According to an announcement made by the Infocomm Media
Development Authority (IMDA), SMEs are at the heart of Singapore’s economy,
employing two thirds of the country’s workforce and contributing to nearly half
of the country’s GDP. As such, it is essential to ensure that SMEs seize
opportunities to capitalise on digital technologies.
Since April 2017, the SMEs Go Digital programme has been
assisting SMEs in their digital transformation journeys through the
sector-specific digital roadmaps or Industry Digital Plans for SMEs (IDPs) as a
step-by-step guide on the use of digital technology at different stages of
their growth Other than referring to the IDPs for the deployment of
pre-approved digital solutions, SMEs can also consult principal consultants at
the SME Digital Tech Hub.
To further build on the SMEs Go Digital programme, IMDA is
looking to enhance its efforts to make going digital even simpler for SMEs.
IMDA will partner the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Enterprise
Singapore, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), and Workforce Singapore (WSG) to
provide SMEs with in-house experts to drive a more holistic and sustainable
implementation of digital technology.
The three-year pilot initiative acknowledges that for SMEs
to reap full benefits from going digital, they need to change business
processes, redesign jobs, and better manage the implementation of digital
technology. Such process will require the expertise of digital project managers
or consultants to oversee the entire transformation process.
Under the initiatives, SMEs looking to engage the digital
project managers can receive funding support of up to 70% of the qualifying
costs.
The digital project management services is the first
collaboration that aims to help SMEs embark on digital projects by tapping on
experienced Professionals, Managers, and Executives (PMEs). SMEs with similar
digital projects can form groups and engage the service of a ready pool of digital
project managers in areas such as business process re-engineering (BPR) and job
redesign (JR) to maximise the value of digital projects implementation.
The Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) will be
appointed at the first operator of the initiative. SMF will help to train,
certify and mentor experiences PMEs, and match them individually as in-house
digital project manager to the SMEs. It will also work with industry partners
such as Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) and other industry leaders to
provide digital project management services to SMEs in industry-led projects.
According to Mr Douglas Foo, President of SMF, digital
transformation is not all about technology, it will require the right project
management to help drive effective transformation.
“Through this partnership, SMF will train and certify a pool
of experienced digital project mangers to be assigned to a group of SMEs to
support their implementation of digital projects,” said Mr Foo.
To kickstart the initiative, SMF is partnering One Kampong
Gelam, the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) and Institute of Singapore Chartered
Accountants (ISCA), to deliver digital project management services to SMEs
retail and food establishments, as well as law and accounting firms.