Salesforce and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) have launched the Slack AI Launchpad Programme, an initiative to help up to 1,000 Singapore SMEs move from AI awareness to using AI in their daily workflows.

Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo announced the partnership at SMEs Go Digital Day 2026. Salesforce and IMDA said the programme supports the National AI Impact Programme, which aims to reach 10,000 enterprises over three years, and the Digital Enterprise Blueprint.

What SMEs get

The two-year programme gives each participating SME a complimentary 60-day trial of Slack Business+ for up to 10 users, plus two hands-on workshops. The workshops are run with Salesforce partners Bryd, May4S and Valuehub. They cover Slack basics, spotting processes worth automating, and building at least one AI-enabled workflow.

• Access to Slackbot, an AI assistant built into Slack that helps employees find answers, organise work, create content and schedule meetings
• Slackbot Skills, which let teams turn recurring tasks into shortcuts anyone can run
• Templates, guides, AI prompt libraries and a dedicated Slack community

The gap the programme targets

IMDA’s Assistant Chief Executive for Enterprise Transformation and Innovation, Johnson Poh, said the main barrier for many SMEs is not access to AI tools but knowing how to apply them to daily operations.

Salesforce Singapore Country General Manager Vernon Cheo said agentic AI is “an extraordinary opportunity for SMEs to augment their workforce”. Over the past two years, Salesforce and IMDA ran the Data + AI Boost SME Programme, which reached more than 6,500 SMEs.

SMEs can sign up on IMDA’s SMEs Go Digital platform from 13 October.