Singapore needs to act on transforming its economy immediately to avoid losing its hub status and seeing its businesses’ and workers’ relevance slipping away, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said on September 22.
The urgency for this comes from the reality that Singapore will not be returning to a pre-Covid-19 world. So, “now is the time to re-engineer our processes, build a new economy and transform to create the right opportunities for our businesses and people,” he added in his speech at the opening of the Future Economy Conference.
This year’s event focuses on “Empowering People & Embracing Digitalisation for Resilience and Resurgence”
This is as digital transformation, in particular, is deemed instrumental in helping the republic thrive and overcome the “tyranny of geography,” said Chan in reference to Singapore's small size.
"Digital transformation will truly unlock for us the world as our hinterland and market," he stressed at the virtual event co-organised by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
"But that is if we make the right moves now, harness the power of digital to grow our businesses, drive our economic recovery, redefine our competitiveness and relevance to the world."
In fact, Chan calls the Covid-19 crisis a “Covid catalyst” that has expedited Singapore’s digital transformation that was already taking place. The difference is, the benefits of such a move to businesses such as being able to serve customers better and having access to new markets that do not have a physical presence in.
However, Chan foresees challenges from the ongoing technology war between the US and China which threatens cause a global technological fracture. On a company level, he anticipates resistance to change or a lack of skills, talent and resources to kick start the process.
Even so, Chan cautioned businesses not to worry and resist digitalisation. “To resist change, inevitably means that we will be left further behind,” he stressed. “We cannot tread water and wait for normalcy to return. The faster we adapt, the faster we recover,” he added.
To this end, Chan reassured firms that the government will continue supporting them through conditions enabling their transition and transformation.
Help is already on its way, with the SBF and IMDA renewing a memorandum of intent and reaffirming their commitment to drive digital transformation among businesses in Singapore, at the same event.
Under this, the organisations will work on three projects: promoting the adoption of digital business-to-business technologies such as e-invoicing and e-signatures, helping companies leverage digital economy agreements to operate across borders and supporting the development of digital platforms.
The SBF and IMDA will also continue to reach out to small and medium-sized enterprises.
“This collaboration between SBF and IMDA [will] provide relevant support to businesses in their digital transformation efforts, including efforts to push boundaries and to explore new growth markets,” said SBF chairman Lim Min Yan in his opening remarks.
He noted that this is one of two initiatives the SBF is working on with the government. The other is the Emerging Stronger Taskforce which was set up earlier this year under the Future Economy Council.
So far the taskforce has convened seven Alliances for Action for idea creation between the government and public sector. These touched on: (1) Digitalising the Built Environment, (2) EduTech, (3) Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences, (4) Facilitating Smart Commerce in Singapore, (5) Robotics, (6) Supply Chain Digitalisation, and (7) Sustainability.
These alliances are industry-led coalitions, where private sectors worked closely with the Government to identify and prototype ideas in a three-month sprint.
“These seven alliances are not meant to be comprehensive. Instead, we hope that this form of private-public collaboration would serve as a good model to be extended to other sectors subsequently,” said Lim.
