Participants were keen to find out more about the benefits of IT adoption and the support available to help them along in their IT journey.

The innovative use of technology has resulted in increased productivity and improved cost efficiency, according to 77 per cent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who responded to a recent SME Development Survey conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). The SMEs also agreed that using IT would help widen their market coverage, streamline their operations and differentiate their services in the competitive global business environment. However, they sometimes have limited resources to explore the various new technologies available to help them get ahead.

These findings were presented by Ms Catherine Chong, Deputy Director of IDA’s SME Division, during a post-show seminar that was organised following the successful airing of a four-part info-educational series Project-i on MediaCorp Channel 8 from 14 November 2011 to 5 December 2011. Project-i showcased how SMEs can operate effectively and position themselves for growth through the use of infocomm.

The seminar, which was held at Intercontinental Hotel on 12 January 2012, was attended by more than 200 participants who were keen to find out more about the benefits of IT adoption and the support available to help them along in their IT journey. Among them wasMs Zoe Fong, Human Resource and Administrative Manager at T.K.H. Lighting and Electrical Trading, which specialises in outdoor lighting.

Mr David Pang: I hope to find an IT system that allows me to access information instantly with the click of a mouse.

T.K.H. had been using Excel spreadsheets and a manual tracking system for their accounts, which Ms Fong found to be time-consuming and messy. At the seminar, she managed to link up with an SME Infocomm Resource Centre (SIRC), an initiative by IDA to provide IT workshops, consultancy services and IT clinics for SMEs, and discussed the rollout of a computerised system which would enable the company to manage a larger number of accounts receivable and accounts payable. She was also glad to learn that such an initiative could be supported under IDA's i-SPRINT scheme, which presents businesses with packaged solutions together with support of up to 70 per cent if it was the first time that the SME was deploying an IT system or software.

Another participant was Mr David Pang, Managing Director of L. Thomson Healthcare Inds, a manufacturer and distributor of foam mattresses and pillows. His company has been typing out orders manually and faxing them to its suppliers. This sometimes led to human errors being introduced in the process. Through the seminar presentations and talks with the various IT vendors exhibiting at the seminar, Mr Pang was looking to find a suitable IT system which would link suppliers of raw material and his factory. This would allow him to quickly enter his orders, while allowing him the flexibility to customise them in accordance to his customers’ different requirements. “My factory is in Malaysia and my sales channels are in Singapore, I hope to find an IT system which allows me to access information instantly with the click of a mouse. Currently, we have to manually flip through files to find the relevant documents,” he said.

Among SMEs who were already deploying IT solutions to support them in their business, many were at the seminar to find out more about the latest technology developments that could give them a further boost in their operations. For example, Ms Annie Chen, a transport fleet controller at Xin Transport, was looking out for IT solutions which could help her company expand its business operations in the region. She was particularly interested in cloud technologies that would enable Xin Transport to obtain location data of the transport fleet instantly from the web. Currently she has to “beep" individual drivers to check their locations, in order to provide updates to her customers.

Ms Annie Chen of Xin Transport was looking out for IT solutions that could help her company expand its business operations in the region.

Also interested in cloud technologies was Mr K.B. Ng, who works in the food and beverage (F&B) industry. At his F&B outlets, customers were already using iPads provided in the restaurant to order food. This has enabled the company to cut down on manpower requirements from the previous eight workers per store to about five. With the use of IT, the staff can also concentrate on delivering better customer service. He also felt that it has helped to attract younger customers to his restaurant. Going forward, Mr Ng was looking to explore how cloud technologies could be used in his F&B outlets. “Presently, every store must have a hardware server running the iPad software. In future, instead of deploying a hardware server to a store which is not cheap, we are looking at using cloud technologies to run the software,” he said.

The Project-i seminar, which was hosted by MediaCorp artiste MrGuo Liang, featured presentations on topics such as cloud solutions, the use of IT to boost business productivity, and success in achieving business transformation.

MediaCorp artistes Mr Alan Tern and Mr Zhang Yaodong were also at the seminar to share how infocomm technology had helped in their entrepreneurial experiences. Mr Zhang's business for example, uses cloud technology to track sales volume and inventory levels. Uploading information into the cloud allows everyone in the company to access the latest updated information instantly. This helps improve communication among colleagues and also facilitates decision-making.

The Project-i seminar was conducted in Mandarin. It was supported by IDA, SPRING Singapore, and six industry partners.