Customer Story
Tackling A Problem Worth Solving – SMEs Do Different
SMEs make up 99% of enterprises in Singapore, hire 70% of the workforce and contribute to almost half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
While we hear many stories of big innovations, disruptive market entries and million dollars VC funding, start-ups are taking up much of the lime light and attention, just as much transformation and progress have been happening among SMEs in Singapore.
In negotiating changing industry landscapes, some SMEs are redesigning their operations while reinforcing and even reinventing their core competencies.
There are many areas of transformation, choices in technologies and new market opportunities but these small business owners showed us that digitisation of their businesses doesn’t have to be daunting if it is approached with an open mind and attitude.
A necessary discomfort – moving from paper to digital
LMD Collections, LMD.sg
A business started by four sisters keen to carry on their father’s sartorial craft, LMD operates six retail stores. Xavier and Joanne Goh, siblings from the 3rd generation, were roped in by their mother and aunts to support the increasing complexity of the operation, and take on new challenges in the market, intensified by drop-shipped and cut-label stores.
For Xavier and Joanne, LMD is also about family – finding a way to maintain the business while ensuring the dressmaking craft was not compromised was a mission they took upon themselves.
“They [the founding members] started from scratch, without using any computers, just a normal cash register, and they wrote everything down on paper - how much they sold and so on. At the month’s end, they had to tally everything. Sometimes, they’ll work till 3am at night, just to pack the stock and calculate everything,” shared Joanne.
To help the company focus on the business rather than operations, Xavier and Joanne implemented Singtel ONEOffice, a collaborative email and work tool, before bringing the business online with Shopify. Recently, they also adopted a payslip solution, in keeping with new labour regulations. Implementing technology takes effort – to learn, to convince and to adopt. As a team, LMD took two years to move their paperwork online. Today, it is commonplace to see iPads and laptops around LMD’s retail stores and office.
" Don’t keep yourself within the box, because there are a lot of things you can learn. After you’ve learnt it, you’ll realise it’s easy to use and not difficult at all. You just need to take the first step to try."
– Joanne
Tightening the shoelaces before the run – fixing the fundamentals to scale up
Easybook, easybook.com
For 10 years, William Lee has worked on connecting the land and sea travel ticketing systems in Southeast Asia. Now, operating the largest online network for 17,000 bus routes against a backdrop of acceleration in trade and leisure travel, his company Easybook is well placed for further growth. However, potential investors challenged the business’ lack of clear accounting and critical operational details.
“I thought that as long as I had money in the bank and I could pay my own salary, I could just spend my time on sales. We didn’t even have a proper accountant then,” Lee shared.
With the help of financial controller Agnes Chong, the company implemented ABSS Premier online, an accounting Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) app offered by Singtel, to computerise and clean up the company’s accounts.
"Some SMEs think they can save on costs by avoiding development and computerisation, and manage things manually. But if they are thinking far and want to grow big, they have to solve the current problem by automation."
– William
Getting the job done – turning experience into knowledge
Seiho Machinery & Electric, seiho.com.sg
For James Kuah, leading a 30-year old shipping and engineering company into a new era of market changes and customer demands required making information and communication streams more accessible, in order to translate decades’ worth of experience into knowledge to serve clients.
“If you don’t have the information at a particular point, it creates a very bad impression in our field. If customers can’t trust you to give them the information they want, how can they trust you to do their engine repairs? You can’t say that you do not know; you need to have solutions available at all times,” he shared.
Kuah implemented Singtel Microsoft Office 365, moving emails, applications and files to the cloud. The Seiho team is now able to collaborate on documents easily, ensuring that everything is readily available to serve customers accurately and promptly.
"We can’t stop or control market forces. The only way to be more relevant is to be efficient and productive. We need to adopt technology to restructure the core business."
– James
A service desk dedicated to supporting SMEs
Singtel myBusiness SaaS Helpdesk
To many SMEs, the key challenge in implementing technology and redesigning operations is the availability of support and resources. While there are grants to acquire solutions, post-adoption assistance was lacking.
Driven by a passion to help SMEs have a better experience adopting technology for digitising their business, Danial Isahak leads a team of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) specialists who are dedicated to serving customers of myBusiness, Singtel SaaS Portal for SMEs in Singapore. The helpdesk team is a key part of the services that Singtel provides to businesses in simplifying their technology adoption journey, and it is the only local dedicated SaaS helpdesk specifically serving SMEs.
The team seeks to provide a one-stop solution that simplifies the adoption of technology.
To support customers across a full portfolio of SaaS solutions ranging from Microsoft Office 365 and ONEOffice powered by Google to local apps such as E.Payslip and Web Builder, Danial trained specialists as “go-to” experts on different software. These specialists actively sign up for trainings and discussions with software providers to design support templates and resolution methods.
“Even though the technology industry favours an online, self-service culture right now, our customers like it when they have a person to speak to. This also helps us, as we can get a clearer understanding of the issue through emails,” shared Danial, adding that they also offered advice on best practices for SaaS applications.
“The difference between us and other tech support teams is that we dare to change. We have to keep up with the changes of the product and the customers,” he shared.
Danial and his team is a helpdesk on a different mission. Together, they hope to continue supporting 99% of businesses in Singapore to DO DIFFERENT.
About Do Different
A mobile and digital world ushers in new challenges and opportunities for businesses. SMEs that are quick in their transformation and adoption of technology find themselves building up a competitive edge that drives growth and allows them to operate effectively in this new economy.
In this six-part series, Do Different explores the common challenges and experiences of SMEs that leverage technology to level the playing field, while reinventing their business and operations.