Prudential Singapore boosts support for SMEs in their digitalisation efforts

LIFE insurer Prudential Singapore announced its partnership with Ngee Ann Polytechnic and ST Engineering to help equip small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the knowledge and resources to go digital in a secure manner, it said in a press statement on Jan 3.

As part of this support, a digital commerce playbook, jointly developed by Prudential and students of Ngee Ann Poly School of Business and Accountancy, was launched in September 2021. Thirty SMEs took part in the pilot run of the collaboration, where students were assigned to different participating SMEs to provide practical help on the use of digital technologies that best met their business needs.

Phang Siang Yang, managing director of Husks Green International, an SME that benefited from the collaboration, said that the playbook has given his company greater confidence to do more in social media, as it plans its roadmap for 2022.

With ST Engineering, Prudential collaborated to offer SMEs relevant training that helps improve cybersecurity awareness as well as provide customised solutions to monitor and counter cyberattacks to keep data safe.

"We draw upon our deep cybersecurity competencies to provide robust and latest technologies, solutions and services to enhance their cyber resilience," said Goh Eng Choon, president of Cyber at ST Engineering.

Meanwhile, Prudential also partnered with Switch, a work space provider, to provide SMEs with access to co-working space of various kinds at "competitive rates".

This comes as more businesses are adopting hybrid work arrangements, and this initiative gives SMEs the option to use co-working spaces on an ad-hoc basis instead of having a physical office space, noted Prudential.

These initiatives are part of Prudential's ongoing partnership with the SkillsFuture Queen Bee programme, to scale up skills development for the SME community.

Goh Theng Kiat, chief customer officer of Prudential Singapore, noted that digitalisation is important for businesses to better engage their employees and customers, as well as optimise processes.

"SMEs recognise that going digital is not just about being future-ready but a matter of survival in the current pandemic. To support SMEs through this challenging time, we are collaborating with different industry players to empower them with knowledge, experience and tools, to accelerate their digital transformation so they can stay relevant to their customers," said Goh.

Read more:

• Public raises more than S$95,000 for badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew
• Covid jabs, tests boost demand for medical services at turn of year
• Financing longevity now a tougher trudge