Start Digital initiative for SMEs to be extended for 3 more years

THE Start Digital initiative, which provides foundational digital solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are new or have yet to go digital, is being extended for 3 years through 2025, with simplified solution categories.

The move comes after a feedback exercise with SMEs and Start Digital partners, said the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) in a joint press statement on Thursday (Jul 28).

An initiative under the SMEs Go Digital programme, Start Digital has helped more than 37,000 SMEs since its launch in 2019. Under the extension, SMEs will continue to enjoy a 6-month fee waiver, after which they will have to pay for solutions as per the partners’ rates and contractual terms.

Food and beverage business Chicken Pie Kitchen worked with a Start Digital partner to adopt a finance and accounting digital solution for easier and more accurate bank reconciliation, resulting in manpower savings of 70 to 80 per cent. It also adopted a new human resource management system and payroll digital solution which cuts down the time taken for certain processes – some which previously took 3 to 4 working days can now be done within an hour.

Another Start Digital beneficiary is home-based fragrance store Lina Mos, which went onboard an e-commerce platform and used its Point-of-Sales application to integrate its inventory and sales management system, which can now be accessed by staff through mobile devices. With improved online customer management as well, the business can now close customers’ orders and enquiries within a few hours, compared to the 1 to 3 working days previously required.

Under the extended Start Digital, SMEs can choose either 1 or 2 foundational digital solutions from newly simplified solution categories: sales generation, business efficiency and cybersecurity. They can adopt solutions concurrently or separately, according to business needs.

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Sales generation includes digital solutions for creating customer awareness, generating leads and increasing customer retention. For business efficiency, the solutions help with managing documentation processes, resources and finances. Cybersecurity solutions can be used by SMEs to protect their network, digital assets and data, and facilitate recovery from common cyber incidents.

The solutions, also referred to as Start Digital Packs, are currently offered by 5 bank and telco partners: DBS, Maybank, OCBC, UOB and Singtel. SMEs can sign up at go.gov.sg/startdigitalsolutions and find out more about Start Digital on IMDA’s website.

To be eligible, SMEs must be registered and operating in Singapore; have at least 30 per cent local shareholding; have group sales turnover of not more than S$100 million per annum or group employment size of not more than 200 employees; and must not have taken up a Start Digital Pack nor used identical solutions before.

The pandemic drove a significant uptake for SMEs Go Digital programmes and IMDA wants to ensure that the digitalisation momentum continues, said chief executive Lew Chuen Hong.

“Start Digital is a low cost, very easy way for any SME to take those first steps in digitalising their sales and business operations, as well as strengthening their cybersecurity. Every SME can be a digital SME, and benefit from the real impact of digitalisation,” he added.

Peter Ong, chairman of EnterpriseSG, said: “We have reached an inflection point in our digital economy, where it is now an imperative for companies of all sizes and across all sectors to sustain the digitalisation efforts over the past few years.”

“We are continuing our support to get more SMEs on board and help them digitalise. Only then can they gain a head start digitally to access growth opportunities locally and overseas,” he added.