Keeping SMEs' digitalisation on track amid pandemic
Professor Atreyi Kankanhalli and Ms Lai Yi from the National University of Singapore's School of Computing explain how SMEs can harness both government grants and technology to digitalise their business and build essential digital capabilities to stay ahead in a challenging world
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THE Covid-19 pandemic has caused severe disruptions to global economic activity, with negative GDP growth projected at -4.9 per cent for 2020. The impact of Covid-19 on the Singapore economy has been significant, with many sectors being adversely impacted, including construction, manufacturing, transport, tourism, retail, and business services. In the face of the recession, the most vulnerable businesses are SMEs, which face severe challenges, such as late customer payments, cancelled orders, and cash flow disruptions.
In response to the pandemic, the Circuit Breaker period (April 7-June 1) was imposed, where all non-essential business activities that cannot be conducted through telecommuting were suspended in order to contain the virus spread. Subsequently, with a phased approach to resuming activities in Phase 1 and the current Phase 2, working from home is still the default mode, where employees should continue to do so and go to their workplace only when there is no alternative. Apart from the shift to home-based work, SMEs in many sectors such as retail are adopting reduced hours and trying to move their business online.
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