When envisioning Singapore as a smart nation, think of a place where data and technology collide to create a more connected and efficient society. You can access public services anytime, anywhere, using mobile devices. Everyone will feel empowered to use digital services and resources to improve their lives.

Smart cities today are enabled through technology such as sensors, networks, and analytics. This allows policymakers to collect and analyse data for planning, decision-making, and resource allocation. As a result, a smart nation will need efficient, responsive, and secure digital infrastructure to improve citizens’ lives. Let’s look at the ways businesses can help Singapore become a leading Smart City.

What is Singapore’s Smart City Program?

The Smart Nation Initiative was created to achieve several goals, including increasing overall productivity, enhancing the quality of life for Singaporeans, retaining local talent, and attracting foreign talent. In addition, the initiative aims to transform Singapore into a nation where technology empowers people to live fulfilling lives through improved urban planning, public services, and overall quality of life through strategic national projects.

What are the Features of a Smart Nation?

The Smart Nation Initiative is executed based on three key pillars for Singapore. The three pillars are Digital Government, Digital Economy, and Digital Society.

Digital Government aims to improve strategic smart city projects through technology, while the private sector, Digital Economy, aims to use technology to drive economic growth and create new opportunities. Digital Society seeks to create a more connected and inclusive society where technology can empower individuals from all backgrounds to succeed.

Additionally, the Singapore government has identified five key domains where technology can transform our urban environment:

1. Health: Individuals will have more control over their health through wearable devices and smartphones.
2. Education: Digital technology will improve self-directed and collaborative learning, while automation will streamline administrative tasks.
3. Transport: Data analytics, smart systems, and autonomous vehicles will improve transport efficiency and sustainability, as well as improve traffic congestion.
4. Urban Solutions: Smart systems and sensors will also enhance safety and sustainability in urban areas.
5. Finance: Singapore will leverage fintech solutions to improve customer service, trade finance efficiency, and reduce compliance costs in the financial sector.

How Can My Business Participate in the Smart Nation initiative?

The Smart Nation programme is not exclusive to the public sector and government agencies. Businesses are also encouraged to embrace digital solutions to participate in Singapore’s Smart Nation goals. Let’s look at some practical ways for businesses in the city-state to achieve these goals.

Digital Mindset

Adopting a digital mindset means businesses must embrace technology and find digital solutions. Businesses can lead the way by encouraging the use of digital solutions to speed up workplace processes. Some examples include adopting cashless payment methods or transitioning to a new business inventory system. However, as more digital solutions go online, it is important that the supporting network is resilient and reliable to maximise productivity.

When looking into a network partner, SPTel’s Software-Defined Network is well placed to support the greater adoption of digital devices and automation by providing users with a diverse network that is ultra-responsive for optimum application performance. Add to that a dashboard to monitor network health and utility plus dynamic services like bandwidth on demand, customers will have unprecedented control over their entire network with visibility on all their subscribed services. SPTel’s clean-pipe network will also provide real-time alerts for DD0S attacks with on demand mitigation if required to ensure maximum uptime for businesses.

Cyber Security

Cyber Security has always been a top priority for Singapore government agencies in the Smart Nation journey. In light of persistent cyber threats, the importance of ensuring that online services and transactions are digitally secure and reliable has increased.

SPTel’s Managed Security service, including DDoS attack detection and mitigation, next generation firewalls and web application firewalls, give businesses additional protection against cyber threats and takes away the burden of maintaining and managing an inhouse cyber security team. By outsourcing cyber security requirements to a managed services partner with a world class Security Operations Centre (SOC), businesses can have peace of mind knowing that their network is being actively monitored and protected against potential cyber threats.

Crowdsourcing and Co-creation

The exchange of ideas and integration of solutions to drive holistic outcomes is what will propel Singapore towards digital transformation.

For crowdsourcing and co-creation to be successful, effective collaboration platforms must be in place to support POCs and trials. SPTel has one such platform which effectively encourages collaboration for IoT solutions and that is their IoT-a-a-S platform. This ready, pay-per-use IoT platform is ideal for co-creation as it is a multi-protocol, open IoT system that acts as a common platform for device management, regardless of sensor protocol requirements.

Recently, SPTel has further enhanced their offering with a Sensor Network powered by LoRaWAN to enable users to tap on a ready LPWAN connectivity solution for their deployment without having to maintain and manage their own gateways. Reducing upfront investment requirements while jumpstarting pilot project deployments.

How Does a Smart Nation Benefit Singapore’s Economy?

Smart Nation benefits Singapore’s economy by harnessing technology to tap into opportunities in big data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and robotics. This digitalisation presents opportunities for Singapore to enhance its traditional strengths, address national challenges and physical limits, and build new sources of comparative advantage for Singapore. This new era of digital transformation will power Singapore to SG100 and beyond, towards becoming the world’s smartest city.

Is Singapore Ready to be a Smart City?

Singapore is proactively embracing new smart city services and building the infrastructure needed to support a Smart Nation.

For instance, initiatives such as the TraceTogether Token helped to improve contact tracing efforts and control the spread of COVID-19.

Technology companies in the private sector, like SPTel, invest in network technology to make the Smart Nation vision a reality. For example, SPTel’s IoT-a-a-S platform and Sensor Network powered by LoRaWAN allow smart cities to collect and analyse data from interconnected devices and sensors for efficient asset and resource management. This data is then used to make decisions for critical functions such as faster incident detection, emergency response, and optimising energy and water consumption.

With such advanced technological progress, Singapore is getting ready to become a Smart Nation to provide citizens with an integrated ecosystem to meet all their needs efficiently.

Take Advantage of Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative

SPTel’s solutions enable industries and organisations to develop smart city applications and adopt smart technologies using Business Class Digital Services.

With an end-to-end software defined network that delivers ultra-low latency of <1ms, organisations can enable secure and responsive connectivity for their critical applications.

Strengthen your cyber security posture and secure your digital operations with managed security services with SPTel. Choose from our suite of solutions that cover PSG approved Firewall, Managed Firewalls and DDoS mitigation.

Finally, choose SPTel’s IoT-as-a-Service (IoT-a-a-S) platform for a comprehensive IoT solution that supports end-to-end operational requirements for IoT service providers. This solution provides a convenient, pay-as-you-use model to jumpstart IoT deployment.