Relocation of a business is not an easy task, even if you have to move your location from one street to another, let alone pack up your equipment and move to another country altogether. It involves proper planning and execution to make sure that the relocation is done timely and without damage to any of your equipment. Over the past few years, Singapore has become the top choice of companies when it comes to moving their business abroad. This is because the Southeast Asian country offers a favorable environment for companies to grow.

But there are certain factors that need to be kept in mind before moving your IT business to Singapore. This article will throw light on the essential IT considerations for relocating a business to Singapore. Let’s begin!

Why Should You Relocate Your Business to Singapore?

Before we dive into IT considerations for business relocation, let’s first see why you should choose Singapore to relocate your business to.

Strategic Location

The first and foremost reason is the country’s location on the global map. Singapore is located in Southeast Asia. This region is home to more than 650 million people in southeast Asia who make up a huge consumer base for any business that will be operating from Singapore. Apart from this, Singapore is also considered one of the major financial hubs of the world and connects all the major multinational entities.

Due to its prime location, Singapore lies on one of the busiest trade and shipping routes. So, businesses can make use of this advantage to export their products to other parts of the world.

Healthy Economy

Although still quite a young country, Singapore is one of the strongest economies in the world. Its economic model is stable and has been generating high revenues and current account surplus over the past few decades. This is the reason that the Southeast Asian country successfully dealt with the 1997 and 2008 economic crises when even economies like the U.S. and Europe were struggling.

Business-friendly Environment

Singapore offers one of the friendliest environments to businesses, especially the ones that are new in the country. The reason behind this is that it wants to attract maximum foreign direct investments by having more and more businesses relocate to the city-state. Due to its business-friendly policies, it is considered one of the best countries in the world to set up a business. The laws and regulations in Singapore allow local companies to be completely owned by foreigners. Not only this, if an international company sets up its subsidiary in Singapore, then it also enjoys a huge number of benefits.

Attractive Tax System

Taxes are one of the biggest headaches for a person or business. Some countries impose exorbitant amounts of corporate tax on companies, which makes it difficult for businesses to grow as quickly and safely as they want to. This is the reason even big businesses often file for bankruptcy because they are unable to keep up with the ever-growing tax rates.

Singapore is different and better in this regard. It asks companies to pay a fixed 17% corporate tax on their chargeable income. This is itself a great policy, but Singapore goes a step further and gives special tax breaks and exemptions to the companies that are newly established.

Singapore has a single-tier tax policy and does not subject companies to capital gains tax. Also, if a company has already paid corporate tax on its income, the profits can be distributed to the shareholders without any additional taxes.

Robust Legal System

The Southeast Asian power has an effective legal system that greatly helps businesses in case of disputes or other legal needs. Singapore follows English common law and processes in the legal systems of other well-reputed countries. Due to this comprehensive legal model, Singapore is considered to have one of the most efficient legal systems.

The commercial laws and legal system of the country focus on impartiality and quick justice. This is the reason why businesses choose Singapore as the place to settle their disputes and seek arbitration.

Intellectual Property Protection

Singapore has strong intellectual property policies that make sure that the intellectual property of businesses remains protected. A strong intellectual property infrastructure with an efficient and effective legal system encourages the business sector to innovate and continuously grow.

Businesses can file for the registration of global trademarks in Singapore because the county has signed several treaties and intellectual property conventions that make it eligible to grant trademarks to businesses. The Paris Convention and Patent Cooperation Treaty are some of these international treaties and conventions.

Skilled and Enthusiastic Workforce

Another reason that should make Singapore a preferred choice for a business relocation is its workforce. The Southeast Asian country has a huge number of skilled workforces, mostly young individuals. This energetic workforce ensures a highly productive work environment in any business and helps it to grow. The reason behind Singapore having a highly skilled workforce is its education system. Students at Singapore’s colleges and universities are trained in such a way that they are ready to meet the evolving demands of businesses when they graduate.

Another advantage of moving a business to Singapore is that it offers you a pool of multilingual workforce. This is because Singapore is a multiracial society with people from a number of different races residing in the country. So, companies don’t have to hire employees from abroad to meet their requirements. Firms like FunctionEight offers skilled labor solutions to businesses that need well-trained labor at affordable prices.

Friendly Immigration Policies

Singapore knows how to take care of you and your business. There are a number of different immigration policies in place for entrepreneurs and professionals. The reason behind this is that the government puts a great focus on attracting international investment and helping its workforce connect with successful businesses from around the world. There are different work visa categories to assist both business owners and their employees to relocate to Singapore.

Essential IT Considerations to Relocate Business to Singapore

While employers and employees of a company can easily move from one place to another, relocation of the IT infrastructure needs proper planning to save both time and money. Therefore, to prevent your business relocation to Singapore from turning into a nightmare, it is important to keep some important IT considerations in mind.

Space Requirements

Every business has a different amount of IT equipment depending upon how big or small it is and what services it offers. So, the first thing to consider when moving your business to Singapore is how much space is the IT equipment going to take. You neither want to rent or purchase an office that is too small to accommodate your staff and your IT equipment, nor do you want to get a place that is bigger than your requirements. This is because a smaller-than-required office will not be able to comfortably accommodate your employees along with the IT equipment, and a larger-than-required space will cost you more in rent.

Power, Cabling and Bandwidth

In order for a business to have smooth IT functioning in the office, power, cabling and bandwidth play an integral part. So, before relocating to Singapore, you should plan how the systems inside your office space will be powered and how the cables will be connected to the systems. This study and planning should be done in light of the office layout. Remember, if you need your employees to work without interruptions, then you should ensure a proper source to power the systems and consistent connectivity throughout your office in Singapore.

Physical Servers

You will need a server that connects all the systems within the office. Decide on a place to keep the server. Some office spaces may have a designated server room, while others may require you to get a server cabinet made. In both cases, make sure that the server supports all the devices in your office. The server should reach Singapore beforehand, so the systems are all set and ready to be used when you move into your new office.

IT Audit

Auditing is another consideration for a successful relocation of a business to Singapore. It is recommended that a business should conduct an IT audit both at its existing office and its new location to get a detailed and comprehensive idea about the equipment that is reusable and the devices that need to be discarded and replaced. While businesses regularly get financial audits, tech auditing is often overlooked. Relocating to Singapore might be the best time to do an IT audit, so when you move to your new office, your equipment is upgraded, too.

Some hardware and software have the option to be updated as a business grows and technology advances. One such example is Microsoft 365 which enables companies and employees to work as per modern practices. But devices such as RAMs may need to be replaced to improve system performance.

Transportation of IT Equipment

This is both one of the most important and the riskiest parts of relocating a business. Transportation of equipment needs to be handled very carefully because even a small mistake can result in damaged IT equipment worth thousands of dollars. As straightforward as transporting IT equipment from one place to another seems, it is an extremely delicate task. The equipment should be properly packed, so it doesn’t get damaged on its way to Singapore.

Additionally, the business should make sure that all of their data is backed up before relocation of the IT equipment. This is to avoid any inconvenience after the operations in the new office start.

Business Continuity During Relocation

Another consideration to keep in mind while relocating is business continuity. In commerce, every second matters. A single minute of work sometimes generates thousands of dollars in revenue. Therefore, you don’t want to stop your business altogether during the relocation phase. This is because the relocation process may take at least a few weeks before the business is fully set up and operational in its new location in Singapore.

To keep the downtime of your business as minimum as possible, the IT equipment should be moved in a way that the operations of the business don’t get interrupted during the relocation. There should be a proper strategy to make sure that the business continues with its operations as it relocates to Singapore. A number of things can be done in this regard. For example, the staff can be asked to work from while the business completes its relocation. Or the IT equipment can be transported in batches so as to keep the operations running. It is also safe to have a backup plan in place in case of emergencies or unforeseen circumstances.

A Timely Relocation Plan

IT equipment is one of the most important assets of a business. Therefore, you should give its relocation due importance and make a timely plan about everything related to transporting the IT equipment to the new office in Singapore. A business owner should make sure the transportation is both well-planned and quick, so the business doesn’t get affected while it is relocating to Singapore.

A number of people and companies working with a business need to be contacted and informed about the relocation well in advance. These include equipment suppliers, internet service providers, and tech vendors. This will ensure that all the data is backed up and all the IT equipment is audited and packed on time to be moved to Singapore. All this planning should be completed at least 6 to 8 weeks before relocation starts in order to reduce downtime and keep the operations unaffected.

Conclusion

Moving a business to Singapore demands careful and timely planning and execution of those plans. The IT part of any business is its backbone because, without information technology, a company cannot connect with the outside world, including its customers.

The above-mentioned IT considerations should be adhered to so the relocation process doesn’t affect the operations and things keep going as they normally would. It is important that businesses plan ahead of time, especially about the relocation of their IT equipment to avoid any inconvenience.

Contact FunctionEight and learn more about office relocation today!