Global telecom operator Singtel has partnered with Singapore-based polytechnics to boost its digital business by assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The mobile service provider, as part of the 99 percentSME initiative, has joined hands with Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic to help SMEs use digital tools to get online, more customer base, and develop e-commerce capabilities.

“Our partnerships with the two polytechnics allow us to help these SMEs to digitalise businesses, to preserve their heritage,” said Andrew Lim, managing director, Business Group, Group Enterprise at Singtel.

Singtel and Ngee Ann Polytechnic will focus on helping family-run SMEs including those managed by the polytechnic’s alumni members, to digitalise their operations using business analytics solutions and improve their efficiency and competitiveness.

Singtel and Temasek Polytechnic will engage SMEs in traditional businesses such as provision shops, watch shops, tailors and tea-leaf merchants to provide ideas to keep their brands alive.

By leveraging digital technology, students from the polytechnic’s School of Business will guide SMEs on using the 99 percentSME website (www.99sme.sg) to market themselves online without cost.

Singtel said An SME should have a compelling success story to share from a cultural or social perspective; the business should have been established for more than 30 years and passed down from the founding generation to the next.

In addition, Singtel announced partnerships with Nanyang Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic in March this year, to help SMEs in the retail and F&B sectors digitalise their business.