Benchmark
Asia's Small Businesses Really Love WhatsApp
Small businesses in emerging Asia-Pacific economies are embracing cheap online tools faster than their peers in wealthier nations
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Businesses from Vietnam to the Philippines are turning small budgets and traffic jams to their advantage by harnessing employees' familiarity with online platforms to exploit the latest and cheapest technologies to boost productivity.
A Microsoft-backed survey found small and medium firms in emerging economies in the Asia Pacific embracing tools such as Skype, Dropbox and WhatsApp more readily than their peers in advanced nations. Vietnam and the Philippines topped the region in using four or five such online tools, including e-mail, social networking, file sharing, document collaboration and virtual meetings, according to the survey of 10 countries excluding China and India.