maximizing their resources.
OKTO for cashless sales and customer retention
Built by GoDigital to service the needs of Filipino consumers and SMEs, OKTO is a secure and reliable platform for easy cashless payments and digital hub for loyalty and rewards programs. OKTO is an entire ecosystem where customers can easily pay, earn and redeem rewards, while SMEs benefit from a fully customizable, tailor-made solution that can easily fit their needs without stretching their resources.
OKTO has three modules, namely OKTO Pay, OKTO Loyalty, and OKTO POS. OKTO Pay is an easy-to-use digital wallet that enables cashless transactions to both the business and the consumer. OKTO Pay conveniently opens bills payment options, loading services, and e-pins purchasing to the users through the app. With the SMEs and the unbanked Filipinos in mind, GoDigital has made sure that OKTO Pay accepts cashless transactions and other services with or without an internet connection. All this made available with zero maintaining balance.
OKTO Loyalty helps SMEs create engaging rewards programs that drive customer loyalty. It’s a fast and easy way for SMEs to customize how their clients get rewarded, receive promotions and enjoy targeted benefits. OKTO Loyalty doesn’t just stop with transactional rewarding, it gives the business the power to target whom they want to reward, when they want to reward, and how they want the users to go and get the reward. OKTO Loyalty makes rewarding fun and engaging for both the business and the consumer.
OKTO POS is an all-in-one, customizable and easy-to-use POS system designed for SMEs that helps simplify and streamline inventory management, sales, and cash flow. OKTO POS allows SMEs take the next step into digitization by providing a simple POS platform complete with inventory management, cashless transactions and custom reports complete with a full-fledged back-end office giving the modern SME, whether retail or service, a complete platform that fits their budget.
Enabling quick and long-term wins
GoDigital has opened its doors in Q3 of 2016 and has continuously employed young Filipino talents from all over Manila and Bulacan. As of January 2019, after opening a beta community to one of the biggest E-sports movers last July 2018, OKTO has transitioned 120,000 users using the OKTO Pay system that was grown organically from partnerships. It is expected to ramp up once the OKTO App becomes available to download on the last week of February 2019, and loyalty becomes available as an update on the first week of March.
With no signs of stopping and a new lineup of products commissioned by SMEs and corporations, and over 400,000 users pending to be converted from partners into the OKTO system with estimated completion by July; 2019 is truly the time for Philippine businesses to go-digital.