Singapore in good stead for digital innovation

Every day you read of companies moving their business online and embarking on some form of change. The use of new technologies has been a driving force behind this transformation. Without a shadow of doubt, 2016 marks the beginning of the ‘digital decade’.

This digital transformation is particularly pertinent to Singapore and the region around us, which is fast becoming a hotbed of innovation for business transformation as consumers leap at digital technologies. Singapore stands at the forefront of this shift with strong support from the government which is spending $2.8 billion this year to invest in IT and partner industry players to create digital solutions.

Since 2012, there has been a veritable explosion in the number of start-ups in Singapore, growing to more than 40,000 today. The city-nation is also ranked by Compass as having the best start-up ecosystem in Asia, ahead of Bangalore and Sydney.

A growing mobile and digital ecosystem is already being built in Singapore, which leads Southeast Asia in smartphone and mobile broadband adoption. Southeast Asia is also the world’s fastest growing Internet region with the number of users of 260 million set to nearly double to 480 million by 2020.

Singaporean companies leading the charge
Singapore is amongst the top countries which can accomplish a positive economic impact from investing in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The country is fast establishing itself as the model when it comes to the digitalisation of banking relationships. Many banks here are going digital and setting up a real multi-channel client experience by bringing together online and mobile device channels onto a single platform.

Singapore’s DBS Bank has invested S$5 billion to go digital by redesigning its banking systems and opening new market opportunities. The bank believes that digital customers yield more than twice the revenue per customer, compared to that generated from traditional transactions, while the costs of digital transactions can be as little as 5% of those arising from the traditional channels.

DBS’s banking efforts come amidst Singapore’s smart nation drive as well as a digital revolution that is redefining the banking industry. Singapore, considered one of the gateways of Asia’s financial market, represents a hotbed for fintech investments and innovations.

More than 200 banks already have operational headquarters in Singapore with global banks such as UBS and Citigroup locating their innovation labs in the city-state. Singapore is home to 10 of the 15 most-funded fintech start-ups in Southeast Asia.

Singapore’s SingPost is reinventing itself for the digital age and redefining its role by creating a one-stop shop for retailers’ e-commerce needs in Asia. In South Korea, SingPost sells Levi’s jeans. In Singapore, it stocks Toshiba laptops. In Malaysia, it delivers Adidas sneakers.

Among some of the successful start-ups in Singapore are MyRepublic, Lazada, Zalora, Zopim, Reebonz, RedMart, and PropertyGuru.

Successful traits of digital companies
According to McKinsey & Co, companies which have successfully embraced “digital” are creating value at the new frontiers of the business world. For some, this could mean developing entirely new businesses in adjacent categories; while for others, it could mean identifying and pursuing new value pools in existing sectors.

Ultimately, a successful digital strategy must be rooted in strategic business objectives and customer impact, not driven by specific digital technologies or digital roles. They must focus on owning the interface and redefining the customer experience – using applications and data to change the way customers interact with a service or product.

To this end, many companies in Singapore have started to digitally enable their business processes and to use them to scale their organisations. Going digital gives them the advantage of being able to serve more customers and geographies – without the need for massive infrastructure investments – while generating more revenues than their non-digital businesses could ever achieve.

Singapore stands in good stead to lead innovation. Easier access to the Internet through smartphones, strong governmental support, and a growing digital population will also fuel the growth in the digitisation of the economy in the years to come.