SMEs urged to use infocomm technology to save time and cost

Effective use of infocomm technology (ICT) can help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) protect their bottom lines, according to industry watchers.

The comment came as the Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) signed a memorandum of cooperation on Thursday to help address the ICT concerns of new SMEs.

The current economic environment can hardly be said to be great for business and some SMEs are feeling the heat. But industry watchers said it is not the time to cut down on ICT spending.

Lo Yoong Khong, cluster director, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, said: "Infocomm (technology) can also bring many other benefits to the SMEs. Some of the things would include traceability.

"With infocomm, they would be able to look at their sales revenue very quickly because at the click of a button, whatever sales have been transacted through the day or through the week can be generated very quickly."

This can help save time and cash, which is vital to the operations of a budding firm. A tighter budget is even more of an issue these days, given the current global credit squeeze, and industry watchers said it is important for SMEs to keep their eye on the ball.

Vijay Iyengar, chairman of SICCI, said: "The main thing is that they will have to look at the plans that they have made and to keep re-examining them as they go along. Three months down the road, go back to the drawing board, see if they have achieved what they set out to achieve and go on from there.

"Often, an SME always has this issue of too many distractions or trying to go in many different directions, and (it ends up) not achieving what it sets out to achieve."

For SMEs looking to get started with their ICT programme, they can apply for a grant of up to S$1,000 under the SP-SICCI joint initiative.

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