Bangladesh is one of the pioneers in the South Asian region to embrace and extend digitalization to all areas including commerce, education & governance. According to the country’s Minister of Post, Telecommunication & information technology, Mustafa Jabbar: “All commercial activities are going to be digital and all current business laws, regulations and policies are to be made compatible with the digital commerce revolution.”

The private and public sectors alike in Bangladesh are poised to benefit from the ‘digital revolution’ which was accelerated by the Covid19 pandemic whereby all services had to be inevitably delivered to citizens via digital platforms. The momentum is expected to persist even in the aftermath of the pandemic outbreak because the country views connectivity to be a driving factor for growth. A Rapid eTrade Readiness Assessment, completed by UNCTAD at the request of the Bangladesh Government, pinpoints improvements in telecommunications infrastructure, trade, logistics, payment solutions, laws & regulations and financing that can accelerate e-commerce and spread the benefits throughout the country.

Bangladesh has a lot of achieve from becoming tech-oriented. The country’s enterprises of every scale can embrace tools and services designed to promote efficiency in order to stay ahead and competitive as stakeholders of a fast-paced economy. In 2019, Bangladesh’s GDP growth was at an impressive 8.2% which is among the regional highest. The country has also mitigated the Covid19 pandemic with significant success despite being in close proximity to India where the condition was dire over the past months.

Enterprises of all sizes can benefit from automation and digitalization of backend operations. Services such as DigiEx that are freely available can help businesses streamline expense management with greater efficiency & accuracy. Regionally, in places such as Sri Lanka, DigiEx rose to prominence with ‘Working From Home’ becoming the norm due to back-to-back lockdowns. How the tool works is by allowing organizations to manage their expenses both internally as well as with external parties efficiently by streamlining and automating the process with minimal hassle. All transactions can be centrally monitored & authorized in real-time. This was seen as a timely invention in order to ensure continuity of business operations notwithstanding the unprecedented challenges posed by the global pandemic.

DigiEx can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store & Google Play Store and has a pay-as-you-go model for upgrades; the service is highly encrypted and thus ensures confidentiality of all transactions while also protecting information from potential breeches and attack. The tool also serves as a virtual archive for documents for later retrieval.The world over, even with the pandemic largely coming under control due to the aggressive vaccination drive, the workforce has indicated a preference to continue working from home which is prudent from a financial & environmental perspective because travelling to work can be time-consuming, inefficient and costly. It is also harmful to the environment unless electric vehicles powered via sustainable means becomes more popular in Bangladesh.

The digitalization hype is here to stay and the rising demand for automation tools is a testament to this. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal quoted Blue Prism, one of the largest players in robotic automation, indicating that the organization’s revenue surged 125% in its most recent financial year to roughly USD 27 million. It has more than 1,300 global enterprise customers up from only 200 three years ago.

It is in fact commendable that the Government of Bangladesh has recognized the importance of digitalization and invested suitably towards same; private enterprises, too, can join the mission by making use of the tools and resources made available to them. Getting finances in order, expense management, is a great place to start.

Sources:
https://unctad.org/press-material/bangladesh-poised-benefit-e-commerce-boost-after-laying-exemplary-digital-foundation
https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-surges-for-software-robots-that-automate-back-office-tasks-11556140608