The Singapore Government conducted its inaugural Government-to-Business (G2B) Perception Survey in January 2006 to determine the level of adoption and satisfaction for e-Government initiatives in 2005 targeted at the business community, particularly Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Almost 90% of the businesses surveyed were micro-SMEs which employed 10 or fewer employees.
1582 businesses, representative of the Singapore's industry sectors responded, covering: commerce, finance & business services, manufacturing, community, personal & social services and transportation, storage & communications. The collection was done through telephone interviews.
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7 out of 10 businesses interacted or transacted with the Government in 2005.
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Among those businesses which have transacted with the Government in 2005, more than half did so electronically (i.e. via internet, kiosk, IVRS, e-mail, SMS, etc) at least once in the past 12 months.
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7 out of 10 which transacted electronically with the Government were satisfied with the overall quality of the e-services used.
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The commonly used G2B e-services were:
- My CPF Online services (CPFB)
- myTax Portal services (IRAS)
- GeBiz (MOF)
- BIZFILE (ACRA)
- Work Permit Online (MOM)
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Almost all those companies which did not use government e-services were micro-SMEs. Micro-SMEs requested for:
- free internet access at convenient locations
- someone available to assist at no charge
- free training on government electronic services
To help these micro-SMEs, the Singapore Government has put in place an expanding network of easily accessible CitizenConnect centres. Businesses can go to any CitizenConnect centres for free internet access or complimentary personal help to transact electronically with the Government. There are currently 27 CitizenConnect centres throughout Singapore.
The Singapore Government will conduct the second e-Government Perception Survey (Government-to-Business) in early 2007.