Blueprint launched to help SMEs digitalise and adopt AI-enabled solutions
At least 50,000 SMEs will benefit from the Digital Enterprise Blueprint over the next five years
A NEW blueprint that lays out Singapore’s support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to digitalise and adopt artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions was launched on Wednesday (May 29).
The Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) was developed by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore in consultation with industry stakeholders.
It was officially launched by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How at Asia Tech x Singapore – a flagship tech event organised by IMDA and Informa Tech at the Singapore Expo.
At least 50,000 SMEs are expected to benefit from the DEB over the next five years, said MCI and IMDA. This comes in the wake of a rapidly evolving tech landscape, with emerging technologies such as generative AI and the increasing risk of cyberthreats.
While Singapore has made “good progress” in supporting enterprises to adopt technologies over the past 30 years, “much more” can be done, Tan said in his keynote address. This includes supporting SMEs to make full use of their existing digital capabilities, as well as closing the gap between SMEs and larger enterprises, which have more resources and ability to experiment with technology.
The DEB builds on existing initiatives launched by IMDA earlier in 2024 to help enterprises adopt generative AI solutions in collaboration with tech partners.
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In February, it launched a generative AI sandbox with Enterprise Singapore to give SMEs access to curated generative AI solutions for marketing, sales and customer engagement. It also launched GenAI x Digital Leaders, an initiative that supports more digitally mature enterprises in developing and deploying customised generative AI solutions for their businesses.
To support the DEB, IMDA will be refreshing existing industry digital plans to incorporate AI-enabled solutions, to meet the sector-specific needs of enterprises.
The DEB aims to support enterprises and workers in the next phase of digitalisation through four focus areas.
First, it will help SMEs improve their productivity and innovate through AI-enabled solutions. Second, it will enable SMEs to scale faster, by accelerating the adoption of cloud-based and integrated digital solutions.
Third, it will build SMEs’ cyber-resilience, so they can protect themselves from cyberattacks. Fourth, it will provide opportunities for SMEs to upskill and reskill their workers, so they can maximise digital solutions.
Seven partners have pledged their support for the new DEB. They include trade associations and chambers, such as the Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Computer Society and SGTech, as well as tech companies such as Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.
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