Singapore: The Next Cloud Technology “Intelligent Nation”
The Singaporean government has facilitated a technophile reputation through numerous grants that incentivise businesses to adopt best technology at affordable rates. Cloud technology is at the forefront of this evolution and will provide the infrastructure upon which Singapore plans to build an “Intelligent Nation.”
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is spearheading Singapore’s iN2015 strategy, a 10-year master plan to grow the infocomm sector and revolutionise nationwide communication for businesses and the public. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to place Singapore #1 in the world in harnessing computer systems to improve both economic and societal communications. Various incentives and grants are already in place, and SMEs, as well as the education and healthcare sectors, are seeing significant results.
From a national employment perspective, this push is estimated to generate an additional 80,000 IT and telecom jobs nationwide. The plan will also deepen IT executive skills, with 13,000 professionals benefiting from ‘CITREP Expanded’, a scheme that endorses nationally recognised training and accreditation. Perhaps most impactful, however, is the fact that over 3000 SMEs will have direct support in adopting SaaS cloud-based platforms to improve operations.
Cloud computing is seen as an integral cog in Singapore’s Intelligent Nation plan, and the IDA has already launched a Cloud Service Provider Registry to help enterprises better understand what different providers can offer. The expected result of this incentive is that SMEs will have access to resources previously reserved for larger enterprises with bigger IT budgets. This leveling of the playing field should prove to be a powerful competitive differentiator, particularly for the combative recruitment sector.
If this wasn’t enough, Singapore-based businesses of all sizes can also benefit from government lead grants such as the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC). The PIC grant gives allowances of up to $400,000 (SGD) for “innovation expenses” such as technology adoption. This particular scheme was originally set to conclude in 2015 but has recently been extended to continue through to 2018, showing Singapore’s commitment to providing real opportunities for local businesses.
For recruitment companies, this represents a unique opportunity to invest in the very best technologies with very little risk and potentially significant returns. Recruitment agencies using Bullhorn CRM, for example, have been able to make up to 40% more placements, an incredible return on their technological investment. Now with multiple government-led incentives to subsidise the costs involved, there is simply no excuse for recruitment SMEs to procrastinate and continue to use outdated technologies any longer.
Kevin Lam
Regional Sales Director, Asia
Bullhorn APAC
