The readiness gap: Why some businesses move ahead while others stand still

The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is aiding businesses in moving from uncertainty to action through its Future Ready Business (FRB) platform. This platform comprises five products: the Future Ready Business Index (FRBI), Dialogue, Spotlight, Solutions, and Marketplace. These products aim to address key transformation needs for many Singaporean companies, as they often lack understanding of their current standing and priorities.

Global trade tensions, stricter compliance requirements, and the push toward digitalisation have heightened the urgency for transformation. Singapore is exploring new markets beyond the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), yet these markets are seen as high-risk. The SBF aims to close this gap by helping businesses understand their current position, uncover new opportunities, and shape their future path.

The FRBI, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), provides businesses with a holistic health check across six dimensions: financial resilience and innovation, digital readiness, internationalisation, workforce readiness, sustainability, and social impact. Unlike a league table, the FRBI identifies capability gaps and prioritises areas each business should address first.

Emway Singapore, a toy distributor, used the FRBI to identify digitalisation as a priority and discovered an unexpected gap in workforce readiness. Consequently, the company partnered with SBF's advisors to explore grant opportunities, evaluate vendors, and develop a minimum viable product for a demand forecasting and supply planning tool, aiming for at least a 15% improvement in key operational metrics.

The FRB Dialogue series facilitates discussions between senior business leaders and policymakers, thought leaders, and industry experts. These sessions address pressing issues shaping the future of business, such as geopolitical shifts, workforce transformation, organisational readiness, and building regional brands. Since its launch in 2024, the series has featured speakers like Minister Chan Chun Sing and Ron Sim, Founder and Executive Chairman of V3 Group.

The FRB Spotlight connects innovative businesses with practical tools, partnerships, and solutions. Over 60 leaders visited various organisations, including Continental-NTU Corporate Lab, Razer, SingPost, and SMRT, to witness sustainability initiatives in action, such as autonomous delivery robots and electric fleet transitions. SMRT's Kaizen culture, emphasising continuous improvement from the ground up, impressed participants like Shawn Xu, CEO of Silversea Media Group.

Finally, the FRB Marketplace connects business leaders with solution providers across digitalisation, sustainability, and workforce transformation. The FRB Solutions enable companies to showcase their offerings, engage the SBF network through structured workshops, and connect with organisations seeking real-world answers, bridging the gap between identifying necessary changes and finding collaborators to implement them.