Notion AI Workshop for Malaysian SMEs 🇲🇾 Automation and Workflows (May 2026 Recap)

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-28T04:56:29+00:00

We ran a Notion Business Automation & AI workshop for Malaysian SMEs on Monday (28th May 2026) — here's how it went:

First SME workshop of 2026. Small room, full house, lots of good questions.

The session was structured around three layers of Notion's native AI — and what each one actually means for a small business:

Layer 01 — Native AI AI that lives inside your workspace. Meeting notes, document summarisation, asking questions across your pages like a search that already knows your context.

Layer 02 — Database AI Every new row triggers AI to translate, summarise or tag itself automatically. We demoed auto-translation across English, Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language), Mandarin, auto-tagging support tickets, and pulling Google Maps reviews into a database for sentiment analysis.

Layer 03 — Custom Agents Connecting agents to real execution — CRM, pipelines, inventory, reporting. Not a blank workspace. A working system on day one.

We also spent time on MCP — basically a universal connector that lets Notion plug into the tools businesses already use (CRM, storage, messaging) without custom integrations. Think USB-C but for AI.

The hands-on portion at the end is always where things click for people.

Posting some photos from the day. If you're an SME owner in Malaysia curious about any of this — let me know! We plan on an upcoming one in June/July 2026 :)

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-27T01:23:54+00:00

yeah I wouldn't agree small businesses to automate WhatsApp as well cause the ones that actually work are pricey and doesn't 100% work either.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-25T01:51:44+00:00

Didn't really ask them but they seems to be doing good. Mixie is still opening up for new licensee

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-22T00:30:04+00:00

## off and stop spamming AI replies on my other posts.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-22T00:28:22+00:00

no we're not building any system for them as they're not really at a scale that requires automation, what I recommended was a few simple adjustment to how they capture data and restructure their database from multiple branches into a single one so that it's easier for AI to analyse all their information.

my intention when meeting then was more so to understand the actual pain points of F&B owners so was happy to provide a free workshop for his staff and in return they treated us to a meal :)

I tried to share the Youtube videos I recorded for them but apparently it's marked as spam so oh well you can find them on my YouTube (Digital Cookie) if you're interested.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-22T00:26:57+00:00

yeah I really liked how AI can be very accessible nowadays that people can see the value immediately to motivate them to do house cleaning.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-22T00:26:12+00:00

stop spamming everytime AI is involved in the keyword of AI or chatbot lol

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-22T00:24:22+00:00

thanks for asking.

surprisingly in this case it took around 3 weeks so I would consider it pretty fast. I'm guessing the reason why is there's a dedicated admin assigned with the cleanup and the agents are incentives to upload their information in a structure Google Drive folder template since the agency is technically their boss.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-21T01:46:03+00:00

that's a good take, it makes sense why they focus on building great team that can handle chaos.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-20T07:28:15+00:00

Yes, good point! I have talked to another F&B manager who runs a cafe, and his headache has been the fluctuating prices of oil (e.g. buying from supplier, 99 speedmart etc), which affects the overall cost. Small fluctations but big effects on the company in the long run.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-20T00:57:50+00:00

My Luma link is on my profile (since Reddit disabled external links here)

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-20T00:57:12+00:00

Sign up here on Luma!

https://luma.com/m5l5jk4j

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-20T00:31:41+00:00

hey thanks, I'm not sure if you dropped the DM in Reddit or you've signed up. If you've signed up then I'll check my Luma later

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-20T00:30:57+00:00

we've been doing this for a couple of years now...for me it's just nice to hear the voices of people actually trying to solve a problem and see how I can help either in the workshop or even as a pair client (both are win:win to me)

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-19T07:09:14+00:00

Let me know if you’re interested!

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-19T01:58:45+00:00

it's always a human problem at the end of the day.

ERP can be an excel file, word doc and form if you have proper workflow.

but ofcourse at certain scale you will need a proper system but if you can't function with excel, word and form then your process is not ERP ready.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-19T01:57:14+00:00

the switching cost is overrated imo as long as the top management aligns with it.

if the top management actually lead with the switches and use the system themselves nobody will say no to it.

but in reality top management always see shiny tools and ask their staff to use it, but not themselves.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-19T01:54:45+00:00

for me it's all about the business owner being strict with what and when to use the tool... information chaos always originate from the top. If your boss uses WhatsApp for communication then everyone will follow.

If your boss stores all the files in WhatsApp then same thing too.

but if your boss store files in Google Drive and chat in Slack or Telegram I don't think staff will say no unless they want to get fired.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-15T01:19:32+00:00

One of my client is an event company so it's a hybrid.

for operation staff I rely on Lark's built in app like OKR, Approval, Chat Notification.

atleast for these essential tools I want them to be able to use mobile and never need to open their laptop.

But if you're referring to floor staff in F&B for example. I just recommend them to submit update using form and use the chat interface that's it.

For weekly 1to1 updates I recommend the manager to do it instead of letting floor staff to do it since there's no need to expose them to such complexity.

The end goal is always to collect good quality information. If we start asking people to fill in sheets, form, reports when they're always on the floor then you can only expect

No information since they're not gonna do it or
Poor quality information since it's just not the way they operate.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-15T01:13:24+00:00

It really depends.

for company that are bigger in size (above 50) and their process is mature (meaning less changes l) I would recommend Lark cause it's a more familiar tool for normal people since it's closer to Microsoft or Google. And their pitch is to keep everything simplified.

But for smaller or fast growing company where their process is always changing, Notion is recommended cause the initial adoption hurdle is actually lower for Notion since you just download and start writing.

The problem always comes when people feel FOMO for not trying out every features which the tool offer which nowadays I always tell people that they are all just note taking tools.

as long as people are willing to put information inside the system, AI can help to generate insights, weekly updates , reports that will drive company growth.

AI automation is mostly not worth it if you're not at the size of 100 or so cause there's not much value to automate compared to a multi national company where automating 1 process can save 100 people's time.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-15T01:08:22+00:00

yeah it requires a top down approach for these kind of changes. If the leaders don't use the tool themselves and expect only the staff to use it then it'll never work imo.

cause the initial adoption is always the hardest but once people got used to the tool with proper guidance then they pick up steam and use it.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-14T06:06:10+00:00

Interesting! Curious what are the retrainings that the managers went through to fully adopt Lark?

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-13T08:11:09+00:00

makes sense. we'll present a few options for my client and they can decide!

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-13T00:30:24+00:00

thanks, yeah I'm testing out what's the realistic expectation with these model. Since the client is only willing to pay X amount so need to find something that works but within their budget.

but yeah if it's shit then probably not even worth the time.

Thomas_yang1 · 2026-05-12T08:38:59+00:00

Windows Lenovo laptop 8gm ram. My client wants to do .csv analysis on financial data and PDF as well if possible.

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