Study shows half of SMEs not applying for gov’t incentives for digitisation

Businesses report plight in barriers to upgrade digitisation.

Half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not applying for government support packages amidst increase in hurdles for digitisation growth.

A QBE Singapore research revealed that 89% are aware of the packages. For those who applied, these companies said the government support is for enterprise development programmes (46%), and financial support (45%).

The study also showed that amongst the barriers are cost of investment (29%), lack of financing (27%) and lack of digital skills (24%), which remain unchanged since 2017.

Other barriers are “possible disruption to their business during implementation (23%), ensuring protection and security of data (21%) and finding digital technologies too complicated (21%) as further barriers to digitalisation.”

Cyber events

Issues on cybersecurity continue to hound the SMEs with almost 40% of SMEs were affected by cyber events last year from 26% in 2021.

Even though there are concerns on cybersecurity risks, only 9% of businesses continue to operate without protection against it.

Almost 40% of SMEs either would not consider or are on the fence about protecting themselves against cyber risk, an “alarming” figure according to the researchers.

Follow the link for more news on

cyber attacks

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia