SINGAPORE, 15 May 2008 - Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) and IBM Singapore will launch the IBM Mobile Express at the 10th Annual SMEs Conference 2008 on 15 May, at the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. Officiating the launch are Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Chua Thian Poh, President of SCCCI, Ms Teresa Lim, Managing Director, IBM Singapore and Mr Sky Chiew, Managing Director and Founder, Donut Empire.
In the pursuit to bring technology closer to the SMEs, this collaboration between industry players is a significant step forward to help business operators integrate their businesses more seamlessly to face the business challenges, given the limitation of their financial resources. With mobility and adaptability keys to thrive in a competitive globalised environment, SCCCI and IBM are partnering to help SMEs compete and win.
Targetting to reach 10,000 SMEs over a 9-day period (15 May – 24 May), IBM Mobile Express is a demonstrational “bus-load” of IT solutions tailored to help SMEs in Singapore catapult their business for success. IBM Mobile Express aims to facilitate SMEs learn about technology and innovative business solutions. To do so at SMEs’ convenience and innovatively, IBM retrofitted a bus with IBM’s SME business solutions, where the bus will make door-to-door visits across SME premises island-wide. IBM Mobile Express can be sighted traveling to destinations in Central (Kallang, Raffles Place, Orchard Road), Northern (Ang Mo Kio, Woodlands, Sungei Kadut), Southern (Tiong Bahru, Commonwealth, Clementi), Eastern (Kaki Bukit, Loyang, Changi) and Western (Jurong, Chua Chu Kang, Tuas) parts of Singapore.
On board the bus, SMEs gain insights from demonstrations and learn how IBM can tailor simple IT solutions to suit their business needs. IBM Mobile Express will showcase solutions including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain solutions (SCM), messaging and collaboration as well as data security solutions.
“Many SMEs do not have the time nor the knowledge to get in touch with the latest technologies available in the market to help them reshape and remodel their businesses for greater success. The IBM Mobile Express can save them cost and time to learn new technologies with better efficiency, and prepare them for more business challenges,” says Mr Chua Thian Poh, President of SCCCI.
“Mid-size businesses face the same challenges of an increasingly global and interconnected economy wrought with intense competition, akin to large enterprises. IBM’s solutions for the mid market addresses some of the pain points faced by today’s companies regardless their size including security, business continuity and IT optimization. Through the IBM Mobile Express, we want to share with SMEs that IBM’s mid-market solutions are accessible, approachable and affordable so that more mid-market businesses can leverage technology to transform their business models innovatively,” says Mr Nicholas Tan, General Manager, General Business, IBM Singapore.
Mr Tan adds, “This initiative, an extension of our Express Advantage offerings, affirms our commitment to customers in the mid-market. According to Spring Singapore, the SME sector in Singapore grew at 8.1% last year, ahead of the national economy growth rate of 7.7%. This sector powers close to half of economic output (47%), employing 60% of the Republic’s workforce. Many local businesses are fast appreciating that IBM recognizes the existence of real differences between large enterprises and mid market customers, where our solutions for mid market customers are customized to suit their needs, and not scaled down versions of solutions we design for large enterprises.”
Launched in 2006, IBM Express Advantage combines a comprehensive portfolio of technology offerings, business solutions and financing options with a network of local IBM Business Partners and dedicated Concierge customer support service to create a powerful end-to-end approach for helping the mid-sized customer increase efficiency, innovate and grow.
Leveraging IT to expand donut empire in Singapore
Donut Empire, formerly known as Munchy Donut, is a home-grown food business that has benefited from partnering IBM to support and expand its business. Donut Empire’s current 13 outlets in Singapore are powered by IBM point-of-sale (POS) terminals. The POS system at each outlet is connected via the Internet to a central computer located at the company headquarters. This offers the business owner and management access to monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly sales information from the 13 outlets, in real time. Sky Chiew, Managing Director and co-founder of Donut Empire offers his support at the 10th SME Conference. Sky plans to further leverage IT to achieve business efficiency and put his Singapore-brand of donuts on the region’s map. In the pipeline for 2008 are 50 new outlets across seven countries in Asia. With a reliable IT partner, he is able to do so – focus on his core business.
For more information on SCCCI, please contact:
Lim Chee Kam (Mr)
Manager, Corporate Communications & Strategic Relations
Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Tel: 6337 8381, Hp: 9767 1941, Fax: 6339 0605, E-mail: cheekam@sccci.org.sg
For more information on IBM, please contact:
Ryp Yong (Ms), Communications, IBM Singapore
Tel: 6418 1144, Hp: 9750 6292, E-mail: yongryp@sg.ibm.com
About IBM
For more information, please go to www.ibm.com
About Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Established in 1906, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) is an internationally renowned business organisation and the apex body of the Chinese business community in Singapore. It is the founder of the biennial World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention and the World Chinese Business Network (www.wcbn.com.sg), a global online business information portal. It plays a key and pro-active role in representing the interests of the local business community. In its continued drive for service excellence, the SCCCI has become the first business chamber in the region that has been awarded ISO 9001–2000 certification since 1995.
The SCCCI has a membership network of 121 trade associations and 4,000 corporate entities including large financial and business organisations, multinational corporations, government-linked companies, small and medium enterprises from a wide spectrum of trades and industries. Together, they provide the business community with vast resources and an influential global Chinese business network for business, culture and education.