Firms here investing in tech to raise productivity

They get help from Spring S'pore to fund new projects

By Ng Kai Ling, The Straits Times, 2 May 2012

COMPANIES here are heeding calls to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction by investing in new technology to improve work processes.

These include the setting up of online stores as a new channel for customers to browse and shop, doing away with tedious paperwork in favour of computerised stock ordering systems and allowing hotel guests to check in quickly by using text messaging.

Some 25 companies have turned to Spring Singapore's Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) funding scheme to help get these new projects off the ground.

Under the scheme, started in 2005, companies can apply for funding for areas such as staff training and the adoption of new technology that helps to improve service and productivity.

Phase One CCI programmes help companies in areas such as setting standard operating procedures, evaluating customer service standards through mystery audits and surveys, and drawing up staff training programmes.

To date, more than 430 companies and 150,000 service professionals from six service sectors - retail, food and beverage, health care, transport, hospitality and travel - have come on board.

The 25 companies are among the first to embark on Phase Two CCI projects, which are more complex and involve the use of technology. Such projects can cost up to millions of dollars.

Spring Singapore has been co-funding up to 70 per cent of companies' capability development projects since April 1. Previously, the co-funding was up to 50 per cent.

Spring Singapore assistant chief executive Choy Sauw Kook said: 'Increasingly, we see more companies progressing beyond basic service training to more intensive projects which leverage technology to address customer needs, manpower deployment and inventory management.'

For example, bakery SwissBake recently overhauled the company's entire order and stock management system. Staff at its 16 outlets no longer fill in paper forms and fax them to their headquarters when ordering stock.

Since February, all they have to do is key in the orders on a tablet computer and the main office will consolidate the orders to be sent to the factory.

Mr K. J. Low, SwissBake's executive director, said the new system cuts out a lot of paperwork, which is inefficient and not sustainable in the long run.

He added that the system will be enhanced this month, for the ordering of customised cakes.

'Orders and requests will be keyed in directly to the system to minimise inconvenience to the customers. Previously, our employees had to call back customers to check on the spelling of some names,' said Mr Low.

Part of the funds for the bakery's $33,000 project came from Spring Singapore.

Similarly, Times The Bookshop set up a new online store in August last year to provide customers another avenue to browse and shop for books. The NoQ store allows customers access to over a million titles from Britain, the United States and Asia.

The bookstore also set up an entire back-end system to manage and fulfil customers' orders.

NoQ general manager Karen Ang said the online system helps the company track the preferences of customers through their purchases. This can be used to recommend new titles to customers.