Singapore businesses appear to be reaping the rewards of the government's Smart Nation initiative, as the country leads several indicators for office technology, according to a new report by software company Condeco.
Business leaders in Singapore were much more likely to have installed smart building initiatives, such as networked appliances and energy efficiency measures, compared with other countries, according to Condeco.
Almost three-quarters (72%) of Singapore respondents said their offices had these measures, compared with around half (55%) of respondents as a whole, it added.
Peter Otto, Chief Product Officer, at Condeco, said "it's been only two years since Singapore launched it's Smart Nation initiative, but ""it really looks like it's paying dividends."
"Our survey respondents were well ahead of other countries in significant areas like smart building initiatives, and this is having a knock-on effect on their use of other technologies in the workspace, for example using apps to book meeting rooms, cloud computing and the internet of things," he explained.
Singapore's Smart Nation initiative is a government-backed program in place since 2017, which aims to merge technology into every aspect of Singapore citizens' lives.
Condeco said that compared to last year's survey, Singapore businesses had seen a significant increase (17%) in the use of mobile apps to book meeting rooms. Respondents in Singapore were also more likely than average to say they expect certain key technologies to be important over the next 12 months.
"Cloud computing is likely to be important for 55% of businesses in Singapore, compared with 46% for the survey as a whole, with similar responses for the internet of things (50% versus 35%) and big data (46%, versus 33%)," it added.
The report, which draws on a survey of 750 business leaders in six countries, followed by qualitative interviews, found that digital transformation (37%) was the biggest challenge that business leaders across the globe are facing in the next 12 months, followed by the adoption of new technology (35%).
Across all countries surveyed, access to talent supply (26%) and regulation and compliance (24%) are considered greater organizational challenges than business uncertainty (22%).
Condeco said the report, "The Modern Workplace 2019: People, places & technology," draws from a quantitative survey of 750 business leaders in six countries: the UK, the USA, France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore.
