OCBC Bank is building on its close to 20-year relationship with the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME) with the launch of the SME Cloud Exchange Network Software (SMECEN) on 20 July 2018.

Supported by Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), SMECEN is an integrated suite housing accounting, human resource and compliance solutions, developed by ASME.

OCBC Bank is ASME’s first strategic partner in SMECEN and the two have been partners for many years in the Entrepreneur of the Year Award (EYA).

OCBC Bank and ASME worked together with agencies to understand the challenges and needs of SMEs in running their businesses. With this insight and support from the government, the cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning platform, SMECEN, was developed by ASME to enable local SMEs to better manage and streamline their accounting and human resource functions.

SMECEN is a solution that bolsters the government’s efforts to encourage SMEs to embark on digital transformation to be globally ready. The platform allows enterprises to leverage technology and ride on the digitalisation wave by optimising their operations across business functions.

Enterprises adopting SMECEN will see an increase in overall productivity, lowered costs and be well placed to develop management competencies powered by the digitalisation of administration.

With more than 80 years of business banking history and consistently recognised as the Best SME Bank in Asia from publications such as Euromoney and The Asian Banker, OCBC Bank’s purpose of serving SMEs’ needs better was what motivated it to be a part of this.

Mr Linus Goh, Head of Global Commercial Banking, OCBC Bank, said, “OCBC and ASME have enjoyed a strong partnership championing SMEs and entrepreneurship in Singapore for close to 20 years. We are delighted to be expanding the scope of our relationship with this new collaboration by leveraging our combined insights and to reach and support our SME customers in the digitalisation of their businesses.

“Accounting, HR and compliance reporting consistently feature as high priorities as our SME customers go digital, and we believe this solution, thoughtfully designed by ASME, will help to address many of the pain points and challenges in today’s processes.”

Mr Kurt Wee, President of ASME, said, “This platform was conceived a few years ago, and after having successfully getting it funded, we’ve been accelerating our pace of development to bring this to the market. This is IP that is built, owned and operated in Singapore. ASME will roll out the platform of solutions to SMEs to bolster their level of digitalisation. As the voice of SMEs in Singapore, we are committed to providing a real solution to facilitate SMEs’ business growth – to start, manage and expand. I am confident that SMECEN, through collaborations with multiple partners in the regulatory space and commercial arena, will propel progressive enterprises on their exciting trajectories of growth and evolution, marked by efficiency, effectiveness and productivity.”

“We’ve been approached by a number of potential partners who have reviewed the platform, and there is substantial excitement about what we’ve built. We expect more strategic partners to be coming on board.” he added.