Size is not an issue when it comes to the innovative use of infocomm technology. This is clearly seen in this year’s National Infocomm Award winners for the Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in the private sector.

Pictureworks http://www.pictureworks.com.sg/ a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in the digital imaging solutions space, received the inaugural award for the Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Private Sector – SME), while regional logistics player YCH Group ( http://www.ych.com/ ) won for Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Private Sector – General).

The SME category was introduced to complement IDA’s efforts to promote the innovative adoption of infocomm among SMEs to achieve business gains and productivity. “Some surveys suggest that SME take up of technology is low, apart from basic solutions,” said Mr Robert Chew, who chaired the evaluation committee for the award.

However, the NIA submissions turned up many companies in the SME space who were using technology to boost their processes, and to differentiate themselves from the competition. “We see SMEs using technology for end-to-end systems,” he observed. “The solutions and applications they produced were done within a very short time frame and in a very cost effective manner. These are, to me, very encouraging.”

Mr Cheong Chia Chou (left) of Pictureworks receives the inaugural award for the Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Private Sector – SME) from RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew.

Winning the award was equally encouraging for Mr Cheong Chia Chou, Chief Executive Officer of Pictureworks. “As an SME, the infocomm award is more important because we are small, with limited resources,” he explained. “When we have to compete internationally, we are at a disadvantage. With awards like this, we can tell people that we are different.”

Long before Wi-fi cameras caught on, Pictureworks created PictureAnywhere, a high-quality instant photo system which allows clients like theme parks and entertainment outlets to take customers’ pictures, and collect the prints “on the spot” at a digital printing terminal. PictureAnywhere offers both wired and wireless configurations, and is scalable. It uses infocomm technology to perform backend operations like image processing and identification.

At the other end of the scale is YCH Group, whose RFID-Enabled High Performance Supply Chain Nerve Centre connects the group’s operations throughout the region.

YCH Group Chairman and CEO Dr Robert Yap (centre) receives the award for the Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Private Sector – General).

YCH’s avowed mission is to build a logistics superhighway. “A lot of people only look at logistics as a physical flow,” said James Loo, Chief Information Officer, YCH Group. But the supply chain also requires the flow of information - of inventory numbers and related data. “With RFID tracking, we get visibility.”

YCH’s S$5 million RFID system not only offers visibility along the supply chain, it has reduced errors by cutting down the need for human data entry. This has notched up manpower savings of 30 per cent, and a 40 per cent reduction in checking because of disruption to warehousing activities. In fact, it has performed with 100 per cent accuracy, and cut turnaround time by 20 per cent, to just 105 minutes from order to feed-to-line.