Small business artificial intelligence adoption in Singapore climbed from 14.5 per cent to 23.4 per cent, according to a CNA report published on Tuesday even as more than half of non-adopting firms cited small business size as a reason to stay away.
The rise in deployment reflects a wider push by the Infocomm Media Development Authority to help enterprises bridge capability gaps. Among businesses that adopted the technology, the proportion of workers able to use it rose from 66.4 per cent to 71.9 per cent over the same period.
Yong Kang TCM Clinic adopts AI chatbot
Traditional Chinese medicine provider Yong Kang TCM Clinic faced growing pressure on its customer service team as its business expanded across 19 outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Centralised call centres became bottlenecks during peak periods for appointments, treatments, and outlet information.
“Some after-hours enquiries went unanswered until the next working day, which meant that we were likely losing customers who wanted an immediate answer and went elsewhere instead,” Dr Elson Lee told CNA.
The company used the SMEs Go Digital platform to connect with a vendor and develop a generative AI-powered chatbot. After running a pilot to improve terminology and service details, response times dropped from about 30 minutes to under five minutes, while chat traffic rose by 60 per cent and appointment bookings increased by roughly 20 per cent.
Mister Mobile consolidates customer records
For digitally mature enterprises, the challenge involves scaling technologies across complex operations. Smartphone retailer and repair service provider Mister Mobile expanded from a single store in 2010 to 20 outlets with more than 160 employees, accumulating unintegrated data across websites, WhatsApp, walk-ins, e-commerce, and social media.
The company joined the AI x Digital Leaders programme to build a unified customer relationship management platform. The project combined more than 585,000 customer records and 1.05 million orders into a single searchable system.
“The programme gave us the confidence to implement AI at scale, rather than limiting ourselves to a pilot that might never have scaled,” said Mister Mobile CEO Alan Tan.
The platform automates WhatsApp confirmations, customer profiling, and data collection via QR codes at outlets. Mister Mobile estimates the system saves about 120 man-hours of manual work each day.
Enterprise transformation challenges persist
Despite available grants and pre-approved solutions, adoption barriers remain for many operators. The report found that 54.7 per cent of enterprises that had not adopted AI cited their small business size as the primary reason for hesitation.
“The AI solutions market is vast and moves quickly,” said Mr Johnson Poh, assistant chief executive of Enterprise Transformation and Innovation Group at IMDA. “Most SMEs do not have dedicated in-house technology teams to help them evaluate what AI solutions are genuinely useful to address their pain points.”
Mr Poh also said that transformation requires sustained effort beyond software deployment. “Technology can be deployed relatively quickly, but getting an enterprise to change how it works takes sustained leadership attention and follow-through,” he said.
Questions about SME AI adoption and grant support
What percentage of Singapore SMEs had adopted AI by the report date?
AI adoption among small- and medium-size enterprises grew from 14.5 per cent to 23.4 per cent, according to figures cited in the CNA report.
How much grant support is available through SMEs Go Digital?
Eligible SMEs can access grant support of up to 50 per cent to find suitable pre-approved digital and AI solutions on the platform.
How many records did Mister Mobile consolidate into its new platform?
The smartphone retailer consolidated more than 585,000 customer records and 1.05 million orders into a single searchable system.
What were the exact changes in Yong Kang TCM Clinic response times?
Response times improved from about 30 minutes to under five minutes after the clinic launched its generative AI-powered chatbot.
Related reading