Government Moving Ahead In Promoting Digital Technology, Says Thai Law Firm

“The government with its 'Thailand 4.0' approach aims to turn Thailand into a high income nation and a digital based society for sustainable development”, noted a BSA Law spokesman.

Established over 30 years ago, BSA Law is a leading international law firm in Thailand that provides legal advice and a full range of commercial and corporate legal and financial services to the Thai and foreign communities. Among its areas of expertise are Thai labour law, Thai law in general, company law, contracts, notarization and certification, intellectual property, insurance, real estate, investment, Thailand work permit and visa matters, starting a business in Thailand and taxation, accounting and auditing services.

With the goal of helping local businesses adapt to the digital era, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency has deployed hundreds of instructors to 10 pilot provinces in Thailand's north, northeast and south regions to educate local entrepreneurs on digital technologies and innovations.

Business owners and SME operators were shown how to use the technologies in the creation of their products and services, enabling them to boost income using a digital platform and reduce production costs.

Cooperation this year between the education, agricultural and commerce ministries in helping new start-ups as well as farmers, cooperatives, community enterprises and SMEs learn more about digital technology for e-commerce aims to see one million new online businesses launched by the year's end.

Meanwhile the Department of Industrial Promotion has introduced five apps for use on mobile phones and tablets to encourage businesses to use online communication channels. Free, these are Money Flow, Billing Flow, Stock Flow, Business Evaluation and DIP Business Plan.

The department says some 550,000 SMEs – 20 per cent of the over 2.8 million SMEs in Thailand – make use of technology and online tools. It expects the new apps will be used by more than 100,000 SMEs.

The Department of Business Development has invited businesses to list themselves in its DBD Register and thus be certified as a credible e-commerce business. It says that so far in excess of 30,000 businesses are certified.

The commerce ministry recently staged the 'Thailand e-Commerce Day 2017' at which businesses wanting to expand their distribution channels could check out various e-commerce solutions on show. Held in Bangkok this brought together over 100 e-commerce companies and e-commerce platform providers along with payment solutions, curator services and packaging and storage companies.

Businesses in Thailand are also being urged to install an electronic data capture or EDC machine. The government, under the national e-payment plan, wants to see all sectors switch from cash-based payments to electronic transactions.

Earlier in the year an announcement was made encouraging businesses which receive payments from customers to install at least one EDC machine as another payment option available to the public. The machine's cost and installation fee would be waived and a business would be eligible for tax privileges.

According to the finance ministry there are 800,000 merchants in the country's tax system, of which 400,000 have EDC points. Efforts to expand EDC usage would focus on the other 400,000 merchants.