Singapore companies are well ahead of those in other countries in installing smart-building initiatives for their workspaces.

They are also well in front in areas like digitalisation, cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), says a new study conducted by London-based office software firm Condeco.

It noted that such progress might be down to the Smart Nation programme launched here in 2017.

Condeco surveyed 750 business leaders in Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia, France and Germany.

About two-thirds of the respondents were C-suite executives, including chief technology officers and "workspace managers" - a category that includes a combination of facilities, real estate, office and front-of-house managers. The remaining one-third were senior executives.

It found that in Singapore, 72 per cent of respondents said their offices had smart-building features, such as networked appliances and energy-efficiency measures compared with 55 per cent of respondents globally.

This has also brought a knock-on effect on the use of other technologies in the workspace, such as apps to book meeting rooms, cloud computing and IoT, Condeco said.

"It's only been two years since Singapore launched its Smart Nation initiative, but it looks like it is paying dividends," said Mr Peter Otto, chief product officer of Condeco.

Compared with last year's survey, Singapore businesses have seen a 17 per cent increase in the use of mobile apps to book meeting rooms this year.

Singapore respondents were also more likely than the global average to expect cloud computing, IoT and Big Data to be important over the next 12 months.

Cloud computing is likely to be important for 55 per cent of Singapore firms, compared with 46 per cent as a whole. Similarly, 50 per cent of firms here said IoT will be important, versus 35 per cent globally, and 46 per cent in Singapore said Big Data will be important, versus 33 per cent globally.

Digital transformation is the biggest challenge in the next 12 months followed by the adoption of new technology.

Singapore also tops the flexi-time rankings with 66 per cent of business leaders saying that their companies offered it, whereas only 49 per cent of US firms are likely to offer it.

Remote working is prevalent in Australia (45 per cent) but least common in Germany (35 per cent).