Norachai did what the merchants and business owners of Southeast Asia have done for generations. The region’s entrepreneurs know that to compete with businesses from countries like China and India, they must look beyond their local market. They understand that if you want to go big, you need to go regional.

The success of Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurs depends on the region’s continuing integration. Since its founding in 1967, Asean’s member countries have worked hard to eliminate tariffs and improve regional connectivity. Because of these efforts, the bloc is the sixth largest economy in the world today.

For Asean to entrench its position among the world’s leading economies, it now needs to take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Digital and Internet-based technologies are creating new business models, making it cheaper and faster to come up with new products and ideas. If Southeast Asia rides this wave of technological empowerment, and if it does so together as a region, the opportunities for its SMEs and the region’s economy are unprecedented. According to research published last week by Bain & Company, Asean digital integration could stimulate a US$1 trillion (Bt32.7 trillion) GDP uplift by 2025.

Currently, Asean’s digital economy is 7 per cent of its GDP, compared to China (16 per cent of GDP), the EU-5 (27 per cent of GDP) and the US (35 per cent of GDP). This is clearly a massive digital opportunity for the bloc. As local entities, SMEs may lack room to expand. But as regional enterprises, they have access to the world’s sixth largest economy, its third largest population and a young, rapidly growing middle class. The region’s SMEs account for half of its GDP and employ more than 80 per cent of its workforce. They need to contribute to growth if Asean’s digital economy is to benefit everyone.

There are three measures that are key to unlocking this opportunity for Southeast Asia’s SMEs. First is free flow of data, essential to support digital trade, drive increased innovation and lower costs of regional operations for businesses.

Second, an open and interoperable digital payments system is needed. A connected network of national payment systems would help Southeast Asian consumers and corporations make financial transactions across borders seamlessly, enhancing trade and business activity.

Finally, harmonised and streamlined national regulations on transborder commerce will enable Southeast Asian companies to spend less on navigating different jurisdictions and more on bringing their goods and services to other countries.

Industry also needs to support governments in building a more integrated digital community. Companies have a responsibility to invest in the communities we work in. At Google, we believe that SMEs are the backbone of local communities and the future of any economy. If SMEs in Asean do well, everyone in the region is uplifted as well. That’s why Google is committed to supporting SMEs in Asean. So we will train three million SME workers across all 10 countries of Asean in digital skills by 2020.

Last month in Singapore, Asean economic ministers adopted a framework to advance bloc digital integration. This is an important first step towards empowering the region’s SMEs to drive a US$1 trillion increase in GDP by 2025. More remains to be done. It is time for us to work together to realise a brighter, digital future for everyone in Asean.

Caesar Sengupta is general manager, Next Billion Users and Payments, Google.